48. Nate Staniforth | The Iowa Idea

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The Iowa Idea: Nate Staniforth

“The tricks are irrelevant.”

In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I sit down with magician and author Nate Staniforth.

Nate is a magician, writer, speaker, and star of the Discovery Channel’s hit series Breaking Magic. In 2018, Bloomsbury Publishing released Nate’s memoir Here is Real Magic, which I highly recommend – it’s such a great read! For over a decade Nate has toured the U.S. as one of the busiest working magicians in the nation. As a speaker, Nate has lectured about his work at Oxford University and spoken about wonder, creativity, and curiosity for groups and organizations including Google, Tedx, and the Mayo Clinic. He lives in Iowa City.

We discuss Nate’s journey into magic and his search for wonder. We dig into how he approaches his craft and his quest for continuous improvement. Nate shares the tension that a performer feels to share their work with the world and the desire to protect their work from the world.

I appreciated Nate’s thoughtfulness and insight as we dug into these topics; and his advice to learn at least one really great magic trick as a way to better connect with others. In our conversation, we peek into Nate’s process and approach with inventing new tricks, or as he describes “solving an impossible problem” and his approach to performing a new show, and why ideas are so important in the process.

It was an honor having Nate join me on the show. I thank him for sharing his time and insights. I hope you enjoy the episode.

About Nate

Nate Staniforth is a magician, writer, speaker, and star of the Discovery Channel’s international hit TV series Breaking Magic, which has aired to over one hundred million viewers in more than 100 countries. In 2018, Bloomsbury Publishing released Nate’s hit memoir Here is Real Magic worldwide, and for over a decade he has toured the U.S. as one of the busiest working magicians in the nation. As a speaker, Nate has lectured about his work at Oxford University and spoken about wonder, creativity, and curiosity for groups and organizations including Google, Tedx, and the Mayo Clinic. He lives in Iowa City.

Links:

Here is Real Magic on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/163286424X/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natestaniforth/

Credits

Episode produce by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/)

The Iowa Idea Podcast music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).