Right in front of my very eyes, while we sit and talk, the magician Dynamo suddenly decides to take a coin out of his pocket ("A five rand coin, no?") puts it flat in his left hand, holds his right hand high above it, and make the R5 coin levitate through the air, grabbing it with his other hand.
The world's number one street magician with the piercing blue eyes, arrived in Johannesburg last night to visit South African fans and dazzle them with astounding even-if-you-see-it-you-can't-believe it magic performances.
This morning I met the ubercool guy with the enigmatic aura who does insane stuff in Dynamo: Magician Impossible on the Discovery Channel (DStv 121). His real name is Steven Frayne, and as Dynamo he made me pick any card (the King of Hearts) without him seeing it. He then proceeded to pick it out correctly - but only after making the deck of cards first move without touching it, to spill open at the exact correct card I chose.
With lots of street cred, his book Nothing is Impossible: The Real-Life Adventures of a Street Magician, unbelievable amazing feats of magic, and a common man's (magic) touch with which he dazzles delighted streetgoers, Dynamo has emerged as the biggest buzz magician in decades on the popular culture scene.
His acclaimed TV show, picked up for a third and fourth series, is already winning awards, and Dynamo jets from continent to continent to wow with his magic taking everything always that one step further than what people have ever seen or experienced before.
His acclaimed TV show, picked up for a third and fourth series, is already winning awards, and Dynamo jets from continent to continent to wow with his magic taking everything always that one step further than what people have ever seen or experienced before.
Having already travelled the globe, the man who've walked on the Thames is now visiting South Africa just before the start of the second series of Dynamo: Magician Impossible which kicks off on Wednesday 21 November at 20:30 on The Discovery Channel (get ready to see him walk horizontally down the side of a building in Los Angeles!)
Having jetted into Johannesburg last night, Dynamo will also be the special guest at Discovery Networks annual upfront for the factual entertainment programmer's 2013 upfront on Wednesday evening where Discovery will be unveiling its upcoming programming for the year ahead.
For his amazing feat of walking on the water of the river Thames, Dynamo tells me he already had the idea 7 years previously. "It sometimes takes a long time to get it right and make a specific performance possible".
The English magician, born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, discovered his love of magic and wanting to be an illusionist and magician at the age of 12 from his grandpa who he says showed him some tricks "and often did some stuff; you know, the kind of bar tricks that would get you a free drink".
'He's a dynamo!'
I asked him why Dynamo as a name and where this impressive magician, whose elaborate and daunting magic tricks stun crowds the world over, took his name from. "In 2001 I was in New York. This one guy just jumped up and started yelling and screaming: "He's a dynamo! He's a dynamo!' which I thought was a cool word so I took it from there," he says.
"There's some stuff I would prefer not to do again," he admits. "Some of the dangerous and scary stuff. Some of it's scary and I prepare and you do it for film as a one-time thing. But if I have to I can [again]," he says.
Later he takes the pinkie of his one hand, and right in front of my eyes moves it to stand like an "L" as if his fingers are secretly double jointed - but in a direction that no fingers in their middle, are ever able or supposed to move.
Dynamo was invited to the Inner Magic Circle, a secret magician's society - a very big honour for him. But he laughs when I ask him whether there are any rules or secret do's or must not do's. "I got a silver star, yes," he laughs making it almost sound as if he did something great in school. "I received an invitation to the Inner Magic Circle and I feel very honoured to have been invited. But we can never talk about ... the Inner Circle," he says with a mysterious smile.
And, as befitting a hyman Dynamo, he just loves to work off of the direct energy of people. "When I see people them I can react and respond and read them, so that's why doing something for television is a bit different than for a live performance. You can instantly see how people are responding and reacting. The language doesn't really matter, you can see on their faces their reaction to what I'm doing."
Since he's been all over the world, and now South Africa, Dynamo admits that language can sometimes however be a bit of a barrier. "In Rio I couldn't really understand what people were saying, so there is a bit of cultural difference from country to country and how people react to a performance and experience."
No doubt South Africans will be absolutely enthralled with Dynamo's dazzling, enigmatic acts for those who happen to catch a glimpse of him during his South African visit. For the rest there's the second series of Dynamo: Magician Impossible showing that, just like the title of his book, nothing is impossible.
ALSO READ: Dazzling Dynamo to bring magic to South Africa; Brit magician here to film a special episode here for the 3rd series on the Discovery Channel in 2013.
ALSO READ: Discovery Channel does a very special press junket with the English magician Dynamo, in a perfect press session.
