Willman's New Netflix Special
The comedy magician is set to tape a stop of his tour at the end of November. Could live magic thrive as well as live comedy on Netflix?
The star and creator of Netflix’s flagship magic show, Magic For Humans, is filming his brand new special later this month, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Justin Willman will be taping two nights of his show at The Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul, Minnesota, on the 21st and 22nd of November.
This is great news for fans of Willman who have always wanted to see him do his thing but can’t get to see any of his shows in person, such as folks like me who aren’t based in the USA.
It isn’t clear what the show's content will be just yet. It might be his most recent theatre show or a combination of his best tricks from the past several.
Willman is currently on tour with his Illusionati show (great name!). The current tour opened in Salem, Oregon, on June 6th and will have played in over 28 cities across the United States by the end of this year. It’s a follow-up to Willman’s previous show, the Magic For Human’s In-Person tour, which took place last year.
Willman announced the recording of this special on the 3rd of September on his social media platforms, where he said this of the show:
This isn’t going to be one of those Netflix specials where the crowd is just kind of in the darkness, in the shadows, and you’re like “I was there!” and no one believes you; you’re going to be well lit! So be there, be hyped!
A couple of weeks later, he posted an amusing video update in which he tested the view and comfortability of every seat in the theatre (and when I say every seat, I mean every seat… not just the ones in the auditorium…).
Known for his blend of dry stand-up comedy and surreal, mind-blowing magic, this will be Willman’s first magic special on Netflix but not his first live recording in front of an audience for TV. His debut comedy magic special was Sleight of Mouth with Justin Willman for Comedy Central back in 2015.
The key difference here is that this upcoming special is a live taping, similar to how stand-ups tape their live comedy specials. While these sorts of live comedy tapings are commonplace, they are not something we necessarily associate with magicians (beyond Derren Brown).
