Magician Mike Paldino Visits CU

On Wednesday, October 19, Mike Paldino, a magician and illusionist, performed at Concord University at Subway Sides. As I went into the performance, I came ready and equipped with a notebook to take notes about all of the tricks he was going to perform. By the end of the show, I came to realize that list would be useless, as I had not written down anything at all. That should indicate the quality of the illusions on display by Paldino. I came into the show for business. As it progressed, business became pleasure, and I found myself forgetting why I was even there. All that mattered was the show and what he would perform next. 

    Paldino’s official web page describes him as a magician and a performing artist. He specializes in card tricks, mentalism, sideshow and acts of strength, memory work, and what is described as “...bizarre magic…” in his performances. He has many corporate clientele, from Apple, Inc., T-Mobile, Comcast, the Philadelphia Phillies and the NFL. In 2005, he was recognized by the Society of American Magicians (known as the David Copperfield Assembly) for his signature trick “Needles”, which is a variation of Harry Houdini’s classic East Indian Needle Mystery. 

    It was this combination of the old mixed in with the new that managed to wow and entertain the audience that he had that night. He began with some simple card tricks, such as guessing what card students drew, as well as guessing what cards were on the top of a deck without ever seeing what was on the deck. Then he took an envelope and asked people from the audience to write down their names on the front of the envelope. Why he did this did not become apparent until the very end of the show. 

    After that, he selected people from the audience and made them hold envelopes that later were revealed to have cards in them that had very specific information about the people holding the envelopes that Paldino could not have possibly known before the show began. During the performance, he kept stating that nothing is ever as it seems and that we should question what our five senses tell us is real. 

    Following these tricks, the mentalism came into play. He hypnotized one of the members of the audience into thinking that he had forgotten how to read. After that, he asked audience members to draw lines on a piece of paper. He then burned the piece of paper twice in a water goblet, only for the paper to reappear attached to the bottom of his shoe. After burning it for the third time, he asked the audience member holding the envelope with the names written on it to open it. The open envelope revealed three more envelopes inside, each getting smaller after the other. With the fourth envelope, there was an exact copy of what was drawn by the members of the audience. Following this, he performed his signature needles trick, which involved needles disappearing only to reappear linked together in a chain coming from what appeared to be from the inside of his mouth.

    The audience took to his performance well. While some initially scoffed at his card tricks, by the end of the show they were eager for more. 

    Mike Paldino proved himself to be a competent and a talented illusionist. He had charisma and his tricks left the audience questioning just exactly how he did that. He was entertaining, and should Concord ever decide to rehire him, it would be an excellent decision.