Quinlan’s Inside Magic Celebrity Interview: Cameron FiskInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

We told you last week about Cameron
Fisk – the rising star and recent winner of the Pacific Coast Association of
Magicians ("PCAM") Gold Medal
Children's Magic competition. We
were astounded to learn he was a mere lad of 19 and yet was able to not only
hold his own but win against professionals from around the Pacific
Rim.

We asked if he was man enough for
the grueling Quinlan's Inside Magic Celebrity Interview. We warned him that we wouldn't let up on him
just because of his young age or well-deserved celebrity. Our awkward, pointed, and insinuation-laden questions
would open a Hot Pocket of microwave-prepared steaming intimidation on him.

Youth, it is said, will be
served. We have no idea what it means
but when we got to talking about Hot Pockets, we got hungry. Perhaps he is foolhardy or brave, but he took
up our tossed gauntlet and submitted to The Process.

The transcript of the session
follows.

We've made only one change: Mr.
Fisk improperly identified the breakfast cereal "Kellogg's Frosted Flakes"
as "Frosted Flakes." We are
loyal to both trademark law and all who manufacture products within the great
state of Michigan. We had no choice but to change the raw text.

(See, Kellogg Company v. Exxon
Corporation, 2000 FED App. 0123P (6th Cir. 2000) Kellogg has a valid
and trademark registration for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes for "cereal-derived
food product to be used as a breakfast food, snack food or ingredient for
making food").

Make sure you check out his great web site here.

How long have you been performing Magic?

I started, like most magicians, when I was very young,
around six years old. A simple very
unimpressive little cut and restored rope trick got me interested. It finally gave me a reason to cut up my
shoelaces!

How did you come-up with the Mac
Backwards character?

Mac Backwards came out of a play on my name. Being a computer nerd for a few hours a day I
found myself on MSN Messenger a lot and eventually got tired of calling myself Cam all the time when everyone else had different
names. Mac Backwards just sounded cool
at the time! When I started thinking
about how I should distinguish my kid's shows from the rest of my magic I knew
I needed to have a character. Mac
Backwards just stuck!

What is he like?

Mac's pretty much just me, but more. You hear other magicians talk about how to
build a character and etc. but why bother with that when you're already a
character! Mac is just Cam,
but with a little more energy.

Why is he popular with kids and adults?

I believe that a huge draw is the fact that both Mac and
myself are fairly young still. All of
the magicians I know around here that perform not only at children's events but
at other ones are over 25 or 30 at least. When people find out I'm only 19 it's
not so much of a negative thing as it is a positive because I'm closer to the
kid's age and I know how to get to their level.

Who were and are your influences?

I never really was influenced by any specific people. Growing up in magic by myself, until I found
the different organizations, was interesting because it forced me to pick up
and learn a little bit from every external encounter with magic I got. Thus, there have been many who have helped me
so far!

How is performing in a contest different
than performing for lay audiences?

In a contest you have criteria that you need to meet. Every point counts so you need to develop a
routine that covers all the bases of the judging sheet. You'll end up doing Nickles to Dimes with an
Ammar Coin Clip, an obscure Angle Palm, and a dove split just to get those
Technical Skill points. It's a lot of
fun though, it pushes you to think a little harder about what you do.

Do you have a favorite type of magic to
perform, to watch? Are they the same?

I love watching all good magic. I've found over the years that bad magic's
pretty lame. That said, deep down I have
a bias towards close-up magic. That's
what I started with and I enjoy being able to connect with a few people up
close over a cup of magic.

What's next for you?

I'm hungry so I'll probably grab some (Kellogg's) Frosted
Flakes. Magic-wise I never know for
sure, I'm still a young punk so I try not to look too far ahead. Right now it's about performing as much as I
can and doing a killer job!