Shawn Farquhar, International President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (I.B.M.) joins me in Jacksonville, Florida after a long day of meetings and a sleep-deprived night spent in an airport following flight delays. Shawn is indeed a "man with a million stories" and was just tired enough to share a lot of them uninhibited during this two part podcast. Shawn admitted that he shared a lot of personal things that few people have heard, much less know about him.

For those very few of you around the world who may not know much about his life, you will learn in this two part podcast. But to give you a brief overview, he is perhaps best known as a successful cruise ship magician which is why some magicians haven't heard of him. He was busy quietly making a living at magic. But he has competed and won many awards at magic conventions around the world, including FISM, which made him more well known.

Shawn has also made a living and worked in comedy clubs plus he is also a magic dealer selling original products. He also bought Palmer Tilden's magic shop and inventory.

But on this first part of the podcast, Shawn talks about his work as Special Effects consultant for television and movies. This is fascinating stuff with wonderful stories.

On January 14th I had a dream come true when I was given the opportunity to perform a few of my favorite routines on Ellen Degeneres's talk show. She is an amazing person. Her fine qualities are also reflected in the staff and technical crew of her show.

This is one of the most amazing card tricks out there!

Shawn begins by talking about an heckler from his show that he "put down" who torched his apartment. Shawn entered the burning building nine times to rescue people before the fire department arrived. Believe it or not, his appearance on the television news resulted in him getting a break in show business. He ended up being a consultant for many TV series and on the set of movies as a Special Effects consultant specializing in breaking, burning and blowing up stuff.

Many years later Shawn performed on the immensely popular "Ellen" TV show, but the "one that got away" (David Letterman) is another fascinating story. The bulk of this Part One podcast is committed to talking about his television and movie experience.

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