Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
If you've never seen Ricky Jay perform, you've missed one of the world's great magicians and raconteurs. He is simply the best card-trick magician in the world. The things he can do with a deck of cards are mind-blowing and he is also a charming storyteller and fascinating person too. He had an off-broadway show produced by his friend David Mamet, who had to talk him into doing the show. It was filmed for HBO and shown as Ricky Jay and his 52 Friends. There are several clips from Youtube of this show.
You have to watch this one to the end. The last trick he does where he shuffles the cards with half facing up and half facing down and then, with a few shuffles, manages to get the 4 aces face up in the middle of the deck is incredible:
Here's a demonstration of bottom dealing:
Ricky Jay, Dealing From The Bottom - video powered by Metacafe
This is perhaps the most amazing of all to watch. He has nearly a dozen audience members select cards from the deck and then he finds them again in many different ways.
Comments
Ricky was great as a guest co-star on "The Amazing Maleeni" episode of the X-Files (show #8, season #7), which also happens to be one of the better episodes of the that season.
Posted by: Hybrid Theory | September 13, 2008 10:22 AM
Ed, I think you're biased because you share Ricky's taste in facial hair. ;)
Posted by: Dan | September 13, 2008 11:00 AM
I liked him in The Spanish Prisoner as well. Also, he was on an episode of Mythbusters where he threw cards and that was pretty amazing.
Posted by: m | September 13, 2008 11:12 AM
I've only seen this special a couple times, but it's ridiculously cool. Like with the Mythbusters appearance, his card throwing tricks towards the end were some of my favorites: the boomerang card throw and getting a card to stick in the rind of a watermelon.
Posted by: Ryan Scranton | September 13, 2008 12:25 PM
He was also in Tomorrow Never Dies. No card tricks in that one, though. It would have been cooler to have him in Casino Royale.
Posted by: FishyFred | September 13, 2008 1:13 PM
Wasn't he a dealer at the casino in Deadwood? Considering that he once suffered from stage fright, he sure has come a long way.
Posted by: Julian | September 13, 2008 1:15 PM
I've always liked table magic, but it was rarely shown on TV and how many have access to a terrific magician? Good table magic to me is more impressive than almost all of the big stunts.
Posted by: QrazyQat | September 13, 2008 2:10 PM
I'm in awe. The lady at the end of the of the first video that was in the audience looking amazed appeared to be Marion Ross, Richie's mom in Happy Days.
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 13, 2008 4:42 PM
Superb! I can think of other card experts with greater technical prowess, but I can't think of any others with both that level of tecnique and sheer performing artistry.
I first saw Ricky Jay on Doug Henning's television special in the '70s. He inspired what eventually became a career for me. It's thrilling to see his work so appreciated by non-magicians.
Posted by: Observer | September 13, 2008 6:11 PM
Quintino Marucci (a.k.a Slydini) will always be my favorite close-up (or any kind of) magician.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW6oQZc_c80
Posted by: Ferrous Patella | September 14, 2008 2:17 AM
Ok- gotta disagree with ed's analysis here.
I did a little magic when I was younger. Which may or may not have led to a couple of instances where I managed to end up with three aces vs. an opponents three kings in a friendly game or two- which is to say, I get palming, and bottom and second dealing, and forcing. So, the last two clips are at least understandable to me, even if I couldn't actually preform them with anything approaching the ease Ricky Jay does in a hundred years.
But that first clip? I've watched it about a dozen times. And apart from a momentary bit of something that seems like business slightly before the "what does a cheat do?" patter- I really have no idea how he worked that whatsoever. Not even the vaguest beginning of a hint of a clue....
Simply put- pretty god damned amazing.
Posted by: uriel | September 14, 2008 3:52 AM
Ricky Jay does the narration on one of my all-time favourite films.....Magnolia.
Posted by: Cheddar | September 14, 2008 6:56 PM