Jamy Ian Swiss (born November 30, 1952, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

) is an American magician, author, speaker, historian of magic, essayist, book reviewer, and scientific skeptic. He is known for sleight-of-hand with

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

Magic

Swiss is a sleight-of-hand performer who specializes in close-up card magic, stage magic, and mentalism.''The Real Work''
''The New Yorker'', March 17, 2008 He first got into magic at age 7. He has spoken and performed across the United States, including for companies such as

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

, and Evernote and for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

, as well as at

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 ...

. He has spoken at The New Yorker Festival. He is a frequent guest speaker at the EG creativity and innovation conference. His show of intimate sleight-of-hand magic, ''Magic: Close-up in Concert'', ran for six months at the Rainbow Room in New York City. It was remounted in San Diego in 2017. Swiss is a co-founder and currently a co-producer and performer for Monday Night Magic, New York City's longest running Off-Broadway show. In 2000, Swiss presented a one-man show ''The Honest Liar'' as part of the New York International Fringe Festival. It was produced by Premiere Productions.

Writing

Jamy Ian Swiss is the author of the

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

collections ''Shattering Illusions,'' ''Devious Standards'' and ''Preserving Mystery,'' all three of which have been reissued in a combined trilogy boxed set''.'' He is the author of the book "Conjurer's Conundrum" which deals with the intersection of magic and skepticism. He is also a co-author of the companion volume to the PBS documentary ''The Art of Magic,'' and the "Explaining Magic" chapter of ''Visual Explanations'' by

Edward Tufte Edward Rolf Tufte (; born March 14, 1942), sometimes known as "ET",. is an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design ...

. Additionally, he has contributed to, or consulted on, the following books, among others: # Pogue, David; '' Magic for Dummies'' #

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo h ...

's ''How to Play with Your Food'' # Gaiman, Neil; ''

American Gods ''American Gods'' (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow. The book was pu ...

'' # Macknick, Stephen & Martinez-Conde, Susana; ''Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions'' # # Lovick, John; ''Switch: Unfolding the $100 Bill Change'' # McCabe, Pete; ''Scripting Magic'' # Riser, Harry; ''Secrets of an Escomateur'' Swiss co-wrote (and wrote the foreword to) the two-volume book set entitled ''The Magic of Johnny Thompson'', which details the secrets of seventy-eight of famed magician Johnny Thompson's most celebrated magic routines. He has written for '' Skeptic magazine'', wrote for '' Genii, the Conjurors’ Magazine'' from April 1993 to January 2013, and contributed a regular column of essays for the quarterly magic journal ''Antimony''. He wrote a regular column of magic book reviews entitle
The Lyon's Den
as well as a 71-part series calle
Take Two
which pays tribute to important figures and additional subjects in the history of magic, including commentary on curated video selections.

Teaching magic and consulting

He has lectured to magicians in 13 countries. He also created and produces ''Card Clinic'', an "intensive seminar on sleight-of-hand magic with playing cards." He is regarded as a mentor, instructor, and consultant to magicians and has been called the "must-read, must-fear

Michiko Kakutani Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life ...

of magic publishing".

Scientific skepticism

A longtime scientific skeptic, Jamy Ian Swiss has spoken widely to skeptic groups and conferences around the United States. He has been featured in on-stage events about skepticism and magic with Penn and Teller,

Ray Hyman Ray Hyman (born June 23, 1928) is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, and a noted critic of parapsychology. Hyman, along with James Randi, Martin Gardner and Paul Kurtz, is one of the founders of the ...

, and others. Swiss is a co-founder of the New York City Skeptics and the National Capital Area Skeptics and as a skeptic of the paranormal, he has been a longtime critic of "unethical mentalists" and "psychic con artists" who use "supernatural deceit" for personal gain. He was a Senior Fellow of the

James Randi Educational Foundation James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of ...

(JREF) where he also served as a member of the Million Dollar Challenge committee (by which the foundation offered a million dollar prize for anyone able to duplicate a paranormal feat under mutually agreed upon test conditions). He is an expert on psychic charlatans, and on the intersection of science, magic, and skepticism.

Media appearances

Print

Swiss has been featured in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and in ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'', ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' , ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

,'' and ''

New York Press ''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the '' Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hen ...

''.

TV and radio

He was a comedy writer and chief magic consultant for

on their television program, ''

Sin City Spectacular ''Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular'' was a weekly American television variety show hosted by Penn and Teller that appeared on the FX Networks from August 10, 1998 - June 30, 1999. The show's aim was to revive the genuine variety shows from t ...

,'' and he was associate producer for 24 episodes. He also served as head writer and associate director for ''The Virtual Magician'' starring

Marco Tempest Marco Tempest (born December 3, 1964) is a Swiss magician based in New York City. He is known for his multimedia magic and use of interactive technology and computer graphics in his illusions and presentations. He stars in the eight-part televis ...

, which aired in 45 countries. Swiss was featured on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

discussing the art of teaching and preserving magic. He has created, produced and performed in the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

documentary, ''Cracking the Con Games.'' He was featured in the TV show

Brain Games (National Geographic) ''Brain Games'' is an American popular science television series that explores cognitive science by focusing on illusions, psychological experiments, and counterintuitive thinking. The series debuted on National Geographic in 2011 as a special. ...

"tricking a group of gamblers." He has also appeared in television programs including '' 48 Hours'', the PBS series ''

NOVA A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

'', the PBS documentary ''The Art of Magic'

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

, and The Late Late Show with

Craig Ferguson Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-born American comedian, actor, writer, and television host. He is best known for hosting the CBS late-night talk show '' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2005–2014), for which he won ...

Movies and documentaries

Swiss was the magic designer for the feature film ''The Fantasticks'' among others. He appeared as a commentator in the documentary ''

Merchants of Doubt ''Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming'' is a 2010 non-fiction book by American historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. It identifies parallels betwe ...

'', drawing a parallel between his 'honest' lying and the deceitful lying in politics and business. He also appeared as a commentator in the feature-length documentary "An Honest Liar" about fellow magician and skeptic

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010 ...

.An Honest Liar
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

References

External links

Home Page

Jamy Ian Swiss on Skepticism

Searchable archive of Jamy Ian Swiss Book Reviews

Card Clinic: three days that will change your magic forever
#
Biography of Jamy Ian Swiss
at Adobe.com
Video of Jamy Ian Swiss
from TAM 2012 on "Overlapping Magisteria" in Skepticism {{DEFAULTSORT:Swiss, Jamy Ian American entertainers Living people American magicians American skeptics Sleight of hand Magic consultants Historians of magic 1952 births