This is an odd one. We took up a request for a post from a reader, asking us to contrast Jason Ladanye and Brian Tudor. We couldn’t resist, and decided Drew would be perfect for this one.


Jason Ladanye is a professional corporate magician and recent internet personality. He’s fun to watch because he’s beyond arrogant and full of himself. But the greatest thing is, he can back it up and beat you down with sheer skill. Seeing him ridicule internet know-it-alls in this smug persona he either assumes or embodies makes him all the more charming. Here’s a couple replies.

Laypeople on his channel who refuse to accept that what they’re seeing is the real deal offer ridiculous monetary challenges. Thanks to these folk (bless them) we get jokes and challenge videos.  It’s a fun time over there, go check it out if you haven’t already.

I think we’re all aware of the concept of leaning into the arrogant persona as a magician. Done right, it steers people away from the impression of actual arrogance. To do this successfully, you need to commit, and you need to actually have the ability to back it up. As magicians we tend to overestimate our abilities because of the natural advantage we have over laymen. It is because of Jason’s skill that he can take on specific and obscure challenges.

Also keep in mind that your magic has to have some overt technique to it in order for you to do this. What are you, Mr. Mentalist, going to brag about? Being able to read a piece of card really fast when they didn’t notice? (No, nobody believes that you’re a master of NLP or have the knowledge equivalent to a PhD in psychology. Even if you are or do.)

Let’s take a look at a failed example, Brian Tudor.

Oh, Brian. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is highly skilled. But any amount of skill does not excuse his behavior. Add-ons to Kenner’s Sybil cut and the creation of Very Bad Habit (featured, someone who is probably cooler than Brian Tudor) aren’t tickets to being a douchebag.

It’s honestly too bad, because he did contribute some important creations for an at-the-time blossoming art form. If he didn’t behave with such crass unprofessionalism, he could’ve been regarded as a well-loved and respected figure in cardistry and his career would have undoubtedly been much longer lived. He was at one point regarded as something of a king of card flourishes. An asshole king.

But cardistry evolved at an exponential rate, and so did the skill level required to be a major player in the community. Brian’s behavior within the growth state that the community was in did not mesh well. In 2015 the two Danish phenoms Oliver Sögard and Tobias Levin became the trailblazers who took cardistry to new artistic heights. There are still many copycats of the once iconic dealersgrip duo that post the same moves over and over on Instagram.

It’s a shame that I didn’t screenshot some of the garbage Tudor posted about them and other young stars when I was active in the cardistry community. If he handled himself correctly, he would have been something of a Chris Kenner, a founding father of cardistry.

Looking at previous direct interactions between Chris Kenner and the dealersgrip duo, it was clear that Chris thought they were way better than he was. On various videos he outright said it multiple times. On this Sybil Cut Tips video he commented: “AWESOME…. love it”. These are kids half his age making a tutorial on HIS move. He was truly humbled that a creation of his evolved into a fully-fledged art form thanks to the Dans, Daves, Tobiases, and Olivers in the industry. He was a founding father passing on the torch. Brian, on the other hand, seemed to have difficulty accepting that his fame and relevancy was diminishing. A poisonous blend of a lack of acceptance and insecurities manifested into this off-putting online braggadocious persona.

Ladanye doesn’t have to adjust to a hyper-evolving art (card sleight of hand is pretty set in stone), but hyper-evolving online community spaces like TikTok. He does not use his arrogant persona to attack fellow magicians but rather internet trolls that go after him personally or his abilities. What is charming about Jason, then, is not his arrogance, but that he is responding to an initial attack or challenge.

Imagine there is a martial arts master practicing by himself in a garden. Easily dispatching multiple challengers who disrupt him in this garden, all leagues less practiced, can be cool and charming.

Let’s compare that to a martial arts master who goes out and picks on people on the street. Both masters here are confident, and can display an arguably similar amount of arrogance in both situations. The difference is the context in which this arrogance is chosen to be displayed.

Social magic is challenging because you cannot dissociate into some weird corporate entity in a suit. Jason’s persona also works because he’s like that at the Magic Castle too. You have to constantly reflect on your art, community, and self to get away with this, and if you are ever in a position where you need to hand off the torch, you must try to recognize it. Offering constructive criticism when asked is crucial for any development in magic. Create a distinction between that and being an asshole. Analyze your perspective, Tudor, have you created a true improvement or a self-made and reinforced doctrine you refuse to let go of?

Social magic isn’t a term with a single meaning. It can also mean how you behave amidst your cohort in this strange and beautiful art.

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