Murray the Magician on Tour
With his shock of messy blond hair, tinted glasses and loud ties, Murray Sawchuck — aka Murray the Magician — looks like a cross between a rock star, mad scientist and used-car salesman. And there's a little bit of all three in his act, which combines high-energy performance, geeky gaffes and audience interaction into a crowd-pleasing, family-friendly stage revue. With his trusty stagehand Lefty at his side, Murray doesn't so much perform magic tricks as set up elaborate comedic sketches where the illusions often function as the punchline. Since 2018, he's been regularly holding court at the Laugh Factory Tropicana in Las Vegas, where he wields a repertoire of tricks that include emerging onstage from a piece of plywood, pulling bowling balls out of briefcases and tearing up newspapers into small pieces only to have them magically appear intact again. Sure, you've seen magicians perform pick-a-card tricks before, but have you ever seen one find it by throwing a deck in the air and catching the card on the tip of a sword?
Murray the Magician Background
As the son of a railway worker who moonlighted as a musician, this Burnaby, British Columbia native knew from a young age that he wanted to be onstage. And upon being gifted a Siegfried and Roy magic kit at the age of seven, Murray realized what would get him there. He honed his act as a teen performing at kids' birthday parties, then was mentored by veteran magic duo Mr. Electric, who introduced him to the European circuit. But it was his 2010 appearance as a semifinalist on America's Got Talent that would transform Murray into one of the world's most in-demand magicians: in a nod to his family's roots working on railways, he wowed judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel by making a steam train instantly disappear. Since then, Murray has appeared on TV shows like Pawn Stars and Masters of Illusion, and has developed a large following on YouTube, where his videos have generated over 1 billion views.