Illusionist David Copperfield was on Reddit — “I Am David Copperfield. Ask Me Anything!” We have some quotes.
Illustionist or magician, whatever you want to call him, David Copperfield has had one of the most successful careers in stage magic. He took time off from performing 15 shows a week (!) at the MGM in Las Vegas to answer questions from Reddit readers in the IAmA category (as in “I Am A magician, ask me anything”).
He did not answer any questions about dating Claudia Schiffer, not even the one that wanted to know what it was like “making sweet love” with her. Nor did he get involved in any industry gossip or answer the question, “Can you make Criss Angel disappear?”
Of course, you can read all of his answers here, or if you have the courage, read all the comments along the way. For now, here’s a sampling:
“I brush my teeth with a Sonicare toothbrush before every show.”
Q: What’s your biggest embarrassing moment on stage? Illusion or otherwise.
DC: I’ve embarrassed myself so many times. About a week ago, I threw a frisbee into the audience to find a randomly selected person. A guy caught it and I told him to stand up. He was reluctant. I thought he was just shy. I encouraged him to stand up – please, stand up! Come on!
I then realized that he was disabled, and I felt absolutely horrible. I apologized profusely and I ran to him, he smiled, I hugged him, and he understood. So yeah – that was embarrassing.
Q: What’s your favorite memory of Doug Henning?
DC: Doug Henning opened a lot of doors for us in magic. He was someone I admired since I was a teenager. Amazing. When we hung out, all we talked about was girls. He gave me a lot of advice about that – I was 16 years old. He was more of a ladies man than you’d think.
Q: Have you ever gotten injured performing? or practicing your stunts?
DC: I have, quite a few times! Most noteworthy was a show where I was doing a rope trick, and using a REALLY sharp pair of scissors. I wasn’t being careful, and I wasn’t looking – and I cut off the tip of my finger.
When I looked down, the tip of my finger was sitting on top of the scissors. There was blood everywhere. I looked to the audience and said “ladies and gentlemen, I think I cut my finger off.” They began to applaud – they thought it was part of the show.
I got rushed to the hospital, and Mike Tyson‘s plastic surgeon sewed it back on. It looks perfect today, thankfully! The ironic thing – I went over Niagara Falls in a raft, I hung over burning spikes, I escaped from an imploding building – but I try a simple rope trick, and I end up in the hospital.
David Copperfield didn’t respond to this, either — maybe he’s just good at spotting Reddit hoax questions:
OMG a David Copperfield AMA! :O
David, you probably remember this: In 2006 (I think) one of my friends tried to rob you in Palm Beach. This guy Terrence Riley and his brother and some other guy tried to mug you and some girls you were with, and you tricked them with some kind of sleight of hand. Any chance I could get you to tell the story from your POV?Also, im sorry they robbed you. they are d***s 🙁