Steven Cohen, often referred to as "The Magician of the Mind," is a renowned magician known for his unique blend of psychology, illusion, and storytelling. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Cohen discovered his passion for magic at a young age and has since become one of the most respected performers in the industry. What sets Steven Cohen apart from other magicians is his ability to engage his audience on a deeply psychological level. He goes beyond pulling rabbits out of hats or performing sleight of hand tricks; instead, he delves into the human mind and explores the boundaries of perception and reality. With his performances, he aims to challenge the audience's preconceived notions and push them to question the nature of their own perceptions and beliefs. Cohen's magic is not just about fooling the eye; it is about delving into the intricacies of the human psyche.

Drinking Pappy Van Winkle With The 'Millionaires' Magician' Steve Cohen

Millionaires' Magician Steve Cohen makes Pappy Van Winkle appear at Rarities.

Anyone who can make three bottles of Pappy Van Winkle appear is a magician in my book. After seeing his 'Chamber Magic' show at the Lotte New York Palace I met with Steve Cohen — known as the Millionaires' Magician — at the hotel's elegant hidden bar Rarities which kindly conjured up bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 10, 20 and 23 for us. Along with amazing card tricks and sleights-of-hand the highlight of Cohen's act is 'Think-a-Drink' where the audience names their favorite beverages — from Martinis to Lemonade — and they are all magically poured, one after the other, from the same tea kettle. Cohen and I discussed how he became the magician for millionaires, how he discovered his favorite bourbon and what is really the most important part of any magic trick.

What started your journey in magic?

I've been doing magic since I was 6 years old. I performed at all my family gatherings. My aunt said "Steve, you have the gift of gab and that's going to take you far." And to me magic was about sleight-of-hand not presentation — but she reminded me the magic doesn't happen in your hand. It happens in the audience's mind.

So connecting with the audience is just as important as any physical skill?

David Berglas, one of the iconic magicians of the 20th century, broke down the formula. In order of importance it's personality, presentation and then the method. And the one thing that can't be taught is personality. People have to like you first. You need to be relatable. You can't stand too far up above them on an ivory pillar. The technique is the bedrock but it can't be the ultimate focus of the performance. The art of magic is to conceal the art.

It's easy for people to look up tricks online now. Do audience members ever try to expose what you're doing?

I haven't had that happen. The ticket price is at high enough a price point that people are not going to heckle me — it's in your left hand! They are invested in it.

Millionaire's Magician Steve Cohen with the magic tea kettle from his signature Think-A-Drink trick.

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How did you become the 'Millionaire's Magician?'

I grew up in Chappaqua where there were a lot of expensive houses. Even though I wasn't wealthy I was comfortable around wealth and I wanted a way to market myself. I was performing at country clubs and yacht clubs and no one had really claimed that market. Penn & Teller are the bad boys of magic, David Blaine was the street magician. I'm performing for millionaires. I started using it in pitches and the media picked it up. It stuck.

How did you discover Pappy Van Winkle?

I was performing my 'Think-a-Drink' trick and someone said they wanted a Manhattan. I asked what bourbon he wanted and he said "I like Pappy Van Winkle, you don't have that!" And I bluffed and said of course I do. I poured him a Manhattan and he drank it down and said "this is great."

After the show a wealthy businessman asked "was that really Pappy?" I said it wasn't and he said "do you want some Pappy Van Winkle? I've got a garage full of them." He doesn't even drink, he collects things: pinball games, cars, watches and bourbon. So he sent me a bottle of Pappy 15 and Pappy 23. I've shared the 15 with friends but I've never opened the 23.

Magician Steve Cohen

Tell me about your 'Think-a-Drink' trick.

It's become my trademark. There's no one else performing it to my knowledge. It's also been known as the 'Bar Act' or the 'Inexhaustible Bottle.' It dates back to at least the 1800s when Robert-Houdin — the magician Houdini named himself after – used to perform the trick with a glass bottle. At the end he would crack the bottle open and there would be a guinea pig inside.

The trick has universal appeal because it's wish fulfillment. They are asking for their favorite drink. Hot chocolate? Do you want that with mini-marshmallows? And I pour out mini-marshmallows. Hibiscus tea? Do you want that hot or iced? Margarita — tequila or mezcal? I've even had sommeliers ask for specific varietals, and they know how to tell a Brunello from a Montepulciano.

Have you ever had a drink with one of your idols?

I had dinner with John Williams the composer at Tanglewood maybe three summers ago. Easily one of the highlights of my life. Growing up I used to play alto saxophone and played many John Williams scores: Star Wars, Superman, all the songs you heard growing up. And being able to talk to him and ask questions about the music, how he creates, what inspired him to write certain pieces — that was a real treat.

You've performed for a lot of celebrities. Any one that was a particular favorite?

Tracy Morgan. I had met him on the street one day and I told him about my show and the next weekend he bought out the whole front row for his family. During the show he was shouting and yelling and screaming and it was hilarious. He's pumping his fist in the air and saying "you're better than Houdini. I'm going to put you on my TV show." He really inserted the right amount of levity. I love it when a celebrity can be a part of the show but not overpower it.

Magician Steve Cohen makes a second bottle of Pappy Van Winkle appear.

You also performed for Carl Sagan.

I was a student at Cornell and he heard through my professor that I was a magician. He called me up and said I'd like you to perform for a group of visiting astrophysicists. I thought there's no way I'm going to fool these guys, they are literally the smartest people on the planet. At end of the show I got a standing ovation. It reminded me that you have to assume the audience is intelligent and is paying close attention. Therefore I have to work harder upfront. Once I create these psychological traps that the audience can't escape from, they will follow the path I put before them.

Which has been your favorite of the Pappys today?

I like the 10 best. I've had similar experiences with Japanese whiskies. Some of the younger ones had a better taste to me. The older ones aren't necessarily better.

You've kind of performed another trick — you managed to finally drink the 23 without opening your own bottle.

That's the beautiful thing about working at The Palace. I think we're both lucky and getting some magic here.

Steve Cohen performs his 'Chamber Magic' show every Friday and Saturday night at the Lotte New York Palace including upcoming Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve shows.

To learn more about Rarities and their collection of rare spirits, wines and champagnes visit their website.

For His Latest Trick, the Millionaires’ Magician Has Taken Up Running

Steve Cohen, a longtime magician for celebrities and world leaders, became hooked on marathoning since running his first one in 2018.

For most of his life, Steve Cohen has been known for his impressive sleight of hand as the host of Chamber Magic, a live weekly show at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. In fact, during our video interview, the “Millionaires’ Magician” made my favorite card, the ace of hearts appear out of thin air twice.

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Now, those close to the performer have started complimenting him on his sleight of foot since he took up running in 2018. It's a newfound skill that Cohen says has improved his expertise as a magician and vice versa.

Until recently, Cohen, 51, never considered himself an athlete. He joined the track team in high school, competing in the 100-meter dash but quit soon after to participate in the theater program, where he thrived as a performer.

Since starting Chamber Magic in 2000, Cohen has used his shows as his form of exercise, frequently performing six times in a weekend. His audiences, which often include celebrities and royalty, get to enjoy conjuring, mind-reading, sleight of hand, and one of his most famous tricks called “think-a-drink,” in which an audience member requests a specific beverage that magically appears in Cohen's teapot. With the rapid fire energy, preparation, and effort that goes into each performance, Cohen didn't consider outside exercise for many years.

“Magicians are usually couch potatoes and it's rare to find a magician that's incredibly fit,” Cohen says. “That was kind of me.”

In 2015, Cohen's wife Yumi Morishige picked up running and encouraged him to join her. As Cohen recalls, he couldn't keep up with his wife for a full mile during their first run together. “I was huffing and puffing, and she was running loops around me to keep me going,” he says. “That demoralized me.”

After the first run, Cohen joined a gym but realized he needed more stimulation in his workouts. Instead of exercising in the gym, his wife encouraged him to focus on destination workouts, like running to Harry Houdini's house, which is about two miles away from their apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan. Over time, Cohen added more routes that excited him, including a run to Alexander Hamilton's house uptown.

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With more miles under his belt, Cohen and his wife made a bet. If he entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon and gained entry, he would run the race. Cohen lost in 2016 and 2017 but the following year, he received surprising news. While sitting in the theater of the Magic Castle, a private magician's club in Los Angeles, Cohen received an email from the New York Road Runners letting him know that his application to run the marathon was finally accepted. “The first thing that came to my mind was oh shit,” Cohen says.

After spending a few minutes processing the news, Cohen realized he couldn't break the promise to his wife and came around to the idea of becoming a marathoner. “Being a magician is all about making the impossible possible,” Cohen says. “I thought, I'm going to be a magician to myself and I'll make this impossible thing that I thought I could never do, possible.”

In March 2018, Cohen started building up mileage using Hal Higdon's marathon training plan. Because his shows are on the weekends, Cohen has to fit all of his weekly mileage into five days, which means he does his long run on Wednesday.

Prior to the marathon in November 2018, the longest race Cohen had ever run was 100 meters on the track as a high school student. But he embraced the experience as an opportunity to try something different and bring his magic community along for the ride.

Before the race, he sent an email to his fanbase encouraging them to cheer him on during the New York City Marathon. He wore a t-shirt with the king of hearts printed on the front, which helped people recognize him among the thousands of competitors. Throughout the race, fans cheered for Cohen and on several occasions, he even stopped to perform magic tricks, including one in which he penetrates an earphone cord through someone's finger. “There were enough people that it kind of slowed my time down a lot,” Cohen says. “But I don't really care because I wasn't in it to win some PR.”

In his first 26.2, Cohen finished in five hours and 37 minutes and was immediately hooked. After his debut, Cohen joined his wife as a member of the New York Flyers run club.

During the height of the pandemic, the magician didn't perform for 16 months amid COVID lockdowns. In addition to writing two books, running helped Cohen cope with the cancellations. “I didn't have the physical exertion that I normally get while performing,” he says. “You need an outlet for all that stress, so running really did save me.”

In the fall of 2020, he completed the New York City Marathon virtually. For his 50th birthday on February 21, 2021, Cohen ran from his home to the hospital where he was born in Yonkers, New York and back for just over 50K.

In November 2021, Cohen returned to the New York City Marathon in person and took 32 minutes off his previous personal best. This fall, he hopes to break five hours for the first time on the NYC course.

Now four years into his development as a runner, Cohen says the sport has helped elevate his skills as a magician. His posture has improved while on stage, and similar to managing paces in a 26.2-mile race, he's become more efficient in pacing his energy with back-to-back performances. Before he became a runner, Cohen would end the weekend exhausted with pain in his back. Now, he says the endurance gained from running makes him feel like he can add another show to the line-up. Perhaps more importantly, running has given Cohen a newfound sense of accomplishment when he takes the stage in front of world leaders and billionaires.

“The one thing that they can't buy is something you need to accomplish on your own, and if I've accomplished that by having run a marathon, it gives me a great amount of personal strength and it makes me feel they're equal when I'm standing in front of someone who is a very powerful person,” Cohen says. “I feel a lot more self-empowered, and I think that's thanks to running.”

Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.

Steve Cohen

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Cohen's magic is not just about fooling the eye; it is about delving into the intricacies of the human psyche. He combines elements of psychology, suggestion, and misdirection to create illusions that captivate and mystify his audience. Through his performances, Cohen seeks to create an intimate connection with his spectators, sparking their curiosity and encouraging them to explore the possibilities of the human mind.

Steve Cohen Chamber Magic

In addition to his skill as a magician, Cohen is a master storyteller. He weaves intricate narratives into his performances, taking his audience on a journey of mystery and wonder. His storytelling abilities, combined with his exceptional showmanship, make for a mesmerizing and unforgettable experience. Over the years, Cohen has received numerous accolades and recognition for his contributions to the world of magic. He has performed at prestigious venues around the world, including the Sydney Opera House, The Magic Castle in Hollywood, and on Broadway. He has also been a featured performer in numerous television shows and documentaries. Steven Cohen's unique approach to magic and his ability to push the boundaries of perception have earned him a dedicated following of fans and admirers. Whether he is performing on stage or in an intimate setting, his shows are always thought-provoking, intriguing, and awe-inspiring. His artistry goes beyond simple tricks and illusions, leaving his audience with a sense of wonder and a renewed appreciation for the power of the mind..

Reviews for "The Secrets of a Magician: Steven Cohen Reveals Some Behind-the-Scenes Tricks"

1. Sarah Thompson - 2/5 stars - I recently went to see Steven Cohen's magic show and I have to say, I was not impressed. The tricks were nothing special and I could see how they were done. The overall performance felt lackluster and there was no "wow" factor that I expect from a magician. I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on this show, as there are many other talented magicians out there who can put on a much more captivating performance.

2. Mark Johnson - 1/5 stars - I was extremely disappointed with Steven Cohen's magic show. The tricks were predictable and the audience participation was forced. It felt like he was just going through the motions without any passion or excitement. I've seen much better magicians who know how to truly engage the audience and leave them in awe. I would suggest looking for another magician if you want to truly be entertained.

3. Emma Roberts - 2/5 stars - I had high hopes for Steven Cohen's magic show, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. The tricks were basic and nothing unique or mind-blowing. Cohen also lacked stage presence and charisma, which made the performance feel flat. I was hoping to be amazed and mystified, but instead, I left feeling underwhelmed. I wouldn't recommend this show if you're looking for a truly captivating and unforgettable magical experience.

4. Michael Anderson - 2/5 stars - I attended Steven Cohen's magic show and found myself unimpressed. The tricks he performed were ones I had seen before and the overall performance lacked originality. The pacing of the show was also slow, making it difficult to stay engaged. I expected more from a magician of Cohen's reputation, but unfortunately, this show didn't deliver. I wouldn't recommend it to others unless you're a die-hard fan of his style of magic.

5. Laura Davis - 1/5 stars - I regretted attending Steven Cohen's magic show. The tricks were so predictable and it felt like I had seen them all before. There was no element of surprise or amazement, which is what I look for in a magician's performance. Cohen's stage presence was also lacking, making the whole show feel dull and uneventful. Save your money and find a more talented magician who can actually leave you in awe.

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