- Here we go, we'll cover the salt shaker, it becomes a ketchup bottle.

Cover the ketchup bottle, it becomes salt shaker.

But to do that.

When you're doing magic that's visual, it's like the silent movies.

If it happened, it speaks for itself.

My name is Lon Cerel and this is my take on magic.

I am a full-time Rhode Island-based entertainer, general practitioner of the art of magic, and have been doing it since I was nine years old.

(funky music) I think the first magician we all get introduced to is Harry Houdini.

Back in 1926, the last time Houdini appeared in Providence, he was performing at the Providence Opera House.

And Houdini, in order to promote his appearances, would hang upside down by his ankles and wriggle out of a straight jacket.

He would attract hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

I felt that it was a rite of passage that I needed to do something similar.

So in 1976, I was elevated by a Providence hook and ladder truck to 200 feet over the Providence River, dangling by a rope, put in a straight jacket by Providence State Police, and wriggled outta the strait jacket, freeing myself.

50 years, almost, later to the day when Houdini performed it in Providence.

When magic is popular on a national or international level, that propels my career, or certainly that gives my career a solid place to stand.

Doug Henning, the magician, became very famous.

And as soon as Doug Henning moved on, a kid by the name of David Copperfield appeared.

And David Copperfield lifted magic up and became an international and national sensation with 10, 12 TV specials, and that made magic relevant.

And then there was Siegfried and Roy in Las Vegas.

And now moving it forward, "America's Got Talent."

- Can you confirm, is that your signature?

- It is.

(Howie chuckling) - [Magician] Will you flip that over for me?

- Are you kidding me?

(tense music) - Is that your card?

(crowd cheering) - Thank you very much.

(audience cheering) - That keeps magic relevant in people's minds.

They'll think, why don't we do a magician.

I don't have lions and tigers, but I have a very cute rabbit who's very self-centered, and it's actually his show.

In 1971, Henny Youngman, the king of the one-liners.

- How are y'all?

I'm glad to be here.

Take my wife, please.

(audience laughing) - Henny Youngman was master of ceremonies at a magician's conference.

So I went up with a few other people and met Henny Youngman.

And he must have seen something in my eyes or my enthusiasm.

He said, "Keep in touch."

I kept in touch.

When I graduated Providence College in 1978, he said, "Well, why don't you come down to Manhattan?"

And for seven years I was opening act for Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners.

And I was this 18, 20-year-old kid.

I found myself surrounded by a who's who of show business legends and icons.

Back then, I was a starstruck kid.

Okay, I'm 67, I'm still a starstruck kid.

I never got over it.

(funky music) I think it's a mistake every kid going into magic does, you try to be something other than yourself.

I was extremely nerdy, geeky, introverted growing up, and I used magic as a way to express myself.

I started off, I was trying to be the suave guy with producing doves from nowhere to beautiful music, and it was so not me.

I think eventually you realize that the closer you're true to your own self, the more honest you can be with your audience, and the more the audience is going to accept you.

And here we are 47 years later, I've never had any other job.

(Lon clapping) My name is Lon Cerel and this was my take on magic.