Jack Skrip - Astonishment Artist

Jack Skrip is an award-winning performer known for his engaging style of entertainment that combines subtle humor and anecdotal storytelling with astonishing magic and mentalism. If you're looking for a jaded wand-waver who will sleepwalk through a canned act he bought from Ye Olde Magik Shoppe, then look elsewhere. Jack works with his clients to create performance packages best-suited to the needs of each event and won't perform the same act for the same clients twice in a row...unless they really want him to!

Jack has been entertaining people with magic for over 35 years. At the age of ten, his life was changed forever when he was given a second-hand "Houdini Magic Set" full of tacky cardboard props...and opportunities for unlimited astonishment. Armed with inspiration and his first library card, Jack devoured every book on magic he could get his hands on, his passion for magic growing with every page. Soon he was astonishing his friends in the schoolyard with his growing sleight-of-hand skills and performing "stage shows" for his family in a shed in his grandparents' backyard.

Along with his interest in magic, Jack became fascinated by the supernatural world, paranormal phenomena, and generally weird stuff. These pursuits gave him a new appreciation for the role of magic and mystery in culture and history, prompting him to extend his repertoire to mentalism. Jack continued his study of magic alongside his university and graduate scholarship in literature, communication, and psychology. While still a university student, Jack became known for his unusual skill in close-up magic and has won both accolades and awards for his performance abilities.

In 2004, Jack began performing professionally in Western Canada. Audiences have come to know Jack as a versatile, well-rounded entertainer equally comfortable with an audience of a few or hundreds. Jack's clients have included

As well, he has performed in venues such as

Jack's magic reaches audiences of nearly all ages, and he is one of a very few performers who entertains equally well across a broad range of performance styles and venues. His ability to design and perform shows with the specific needs of the client, audience and venue for each event in mind have come as a result of over 35 years of study of the methods, philosophy, and art of magic -- not a few weeks spent watching YouTube videos.

Jack's experience as a competitive public speaker and a lecturer results in a stage presence marked by a naturalness and poise that makes his audience comfortable and at ease, knowing they are in the hands of a professional. His years as a professional writer enable him to wrap his magic and mentalism in unique, engaging presentations enlivened by a natural humor and quick wit that few other performers can match. Noted for creativitiy and originality, Jack's work has appeared in Magic magazine and the Online Visions ezine, and he has lectured on magic for audiences of magicians and educators. Kent Wong, one of Alberta's premiere magical entertainers, called Jack, "one of the most brilliant magic thinkers I have ever met."