5 Standout Magicians from Got Talent 2023

From Britain, Canada and America's Got Talent

This past week the magic buying community got itself into a frenzy when a highly anticipated and very hyped magic trick was released to the community. People were upset, others feigned disinterest, but everyone played into the marketing hype and did what the creators would have wanted, which is talk about their product!

I had no idea this was coming out until I heard the noise, and now I’m even talking about it!

Those who liked what they saw would have bought it and those who wouldn’t have avoided it, whether out of hate or that it didn’t suit their performing needs. As with all magic releases, the true test is whether we’re still talking about it and using it many months later.

And if you’re wondering if I’m getting it? I’ve got enough magic to get through and test out before buying anything new, so no, I’m not likely to ever purchase it.

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Some of my favourite acts this year

This year’s Got Talent shows have come and gone with another great batch of magicians to watch out for.

However, we aren’t watching these magicians for their releases, we have enough magic and resources already and these magicians aren’t here to sell us their tricks. We should keep an eye on them because they’re here to showcase their art and we want to see how far they go in their magical journeys. We can also be inspired by how they’ve approached magic for a wide audience or just sit back and enjoy their shows.

As magicians, we need to be supportive and celebrate other magicians, starting with these few from the last year.

Anna DeGuzman (AGT)

Anna burst onto the magic scene by virtue of being the only girl doing cardistry, before dipping her toes into magic as well.

She’s the first female magician to make it to the AGT finale¹ and did so without changing what makes her unique or compromising her magic. She stuck with cards, incorporated cardistry and continued to be her playful self despite the nervousness. Unfortunately, Anna didn’t win but she did place second, which isn’t bad for a card exclusive act!

Anna is a great example of someone who has soared to new heights just by shuffling some cards. In fact I wrote about what we can learn from her act in a previous post.

Atsushi Ono (CGT)

I had never heard of Atsushi before I saw him on Canada’s Got Talent, but that’s what these shows are for!

From his audition you knew he was different, his amazing coin routine² was capped off with a nice kicker foreshadowed previously. He has an odd sense of humour I greatly enjoy and could play big with out of the box presentations for his finale performance.

I’m sure we’ll eventually see him on Americas Got Talent in the future.

Enzo Weyne (BGT)

Enzo is a stage illusionist that has been part of the Illusionists touring show.

He made his debut on Britain’s Got Talent with his unique take on stage illusions, playing on the audiences need to guess how things are done and then subverting them in unexpected ways. I’m a really big fan of teleportations and Enzo does them very well. He took a big gamble making one of the MCs vanish and reappear for his semifinal act³, it was done very well but it was a shame he didn’t get a finals slot.

I’m glad there are still magicians like Enzo looking to advance the art of stage illusions.

Mandy Muden (AGT)

Mandy is a mentalist from England, but unlike the most famous mentalist over there (Derren Brown), she doesn’t take things so seriously.

Mandy had previously been on BGT so she was no stranger to the stage when she arrived on America’s Got Talent. Her act is so enjoyable with her slapstick physical humour, self deprecating jokes and zingers you could forget you’re watching a magic act. Mentalists often struggle to make their mind reading visual or play big, but Mandy combines magic and stage illusions to help her mentalism play big, as you can see in her qualifiers⁴ performance.

There is much to learn from Mandy in how she approaches comedy and mentalism, a very unexplored subgenre compared to comedy magic.

Trigg Watson (AGT)

Trigg Watson successfully combined technology and magic in new ways we haven’t seen before.

I have previously written about him, so I don’t want to be repetitive, but Trigg’s acts were so unique and different it was so fun to see what was possible in the world of technology and magic. We only saw an audition and semi finals performance, so never got to see what Trigg had up his sleeve for his finale if he had made it that far, but I’m sure if you catch any shows he does in the future you may get a taste.

In a world where technology itself is already magical, Trigg finds new ways to make it impossible.

There’s So Many Magicians!

This isn’t the list of best magicians from this past year of Got Talent shows, just the ones I especially enjoyed.

I enjoyed the other magicians I didn’t mention as well, such as Kimoon Do, Sangsoon Kim, Ryland and more but these five stood out to me and got people talking. Then there’s also magicians from the non-english Got Talent shows which I haven’t explored! I’m so happy that magic on Got Talent shows are portrayed in such a positive way now, as much as some may not like it, these are the modern vaudeville shows, so if you have a chance to see it live go for it!

Let me know which magicians you enjoyed and want to see more of.

1. Anna’s Finale Act

2. Atsushi’s Coin Routine Audition

3. Enzo’s Semi Final Act

4. Mandy’s Qualifiers Act