David Roth, at Fantasma Magic. ©Herb's Magic. It's fair to say that David Roth is one of the most original and innovative coin magicians to ever have practiced the art. In the foreward to Expert Coin Magic, the book about David's work, Dai Vernon wrote "I have been fortunate to have enjoyed the confidence and friendship of the leading exponents of coin manipulation of the past. T. Nelson Downs, Allan Shaw, Manuel, and Welch Miller all specialized in this branch of the magical art. To the very best of my judgement, David's ideas and execution far surpass any one of them."
Aside from his technical innovation, David's chief accomplishment was to add theatricality and plot to coin magic, moving it beyond the quick, relatively simple effects that had previously been typical. Even though the routines he introduced were longer and more dramatic than what came before, in his hands they never lack clarity. His magical dramas, although only a few minutes in length, bring us into a unified realm of his imagination where coins are drawn from a portable hole in the table, appear out of an echo of their sound, and change back and forth in dimension when passing through the impossibly small neck of a tiny funnel.
The majority of David's work has been documented in Expert Coin Magic, written by Richard Kaufman, which itself could form the source of a lifetime of practicing. He has also released numerous videos, and there is hardly a coin magician anywhere today who wouldn't have to acknowledge his influence.
Most recently David was asked to appear on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, and succeeded in fooling the duo with a unique vanish sequence. In our conversation, recorded at Fantasma Magic, we start by discussing David's experience on the show, but then we cross through a wide variety of topics including his background in magic, the creation of his most notable pieces, and his relationships with magicians like Dai Vernon and Ricky Jay.
Aside from his technical innovation, David's chief accomplishment was to add theatricality and plot to coin magic, moving it beyond the quick, relatively simple effects that had previously been typical. Even though the routines he introduced were longer and more dramatic than what came before, in his hands they never lack clarity. His magical dramas, although only a few minutes in length, bring us into a unified realm of his imagination where coins are drawn from a portable hole in the table, appear out of an echo of their sound, and change back and forth in dimension when passing through the impossibly small neck of a tiny funnel.
The majority of David's work has been documented in Expert Coin Magic, written by Richard Kaufman, which itself could form the source of a lifetime of practicing. He has also released numerous videos, and there is hardly a coin magician anywhere today who wouldn't have to acknowledge his influence.
Most recently David was asked to appear on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, and succeeded in fooling the duo with a unique vanish sequence. In our conversation, recorded at Fantasma Magic, we start by discussing David's experience on the show, but then we cross through a wide variety of topics including his background in magic, the creation of his most notable pieces, and his relationships with magicians like Dai Vernon and Ricky Jay.
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