My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.

Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder biscuits and the best shrimp cocktails that ever were.

I love amazing people. I love dazzling them. That's why I think performing magic is one of the greatest things a person can do.

I always read what I write out loud, and I did that long before any radio thing. My editor finds that unusual.

For me, the most exciting thing is to create good magic that's entertaining for an audience, and it would be lovely if a magician was fooled as well.

Dai Vernon, the greatest sleight of hand figure in the history of the art, rarely performed. But he invented magic and had an enormous influence on the whole range of sleight of hand. And so often the magic he was doing was to fool other magicians.

I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.