As a child, Steve Wyrick was a Texas boy with Las Vegas dreams. Growing up in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, Wyrick was amazed by what David Copperfield did with his television specials, and thought he might be able to make his mark as a magician, too.

Wyrick started out with the traditional magic acts—card tricks, disappearing and reappearing coins, balls, etc.—but soon progressed. He won several competitions at the age of 14, and when he was 15, he took ninth place at the International Federation of Magic Societies  competition in Madrid. The competition, held once every three years, is like the Olympics of magic, attracting the best talent from around the world.

The ninth place finish was a good start, but Wyrick soon realized he was going to need to develop a show, rather than simply perform his illusions on stage. His production soon grew from eight to 40 minutes. It took him to corporate gigs, to a headlining gig in Branson, Missouri and finally to Las Vegas, where he landed a headlining gig at the Lady Luck in 1996.

He has since moved on and plays six nights a week in the Steve Wyrick Theater at Planet Hollywood. The theater has an attached nightclub, Triq.



Was Las Vegas always the ultimate destination for you?

Vegas was always the plan. The reason it was always the plan is the one thing I got into this business for is I love performing. I love seeing the looks on people’s faces and meeting the fans.

 The one thing not fulfilling in the corporate market was that some months I would perform two shows, some eight shows, some months no shows. For someone who loved to perform, it wasn’t fulfilling. When you think about it, if you want to perform, you want to perform every day.



What do people get when they come to see Steve Wyrick perform?

One thing so many people in the autograph line after the show say is that they feel like it’s a Broadway show with a lot of magic in it. There are so many stories, and they’re told with magic. It’s something that I feel is completely different than any other production in Las Vegas.

The show is about me and my family. It is a true family show, yet it is also cutting edge. If a couple of young guys want to see some good looking ladies, the show has that. But it is also tasteful for the whole family.

I created a show that takes into account my morals and my values while remaining contemporary and broad enough to appeal to a much wider demographic.




How important is the audience to your show?

They’re the one necessary thing. To me they are the most important part of the show.

Everything I do is for the people coming to watch me. I talk a lot more than most magicians. I’ve been headlining in Las Vegas for 11 years, so it’s something I feel comfortable doing, and it is the one necessary element to really connect with your audience.



As much as you ask the audience to participate in your show, have you ever had to deal with some people getting unruly?

As of now, I have not.

In my early years at Lady Luck, I did have to deal with quite a few things like that. The people who would come Downtown were the 99-cent hot dog folks. Some of them would have a couple too many. When I left Downtown, that all stayed down there. Now there are ushers and different ways.
If someone shows up that inebriated, they wouldn’t let them into the show.



Do you have any memorable moments of audience participation? A case where everything went horribly right or just perfectly wrong?

Because I’ve been headlining in Las Vegas, I’ve seen a little bit of everything. There are so many things that happen in every show.

But the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in a live show happened in Japan. I brought a young lady up on stage who had had a little too much sake. In the middle of the trick, I leaned over and was grabbing something off of the table and the audience erupted in laughter. It was the kind of laughter comedians dream of.

I turned around and the lady is naked on the stage. She was a little toasted and decided to pull off the yukada and drop it on the floor.

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.

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