Malik Haddadi: MetroWest Magic
Malik Haddadi is a professional magician, comic, and speaker we adore. He’s provided a path for many local talents by hosting atac open mics, and wowed Framingham residents with close-up magic during 2022’s A Night at the Circus. On April 2, he returns with a full solo show as Malik the MagiComic.
atac: Malik, how’d you find magic? What’s your deal?
Malik Haddadi: I'm a full time comedy magician, husband, dad, and occasional videographer. I was born in MA, have lived on 3 continents, and got into magic as a kid. Like a lot of kids I had a “first magic set,” but the interest really caught hold around age 12 when I learned how to juggle. All throughout high school and college, magic was my jib, and continues to be now.
atac: We ask a lot of people about their favorite records...could you add in some must-have magic media, too?
MH: BB King's Spotlight on Lucille, because BB is the king. Also Joe Satriani's The Extremist. He wrote the whole album and even had a special fixed bridge guitar made, just to stick it to a reviewer who said he was too dependent on his whammy bar. Jeff Healey’s Mess of Blues. It’s the last recording Jeff made before he died. It's the kind of album that will take a non-Blues fan and then them into a disciple.
For must-have magic books, I’ll say anything by Juan Tamariz. Juan is the master of the "Spanish School" and one of the world's greatest card magicians. There’s Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic—when I was in high school, my entire show came out of this book. Mark autographed my copy before he passed. Now You See It, Now you Don't by Bill Tarr is one of the best books on general sleight of hand ever written. I still have my copy from 35 years ago. Related, The Now You See It, Now You Don't Notebook, also by Bill Tarr. This is Bill's later work, with guest contributions by Alan Kronzek. Some of my favorite close-up magic is from this book.
atac: What about the local scene? Any favorite acts or favorite live shows?
MH: Singer songwriter Jay Psaros, comedian Mike Fahey, and mentalist/and hypnotist Peter Gross. The best live show was my daughter's dance recital, because I'm her dad. That, and seeing Michael Carbonarro live.
atac: What's a piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring magician?
MH: Getting up on stage for the first time is the biggest hurdle. After that, it's just refinement. There are long days, be ready for that. The MGM casino in Springfield once hired me for a 24-hour employee party. I did four 3-hour shifts over 2 days, with the second day starting at 7:00 AM. Between my 7:00 shift and my 5:00-8:00 shift that night, I walked up the street to a museum and did another 4 hour shift in between. Long day.
atac: That is a long haul. When you’re working the road, do you ever find memorable hidden gems? The best soup in Wisconsin or anything like that?
MH: Unexpectedly, the Sports Bar at the Springfield MGM has the best cheeseburger I've ever had. The Springfield Museums are an absolute treasure, and the home of the Dr. Suess museum.
atac: What else is on your plate these days besides magic?
MH: Other than being a full time magician, I'm a licensed commercial drone pilot. That basically means I passed a test and now have a license from the FAA to fly my drone for commercial purposes, like real estate photos and such. The test has 60 multiple choice questions, but they don't ask if you even own a drone or know how to fly one.
atac: Magic and comedy both feel like artforms where one could bomb pretty hard—a joke doesn’t land, a trick goes wrong. Can you speak to how the practices overlap?
MH: I wouldn't say I have thoroughly botched a trick, but there have been some mistakes. I once knocked my whole table over in the middle of a show. No way to recover from that, except to make a joke and go on. Most minor mistakes go unnoticed by the audience.
Magic and comedy are both arts that appeal to a sense of the unexpected. I mix them because my mother told me as a child that I was "Too big of a boy to do the graceful stuff," like producing birds and card fans. But I always had a sense of humor, and she encouraged me to incorporate it into my act. I have always had a dry, self-effacing, observational style, and I think it meshes well with the magic I perform. These days I won't perform a trick if I can't figure out a way to add some humor.
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Malik the MagiComic performs at atac on Sunday April 2nd, 2023. The show’s all ages, but 13+ is suggested. Grab tickets here.
