Getting to perform on the Ellen show was an item on Rich Ferguson’s magic bucket list. Landing that gig has been something he’s worked on for almost five years, he said. Once he got his chance, he made the most of it — and capitalized on the extra time that he got.

Rich took a few minutes to talk with us bright and early on April Fool’s Day. There were no jokes or gags during this talk, though (well, except for the Max Maven thing). Just insight into why a gig on Ellen means so much, how many times he had to switch up his set, the one thing they didn’t show and the one thing that he had no idea they would show. Rich also breaks down a little bit of what’s coming next. Enjoy:

Download

First Eric Ross, now Rich Ferguson: The Icebreaker was the latest Ellusionist artist to slay Ellen and her audience with magic. In his national television debut, Rich got three sets (one was a callback after James Marsden) and did a great job. He did a great variation of an ambitious card routine and a killer performance of Window from This is Mentalism.

After his performance, Rich said he thought he messed up one trick, but we don’t see it at all. Looked to us like an absolutely stellar job. The video speaks for itself:

Stay tuned for a podcast interview with Rich for what it was like behind the scenes, and more about Ellen’s reaction.

If you’ve ever been to Rich Ferguson’s website or Facebook page, you’ve probably seen the loads of pics featuring him and famous people, from has-beens to A-listers and everyone in between. We’re predicting that Ferg will be adding a few pics featuring another A-lister over the next few days. Namely, Ellen DeGeneres.

The creator of This is Mentalism and Tagged is booked to perform on Ellen this Thursday, in between segments featuring Helen Hunt and James Marsden. We’ve heard some buzz over what he’ll be performing, and if they stick with that plan, this will be some can’t-miss TV.

If “America’s Got Talent” is Chet from “Weird Science” to magic, then “Ellen” is definitely Lisa. Landing a spot performing magic on her show is a major score.

Thanks to YouTube, Eric Ross went from underground magic creator to performing on “Ellen” in about a week.

The story is generally known: Ellen DeGeneres saw a YouTube video of Eric performing Rizer. Her staff called and, a week later, Ross is getting gasps and applause in front of a TV audience and millions of TV watchers. What you may not know is what he did between the phone call and the performance.

Ross talked to us about the whole experience, including more about what Ellen’s producers wanted, the trip to L.A., how he came up with his presentation, the night out spent with a star of “Human Centipede,” what he DIDN’T perform, how many rehearsals he had before showtime and how he came across that double deck of Ellen playing cards that he used. Ross also gives us a hint of what kind of doors opened for him after his appearance and what he would have done differently if given the chance again — including that repetition of the Crazy Man Handcuffs.

He even addresses the controversy and criticism behind his appearance. Yeah, controversy. Truth be told, we didn’t know there was any until Dan Sperry and Justin Robert Young broke it down on last week’s Magic Week in Review on iTricks.com. They, like us, believe that an impressed audience is what matters. We made no secret about what we thought of his performance: He killed it.

Download

From Eric Ross’ Twitter, we heard that his performance on “Ellen” went fantastically. And the tape proves it.

Ross, a delivered a great six-minute set on Ellen’s Thursday show. Ending with Rizer (the trick Ellen saw him do on YouTube, which led to his appearance), he put together a set that featured some classics (Here Then There is still a killer) and his own creations.

Our favorite part: When doing a rubber band trick, Ellen said, “Do that again.” Most magicians are trained to never repeat a trick. Ross did without a second thought — and knocked it out of the park. A close second was his version of Election for Ellen: He performed it with cards from Ellen’s souvenir store. The reaction from how they had picked the same card was so strong that they almost missed how the cards had different colored backs.

Check out the vid from Ellen’s site. Then show Eric some love on his Facebook or Twitter: