General Session / Magic/Illusion

From his illustrated history of fire eating, to a record-breaking straitjacket escape, Brian’s show will forever make an impression on his audience, while ensuring the complete success of your event.
Brian Brushwood was born in him to perform a magic show for his senior honors thesis. Fountain Valley, California, and learned to make friends fast as he spent his childhood moving to Colorado, Norway, and several parts of Texas.

Always possessing an intense interest in magic, it was not until Brian was accepted into the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin that he truly focused his efforts on the art. In fact, it was said that Brian was off to a quick start in a career of deception, as he was able to convince his professors to allow him to perform a magic show for his senior honors thesis.  Since beginning his career in magic in late 1993, Brian has garnered the support and admiration of some of magic’s biggest names. World renowned performers such as Harry Anderson (of night court fame) and Teller (of Penn&Teller) have used words like “Brilliant” and “Bulletproof” when describing Brian’s show.

Since Brian began performing his magic at colleges and universities in 1999, he has performed in 44 of 50 states nationwide (as of March, 2004).
When not performing, Brian assists Dr. Rory Coker of the University of Texas, providing special demonstrations and short lectures for a class devoted to the exploration of the origins of pseudoscience.

Since beginning his career in magic, Brian has authored 3 books, including Cheats, Cons, Swindles & Tricks: 57 Ways to Scam a Free Drink, Pack the House: The Ultimate, Ever-Growing Guide to Increasing Attendance to YOUR Campus Events (co-authored with C.J. Johnson), and the Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating.
Brian has made several TV and radio appearances, including appearances on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” CNN’s “Life Beyond Limits,” “The Roseanne Show,” E! Entertainment Television’s “Talk Soup,” the WB’s “Steve Harvey’s Big Time,” Tech TV’s “Unscrewed with Martin Sargent,” CMT’s “Most Wanted Live,” BBC’s “The Paul Coyte Show,” Westwood One’s “Don and Mike Show,” ABC-TV’s “The Debra Duncan Show,” “The Shannon Burke Show” on KJFK-FM, “Dudley and Bob” on KLBJ-FM, “The Morning Zoo” on KASE-FM, as well as news affiliates for ABC, FOX, CBS, and Time-Warner.
Brian also is an avid computer gamer, and has been playing way too much of ncsoft’s “City of Heroes.”