BWW Reviews: Murray SawChuck - Magic & Comedy Make a Show That's Fun for Everyone

His face is familiar and so are his hair and black-rimmed glasses. You've seen him on Pawn Stars, America's Got Talent, Celebracadabra and lots of other TV shows. Stick-thin with a shock of platinum blonde hair styled like brush bristles, he describes himself as what the child of Andy Warhol and Lady Gaga would look like. But Murray is much more than what you've seen on TV and what he looks like.

Murray SawChuck is a gifted comedian and magician whose new show at the Laugh Factory at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is destined to become one of the most popular on The Strip. That is because Murray is both highly skilled at what he does and is eminently personable, one of the most likable guys performing here nowadays. You just cannot help being drawn to him him and rooting for his magic to work.

He tells his audience that the only time he worked with an animal was a tiger, when he was a contestant on America's Got Talent. He is, thus a basic, a "hand is quicker than the eye" magician who mixes magic with comedy. It's a successful formula.

His sidekick/stagehand is Lefty (Douglas Leferovich), an also-funny guy. Murray's requisite beautiful assistant is Chlöe. She participates in an especially terrific box illusion where she is inside and he puts all manner of dangerous objects into the box where we believe she is.

Murray will do a rabbit-in-a-hat trick, but it's not like any you've ever seen before. Even when you expect the ending of a trick - a man's watch that disappeared is found inside a closed can of beans – you have not a clue how it was done.

In this world of technology and CGI, we're used to the spectacular. Murray's is a comparatively low-tech/no-tech show that sells itself on personality, skill and constantly surprising magic. In fact, the audience is always surprised and never feels duped. And that's what makes it special.

Several years ago I was at a party for kid and a magician was hired to entertain. His act, like Murray's, was basic, good magic. But, the children were raised in a world where magic gets the most notice when it is made with technology. The adults at that party loved him, the kids got bored and walked away. So, when I saw children in Murray's audience, I was curious to see how they'd react. Judging from their laughter and rapt attention to the stage, they loved it.

You will, too.

Murray performs Saturday through Thursday at 7pm. General admission is $31.90, VIP $49.45. For tickets and more information, click here.