From the TED blurb:

Like your uncle at a family party, the rumpled Swedish doctor Lennart Green says, “Pick a card, any card.” But what he does with those cards is pure magic — flabbergasting, lightning-fast, how-does-he-do-it? magic.

Lennart is also a World Champion Magician, having won the grand prize in the Card Magic category in 1991. He competed in the previous FISM in 1988 but was disqualified because, after watching what he did, the judges reasoned that he must be cheating (he wasn’t-he’s just that good!)

I’ve heard different accounts as to what the alleged cheating was. Some say the judges thought he was using a trick deck, others say the judges thought he used confederates in the audience to shuffle the cards (may have been both). Either way, when he returned he had the judges shuffle the cards and he also created a shuffle that would entirely disprove the use of a trick deck.

I particularly like how slow he performs his slight of hand manipulations. He is so polished that you can stare at his hands, practically in slow motion, and watch flawless magic. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Here is Rene, performing one of his signature pieces, “No se puede hacer mas lento” (literally “It can’t be done any slower”) Enjoy, and happy Friday!

Tommy is one of my biggest inspirations and one of my favorite magicians of all time. The routine below was the inspiration for my ‘frozen ring’ routine. It is similar in concept – a volunteer’s ring vanishes from her hands, appearing in a small ring box, frozen in a solid block of ice, sealed in a welded shut container, in a sealed bag that has been in full view throughout the performance. True to it’s inspirational roots, the spectator opens the container, chips away at the ice and removes her ring from box with the magician standing away from all the activity.

Here is Tommy Wonder’s Watch in Nest of Boxes

Tommy worked on this routine for years. What you see above is the third major revision.

What really made Tommy stand out was his relentless pursuit of perfection. While most magicians would have settled with Version 1 or Version 2 and stopped, he scrapped them and started over again to improve it even more. After he published his life’s work, detailing the three versions of this trick that he created, I’ve found that most magicians are more apt to adapt the first or second to their show–the third version is too much work.

I had the privilege of Meeting Tommy Wonder, before he passed away, while performing in Amsterdam at a trade show. As it happened, there was another magician working a different booth and he invited me to visit the center for the magical arts in Bennebroek. Over the course of the evening, I had the privilege of meeting (and reconnecting) with several outstanding magicians. Most memorable, though, was talking magic and philosophy with one of magic’s greatest thinkers, innovators and performers.

Tommy Wonder is indeed missed by the magic community.