Synopsis
This was an HBO special, a filmed performance of Jay's Broadway show, directed by his friend, David Mamet. It is literate, intelligent, and better than any magic performance you have ever seen.
Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants
1996 Directed by David Mamet
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I will always regret not going out of my way to see Ricky Jay perform while he was still alive. He definitely did at least one show Off-Broadway while I’ve been living in New York. And I kept saying “Oh I should go...” and then I didn’t. Great job, dummy! You blew it.
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hooting and hollering as Ricky calmly explains all the variants of riffle shuffling
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HBO Max if you think you’re so great put out a remaster of this legendary show
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Genuine sustained astonishment. I could have watched a ten-hour version of this. RIP to a legend.
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Ricky Jay is a calming presence as a storyteller/showman. But what I liked most from this special was one specific audience reaction about 40 minutes in where a man is laughing hysterically at a card joke and looks to his wife(?) who gives an "ok" eye roll like, I can't believe I'm watching card tricks.
This completes my watch the four favorites of the member who pushed me over 3,000 followers. Thanks, Nick! They were all enjoyable and extremely different.
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Such a joy to be transported to Ricky Jay's magical world of unfathomable skill and pure entertainment amid this sad time of pandemic isolation and algorithmically generated content. As far as I'm concerned this may as well be the supernatural kind of magic – Jay's sleight-of-hand tricks are so seamlessly executed and show-stoppingly performed it'll take your breath away. Big rec!
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I very sincerely doubt we’ll ever see someone like Ricky Jay again, a master practitioner of magic and trickery that also happened to be a walking encyclopedia of magic and trickery, and I’m truly glad we got this hour-long presentation of Jay pulling out some of his longest-standing sleights of hand in front of an adoring audience. Mamet directs it in a very simple manner (almost like Kevin Smith directed it), but it’s a documenting of a dude doing magic onstage, that’s entirely fine. What makes the special, though, is Jay’s remarkable patter and ability to conjure up both remarkable figures centuries dead and some pretty nifty jokes, a necessary ingredient in any good magician’s act. The whole special is on YouTube, so do yourself a favor and give it a watch. Shout out to the watermelon’s pachydermal hyde.
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This is the type of mature, elegant show with a bit of wit I thought my parents were attending anytime they had "a night out" turns out they were going to Leno tapings to get Leno'd.
You've been Leno'd! Be sure to Leno two more people!
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*watches an hour of insane sleight of hand shenanigans*
"Hmm ... HE IS A WITCH. BURN HIM
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“Who killed Laura Palmer?”
This special is many things: literate, eloquent, playful, educational, deconstructionist, hilarious, and completely absurd. But mostly, it’s truly, unequivocally mind-blowing. One of the best hours of television you’ll ever see.
You can watch the whole thing here.
In my Must See Movies You Might Have Missed list.