When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time thinking about magic.
Once I managed to assemble my kindergarten class to watch me perform on a stage made of blocks, paying for tickets created from construction paper and poor handwriting. Not that I couldn’t write properly, I was just too busy and on to the next thing. Learn to type, children of today.
Anyhow.
I would do magic tricks for anyone who was willing to sit still long enough to watch one, and I still can’t pass by a magic shop (rare as they are) without going inside. This is trouble in a place like Las Vegas, where alcohol mixed with a latent hobby will end up taking more money than a poker table for things like invisible thread and flash paper.
But the important thing here is that magic is something that draws people in. Not everyone, but some. It could be a masterful stage illusion from a professional, a coin trick from a stranger, or the strange allure of “pick a card, any card.”
Last night, we found ourselves right in the middle of the Rudy Coby Experiment at the El Rey, and this mad scientist of magic took us all to his crazy laboratory.
“Imagine you were watching a cartoon and that’s what our show is,” said Coby. “It’s crazy characters. I am Lab Man, Defender of Science, and than I have my brilliant team with me as well.”
Like all good magic shows, Coby includes some beautiful assistants, one who places him inside a washing machine while his body runs through the spin cycle, and another who becomes a lingerie-clad robot.
“There are killer puppets in my show,” explained Coby. “Also, half-naked robot girls and I think the show is kind of a bombardment on the senses. We don’t do a trick and then dance and then cut a girl in half. It’s hundreds of effects, rather than ten in our show.”
This isn’t a serious show with fans blowing back the performer’s hair while he stares off into the distance. Especially since the distance here included a heckling Marilyn Manson and a host of magicians wearing crazy costumes.
“I worked with Marilyn Manson,” said Coby. “I designed his show for six or seven years and even lived with him for a couple. By getting away, I got to fall in love with magic again, so this is my first time back in LA in fifteen years doing the show.”
Mr. Coby himself goes through various costume changes, from a white lab coat to a black suit and back again, a character in all his forms. With long spiked hair and dark sunglasses, he’s a superhero who happens to do magic.
“I used to draw comic books as a kid. I love Adam West’s portrayal of Batman. The fact that he took it dead serious, even though he was ridiculous, he played it totally straight. I’ve wanted to be Batman ever since I was a little kid and now I get to be Lab Man on stage.”
Before the Rudy Coby Experiment began, there was another madman on display in the form of juggler Frank Olivier. Not your typical juggler, he juggled pins with his mouth (the “Monica Lewinsky”), rode a unicycle while flipping cattle prods over his head, and even performed a ballet routine with our own Duke DuRock. There are few things that could prepare you for the sight of our own Duke in a pink tutu rolling around on stage with a sweaty juggler, and I’m not sure you’d be ready for it even then.
Coby brought the same energy with him to his performance.
“Being creative and acting like a nine year old idiot is still OK. Our show is more Pee-Wee Herman than it is David Copperfield. You’ll notice that the magic is the least important part. It’s great magic and it will fool you but I use it as a technique.”
Though I’ve seen Coby on television in the past, sawing off one of his (occasional) four legs, it was at Lightning in a Bottle that we really connected with him. Coby shares a love of electronic music, and wore a shirt featuring The Crystal Method before the show as he ran through the lighting and final preparations. The music of Adam Freeland played before and after the show, an immediately recognized sign that we were in the right place. Coby performed at LIB during Freeland’s set, the highlight of the entire festival.
“It was groundbreaking and felt really special to do that with him. I think that Adam is a pioneer technically but his onstage personality is now that of a rockstar as well.”
Coby said that future collaborations are in the works, including more with Freeland and also Bunny from Rabbit in the Moon.
I felt a bit of nostalgia as we walked away from the theater. I thought about my childhood magic days, wearing a wizard’s cape and waving a wand. I used to record those pretentious David Copperfield specials. I began to think about which storage box those tricks I’d bought in Vegas were in.
“To me it’s more about fun. If the tricks work, great, but it’s more about the attitude and acting like a child.”
On the way home, I felt just as excited as I was back then.
Now that’s real magic.
