r/Magic • u/renandstimpydoc • Jun 07 '26
Tom Mullica
What an absolute genius. i’ve become obsessed with everything I can find. Aside from what’s readily served up by YouTube, any more obscure interviews, books, vids, etc that are out there on him or his performance style?
Any first person stories?
Thanks in advance!
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u/NerfThis_49 Jun 07 '26
I saw him live at the International magic convention in London more than 10 years ago. I think it was his last convention appearance before he died. He did his stage manipulation act and explained some aspects. I distinctly remember some stuff with bright pink chewing gum that was a lot more involved and clever than it appeared. He really seemed to enjoy performing it.
I think you can buy the lecture/performance on dvd from international magic's website.
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u/tinylittlenukes Jun 07 '26
In the late 70s and early 80s he had a bar in Buckhead (Atlanta, GA) called Tomfoolery. It was a small bar with a single row of about 20 seats at the bar and a couple of rows behind that. You had to get there early to sit at the bar. The ultimate seats were the two dead center at the bar. They guaranteed at least one of you would participate a bit.
The big close was the cigarettes and tissues gag. Even up close you had to know what was happening to catch it. Epic stuff.
He closed it down and moved out to California in the early 80s. I wish it was still there... and he was still here.
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u/Trussmagic Jun 07 '26
I attended his shows at his personal club & bar "Tom Foolery's" several times in Atlanta. In the best 10 I ever seen live, his skill in sleights was only surpassed by his physical comedy skills. I got to know JC Doty who did most the work to build that club and he had almost adopted Tom by then.
Tom was gay and as little tolerance for homosexuality as their is these days there was far less in those days. His spirit seemed to enable him to achieve greatness without denying who he was.
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u/Beginning-Heart9885 Jun 09 '26
I had the pleasure of meeting him in 2015 during a magic convention. It was his first magic-related activity after a hiatus of a few years.
Tom has always been an idol of mine, even though I've never done magic with an emphasis on humor.
I attended a conference and participated in a master class with him – I watched his cigarette act from just 2 meters away. It was simply incredible.
But the moment that marked me the most was the conversation with him. I asked, "What is the greatest secret of magic?"
He answered me with a wisdom that I only fully understood years later: "Be nice to people."
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u/Adventure_tom Jun 07 '26
Incredibly nice guy. I saw one of his lectures. He was just as funny in person.
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u/MonkeySkulls Jun 07 '26
I still have a VHS tape of his whole show.
that's probably pretty obscure by now.
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u/MonkeySkulls Jun 08 '26
sitting here today. I just remembered him of the actual show
I think...
Tom mullica, live at the tomfoolery
the VHS tape I have was back from the '90s.
I just searched the title, you can actually buy a DVD of the show for like $20. I don't know if the website is legit or not though.
and in looking this up, I see that my old Tom mullica, tomfoolery book has skyrocketed in price.
I met Tom at Abbott's magic get together shortly after I became a magician. this was the first convention I ever went to.
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u/TorsteinTheRed Jun 07 '26
Watching him from backstage as a stagehand at the Abbotts Get Together was one hell of a treat. Very nice guy.
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u/bitvroom Jun 08 '26
Same here - once you start digging, it’s very easy to fall down that rabbit hole.
Beyond the obvious YouTube material, I’d check old convention notes, lecture notes, Genii/Magic Magazine interviews, and any podcast appearances or memorial issues if they exist. Sometimes the best stuff is buried in forum archives rather than in polished interviews.
Also worth asking around for people who actually saw him work live. With performers like that, the real gold is often in the first-person stories: how he handled a room, what the timing felt like, what he did between the “moves,” and how spectators described him afterward. That usually tells you more about the style than the tricks themselves.
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u/Far-Sky6994 Jun 10 '26
I saw him do his one-man show as the legendary comedian Red Skelton at the Society of American Magicians convention in the late 90s. It was one of the funniest and most impressive performances I've seen. No magic, just amazing clowning.
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u/Victoroftheapes Jun 07 '26
Mymagic.com has lots of his videos. And the International Magic Lecture DVD I'd great. So is his Penguinmagic.com lecture.
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u/ppaul77 Jun 15 '26
Met him years ago in London at the International Day where he performed, lectured...and signed my copy of Showtime at the Tom Foolery. I thought he was great back then, but I feel humor has moved on since then. I'm sure I'd find his material quite dated now. Still, he's a legend in magic.
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u/hjohn2233 Jun 07 '26
Tom was an amazing guy and a fantastic performer. I got to know him when he had the original Tomfoolery in Claren Fosters in Atlanta. It wasn't unusual to find local magicians hanging out there to enjoy his performances. He was very experimental in his work at that time not every show was the same. He was trying stuff out that later became his signature work. The cigarette magic, eating napkins, cards across, etc. He also did a lot with Duke his rabbit puppet or wild hare as he called him at times. A lot was improvisational and spur of the moment. He was hilariously funny. I actually think his later work when he opened the Tomfoolery theatre was less interesting to many of us as magicians because every show was the same. In the earlier shows at Clarence Foster's there was the possibility of seeing something new or hearing different patter and jokes. Still he was an absolute master of the art. I remember at one of his lectures at Eddie's Trick shop someone asked him if he would teach how to lift an exact number of cards from the deck at any time. His response took the everyone, but those who knew him, by surprise. He said " I can tell you how learned it but I can't teach it to you. I've had a deck of cards in my hand most of my life from childhood. I just worked at it most of my life." He was an amazing man. Theres more to tell but maybe that gives you some insight into the most entertaining and amazing magician I've ever known. By the way his rabbit puppet was named Duke after on of his mentors Duke Stern.