John Gyllenhaal has been performing fun, interactive, highly-visual, close-up magic for over twenty years. With his birthday magic shows optimized for the living room and his walk-around close-up magic that is perfect for larger events, amazing things continuously happen right in front of you and everyone has a great time. John may be booked for performing magic shows in East Tennessee, including Knoxville, Farragut, Oak Ridge, Sevierville, and Chattanooga Tennessee.
John offers super-fun 50-minute deluxe birthday shows designed for three specific age groups: 7th to 9th birthdays, 10th to 12th birthdays, and adult birthdays. John also offers a super-fun 30-minute deluxe birthday show designed specifically for 5th to 7th birthdays. Although John specializes in magic designed amaze ages 10 to adult, all his magic shows are family-friendly and throughly entertain children down to age 4.
John also offers educational magic-based STEM workshops for 6th to 8th graders (he is an engineer and scientist in addition to being a magician.)
John focuses on involving as many participants as possible during his shows. This allows him to concentrate on one special person, such as the birthday child, while giving many other people watching the show a chance to participate.
John, his wife, and his two daughters moved to Knoxville, Tennessee (Hardin Valley) in August 2021.
John performs close-up and parlor magic, meaning his magic is best viewed from between 1ft and 20ft away (closer the better). John's magic is perfect for small gatherings (2 to 25 participants), for zoom/virtual events, and for walk around magic at larger parties (performing small shows at each table).
John has two completely different in-person birthday party shows optimized for performing in a living room or community club house. He has three completely different in-person educational STEM workshops optimized for the classroom (targeting 6th-8th grade). Educational workshop details can be found at Wild STEM Magic.
He also has three variants of a highly-polished zoom show (two educational and one birthday party) that teaches children 10 and older how to perform 6 amazing illusions, including one awesome magic trick. Each participant receives a custom illusion kit that allows them to perform these illusions for friends and family after the show and 20 minutes of arts and crafts. This illusion-kit-based virtual show was performed for over 2000 students in 2021 and received enthusiastic response from students, teachers, and event organizers.
John does not perform traditional children's magic but all his magic shows are completely family-friendly and throughly entertain children down to age 4.
John utilizes the help of assistants more than 15 times during his 50 minute birthday magic shows that are optimized for being performed in your living room, garage, or at a community club house. The guest of honor is used five times at special moments during the show and other guests are chosen as evenly as possible for the remaining 10+ assistant opportunities. This allows the birthday child to be the star while allowing a large number of friends to also get a chance to participate in the magic. Smaller birthday parties (2 to 25 children) are ideal for John's birthday shows. All of his magic is designed to amaze and entertain both adults and kids, so even parents enjoy his shows that are aimed at children. After the show, the birthday child (and a parent) will be privately taught a cool magic trick and given the necessary prop for the trick which can be immediately performed for their friends.
With over two hours of strong and distinctive magic in John's working repertoire, he can tailor a show for almost any audience. In one of his signature effects, he visibly transforms one dollar bills into million dollar bills and then gives them away to everyone in the audience (see photo below). In another signature effect, Armando the Armadillo Magician shows audiences the greatest card trick ever performed by an armadillo, with you-can't-believe-your-eyes results!
John provides fantastic magic shows at a great price. A super-fun 50-minute deluxe birthday magic show for up to 25 children in the Knoxville area (Farragut, Oak Ridge, Powell, etc.) is typically just $275. This quoted price covers absolutely everything, including million dollar bills for all the children, the prop for the cool magic trick the birthday child is taught after the show, John's travel time of up to 30 minutes from his home in Hardin Valley, and several fun surprises during the show. Additional travel time as estimated by Google maps, multiple birthday children, etc. may be slightly more. Please contact John to check availability or for a quote on other performance options.
All of John's performances are backed by a 100% money-back guarantee. His top priority is for you and your guests to have a wonderful and magical experience. If you are unsatisfied for any reason, you pay nothing for the show.
At the end of the show, the birthday child performs magic to great applause (and the snapping of photos) after being dressed up as a magician (see photo below). John always brings a magician outfit that matches his own for the birthday child to borrow during the show but he is happy to instead use parent-provided capes, hats, and/or wands. For some children, being able to keep the magician's outfit they got to wear in the show is a huge highlight for them. (John can send a link to a great and inexpensive magician's hat on Amazon). If you secretly give your magician outfit to John when he arrives for the show and he will make it extra meaningful gift for your child. John is also happy to work with a magician outfit your child is already wearing (e.g., if magic is your party's theme).
"Thanks so much for coming out yesterday and wooing the kids with your magic. I am super happy with the day and think that you played a great part in that." - Iz (AOL's Take Your Kids to Work Day Event)
"It was super fun and everyone enjoyed your magic. Thanks for making it special." - Nancy and Charles (50th Birthday dinner party at a restaurant)
"Everyone really enjoyed the magic show. Thanks for being a great part of the surprise. Definitely will recommend you if I hear someone is in need of a magician." - Melody S. (Surprise 18th Birthday Party in a living room)
"Thanks again for coming to perform and entertain for everyone! My son is still talking about you and he's so proud of the trick you showed him. We'll definitely give you a call for our next event!" - Katherine C. (An amazing party with ~150 people at a restaurant)