The Show Must Go On: Behind the Scenes of a Full-Time Magician

 People usually see us when the lights are on, the music is playing, and the magic is happening. They see the laughs, the illusions, and Natalie and me doing what we love.

There are a lot of hours on either side of that performance, though. Our latest MagicLife video, “What a day…”, gives you a look at some of them.

A problem with our trailer turned a trip to a show into hours of waiting, towing, and repairs. We were stuck, tired, and ready to get home.

And we had another show tomorrow.

A Morning Show Turned Into a Long Day

We were traveling to a show in Northern Virginia when another driver alerted us to a problem with our trailer. We made it to the show and performed, but afterward we needed to get the problem taken care of.

At a tire center, we learned that the trouble was mechanical and something they couldn’t repair. Later, another driver warned us that our trailer was smoking. We had to stop and arrange help.

A tow got the trailer to a nearby truck stop. Then came the wait for a mechanic, followed by more waiting while he got the parts needed for the repair.

By around 9 p.m., we were finally heading home. Between the tow and the repair, the day had cost us roughly $1,000.

We still had about two hours of driving ahead of us, and we needed to find dinner for the family. Everyone was hungry, and we expected to get home after 11 p.m., well past the kids’ bedtime.

What a day, indeed.

What Being a Full-Time Performer Really Looks Like

I’ve been a professional magician and illusionist since 1996. Making a living as a full-time performer means taking care of everything that allows the performance to happen.

That includes rehearsing, answering booking inquiries, maintaining equipment, loading the trailer, traveling, setting up, and packing everything away afterward. Sometimes it also means spending your evening at a truck stop waiting for a repair.

When you watch a magic show, you’re seeing the result of all that work. The audience has come to enjoy an experience, and our job is to give them our attention and our best performance.

A difficult day on the road can be frustrating. It can be expensive. It can leave you exhausted. You still have to work through it and prepare for the next commitment.

That’s a big part of being a professional entertainer.

Life on the Road Is a Family Effort

Natalie and I travel and perform with our children, so a breakdown affects the whole family. There are hungry kids, delayed plans, and a long wait that nobody wanted.

We love getting to share this life together. Days like this are part of it, too.

One reason I share behind-the-scenes videos from our MagicLife is to give people a fuller picture of our traveling magic show. We get to have wonderful experiences and meet great people. We also have ordinary problems to solve while trying to get our family and equipment home.

This particular day involved plenty of patience and a repair bill we hadn’t planned on.

The Show Must Go On—There’s Another Show Tomorrow

Keeping moving forward sometimes starts with stopping, getting help, and figuring out the next step. On this day, it meant arranging the tow, getting the trailer repaired, finding dinner, and making our way home.

Then we needed to rest and get ready to do it all again.

Tomorrow’s audience deserves the same energy, preparation, and care we bring to every show. They’re looking forward to their event, and we want to make it special.

We can be tired and frustrated and still love what we do. One hard day doesn’t change that.

Yes, we were stuck. But we kept working toward getting back on the road, because there was another show tomorrow.

The show must go on.

Learn more about Wes & Natalie Iseli’s MagicLife Live and booking our magic and illusion shows at WesIseli.com.

Wes Iseli's Magiclife vlog #310 (Natalie's Graduation)

In this episode we travel to Lynchburg Va to celebrate Natalie's graduation from Liberty University with a 4.0 with a Masters in Nutrition & much more.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #309 (Natalie's Health Battle pt2)

 This vlog episode details Natalie's ongoing health crisis, which began four years ago with what was thought to be heartburThis vlog episode details Natalie's ongoing health crisis, which began four years ago with what was thought to be heartburn but ultimately led to a bile duct stone, pancreatitis, and sepsis. After multiple hospital visits, surgeries, and failed treatments, Natalie recently underwent emergency surgery to remove the stone and address an infection. Despite the successful removal of the stone, she continues to experience chronic pain and has been prescribed medication to address nerve overstimulation. The episode highlights the significant impact on the entire family, particularly Natalie's husband Wes who has been providing care and support, as well as the challenges of managing their business and children during this period.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #308 (Natalie's Health Battle)

 This vlog episode details Natalie's ongoing health crisis, which began four years ago with what was thought to be heartburn but ultimately led to a bile duct stone, pancreatitis, and sepsis. After multiple hospital visits, surgeries, and failed treatments, Natalie recently underwent emergency surgery to remove the stone and address an infection. Despite the successful removal of the stone, she continues to experience chronic pain and has been prescribed medication to address nerve overstimulation. The episode highlights the significant impact on the entire family, particularly Natalie's husband Wes who has been providing care and support, as well as the challenges of managing their business and children during this period.

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Wes Iseli Helped Bring The Carbonaro Effect’s Classic “Mighty Mouse” Trick to Life

 The segment, officially titled “Mighty Mouse Revealed,” was featured in the Season 1 episode “Out of Control,” which originally aired on October 30, 2014. What viewers may not know is that magician and illusionist Wes Iseli worked behind the scenes on the bit, helping the production create the unforgettable transformation.

Michael Carbonaro Creates a “Mighty Mouse”

In the segment, Carbonaro poses as an employee inside a health-food store and tells an unsuspecting shopper that he has been experimenting with a homemade muscle-building supplement.

Carbonaro combines a supposed natural powder with creatine and confidently explains that the mixture can produce extraordinarily fast results. To demonstrate its effectiveness, he introduces what he claims is his pet mouse.

The small animal is placed inside a clear container with a little of the supplement. Within moments, the mouse appears to begin growing. By the time Carbonaro removes the animal, the tiny pet has seemingly transformed into an enormous rat.

As always, Carbonaro sells the impossible with complete confidence. He explains the increasingly unbelievable situation as though rapidly growing rodents are simply another breakthrough in nutritional science.

The customer’s reaction makes the moment even better. Instead of immediately rejecting Carbonaro’s explanation, he watches in amazement and begins considering what the supposed supplement might do for him.

That combination of a visual impossibility, Michael Carbonaro’s improvisational ability and a completely genuine reaction helped turn “Mighty Mouse” into a classic segment from the show’s early years. The episode’s official synopsis describes the scene as demonstrating the “mighty mouse effects” of muscle supplements. 

Wes Iseli’s Role Behind the Scenes

Creating a television illusion involving live animals requires much more than what viewers see in the finished segment.

Magician, illusionist and animal trainer Wes Iseli worked behind the scenes on “Mighty Mouse,” helping with the live rats used during production. His responsibilities included working with the animals and helping the team capture the magical transformation safely and convincingly.

Iseli had years of experience incorporating trained animals into his own professional magic and illusion shows. That experience made him a valuable member of the team when The Carbonaro Effect needed a visual animal transformation that could be performed for an unsuspecting participant and recorded by multiple hidden cameras.

Behind-the-scenes photographs from the production show Iseli with Michael Carbonaro and one of the large rats used for the segment. Another photograph captures the camera monitors during filming, offering a rare look at the multiple angles used to record the moment. A third image shows Iseli working with one of the rats during the production day.

“We Knew It Was Going to Be an Instant Classic”

Even before the segment reached television, the people working behind the scenes could tell they were capturing something special.

“As we were recording it, we knew it was going to be an instant classic,” Iseli remembers.

The premise was funny before the trick even happened, but everything became stronger once Carbonaro began interacting with the unsuspecting customer. Michael’s ability to remain completely serious, the increasingly impossible growth of the mouse and the customer’s willingness to accept the explanation all came together perfectly.

It was one of those rare television moments where the trick, story and reaction were equally strong.

The Team Behind Television Magic

Segments such as “Mighty Mouse” demonstrate how many different talents are required to create a successful piece of hidden-camera magic.

The audience sees Michael Carbonaro confidently performing the illusion, but behind the cameras is an entire production team coordinating props, animals, camera coverage, safety and timing. Every element must be ready, because the unsuspecting participant’s first reaction is the one that matters.

Iseli’s contribution helped provide the animal handling and behind-the-scenes support necessary for Carbonaro to concentrate on the performance, improvisation and interaction that made the finished sequence so memorable.

The segment appeared during the first season of The Carbonaro Effect, when the series was establishing its unique combination of hidden-camera reactions, magic and comedy. The show would eventually run for five seasons and produce dozens of memorable illusions involving everything from strange inventions to impossible animals.

More than a decade later, “Mighty Mouse” remains a terrific example of what made the series special—and a proud piece of Wes Iseli’s own television magic history.

The next time you watch the mouse grow to an unbelievable size, remember that Wes Iseli was there behind the scenes, helping bring this now-classic piece of television magic to life.

Wes Iseli Is Real: Why Facebook Thought I Was a Bot

 

In November 2025, I unexpectedly lost something I had spent years building: my Facebook account and the connection it gave me to a huge following of fans, friends, fellow magicians, clients, and people who had followed my family’s adventures.

Why was I kicked off Facebook?

Apparently, Facebook’s automated systems believed I was a bot—not a real person.

Yes, you read that correctly. I am a professional magician who makes people, animals, vehicles, and other objects appear and disappear—but this time, Facebook made me disappear!

Facebook Accused Me of Being a Bot

I have performed magic professionally since 1996. I perform hundreds of live shows each year, travel with my family, host a podcast, produce a television show, run a magic shop, and regularly share videos and photographs from our lives.

I even have a verified Instagram account.

Since Instagram and Facebook are both owned by Meta, I thought my Instagram verification would help prove my identity. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter. I couldn’t convince Meta’s automated systems that I was an actual human being.

The irony is almost too perfect: a magician known for creating illusions was accused of being an illusion himself.

Losing Contact With My Facebook Following

This wasn’t just an inconvenience. Facebook had helped me stay connected with a large community that I had built over many years.

My followers watched our performances, kept up with our family, listened to the Wes Iseli’s MagicLife Podcast, followed our television show and vlog, bought magic from my shop, and booked us for live appearances.

Then, almost instantly, that connection was gone.

I couldn’t easily reach the people who had supported me, and many of them had no idea what happened. From their perspective, it probably looked as if I had suddenly vanished.

As a magician, I’m used to making things disappear—but I usually know how to bring them back!

Introducing the “Wes Iseli Is Real” Campaign

Instead of simply being frustrated by what happened, I’ve decided to turn it into something fun.

I am officially launching the:

WES ISELI IS REAL CAMPAIGN

Over time, my family, friends, audiences, fellow performers, and other witnesses will help me present evidence that I am, in fact, a real human being.

You may see videos featuring:

• Eyewitness testimony from people who have seen me perform
• Natalie confirming that I’m real—and occasionally annoying
• Audience members becoming “Verified Human Witnesses”
• My attempts to pass ridiculous human-verification tests
• Evidence from my family, animals, and fellow magicians                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Can a Magic Trick Prove That I’m Human?

I’m also developing a fun “Human Verification Test” that will become part of my live magic show.

You’ve probably seen those online boxes that say:

☑ I AM NOT A ROBOT

During the routine, I’ll attempt to prove that I’m human by completing a series of increasingly ridiculous tests—with help from the audience.

Will I pass the test? Will the audience agree that I’m real? Or will the magic make me look even more suspicious?

There is only one way to find out: come see Wes & Natalie Iseli’s MagicLife Live and examine the evidence for yourself.

Help Me Prove That Wes Iseli Is Real

If you’ve attended one of my shows, watched my television series, listened to my podcast, purchased something from my magic shop, taken a magic lesson from me, or met me somewhere along the way, you can help.

Share your photographs, videos, stories, and eyewitness testimony using:

#WesIsReal
#WesIseliIsReal
#DefinitelyNotABot

You can also follow my other pages, join my email list, and share this post so we don’t lose contact again if another social-media platform suddenly decides that I’m imaginary.

After nearly 30 years of performing professionally—and hundreds of live shows every year—I believe the evidence is pretty strong.

Wes Iseli is real.

The magic is another story.

Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E34 (Fail Stories with Wes & Natalie)

W

Wes and Natalie shared a variety of personal stories and experiences related to their magic shows, including technical difficulties, unexpected incidents, and humorous anecdotes. They discussed the challenges of performing magic at different venues, such as county fairs and resorts, and highlighted the importance of adaptability and quick thinking. Natalie introduced her new healthcare business and website, offering nutrition guidance for individuals on GLP-1 medications. The episode concluded with a discussion about the importance of perseverance and the value of learning from failures in both magic and personal life.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife #307 (Lana's Musical Theater and Ballet Performance)

 In this episode we travel to watch Lana in 2 shows Newsies with her musical theater and ballet perfromance of Jonah. We are proud of her as she has shown a ton of progress this year.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E33 (Wes & Natalie)

Wes and Natalie discussed various personal and professional updates, including their family activities, and Natalie's health concerns. They shared details about their children's interests, including Julian's newfound interest in magic and Lana's artistic and acting aspirations. Wes provided updates on his workout routine and shared insights from a recent meeting with Golden Media Syndication about promoting their content across multiple streaming platforms, including Stripes TV & more. wesiseli.com Patreon.com/wes_iseli

Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E32 (kam knight)

 The podcast episode featured Kam Knight, an international speaker and author, discussing internal resistance and its impact on achieving goals. Knight explained how the brain's wanting mechanism and resistance work independently to create obstacles, even when someone is motivated. He shared techniques for overcoming resistance, including self-talk and mind mapping, and emphasized the importance of identifying and addressing the root causes of resistance. The episode also touched on external resistance, such as fear of success and societal expectations, and how these can manifest in various aspects of life, including career and personal development. Knight offered free resources on his website to help listeners apply his concepts, and he highlighted the potential for his coaching services to help individuals overcome deep-seated blocks.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #306 (Fundraising Illusion Show)

 This Illusion show was filmed at William Monroe High School for a fundraiser for the middle school. This video is a portion of the 1 1/2 hour show.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #305 (Arlington Drafthouse)

 In this episode we travel to The Arlington Drafthouse to teach a magic class and perform our illusion show. The audience was amazing for both the class and the show. We love performing there, it has a Vegas showroom vibe to it.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E31 (Wes & Natalie)

 Wes and Natalie discussed their recent magic illusion show, which was successfully held despite challenging weather conditions. They shared personal anecdotes about their family life, including their children's activities and a humorous incident involving a cat. The conversation also covered Wes's upcoming magic consulting work and a new trick involving Lana's art. They concluded by reflecting on lessons learned from their recent show, emphasizing the importance of selling tickets in advance and offering additional concessions to maximize fundraising efforts.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #304 New Year's Eve 2025

 In this episode you will come along with Natalie & I as we travel to Northern Va to perform at a New Year's Eve event for families then back home to celebrate with the kids.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E30 (Mike Kaminskas)

 Wes, Natalie and Michael discussed various challenges in the magic performance industry, including weather-related cancellations, scheduling conflicts, and the high costs of materials and conventions. Michael shared his personal health journey, including a heart failure diagnosis and ongoing recovery, while also discussing his magic production business and creative process. They explored the artistry of magic performances, the importance of audience connection, and the business aspects of the magic industry, including product development and distribution.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E29 (Peter Sacco)

 In this wide-ranging conversation, criminal psychologist and author Peter Sacco shared his diverse career experiences, including his work in television, music, and writing, as well as his expertise in criminal psychology. Sacco discussed his theories about historical cases like Jack the Ripper and the O.J. Simpson trial, while also exploring the intersection of psychology, magic, and hypnosis. The discussion touched on various topics including the nature of reality, the impact of technology on belief systems, and the complexities of human behavior. Sacco also promoted his books, including works on anger types and serial killers, and shared insights from his research in criminal psychology.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #303 (Christmas 2025)

 In this episode you will spend Christmas week with us as we write letters to Santa, magically send letters to Santa, make sugar cookies with friends, perform at a company Christmas party, experiance our Christmas Eve traditions as well as open a few presents with us Christmas morning.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #302 (Lana's New Kittens)

 In this episode we introduce our new family members Oreo and Tiger who are the new kittens we got for Lana for her 14th birthday. The kids made gingerbread houses, the boys dangerously opened their dino eggs, Natalie and Lana went to see the nutcracker ballet & the boys were in a church play. all of this as we get closer and closer to Christmas.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Podcast S6E28 (Natalie's in the ER again)

 Wes and Natalie discussed various scheduling challenges and health issues, including an upcoming show cancellation due to weather and Natalie's ongoing health concerns. Natalie shared her experiences with medical appointments and testing for liver enzyme issues, while also discussing Wes' teaching activities and social media management challenges. The conversation concluded with updates about Wes's involvement with a show choir, his blog and Patreon content.

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Wes Iseli's Magiclife Vlog #301 (They saved us a parking spot)

 In this episode you will come along with us as we make christmas ornaments with the kids. Natalie finishes her masters in nutrition and starts her new business called (Natalie's Nutrition Nation). Everyone goes to Va beach to perform at a Christmas event complete with magic, music and dancing from Lex.

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