Simon Pierro
Simon Pierro (born October 2, 1978 in Ettlingen) is a German magician and TV presenter.
Life
Simon Pierro grew up in Waldbronn (Baden-Württemberg), Germany and now lives in Berlin. At the age of 15 he was conned out of $20 by a street magician playing a shell game on the streets of New York City. As a result of this encounter, Simon's sister gave him a book about magic and card tricks, and that was when his passion for magic was ignited.
Simon Pierro's presentations include modern elements of popular culture and have little to do with the cliché of the "magician with tailcoat and top hat." With his stage show "The American Dream - From Rags to Riches," developed together with director Eberhard Riese, he has won several magic awards. In 2002, the Magic Circle of Germany voted him Magician of the Year.[1] Among other successes he became the German champion and award-winner in the World Championships of Magic (FISM).[2] In 2004, he received the Siegfried & Roy Award in Las Vegas.
Shortly after finishing his studies of Business Administration and Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, Simon was invited by Frank Elstner to his German network TV show Menschen der Woche (people of the week). Afterwards he was also chosen to perform on Elstner's Saturday evening show Verstehen Sie Spaß? (the German equivalent of Candid Camera), where he earned his own part as magic decoy and has since played magic pranks in more than 20 episodes to date.
In addition to other worldwide TV appearances, he works off-camera as a consultant and, for example, developed an illusion for Heidi Klum's Germany's Next Top Model.[3]
Since 2008 he has been heavily involved in digital magic, a combination of magic and technical innovation. Pierro is now known as "The iPad Magician," and was the first German magician to be invited to an Apple Store.[4] He uses Apple's tablet and sleight-of-hand techniques to make objects appear to be pulled out of the iPad. One of his signature illusions is to attach a beer tap to the screen of an iPad and then serve glasses of beer pouring from it to thirsty audience members.
With video clips such as "Preview of iOS 5"[5] and "iPad Horror,"[6] videos of Pierro's iPad magic act have seen notable success online, with views topping 80 million as of June, 2015.
After an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, [7] on that broadcast was viewed on YouTube more than 10 million times, more than any magician who has ever appeared on Ellen's show, and twice as many views as the second-place magician.
He has also appeared on Angry Birds Toons, as the Official Angry Birds Magician. His latest promotional appearances have been with LEGO, performing his iPad magic where he builds various LEGO objects on-screen and then hands them to children.
Appearances on TV (selection)
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show (Syndicated, 2015)
- NBC Today Show (2015)
- Wall Street Journal "Lunch Break" (2015)
- Penn & Teller "Fool Us" (FX Network, 2015)
- "Don't Blink (Pop Network/CBS, 2015)
- Verstehen Sie Spaß? (ARD, 2004 until present, more than 20 appearances, German equivalent of Candid Camera)[8]
- Unglaublich (RTL, 2008)
- Galileo Mystery (Pro Sieben, 2007)[9]
- ZDF-Fernsehgarten (ZDF, 2009 - 2011)
- Frank Elstner - Menschen der Woche (SWR, 2004, 2011)
- Le Plus Grand Cabaret Du Monde (France 2, 2003, 2011)
Awards
- German Champion of Magic
- Voted "Magician of the Year" in 2002 by the Magic Circle of Germany[2]
- Coups de Coeur - Monte Carlo Magic Stars
- Golden Rings of Lausanne
- Siegfried & Roy - Award
- Mandrakes d'Or - Award 2005
Interviews
References
- ^ Magician of the Year 2002
- ^ a b Runner-up in World Championships of Magic: General Magic
- ^ Blog entry about performance on Germany's Next Topmodel
- ^ Performance in Apple Store Munich
- ^ Preview of iOS 5: YouTube
- ^ iPad Horror: YouTube
- ^ a video of his performance[1]Simon Pierro on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
- ^ Performance on Verstehen Sie Spaß? on YouTube
- ^ Performance on Galileo Mystery: YouTube