MagicBunny.co.uk

Name: David Acer
Age: 33
Nationality: Canadian
Marital Status: Not married but in a relationship (which depressed me!!)
Type of Magic: Specialises in Close-up magic with a large helping of comedy
Blackpool Conventions: 2

When I arrived at the Blackpool Convention 2003, I had no idea I was going to have such a fun time, I haven't laughed so hard for ages. The guy who really made it for me was David Acer, and I had the good fortune to interview him for ‘Top Hat’.

David Acer is a very funny, very friendly and very approachable man. When he performs his act, he comes across as very skilled, very funny, and very, very manic! Acer had the audience in hysterics even before he had been introduced to start the lecture.

I approached Acer on the last day of the convention asking if he would mind being interviewed for ‘Top Hat’. I was expecting a flat refusal; the last day was a very busy one for the close-up lecturers! So you can imagine my surprise, when, with no hesitation he agreed and actually seemed quite pleased by it!

We arranged to meet a couple of hours after that so I went and sat in a pub, nervously chewing my nails, preparing for an interview with someone who, it's no secret, I have an itsy bitsy crush on!!! (It's the hair that really does it for me!!!)

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing Acer do his stuff, I shall attempt to describe it and him for you. Acer is a very skilled close-up magician, which he performs with his own unique style of humour. He is a tall man, who, apart from his hair (loose hanging curls, think Alan Davies as Jonathan Creek type hair) he does not appear to have any remarkable features, until he starts performing that is! Acer has the most wonderfully expressive face; with one well-timed look he can bring forth a gale of laughter from his audience.

When the time came, I went to meet Acer. I told him a little bit about us at Magic Bunny and gave him one of our lovely bunny badges, which he pinned on his jumper immediately!

As I was chatting with Acer, he comes over as a warm, funny guy with a great sense of calm surrounding him. When people approached him for his autograph he jumped into the manic character he uses when he performs his act.

Laura: Have you any effects that you have developed that you would not teach to other magicians?

David Acer: No. Any of the effects I perform has so much of my personality in it, that if another magician performed the same effect, it would be totally different anyway!

Laura: What is the most difficult slight you have found to master?

David Acer: Mouth Coils!!

Laura: When, why and how did you get into magic?

David Acer: I started to perform magic when I was 9 years old, 1979. That Christmas I had a magic trick in my stocking. I was a very shy kid and my mother saw how fascinated I was by it from across the other side of the room! The next week she said she was going to take me out to a special place, and we went to a magic shop in the city. It kinda' started from there really.

Laura: What is the best advice you have received from another magician?

David Acer: I haven't really received any advice from other magicians, but this is the best bit of advice I have ever got. ‘Listen to everything anybody has to say, but never assume they know more about it than you’.

Laura: Who told you that?

David Acer: [with a sheepish grin] Umm, nobody, I just made it up!!

Laura: Fair enough! With the advance of the Internet, magic has become a lot more accessible and the secrets are easily obtainable. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

David Acer: [With a resigned sigh as if he has had to answer this question thousands of times before] Magicians' opinions on this are irrelevant. That's the way it is and we, as magicians, have to accept it and be more flexible.

Laura: Which magician do you most admire?

David Acer: I can't really say that I admire any magicians, I respect them and what they do, but I don't really admire them. In the entertainment business I admire Steve Martin, he has a lot of irons in the fire with acting, writing and doing bits of magic, so yeah, that's who I admire.

Laura: Which magicians have had an effect on your act?

David Acer: Jay Sankey, Richard Saunders and Rick Bronson. They are all guys who will tell me if my act is good and I can believe them, and they will also tell me when there is something wrong with act. That hurts, but I guess it needs to be done, so they have had an effect on my act.

Laura: Does being funny come naturally to you, or do you have to work at it?

David Acer: I think you can have a natural instinct for some things, like being funny, but it takes research and development to be able to be good at it. The best way to learn how to be funny is to perform, when you are doing three or four shows a week it's amazing how quickly you get better!

Laura: Before becoming a magician, did you have any previous jobs?

David Acer: Nope, I got a degree in philosophy and then went to work in a magic shop, which I guess is a job in retail, but it was still with magic. I worked there for six or seven years and then moved on to be a magician.

Laura: If you weren't a magician, what job do you think you would like to do?

David Acer: I would like to go into advertising, that way I would still be doing something creative.

Laura: What would you say has been your greatest magical achievement?

David Acer: Longevity [I complained I couldn't spell that so he changed his answer] Okay. Being in magic for 18 years. [And then added] Without killing anyone!

Laura: And finally, what is your biggest magical ambition?

David Acer: I have just finished writing a new book called ‘Random Acts of Magic’ which will be out in October. I'm very proud of it and I think it is my best book, so yeah, I'm just looking forward to that really.

Hmmm, David Acer, his website says it all really, ‘Comedian, Magician and all round cuddly guy’.

If you want to find out more about David Acer go and visit his website http://www.davidacer.com

By Lady Laura