Monday, Nov. 21, 2005 | 8:39 a.m.
When: 6 p.m. Friday.
Where: Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 8915 W. Charleston Blvd. (Charleston at Fort Apache Road).
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 567 N. Stephanie St. (between Sunset and Warm Springs roads).
Idle hands are the devil's workshop, even if they are sleight of hands.
Comedic magician Mac King, with two afternoon shows at Harrah's, has plenty of time on his hands, and so when he isn't entertaining fans with his tricks and his humor -- or being with his family -- he keeps the devil away with a variety of projects.
Last year he and his cousin, Bill King, launched "Mac King's Magic in a Minute," a weekly, nationally syndicated comic strip distributed by Tribune Media Services.
"The strip was surprisingly easy to sell to Tribune," Mac King said. "I just sent them three strips, and they called almost the next day and said they wanted to do it. It's pretty rare for things to happen that fast."
So far, the strip appears in 18 newspapers around the country.
"It's hard, really hard to get a new strip into a newspaper," King said. "If you try to delete a strip from a newspaper, fans yell, no matter how bad the strip.
"To get a new one in, a cartoonist almost has to die so that one can come out."
Each of King's strips include instructions on how a child can do a simple magic trick.
Bill, a graphic artist in Chicago, does the drawing, and Mac provides the magic.
"It sort of all started years ago when NBC ran a series of TV shows about the world's greatest magic," King said. "I was on it with a fake magic school, teaching simple tricks before and after the commercials. It was a scam to keep viewers from changing channels."
King said when he was touring, people would approach him after the shows and thank him.
"Many became interested in magic from those shows, mostly as a hobby," he said. "It makes a great hobby, it's been good to me."
The idea to teach magic to children began with the show and eventually evolved into the educational comic strip.
"Performing the tricks helps build confidence, and it makes a good family activity," King said. "I'm sure my grandfather, who taught me magic, treasured the time with me.
"Now that I have a kid of my own, I can appreciate that even more."
And now King has created another fun, educational tool to teach magic -- Mac King's Magic in a Minute Suitcase-O-Magic.
The magic kit features characters from King's comic strip, more than 50 magic tricks, a 64-page book and a one-hour instructional DVD.
All of the items come in a small replica of the suitcase he uses in his magic act at Harrah's. The kits, which sell for $14.95, will be available at all Barnes & Noble bookstores after Nov. 25.
King will make personal appearances to sign copies of the kits at two Barnes & Noble locations.
At 6 p.m. Friday he will be at the Summerlin Barnes & Noble, 8915 W. Charleston Blvd. (corner of Charleston and Fort Apache Road).
At 6 p.m. Saturday he will be at the Henderson Barnes & Noble, 567 N. Stephanie Street (between Sunset and Warm Springs roads).
Two complimentary tickets will be given away with each magic kit.
The kit evolved from the strip, King said.
"Bill and I put together a proposal," he said. "Barnes & Noble liked the strip we do and they thought the kit was a great idea, but they asked me to make a video of me doing some of the tricks."
King's interest in magic began when he was growing up in Kentucky.
"Both my grandfathers were amateur magicians," he said. "My mom's father, in particular.
"One of the things I looked forward to was spending time with him each weekend, when we would sit down with a couple of magic books and I would pick out one or two tricks to learn over the weekend."
King said he practiced the tricks on his grandmother.
"Then when my parents came to pick me up, I would do a goofy magic show for them," he said.
As he became more proficient, he began performing magic at a variety of functions.
"My mom would drive me to magic shows -- at birthday parties, Kiwanis Clubs and places like that. I would get five bucks and all the birthday cake I could eat."
Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at [email protected].
