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Masters of Illusion magician coming to Tisdale

TISDALE — A master of illusion who has made plenty of television appearance is coming to perform in Tisdale. Magician Chris Funk will be coming to Tisdale on Sunday, Feb. 2, hosted by the Tisdale Arts Council.
Chris Funk
Magician Chris Funk will be coming to Tisdale for February's Arts Council event on Feb. 2. Submitted photo

TISDALE — A master of illusion who has made plenty of television appearance is coming to perform in Tisdale.

Magician Chris Funk will be coming to Tisdale on Sunday, Feb. 2, hosted by the Tisdale Arts Council. He has made appearances on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, The CW’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, and SyFy’s Wizard Wars.

“Magic has this stigma where people think it’s linking rings, pulling rabbits out of the hat and doing kids’ birthday parties. My whole mission is to show that that’s not the case, magic is for everybody,” Funk said.

“Even adults today that say they hate magic, really deep down inside love it. They just don’t like being fooled and the only way to communicate it is by saying, ‘I hate magic.’ Magic is for everybody, it’s a universal language.”

Funk’s own personal relationship with magic started when he was just a child, growing up in Winnipeg.

“I always loved magic. I remember the very first thing I can recall seeing what magic was about was Doug Henning, when I was about three or four years old –  I watched him cut two women in half and swap out the legs,” Funk said.

“That blew my mind and kind of freaked me out at the same time because I was so young I didn’t know any better.”

At 16 years old, he was taught his first card trick.

“It was kind of one of those things that was a catalyst of bursting me out of my bubble,” he said.

“I actually didn’t really realize you could learn magic, I never even thought about it that way. So I was kind of blown away.”

Now, when asked why he still does magic, Funk replied it’s the only thing he’s good at – before laughing.

“It’s always been my passion. When I was 19 I made my first public performance and I realized, ‘wait, you can actually make money doing this?’ This is crazy.”

After that he began learning more tricks and working to earn performances.

“I I fell in love with putting people into that place where they’re just like, ‘wow, what is going on?’ Where nothing else in the world mattered except that moment mattered except seeing something impossible.”

Funk said he won’t tell people what’s coming in the Arts Council February show, as he believes the unexpected is a part of the performance.

“What I can say is it’s a very interactive show. There are no big boxes, no big illusions, no women in sequin dresses or anything like that. It’s all about me and my relationship with the audience and all that’s making the wow factor take place together.”

One of his favorite tricks will be making an appearance in the performance, called the “violin piece”. He said with the incorporation of music into the act in such a way, it helps break that stigma of what people think magic is.

“It’s kind of my signature piece, it’s very unique. I was just in New York this past weekend performing and when people came up to me afterwards, it’s always the violin piece that sticks out.”

While the trick can be found online, for those who intend to see the show it’s recommended to not look into it deeper.

“I don’t want people to know what to expect,” Funk said. “I mean it’s been on TV, so if you go to my website, for example, you will see what exactly it is.”

Funk will be performing in Tisdale on Feb. 2. at 2 p.m. in the Maurice Taylor Performing Arts Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at Northeast Appliance Plus.