Magic tricks on YouTube are in danger of killing the art, warns its inner circle

ARTS CORRESPONDENT PULLING a rabbit out of a hat, or tricks of a similar ilk, may have dazzled generations of children.

But the future of live magic could be under threat, thanks to the rise of the YouTube magician.

The rising popularity of online videos of tricks is leading to a loss of key skills which could end live magic in years to come, a leading Magic Circle member has warned.

Jamie Raven, who belongs to the Inner Magic Circle, said amateur magicians were increasingly learning their trade behind the camera, perfecting a single trick on film to post for “likes”. But while YouTube and social media may heighten interest in magic, he said that the essential skills of interacting with real people and learning how to control and misdirect their attention, were being lost.

If the current obsession for online popularity continues, he said, there will soon be “no magic shows, no live interaction”.

Raven is to perform a series of shows inside the Magic Circle building in London to help draw young magicians away from their screens.

He said: “When they first start learning, if their sole aim of the game is to get likes and views and shares, technically there are issues. For future generations, if they learn just how to point a camera, they learn tricks but will never learn what magic is.” Raven, who once appeared on

said online magic has taught people to perform tricks from a particular angle with as many attempts to perfect it as they like. But once they have to perform in real life, any pretence of magic will fall by the wayside.

Will Houstoun, a fellow member of the Magic Circle and editor of its monthly magazine who has a doctorate in the history of magic, said the internet should not cause too much concern.

He noted that magic instruction books in the Victorian era and the later rise of television were falsely predicted to be a “disaster”, adding that online is “an opportunity, not a death knell”.