Right now, she's the only female magician with her very own show in Las Vegas.

Jen Kramer is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon joining you from the Westgate where our guest has headlined for more than five years.

You may have seen her on the Today Show, Fox & Friends, or Penn & Teller: Fool Us.

She's a magician, a Yale graduate, even a black belt in Shotokan Karate.

Jen Kramer, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Jen Kramer) Amber, thank you for having me.

It's great to be with you.

-It's hard to know where to start.

You are a woman of many talents.

But for our local viewers, I first want to establish that your history in Las Vegas goes beyond your residency here at the Westgate.

What has this city meant to you?

-I absolutely love Las Vegas.

What a special city.

Ever since I was a kid and I started learning magic, Las Vegas was this magic mecca, this Entertainment Capital of the World.

And so I always dreamed of having the opportunity to do a magic residency here in Vegas.

And I think since moving here, I've lived here now for about 10 years, and I've realized what a home Las Vegas is, what a community it is, and what a sense of community there is among Las Vegas residents.

And I think that really makes Vegas so special as well.

-And what was the path that led to you getting this residency?

You did some internships, right?

-I did.

I did.

So I grew up in New York.

And I thought, okay, Vegas is this place I'd love to be.

At the time, I had only been to Vegas very briefly for a magic convention here or there.

And I thought, okay, I would love to just learn as much as I can about this Vegas showbiz world.

So for two summers while I was in college, I interned for the Nathan Burton Show and had such a great experience working with Nathan and his team and just really getting a chance to immerse myself in the Las Vegas magic and entertainment scene.

They say there are more magicians per square foot in Vegas than anywhere, and I love that about Las Vegas.

-And you had to pitch yourself to certain hotels to get your first gig, right?

-I did.

You've done your homework, Amber.

[laughter] -Your story is really good.

-Thank you so much.

Yes, from my dorm room in New Haven, Connecticut, while I was at Yale, I remember thinking, okay, I've got to just be proactive and go after this thing that I love.

I thought, okay, when I graduate, I want to take a risk.

This is the time to do it, to really go for it, to give it my absolute best shot.

So I started reaching out cold-calling, cold-emailing from my dorm room to venues in Las Vegas, pitching my concept for a show.

And I knew at that point I hadn't established a personal relationship with most of the people I was reaching out to, and I thought, okay, chances are, you know, I'm going to get a lot of noes.

I shouldn't take those personally because, again, I was just reaching out, out of the blue and saying, hey, here's what I'd love to do.

But I thought if I just get one yes, it's a win.

So I continued to reach out, sent my materials.

And my goal was can I sit down in a room with them face-to-face, because I thought if it was the decision maker and me sitting with each other and I could really share the idea, I could show them magic, I felt like that was my best chance of making something happen.

So after reaching out to lots of places, sure enough, many of them said, Oh, we've never done this before, or, We don't have the space or the budget.

There were a few people who were open to having a conversation about it in person.

And so I flew out to Las Vegas during the spring break of my senior year of college and met with a gentleman who ended up, ended up being the first regular show I did in Las Vegas.

After that show was running for about a month--we had a working model, it was going well--started another weekly show a few months later, another one, and did those shows for the next four years until the opportunity came along to do my show here at Westgate, which has been such a dream.

And I'm just super grateful for the opportunity.

-You were doing that at 14, performing at a Barnes & Noble, right?

-Yes, yes.

I've loved books ever since I was a kid.

It was actually a magic book that first got me into magic.

My Uncle Steve gave me a book called The Royal Road to Card Magic.

Totally changed my life.

And I remember during my lunch period when I was 14, I took my first cell phone, one of those little flip phones, and I called up the local community manager of the Barnes & Noble because I had seen the storytime stage.

You know how they have the storytime in the kids' section where you'll read books to the kids?

And I thought, you know what?

That would be a great place to do my magic show.

I wonder if they'd be open to the idea.

So I gave them a call, and they said, You know what?

We'll try it out.

You can do an audition show.

So I went in, did a show, it went well, and that ended up becoming my first regular show.

We did that every other week for the next few years and met lots of families, ended up performing for lots of private parties at the time because of that Barnes & Noble show.

So it was a great chance to "get that flight time," as Lance Burton would say.

-How proud is your uncle of you?

-It's amazing how sometimes those seemingly tiny moments in life can have such an outsized impact.

That one book he gave me when I was 10 years old, I mean, it ended up completely changing the entire trajectory of my life.

And I will forever be grateful to him for that.

-Outside of being a successful magician who travels the world and speaks how many languages?

-Four.

-And they are?

-English and French, Spanish and Swahili.

-Wow!

Outside of those accomplishments, your family has plenty of reasons to be proud of you.

Another being that you graduated from Yale with honors, a degree in Theater Studies, I believe, and while there, founded the Yale Magic Society.

How difficult was that, to pitch that to the powers that be at an Ivy League school like Yale?

-Yeah.

So I thought there would be an existing magic group on campus.

After all, it felt like the Harry Potter school.

But at the time, there wasn't one, so I found some other magicians floating around campus and founded the Yale Magic Society.

And it became this great community of magicians.

We'd give each other feedback.

We'd meet regularly.

We'd perform on campus and in the New Haven community.

To this day, I love that connection with other magicians and just connection with people overall.

I feel like magic is this great way to connect with people, and that's something I love so much.

-How so?

How do you connect with people through magic?

-Well, to me, magic brings out the five-year-old in everyone.

It brings out that childlike sense of wonder.

And I think that is something really special to get to see, especially in a world where everything-- information is at the tips of our fingers.

Everything is Googleable.

You want an answer to something, you look it up.

On your phone, you have the answer in milliseconds.

So I think that makes magic especially exciting and valuable, because it keeps that sense of mystery, that sense of wonder alive.

-Speaking of magic societies, you are a member of the Society of American Magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the Academy of Magical Arts, and Hollywood's world famous Magic Castle.

But are you a member of perhaps the most famous magic society in the world, The Magic Circle?

-I am not a member of The Magic Circle.

They're based in London.

But I did visit The Magic Circle when I was in the UK, and it's, you know, it has a great rich history.

-And part of that history, though, is that it did not allow women members until 1991.

Your thoughts on that?

-That's true.

I think magic has definitely been a historically male dominated field for sure.

I think when many people think of a magician, the image of a man comes to mind.

You think of a woman, and you think of the woman as the magic assistant.

But that has really changed.

And I think-- you brought up The Magic Circle.

I think The Magic Circle is an example of since 1991, and it is kind of wild to think it's 1991.

-Doesn't sound that long ago.

-Right.

But the most recent past president of The Magic Circle is a woman named Megan Swann, a wonderful magician herself.

And I think that goes to show that The Magic Circle has made great strides.

I mean, she was the past president.

She was the leader of The Magic Circle.

And I think the magic world overall is moving in a direction where more and more women are getting involved as magicians, and I want to make sure to mention there have been phenomenal women in magic in the past, working today, you know, many more to come in the future.

I think there are only more and more, which is super exciting.

But I also want to just recognize the many great, great female magicians who have come before us, because there really have been some incredible women in magic over the years and continue to be.

-Okay.

Last thing about The Magic Circle: One of its most important rules is that you do not reveal your magic tricks unless to a bonafide student, a fellow magician, or a historian of magic.

It's why Penn and Teller have famously been denied membership to The Magic Circle.

Where do you stand on sharing your magic tricks, your secrets?

-The magicians' code.

-Yeah?

-It goes back to that experience of wonder.

And ultimately, I think to make the experience as special for the audience as possible, I think it's important that magicians do guard their secrets.

If somebody has a genuine interest in learning magic, if they put in the effort to-- -Bonafide student.

-Exactly.

If they're going to go and buy a magic book or if they're going to go to a magic meeting, they're putting in that time, that effort.

They're showing that they really have a genuine desire as opposed to just mere curiosity.

Because I think that mere curiosity, the risk there is that you don't get to then experience the wonder that magic is all about.

I think that's what it comes down to for me.

-And it's time now for us to have some wonder of our own.

Do you mind showing us one of your tricks?

-I would love for you to think in your mind right now of any number on this die.

Up to you.

Now, I do not want to know what this number is.

So Amber, I'm going to turn my back.

But I want to make sure the viewers at home can be included in this.

So Amber, whichever number you want.

Let's say you want the number two.

-Uh-huh.

-Just put the number two face up like this and cover it up so that I cannot see it.

So they can take a look, but I cannot see.

So I will turn my back.

Any number you want face up and then cover it up.

-All right.

I'm waiting-- -Make sure I'm not peeking.

Keep me honest here.

Yes, make sure no peeking allowed.

And then let me know whenever it is completely covered up so I cannot see it.

-It is completely covered up.

-Okay.

So I can turn around?

-Yes.

-Okay.

Amber, I want you to concentrate on that number.

Now my odds of getting this right are only 1 in 6.

-Right.

-Think about it.

Give me your best poker face.

[laughter] -You got this.

Oh, perfect.

You're a natural.

Think about it.

I'm getting the impression here-- and you don't have to say if I'm on the right track, but I'm getting the impression that you're thinking of a higher number.

Don't tell me if I'm right or wrong.

I'm gonna say not a one or a two.

It could be a three, a four, five, six, a five.

Amber, for you, I'm gonna say, are you thinking right now of the number five?

-You got it.

You got it.

Five.

That was it.

-Number five.

But you know what, Amber?

Let's take this to the next level.

Sometimes people say-- they'll watch me do this, and they'll say, Are you looking for some kind of a micro expression, something on Amber's face?

And so I thought, let's do this a little bit differently.

Instead of counting through the numbers, we'll kick it up a notch.

It'll start the same way.

I'll turn my back.

Any number you'd like, you put face up.

Cover it right up.

I will not peek.

Try it one more time.

-Okay.

-Okay.

Is it completely covered?

-Yes.

-Okay.

So I can turn back.

Think about that number.

-Okay.

-This time, I'm going to ask you a couple of seemingly unrelated questions.

Amber, based on your answers, I'll simply do my best to tell you the number you're thinking of.

-Okay.

-Okay.

Amber, where did you grow up?

-Phoenix, Arizona.

-Phoenix, Arizona.

Beautiful place.

And the first thing that comes to your mind right now, Amber, what is your all-time favorite food?

-Tacos.

-Tacos.

I love tacos.

You can't go wrong with a great taco.

Amber, what's interesting about this is that when I do this with the die enough, you start to notice there are these patterns among people.

For instance, people who grew up in Phoenix who also happen to love tacos always seem to think of the number six.

It's the strangest thing.

-That's it.

-The number six?

-You are amazing, Jen Kramer.

Thank you so much for joining Nevada Week In Person.

Come see her at the Westgate.

And for more interviews like this, go to vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

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