Do you believe in magic? Local magician’s talent to be featured on TV show

Vincenzo Ravina fell in love with magic as a kid while watching a man perform at a local family restaurant.

“There was a magician who performed at the tables there. His name was Dave Moon and he would always dress up in wizard garb. He had this purple robe that had stars and planets on it and a big beard,” says Ravina.

Ravina says he loved being amazed by Moon and wanted to share that feeling with other people. He’s been practicing magic ever since.

When he heard about open auditions for the TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us, he decided to apply because he was such a big fan, but didn’t have high hopes. 

“Heard about it on a podcast and decided to submit my best trick, and didn't expect I had a chance of getting on, but they got back to me and I ended up on the show,” he tells NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show.

What followed was months of correspondence as to the scripting and preparing for the taping of his segment, which was recorded back in February. It airs on August 3rd, which coincidentally is also his one-year wedding anniversary. 

The show is a one-hour competition featuring the magic duo Penn & Teller and host Alyson Hannigan, where aspiring magicians are invited to perform their best trick.

The goal is to pull it off without the two magicians being able to figure out how it was done.

The trick Ravina performs is called mind-reading glasses, which involves two people, a pair of old 3D glasses, and a science-fiction-looking helmet he calls “the thought transmitter.” 

“Using the glasses and the thought transmitter I can read Alyson Hannigan’s mind, and then she puts on the glasses and she can read Teller’s minds,” he says.

And while Ravina isn’t allowed to say how his trick went over, he does say it's a supportive environment for magicians to perform. 

“It’s a very kind show, I find. It’s unlike a lot of TV talent shows where they don’t really broadcast failure.”