Rudy Coby (born Rudolph Coby; April 22, 1964), also known as "Labman", is an American comedic
magician. He is a member of the
Magic Castle
The Magic Castle is a clubhouse for magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. It is in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California and it bills itself as "the most unusual private club in t ...
in Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, Coby appeared in several small theatrical live shows, and on broadcast television. He is known for delivering electric and original comedic performances, of which stage magic plays a large part. He also works closely with rock musician and film director
Marilyn Manson.
In the mid-1990s, Coby and his troupe of illusionist comrades performed in the Gem Theatre in downtown Detroit for an unprecedented thirteen weeks. Coby also published a bundle of lecture notes, titled ''"How To Become A World Famous Magician"''.
After a hiatus of 14 years, Coby returned to performing in 2009, including a twelve-week run between June 13 – September 7 at the Galaxy Theater at
Valleyfair
Valleyfair is a amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota, United States. Owned by Cedar Fair, the park opened in 1976 and now features over 75 rides and attractions including eight roller coasters. Valleyfair also has a water park called Soak ...
, a theme park in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
.
In 2012, he performed on the
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
episode of ''
America's Got Talent'' during its
seventh season, but did not advance to the semifinals.
Work with Marilyn Manson
Coby is known to have worked with Manson from 2003, initially developing new material
as well as stage magic. Coby designed much of Manson's set and props for stage shows including
The Last Tour on Earth
''The Last Tour on Earth'' is a live album comprising recordings from Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals Tour, Beautiful Monsters Tour and Rock is Dead Tour, released on November 12, 1999. On the studio version of " The Dope Show", Manson say ...
.
He has also been Manson's roommate; his room being used as part of the cover of the album
Eat Me, Drink Me with this news released as some of the first promotional information regarding Manson's track, ''Devour'', from the 2009 album
The High End of Low
''The High End of Low'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on May 20, 2009 by Interscope Records. Multiple editions of the record were released by the label, each containing unique bonus tracks. ...
.
When Rudy Coby did a revival of his stage show in 2010, Marilyn Manson played the role of his nemesis.
Performances
Coby plays an
alter ego, "Labman", a scientist who performs amazing deeds. Labman works for a fictional company, "LabCo", with the slogan "Smarter Than You". Labman was earlier featured as a
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
character made up by Coby as a child and also made into a publicity pamphlet. Since doing the TV shows, Coby published several comics featuring the enigmatic hero.
Coby's 'four legs' act is said to have inspired the director of the French film,
Delicatessen (film), to include a multi-legged hero in the film after reportedly seeing him on Patrick Sebastien's early show, "Sebastien, c'est Fou!".
Coby also contributed sections of "Labman" material to ''
Gladiators 2000
''Gladiators 2000'' is a children's game show and spin-off of '' American Gladiators''. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Maria Sansone (replaced by Valarie Rae Miller in Season 2). Season 5 ''American Gladiators'' grand champion Peggy Odita se ...
'', a children's version of ''
American Gladiators'', in 1995.
Coby's TV specials and live performances often feature several characters, including his robotic female assistant, Nikki Terminator, his sidekick, Atom, and others. Two TV specials were filmed, in 1995 and 1996.
''Rudy Coby: The Coolest Magician on Earth'' (1995)
This TV special was first screened in the USA on 21 May 1995. Coby's first show begins with a general display of magic, timed to music. Rudy then performs several tricks, some with audience participation, before "accidentally" cutting his assistant Nikki Terminator in half with a chainsaw. A lengthy plot ensues, in which Rudy, as Labman, searches for replacement legs for Nikki and a way to reattach them.
He then attempts to "dethrone
Harry Houdini" by performing "The World's Most Dangerous Card Trick". The trick is ultimately a joke, hyped up to humorous levels. Coby selects a child from the audience, gets him to select a card at random, and wires himself up to a cardboard bomb (telling the volunteer not to be "fooled by its cheesy cardboard-like appearance"). He tells the volunteer to detonate the bomb at an appropriate time, and after deliberately fudging up the times, gets set on fire but eventually produces the correct card, proving himself to be "The Coolest Magician on Earth".
''Rudy Coby: Ridiculously Dangerous'' (1996)
This TV special was first screened in the USA on May 6, 1996.
[IMDb.com (1990–2009) "Rudy Coby: Ridiculously Dangerous (1996)(TV)" Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258155/ (Accessed: 14/12/09)] The show's highlights are Labman's superheroic struggles with crime. The show introduces a number of supervillains, including 'The Hourglass' – who turns out to be Labman's ex-girlfriend! Others include "Magic Dave", a thinly disguised parody of
David Copperfield
''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...
. Rudy deals with each of the supervillains by besting them in a magic trick.
Notable illusions
One device used in both shows is LabCo's "Hypnotron 2000", an animated
optical illusion (designed by
Jerry Andrus
Jerry Andrus (January 28, 1918 – August 26, 2007) was an American magician and writer known internationally for his original close-up, sleight of hand tricks and optical illusions, such as the famous "Linking Pins".
Early life
Andrus was born ...
) in which concentric rings of black/white stripes rotate in alternating directions. Coby shows this animation for about fifteen seconds, and then instructs viewers to look at a photograph, or the back of their hand, to see the object they look at appear to distort in front of their eyes. This device is a well-known example of the
motion aftereffect
The motion aftereffect (MAE) is a visual illusion experienced after viewing a moving visual stimulation, stimulus for a time (tens of milliseconds to minutes) with stationary eyes, and then fixating a stationary stimulus. The stationary stimulus ...
.
The Hypnotron 2000 was reportedly so popular in the first show that Coby had to perform it again in the second.
References
External links
*
Fan Site
Bio at Patterson and Associates as "The Four-Legged Man"*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coby, Rudy
American magicians
1964 births
Living people
Television personalities from New York City
America's Got Talent contestants