Samy Liardet

A Swiss national, Samy Liardet was one of the first magicians to make a living solely from close-up magic in France at the end of the 20th century.

He was a pure genius, and Dominique Duvivier was determined to preserve his legacy by recording these videos, which can now be viewed on our platform.

At the time, ALL magicians were in awe of him. When an American was visiting Paris, they would always take them to see Samy Liardet in action. Even Marlo is said to have been amazed.

Completely self-taught and very humble, he had never read a single book on magic, yet he had created a routine that was way ahead of its time, with all of his effects being 100% visual... He was one of the first magicians to develop a real ten-minute set, which was almost unchanged, performed entirely standing up, from table to table, and consisting mainly of everyday objects, with very few cards. He was also the first to use flash paper as a running gag, in a way that no one had ever done before.

One of his major routines was the pocket knife routine: not small pocket knives, but rather large ones, with instant color changes when he tapped them gently against one of the glasses on the table, with his hands empty between each effect.

At the end, he produced a large Swiss Army knife... obviously!

He invented a multitude of very special techniques, such as “lapping without lapping,” using a large magnet in his back pocket, which allowed him to load and unload anything he wanted on the fly.

He always had dozens of small balls of flash paper in his pocket, which he threw onto the candles on the tables to produce all kinds of objects, including coins, of course. His giant coin routine was a feat of ingenuity and virtuosity. His management of viewing angles was simply mind-blowing.

And his rope! The best performance of “Total Circle”. In his favorite venue, the Rôtisserie de l'Abbaye, whose main room was a listed cellar, Samy Liardet's ‘hit’ consisted of enclosing the “Total Circle” in one of the historic basement pillars.

Another of his finest routines was “L'œuf sur la raquette” (The egg on the racket): a small piece of paper was wet and rolled into a ball, then placed on a small badminton racket. He bounced it on the racket without touching it, and IN FULL VIEW the sheet took shape, inflated, and turned into an egg, which he picked up with one hand and broke into one of the glasses. A pure visual miracle.