Abracadabra: ‘How did you do that?’

For longtime magician Seth Grabel, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“My dad was a magician my entire life,” he said. “So, I grew up with my dad performing magic tricks and doing kids’ parties and just having fun with magic but honestly, I didn’t want anything to do with it.”

But that all changed when Grabel went off to college and started getting into it, performing at parties and for his friends and in the process, making a few bucks.

“One thing led to another and people started hiring me to do magic shows at weddings, bar mitzvahs, Quinceaneras, you name it, I did it. They’d say, ‘Come to my party, I’ll pay you,’ and I was there,” he said. “I made good money throughout college doing it.”

After college in California, Grabel moved to Las Vegas and met up with the Amazing Johnathan, a popular comedic magician, who died two years ago at 63.

“He was my magic mentor and I definitely miss him,” he said. “I used to hang out with him and go through tricks. He put me on stage and thanks to that I got recognized by “America’s Got Talent” and did that as well as other shows. I was on AGT in 2008. I had a fantastic time on that show and it helped change my life.”

It led to performing at casinos in Las Vegas. It also enabled him to do larger corporate shows, which he said he enjoys and still does 20 years later. Along the way, he’s honed his skills from close-up magic to larger illusions.

“I use to practice a ton,” Grabel said. “I’ve spent more than 10,000 hours in order to become a master. With every new effect, you have to spend a lot of hours practicing because it’s a whole new set of skills. At this point I don’t practice as much because I’ve done so much and I really know how to do what I do.”

Harry Houdini once said, “The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks you do.”

Grabel agrees.

“First off, there are entertainers and then there are magicians,” he said. “There are many magicians out there who are not good entertainers. They’re very talented and do stuff that will impress anyone. However, they have difficulty talking to an audience — they don’t know what to say.

“In my opinion, presence and entertainment is way more important than the skills. That said, you have to have the skills or you look like a fool. To be honest, I don’t watch many other magicians since I’m all about entertaining. I want to make audiences smile and laugh.”

Grabel said it’s rare at this point in his career that a trick or illusion stumps him. But that doesn’t mean he’s not impressed.

“There’s a lot of magic that blows me away,” he said. “Like David Blaine’s frog out of the mouth trick. I can do it but he does it so well. It’s amazing. I know the principles. If you do, you can debunk it (a trick or illusion) and figure it out - for the most part. If nothing else I have a theory and most of the time I’m right. Sometimes, I am able to come up with a better method, at least I think so.”

When it comes to magic, he said there are some tricks that are, for lack of a better term, public domain. This means anyone can do them. One that he enjoys, as do many, is called bill to lemon where a dollar bill appears within the piece of fruit. That said, if you did a routine too similar to another magician, he said that would be frowned upon.

“You can’t simply copy a person’s act,” he said. “If you get big enough, someone is going to call you out on it. It’s like plagiarism. No one wants to be the guy who copies someone else. I have had people copy me but I don’t care. I actually appreciate it. It’s flattering.”

Grabel said when he’s on stage, as he noted, his goal is to make audience members smile and have a good time.

“It’s not to trick them or wizard them,” he said, laughing. “I don’t claim to be a wizard. I want to make them laugh. There are those who truly feel they have supernatural powers. But for the most part that’s gone to the wayside because of social media. Everything is debunked on there. A lot of people just like to step outside themselves and be amazed.

“When someone asks, ‘How did you do that?’ my go-to answer is, ‘Very well, thank you,’” he said. “Sometimes I take magic for granted because I’ve been doing it for so long and I know the secret to the tricks. I wish I could go back to being a kid and watch a magic show while thinking how amazing it is.”

Now that Grabel and his family have settled into Boulder City, he is heavily into commercial real estate and development. But that doesn’t mean he’s put away his top hat and wand.

“Magic is always evolving and always changing just like any other form of entertainment,” he said. “I love doing deals in real estate but I’ll always love and do magic.”

Ron Eland is editor of the Boulder City Review. He can be reached at reland@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523.