Magician James Randi (known as ‘The Amazing Randi’) has spent most of his career debunking the claims of self-proclaimed psychics and paranormalists – and this December he is bringing his unique brand of sceptic justice to Australia.
Randi has an international reputation as a magician and escape artist, but he is perhaps best known as the world’s most tireless investigator and de-mystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He even created his own foundation in 1996 – the 'James Randi Education Foundation' – to further his work and to challenge psychics to prove their abilities for a prize of $1 million (it remains unclaimed).
Enter the enlightening and thought-provoking mind of James Randi:What do you think makes someone a skeptical thinker?
Perhaps experience. Certainly as a professional magician you see I would have the experience of fooling people and fooling them for the purposes of entertainment. Not trying to swindle them in anyway of course and as a magician, or conjurer is a better term really, a more accurate term, I know how people are so easily deceived. But because my heart is a complicated one in many ways but it’s mostly psychological, it’s done by misdirection and certain subtleties that we have to master as conjurers. I think I’ve done it tolerably well enough to make a living for the past 86 years.
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In terms of the paranormal, how has skepticism changed throughout your 80-odd years?
Well that’s an interesting question and thank-you for it. The interesting thing about the conjuring trade to me is that Asia has entered into it but formerly it didn’t take very much interest in it. I had Asian, Chinese and Japanese friends in various parts of the world who I would see when I went travelling and now I find that these people are available on TV and Skype and what not very easily. And they have come into the modern world and there are some young people from Asia, men and women, which is very present of course, women have been typically not interested in this kind of professional following. They now are much more interested and I’ve seen some wonderful stuff done by Asian artists, that’s the major change that I’ve seen. But the change that I’ve not yet seen, which is rather interesting in a way, is that modern technology has not been used very much by conjurers in their trade but it can be used. I use some technical things that most of the magicians just push aside. They say ‘Oh you know, you don’t need to do that.’ It’s not a case whether I need to do it it’s whether it has any advantage, and they seem to be a little bit behind and keeping up to science and technology as they should. Those are the two changes I’ve seen in the conjuring trade.
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You recognise as an atheist, how do you believe the world became to exist?
Well now, how much time have we got?
It’s not a case of how it came to exist. The fact is that it is here. And we know a great deal more about it than we knew in the Middle Ages. A lot of people are unaware of what we’ve learned since the Middle Ages. There is no evidence of survival after death – oh there’s lots of bad evidence but no really good evidence. There are ways or proving whether or not these things exist and I have through the 'James Randi Education Foundation', which is my home so to speak, intellectually, I have a $1 million prize – not my money, it was contributed to our fund. We have $1 million in cash, which is available to any person or persons who can provide evidence that the paranormal a cult or supernatural of any kind under proper observing conditions exists. I’m looking out my window but I don’t see a line up out there. I’m offering $1 million to something people say they do every day, they actually make a living doing it. Well do it for me under properly controlled conditions and you get a million dollars. And you suddenly hear the line go dead on the other end. They just aren’t interested in that. It leads me to the conclusion that maybe what they’re claiming is not quite right. I don’t say there are no such thing as supernatural powers, what I say is prove it and get the $1 million and yet there isn’t a line up outside my window right now and that surprises me.
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Would you consider yourself an optimist, realist or pessimist?
Oh I don’t know if I’m any of those. I try to be an optimist, I think that’s a healthy attitude but looking at the news recently, I’m losing a bit of faith in my species and what they will do and why they will do it. I’m still optimistic because for one reason: as I do these tours in Australia very shortly, I will get many people who will, I believe and I certainly hope, might change their minds about some sort of supernatural or paranormal event that they think is already established. During my lectures I do demonstrations that may convince some of them. It’s very interesting, I get people coming to me, in some cases with tears in their eyes, saying ‘I never knew that Mr Randi, you’ve made a great deal of difference in the way I think about these things’. Now that is the kind of thing you can’t purchase. This is something that comes automatically, not with everybody – oh no there’s some people that just walk away and lift their chins, walking away in great disdain because I don’t believe these things actually happen. But it’s not a case whether I believe or not. I’ve put an offer of $1 million, not my money but my foundations money, for anyone who can prove that I’m wrong. So far no one has come anywhere near it.
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Though you're a skeptical thinker, for leisure do you enjoy books/movies that are complete fantasy and everything against your real life beliefs?
Oh yes because they are meant as fantasy. The act I do on stage is complete fantasy as a magician. I have in the past done jail breaks and straight jacket escapes, stranded upside down from buildings and what not, and all of that is a little bit of fantasy like, something that you’re introducing to people but I’m a play actor. I am an actor, playing the part of a magician. I’m a conjurer who impersonates the approximate effect of a magician, and that’s why I use the term conjurer much more often than I do magician.
Houdini is an inspiration to most, if not all magicians, what other magicians would you consider great influences?
Well if I start naming magicians, I’ll have to leave a lot of people out and that could put me in a very awkward position. But Harry Blackstone, Senior and Junior, both are great inspirations for me. I saw my first magician, Harry Blackstone Senior, at the Casino Theatre in Toronoto Canada, when I was just 12 years of age, and coincidentally it cost 12 cents to get in in those days. I actually went backstage after seeing what he did on stage and I wanted to talk to him. He was very warm and welcoming, he put his hand around me and took me to the dressing room and he showed me a couple of simple hand tricks. To tell you the whole story, he took a famous poster of Harry Blackstone showing him levitating a camel on stage. He autographed it to me, to my real name, which is not James Randi. He rolled it up and I put it under my arm and I headed on my way home. I was very late getting home that night, my parents were in a terrible state by the time I came up to the front door. They said ‘Where have you been, we were almost ready to call the police’. And I said ‘But I went to see Harry Blackstone and he gave me this – uh oh…’ I left the poster on the bus. So some place in Toronto Canada, I’m sure there is still a poster on a bus some place and it’s signed to Randall and it belongs to me. If anyone should find it, I expect it to be returned post haste please.
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Though you've been retired for some years, do you still dabble in magic?
I don’t know that I’ve ever retired, frankly. Because doing the lectures that I do around the world, I’m constantly on the move. I’m on my way to Kentucky next week and shortly after that I’ll be in a place called Austray-leeha, which you may have heard of,” he chuckled. “On a coast-to-coast tour. I enjoy my life hugely and I get to much such very interesting people. To have people come to me after a show and just express their personal opinions, is very rewarding to me. I think I would miss it greatly but they better hurry up while I’m in my prime. I may even be forced to do some magic in Australia if you can believe that! Oh yes I will.
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Somewhat off-topic: do you have opinions on the Illuminati? Do you think it exists or is it too a lie?
I thought that was a company that made electric light bulbs? [he chuckles] It’s part of the mythology of human history. 'Illuminati – duh'. I just find it to be such a primitive idea that there is a special group of people who are running everything from a hidden place somewhere, under a rock. That’s sort of the attitude I have of it. But I’ll take you to lunch, to have a chat. I’ll pay.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
I think my exposure of the so-called faith healers and such have been feather in my hat to say the least. I managed to go on the major television show in the United States at the time, the Johnny Carson show and I knew Johnny for decades, we got on very well. When I approached him with doing an exposure of Peter Popoff The Evangelist who said he was getting information directly from Heaven about the people he would approach in the audience. He would call them by name and he would give their addresses, their ages and what not, never having met them before. I found out how he was doing that and that will be part of my lectures of course too. It was not a great surprise to me because he was using the same methods that mentalists in my day in the definition, which is the definition of a magician, is someone who appears to use the mind to do his or her demonstration. I will probably be pleased in crossing over to Australia to give mentalism demonstrations at the same time.
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You've achieved so much in your professional life, I would personally say you've been successful in that sense. But how do you define success?
If you’ve done something in your life that informs people that gives them a better view of reality and knowledge of the way the world works, I think that’s something to be very proud of. And I am proud of that.
James Randi Tour Dates
Mon 1st Dec – The Science Exchange (Adelaide)Wed 3rd Dec – Octagon Theatre (Perth)
Thurs 4th Dec – Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Fri 5th Dec – Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
Sun 7th Dec – Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
