Midnight Madness 1997

In 1997 Rich Bloch asked me to put on a Midnight Madness Show for his World Magic Summit convention. I said yes and then I did what I always do when someone wants me to do a one-off hilarious magic show, I called John Carney!

John went to work writing gag after gag and fine tuned his eccentric card act featuring a new “character” he was toying with.

What you will see in this video is the birth of Mr. Mysto. John didn’t really know what he was going to do or say, he didn’t even have a voice for the character yet. Just before the show he asked me what Mysto should sound like. Harry Blackstone Jr., deep and stentorian, or high and whiney? I said “I don’t know, you’re the man of a thousand voices… pick one!” And I walked through the curtains and started the show.

To our delight and amazement, Mr. Mysto walked out as a fully formed and hilariously self-deluded character. The audience fell in love and this video documents John’s magical, comic genius. 

Eric Mead was the perfect foil as the spaced out Mystery School graduate. And I can’t watch the cameos of Tom Mullica, Harry Anderson and  René Lavand without a big lump in my throat. Cheers also to the always hilarious Michael Finney and Chuck Fayne.

This is a video of me rapturous in the glow of my talented friends.

Thank you to Video guru Monte Johnson for finding this footage recently and converting it. And thanks to his 1997 crew Ken Scott, Christopher Tracey, and Ken Norris.