Jamy Ian Swiss
Jamy Ian Swiss (born January 1, 1953) is an American close-up magician who works primarily with playing cards,[1] a noted historian of magic,[2] and scientific skeptic.[3] He first got into magic at age 7.[4]
Jamy Ian Swiss | |
---|---|
Born | January 1, 1953 |
Occupation | Magician |
Website | http://honestliar.com |
Magic
Swiss is a sleight-of-hand performer specializing in close-up card magic.[5]
He has spoken and performed across the United States, including for Fortune-500 companies such as Adobe,[6] and for the Smithsonian Institution, as well as for The Magic Castle.[7] He has spoken at The New Yorker Festival.[8] He is a frequent guest speaker at the EG creativity and innovation conference.[9]
His show of intimate sleight-of-hand magic, Magic: Close-up in Concert, ran for six months at the Rainbow Room in New York City.[10][11] It was remounted in San Diego in 2017.[12][13]
Swiss is a co-founder [14] and currently a co-producer and performer for Monday Night Magic,[15][16] New York City's longest running Off-Broadway magic show.[17][18]
In 2000, Swiss presented a one-man show The Honest Liar as part of the New York International Fringe Festival.[19] It was produced by Premiere Productions.[20]
Writing
Jamy Ian Swiss is the author of the essay collections Shattering Illusions, [21][4] Devious Standards [22] and Preserving Mystery, all three of which have been reissued in a combined trilogy boxed set.[23]
He is also a co-author of the companion volume to the PBS documentary The Art of Magic,[24] and the "Explaining Magic" chapter of Visual Explanations[25] by Edward Tufte.[26]
Additionally, he has contributed to, or consulted on, the following books:
- Magic for Dummies [27]
- Penn & Teller's How to Play with Your Food [28]
- American Gods [29] by Neil Gaiman
- Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions[30] by Stephen Macknick and Susana Martinez-Conde[31]
Swiss wrote the forward to, and co-wrote and edited, the monumental two-volume book set entitled The Magic of Johnny Thompson,[32] which details the real secrets of seventy-eight of famed magician Johnny Thompson's most celebrated magic routines.
He writes columns for Skeptic magazine and the quarterly magic journal Antimony. He has written for Genii, the Conjurors’ Magazine since 1994.
Swiss writes a regular column of magic book reviews entitled The Lyon's Den and writes a long-running series called Take Two, which pays tribute to important figures in the history of magic.[33]
Teaching Magic and Consulting
He was a comedy writer and chief magic consultant for Penn & Teller on their television program, Sin City Spectacular, and he was associate producer for 24 episodes.[34] He also served as head writer and associate director for The Virtual Magician starring Marco Tempest, which aired in 45 countries.
He has lectured to magicians in 13 countries.[35] He also created and produces Card Clinic, an "intensive seminar on sleight-of-hand magic with playing cards."[36]
As a mentor, instructor, and consultant to magicians,[37][38] he has been known as "the Simon Cowell of magic." [39]
Scientific Skepticism
A longtime Scientific skeptic, Jamy Ian Swiss has spoken widely to skeptic groups[40] and conferences[41] around the United States.[42][3][43][44][45]
He has been featured in on-stage events about skepticism and magic with Penn and Teller, Ray Hyman, and others.[46]
Swiss is a co-founder of the New York City Skeptics[47] and the National Capital Area Skeptics[48][49] and as a skeptic of the paranormal,[50] he has been a longtime critic of "unethical mentalists" [51] and "psychic con artists" [52] who use "supernatural deceit" for personal gain.
He is an expert on psychic charlatans,[53] and on the intersection of science, magic, and skepticism.[54]
Media Appearances
Print
Swiss has been featured numerous times in The New Yorker,[5][55][56] and in Vanity Fair,[57] Los Angeles Times ,[4] The Washington Post, and New York Press.
TV and radio
Swiss was featured on NPR discussing the art of teaching and preserving magic.[38]
He has created, produced and performed in the Discovery Channel documentary, Cracking the Con Games. He was featured in the TV show Brain Games (National Geographic) "tricking a group of gamblers." [58][59]
He has also appeared in television programs including 48 Hours, the PBS series NOVA, and the PBS documentary The Art of Magic [60] and The Today Show.[61]
Movies and Documentaries
Swiss was the magic designer for the feature film The Fantasticks.[62]
He was the host [63] in the documentary Merchants of Doubt,[64] drawing a parallel between his 'honest' lying and the deceitful lying in politics and business.[65][66]
References
- "72 Hours Inside the Eye-Popping World of Cardistry". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- "Finding Your Voice with Jamy Ian Swiss". Discourse in Magic. 2019-07-25. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Jamy Ian Swiss - I, Skeptic, retrieved 2019-08-21
- "Entertaining deception". Los Angeles Times. 2003-06-22. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- The Real Work, The New Yorker, March 17, 2008
- "How Magic Works – Jamy Ian Swiss". Adobe Research. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "APPEARING THIS WEEK AT THE MAGIC CASTLE: JAMY IAN SWISS". Genii Online. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- ""Presto Change-O"". The New Yorker Videos. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Jamy Ian Swiss". EG Conference. 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "JIS_Bio". mondaynightmagic.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Close-up in Concert in the Rainbow Room. New York: New York Media, LLC. 1992-04-06.
- "Magic: Close-up in Concert featuring Jamy Ian Swiss". www.brownpapertickets.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Magic: Close-Up in Concert Featuring Jamy Ian Swiss". Stone Brewing. 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "10 Magic Shows to See Now in NYC". www.cityguideny.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Monday Night Magic – Young Wizards Club". youngwizardsclub.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "MNM Background". www.mondaynightmagic.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Hallissey, Kara (2 May 2014). "Professional magicians to thrill OC". OC Magic Show. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- "MONDAY NIGHT MAGIC". Destinations of New York State. 25 April 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- "Jamy Ian Swiss: The Honest Liar | Off-Off-Broadway | reviews, cast and info". TheaterMania. August 16, 2000. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Desk, BWW News. "New Comedy STORMY WEATHER To Debut At Teatro Latea Theatre". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Swiss, Jamy Ian (2002). Shattering illusions: essays on the ethics, history, and presentation of magic. Seattle, Wash.: Hermetic Press. ISBN 094529641X. OCLC 56537227.
- Swiss, Jamy Ian (2011). Devious standards. Seattle, Wash.: Hermetic Press. ISBN 9780945296690. OCLC 756039199.
- "The Works - Jamy Ian Swiss Trilogy". www.vanishingincmagic.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- The Art of Magic | PBS Documentary (FULL), retrieved 2019-08-21
- Tufte, Edward R. (1997). Visual explanations: images and quantities, evidence and narrative. Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press. ISBN 0961392126. OCLC 36234417.
- "Edward Tufte forum: Magician in Visual Explanations". www.edwardtufte.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Pogue, David (1998). Magic for dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide. ISBN 0764551019. OCLC 39558015.
- Jillette, Penn; Teller (1992). Penn & Teller's how to play with your food (1st ed.). New York: Villard Books. ISBN 0679743111. OCLC 26013244.
- Gaiman, Neil. American Gods. Translated by Faerna, Mónica. Illustrated by McKean, Dave (Primera edición en este formato ed.). Barcelona. ISBN 9788417305635. OCLC 1085652271.
- Macknik, Stephen L.; Martinez-Conde, Susana; Blakeslee, Sandra (2011). Sleights of mind: what the neuroscience of magic reveals about our everyday deceptions (1st Picador ed.). New York: Picador. ISBN 9780312611675. OCLC 709674003.
- "Sleights of Mind » Magic Advisors". Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Swiss, Jamy Ian; Thompson, Johnny. Ben, David; Johnson, Karl (eds.). The magic of Johnny Thompson (1st ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ISBN 9780987868664. OCLC 1035246460.
- Pang, Kevin. "Why I'm still obsessed with magic tricks". AUX. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Sin City Spectacular (TV Series 1998–1999) - IMDb, retrieved 2019-08-21
- "Books Every Magician Should Read - Jamy Ian Swiss Tells Us!". Conjuror Community. 2016-12-26. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "MagicTimes News Archives - Week Of September 9-15, 2002". www.magictimes.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "˜Make Believe' reveals real magic". dailybruin.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Magic's Future: Now You See It, Now You Don't?". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- MoDuet (2019-01-25). "Going back to the beginning, magician Cody Clark on his new show 'The Origins of My Magic'". Insider Louisville. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Heavy Mental + Science, Skepticism, and Magic". National Capital Area Skeptics. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Jamy Ian Swiss - Credit The Con Man - TAM 2013, retrieved 2019-08-21
- EDT, Michael Moynihan On 08/16/13 at 4:45 AM (2013-08-16). "James Randi, The Amazing Meeting, and the Bullshit Police". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Jamy Ian Swiss - "Overlapping Magisteria" - TAM 2012, retrieved 2019-08-21
- "SDARI Lecture: Jamy Ian Swiss "Skepticism 101"". Meetup. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Plait, Phil (2007-01-23). "TAM 5 Report #3: The magic of Jamy Ian Swiss". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Magic & Skepticism at TAM7". Vimeo. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "National Capital Area Skeptics". Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- New York City Skeptics
- "Heavy Mental + Science, Skepticism, and Magic". Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Winston, Kimberly (November 4, 2011). "Magicians say their craft makes them see faith as just hocus-pocus". USA Today. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- "Diss-Illusioned! Magic and the Supernatural". PopMatters. 2015-04-23. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Harris, Paul (March 23, 2014). "Jamy Ian Swiss on Psychic Con Artists". Harris Online. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- Grothe, D.J. (2006-03-24). "Jamy Ian Swiss - Psychics, Science, and Magic | Point of Inquiry". Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Grothe, D.J. (2008-05-23). "Jamy Ian Swiss - Skepticism and the Art and Philosophy of Magic | Point of Inquiry". Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Take a Card (Audio)". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
- Kanin, Zachary (2008-10-05). "Magic is Like a Disease". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Pang, Kevin. "72 Hours Inside the Eye-Popping World of Cardistry". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- TV Scoop (February 28, 2016). "Scoop: BRAIN GAMES: Brains Behaving Badly on Nat Geo Channel". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Society, National Geographic (2016-01-21). "Gambling and the Brain". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Picks and Pans Review: The Art of Magic". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Jamy Ian Swiss and Todd Robbins on The Today Show, retrieved 2019-08-21
- The Fantasticks (2000) - IMDb, retrieved 2019-08-21
- Accomando, Beth. "'Merchants Of Doubt' Suggests We're All Being Conned". KPBS Public Media. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- "Review: 'Merchants of Doubt' shows how public opinion is manipulated". Los Angeles Times. 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Sharma, Gautami (2015-03-12). "The truth revealed in 'Merchants of Doubt'". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- Terry, Josh (2015-05-01). "'Merchants of Doubt' attacks climate change skeptics". Deseret News. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
External links
- Home Page
- Card Clinic: three days that will change your magic forever
- Jamy Ian Swiss on IMDb
- Biography of Jamy Ian Swiss at Adobe.com
- Video of Jamy Ian Swiss from TAM 2012 on "Overlapping Magisteria" in Skepticism