I still to this day believe that you can never see enough Magic.

My friends Jade, Tammii Twister, Tim Ellis and Sue-Anne Webster may disagree slightly after the last week – I’m not sure. There is one thing they might all agree on, however, and that is: You can see too much of a magician who has done too much magic – if that makes any sense? It may not. I’ve had about 10 hours of sleep in 3 days, so I might not be entirely clear. It’s 10:30pm Thursday night and my wife is filing for divorce if I’m not asleep by 11pm.  I may be looking for alternate accommodation soon – as my typing has now degenerated to 2 fingers, and one of them is falling asleep. It’s been that kind of week. I’m excited, elated and above all exhausted, but I guarantee you the aforementioned magicians are more so – or should be.

Why? (I hear you ask in whispered anticipation) Well, they’ve been fundamental in the performing, organising and maintenance of “The World’s Longest Magic Show” – a feat of human ingenuity, stamina and sleep deprivation. I was lucky enough to see all of them at their best, and worst during my early morning, afternoon and evening appearances.

Now, before I move on to an analysis of the founding member of the Sleepless Magicians – Australian Contingent (SMAC for short) I must mention some of the strange things I’ve seen during the last few days: 

• Max and Michael Sullivan– repeatedly exclaiming (usually in chorus) “You’re killing me” and “No F$%* way!” at unbelievably loud volumes at equally unbelievably early hours of the morning. 
• The reporter from the Today show suffering for his art – or our art actually. I mean really suffering. Tim and Sue-Anne had him bending over backwards for a story and I swear he must have spent the rest of the day at the chiro. 
• The hot dog left for an unknown amount of time on the bar, which had transformed to an oily-rock-and-rubber consistency, and was later used in a card revelation by Tim and Michael Sullivan. It just goes to show that anything can be used as a magic prop. 
• The mystery of the Mic’s. Was it the batteries going flat in 5 seconds? A faulty cord that just seemed to translocate from place to place depending on who was on stage? A sun flare of immense, and unfortunate size and timing? This may remain an unsolved Mystery – who knows? 
• Jade’s fixation with rabbit hunting and his fingers – you’ll just have to pluck up the courage and ask him. I can’t describe it. 
• The world’s worst placed aerotechnic device, and the look on Tim’s face when it went off under the stage… 

Now, to the SMAC:

Let’s just focus on Jade for a second, shall we? Here’s a guy who stayed awake, it seems, for the entire 72 hrs. (At least, no one saw him asleep, and he always seemed to be there) Ok, that’s pretty impressive, but not momentous. Consider, then, the fact that he managed to keep track of every trick done by every magician in order to ensure we didn’t repeat any in the allotted time. Add to this his 4 hours and 20 minutes of performances (usually in the wee small hours – the hardest gig, believe me) and add again his MC work and countless finger exercises, and even the most sceptical of us have to consider that he may be the holder of supernatural anti-narcosis power. The true measure of his degradation over this period (despite his outwardly energetic, almost manic appearance) was his acceptance of the role as Cath Jamison’s ‘Whipping boy’ – no kidding! He was that strung out….

Now to the other founding member: Tim Ellis. Think you suffer for your art? Try sleeping on a thin mattress, on a concrete floor, in a commercial kitchen/change room/thoroughfare, 2 feet from the stage you perform on over the duration of 72 hours. I left one day at some ungodly hour, only to come back at 5:30 the next morning to find him emerging from the kitchen ready to start again for another day. People assured me he was getting some sleep – though with Michael, Max and Paul working over night, I find that debateable. The point is – he managed to pull of over 14 hours of magic over the 4 days, and much of this was high-energy and on stage. Mind you, he didn’t do it without suffering some side effects…

I walked in at lunchtime on the last day (after doing a stint in the morning, going to work, realising I wasn’t going to concentrate, re-organising my day and then nicking off) only to find Tim standing side-stage, all alone, laughing. I approached him with a questioning look. He simply pointed at a lump of bread on the counter and chuckled “Half a roll!” then turned around and walked off shaking his head. All you can do in these situations is back away slowly, and avoid eye contact – then go get some Red Bull. Sue-Anne knows what I’m talking about. I’m still buzzing from the one she convinced me to have this afternoon.

(Note: I’m now typing with one finger, but it’s ok, I can hear my wife is asleep from here, so I can tell her I was in bed 10 minutes ago – don’t tell her I said that, ok?)

• At the end of the day, I guess I’ve learnt some things from the last few days: 
• Chocolate coated coffee beans (or the lack thereof) are solely responsible for my less than fantastic results in VCE
• Red Bull may not give you wings, but it will get you home on 3 hours sleep.
• If you have a copy of 101 easy card tricks, then the world is your mollusc.
• A Losander table should always be carried on and off stage by a burly-looking, good actor – or Tim, as a fall back.
• Lack of sleep + Street Performer = epithets of opprobrium. (It’s a great phrase – you can use it!)
• The risotto will always be better than the gnocchi
• No matter how good they say it will be, never have a cheese, bacon and beef pie out of the pie-warmer. Ever.

 And last, but not least:

• If your belief in the work that you do, can transcend the bounds of professional rivalry and pettiness, then some pretty amazing things can be accomplished together.

 I hope to see you all at the convention in June, but it will depend on me sufficiently placating my wife – who, I now realise, is standing behind me.  It’s 12:04. Goodnight.

 Or good morning – whatever.

-         Mat Unwin

Tim Ellis & Mat Unwin at the very end of the 75 hour magic marathon

 

 

THE WORLD’S LONGEST MAGIC SHOW – Facts & Figures

 

 

THE TEAM OF 21 ACTS –  Anthony DeMasi        (3 hours 57.5 minutes) Ashley Barnett           (1 hour 5 minutes) Cath Jamison             (1 hour 39 minutes) Chris McMillan           (1 hour 59 minutes) Gary Johnson             (1 hour 9 minutes) Glenn Hamilton           (2 hours 14 minutes Jade                          (4 hours 20 minutes) Joe Medancic             (1 hour 29 minutes) Dean Atkinson            (1 hour) Kamal Bhushan          (3 hours 35 minutes)   Les & Lee Cohen        (1 hour 25 minutes) Mat Unwin                  (1 hour 54 minutes) Max                           (3 hours 2 minutes) Michael Sullivan          (4 hours 6 minutes) Nelson                       (4 hours 1 minute) Paul Fletcher              (3 hours) Simon Coronel            (1 hour 12 minutes) Sue-Anne Webster      (2 hours 39 minutes) Tammii Twister            (6 hours 4 minutes) Tim Ellis                     (14 hours 7.5 minutes YC                             (1 hour 23 minutes)

THE 22 SPECIAL GUESTS – (Who performed for less than 60 minutes) Al Cappucino               (13 minutes) Barry Govan                 (58 minutes) Brian Pleasants            (20 minutes) Carl Knox                     (16 minutes) Cosentino                     (5 minutes) Dave                            (23 minutes) David Wright                 (19 minutes) Don Jones                    (25 minutes) Eleni Loui                     (16 minutes) Grant Wicks                 (45 minutes) Jeff Fletcher                  (1 minute) Jerry                             (9 minutes) Magical Bill                   (10 minutes) Michael Court                (24 minutes) Nick Alexander              (14 minutes) Nigel Anderson              (55 minutes) Patrick McCullagh          (10 minutes) Steve Fioretti                  (13 minutes) Steven Seeley                 (26 minutes) Tim You                          (17 minutes) Warren Jackman             (54 minutes) William                           (8 minutes)

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

• Sue-Anne Webster for ongoing support.
• Tammii Twister's organisational work and the running of 'Tammii Twister's Magic Factory'.
• Jade for sleepless logging of every performance.
• Mat Unwin for his comprehensive report and impromptu compering duties.
• YC for a great set of photos, (He has tons more! Call him!)
• Mollison's for publicity.
• Luna Park for co-operation beyond the call of duty!
• Orsino Images for video facilities.
• Adrian Kebbe and family for extra support.
• All of the performers and the audiences who stuck with us and made it possible to shatter this record!

 

Take a look at some of the action by clicking on any of the pictures in the gallery below to enlarge them.