Gambit

He’s Not YOUR Ordinary Magician.

How is he Not ordinary?

Gambit does not follow the traditional idea of how most muggles see magicians. He does not pull rabbits from hats. His show Get tricked is a show geared more towards the adult crowd, with drinking, and adult humor. (More info on the show <Here>) Depending on the time of year you may see Gambit or his darker Silent alter ego Tally-Ho A sideshow magician from the Dark Carnival. More on him later.

“Is he family-friendly?”

Gambit airs on the side of adaptability. He takes pride in his abilities as a performer to change his acts on the fly to fit the audiences he’s performing for. That being said, if you were to attend his Get Tricked show, He would be himself and it may or may not be family-friendly depending on how the show goes. If however, he is being booked outside of his Get Tricked show he puts on a more family-friendly show. Some of the routines will be from his Get Tricked show but will be changed up to be more appropriate for the booked events.

Ok, so where did this all come from? WHo is he really?

Oh… 2 Questions at once? I have an easy answer for that. Since Gambit is asked a fair amount on a regular basis. Since being Gambit 24/7 would be exhausting. He has a Muggle side of life and will often be asked about this when others find out he’s a wizard.

thE beginning inG!

It all started when… That’s a terrible way to start. Gambit was born Kyle Bassett in early September in 1990. In a very small town in southern Illinois. This magical town had around 360 or so people living in it. It was surrounded by cornfields and a forest. His family would always watch magic specials when they were on and he always wanted to learn how to do those amazing tricks and illusions he saw, but there was no youtube, heck he didn’t even have internet until later. And the closest library was a 20 min drive away and he knew his parents weren’t going to take him. (they probably would have if he asked. but he also didn’t know they made magic books at the time.)

Fast Forward about 6/7 years or so. Spoiler. Kyle has moved a couple years before this, to a bigger city/town.

Here is how it all started. Kyle was 16 around this time, and became hooked on a show his brother told him about called Mindfreak (not proud of this) If you don’t know what that is, I'll save you the google trouble. It’s a magic based show like David Blaine, if David was an alternative rock musician who sold his soul to a terrible walmart knock off devil. Not joking. Either way let’s keep going. At this time Kyle discovered DVR and recorded the shows so he never missed an episode. In October they aired The MindFreak Halloween episode. But Kyle had other things to do, so he didn’t watch the airing. He let the DVR handle that. On October 31st 2006. Before Kyle went to school he watched the Halloween episode. In this episode the audience was taught how to make a toothpick vanish.

How the setup went. The main person in the show performed the trick and then said after the break he will teach the trick to you. Kyle got extremely excited (no joke) He believed he was going to learn about this invisible place where magicians could store objects and then retrieve them at will. (Facepalm emoji) After the commercial break he then taught it.

The method was extremely simple, but Kyle didn’t have the materials needed to perform the trick. So he went to school. But all day he just thought about the trick, replaying it in his mind. Analyzing how it was done, how it was performed… etc. Around 3rd period (his 3rd class) He had Biology. And Guess what? They were using toothpicks. BOOM! Kyle got extremely excited that he’ll be able to try this thing out.

The class ended and people were heading to lunch, and Kyle grabbed what he needed, set the trick up, and then ran to catch up to his friends. He caught up to them halfway across the parking lot of the school, and out of breath asked if they wanted to see something cool?

Of course they looked at each other slightly confused and said sure. I showed them the tooth pick and with a snap of my fingers it vanished.

They both looked at my hands for a second of silence. Then they both just lost their Sh@*$! and Kyle being shocked by the fact that this little simple trick fooled the pants out of his friends started to uncontrollably giggle. Yes He giggled. As to him the method was simple and obvious. But to them, they had no idea.

And that was it. He was hooked. He started using his knowledge of computers to find ways to learn more about magic. He met other magicians in the area, and learned from them. and he soon realized he had a knack for this. A deep understanding of how magic works. This without him even knowing it would set his life down an interesting and amazing road that few humans would ever be able to live.

But wait… the Name. WHere did it come from?

Oh ok. This is not an exciting story but I guess it should be here for completion's sake. When Kyle first started learning magic, the easiest thing he could get his hands on to perform was a deck of cards. So he mostly did card tricks, and he got pretty damn good at it. His dexterity with a deck of cards and his ability to do things with them that blew the minds of those around him earned him the Nickname by his friends Gambit. That’s it. That’s the story. … Oh you don’t know the relevance behind it? I forget. Ok sooooooo let me give a brief explanation for the non-geeky/nerdy readers.

Gambit by definition.

gam·bit

/ˈɡambət/

noun

1. a device, action, or opening remark, typically one entailing a degree of risk, that is calculated to gain an advantage.
   "his resignation was a tactical gambit"
   synonyms:stratagem, scheme, plan, tactic, maneuver, move, course/line of action, device; More

   • (in chess) an opening in which a player makes a sacrifice, typically of a pawn, for the sake of some compensating advantage.

But… Gambit was also the name of a Mutant from the Marvel X-men series. He had the ability to manipulate Kinetic energy and charge objects with them. Now what happens when you give objects too much kinetic energy is interesting. It has to find something to do with the energy. Most of the time it would cause objects to move to help disperse the energy back into the world. However this mutant could charge an object so much that it would be glowing in a bright magenta glow and would explode due to the amount of energy in it and not having a way to get rid of it. Think of it like those Samsung phones that were causing so many problems. They would hold a charge and not know what to do. So they would just boom. Explode.

I realized I went on a little tangent there. Here’s where it all fits in. Gambit was named Gambit for the fact he was a thief and a swindler. Con man. whatever you’d like to call it. And his main choice in weapons was a deck of cards. He would charge up cards and throw them, either making them explode on impact, or stick into things. Soooooo Having nerdy / geeky friends who loved comics and such, calling Kyle Gambit was a perfect no brainer fit.

That was a very round explanation.

Is that it? Is there anything else I should Know? Does he have any awards? etc?

Funny you should ask. I’m very impressed with your skills of knowing exactly what to ask.

Outside of Magic, Gambit is also a pretty well established Burlesque performer. More on this later.

He has been awarded one of Central Illinois Top Magicians in 2014 and 2018 from the Central Illinois Magic Competition in Peoria Illinois. Also won the 2017 Ohio’s Regional Burlypicks Master of Amazement which allowed him the Honor to compete on an international stage for the International Title of Master of Amazement. Gambit has appeared on a local Broadcasting channel in a series known as Magic Mondays, and also had a series on a local radio station where Gambit would come in and show magic to the Radio Personalities. Along with being a feature on several episodes of a social media series where the hosts are challenged to compete in crazy and bizzare tasks. The series lasted for several years and was one of the top consistently viewed series on their platform. Later the Series would be revamped in a different location but still hold up to its original conception with an even larger audience than before.

Ok explain this Burlesque thing.

bur·lesque

/ˌbərˈlesk/

noun

1. 1.
   an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work; a parody.
   "the funniest burlesque of opera"
   synonyms:parody, caricature, satire, lampoon, skit, farce; More

2. 2.
   a variety show, typically including striptease.
   "burlesque clubs"

verb

1. 1.
   cause to appear absurd by parodying or copying in an exaggerated form.
   "she struck a ridiculous pose that burlesqued her own vanity"

OHHHHHH you didn’t mean literally. My fault.

In 2016 Gambit gave a lecture on the Science behind Magic. You know the neurological reason why we are fooled by magic tricks. And after the lecture, Gambit was approached by one Miss Kitty Catscratch, a Local Burlesque performer and leader of the Lock and Key Burlesque Troupe. She inquired with the idea of wanting to do a magic based Burlesque show and wanted to know if Gambit would be interested in helping her design and Produce the show. As Gambit is one to not turn down a good Challenge and got excited by where this idea would take his life. He agreed to help. This would start a series of meetings once a week at a coffee shop going over ideas, tricks, routines. etc. Also it formed a friendship between the two performers.

Fast forward a month or so, and Miss Kitty asked Gambit if he would like to perform some magic in their next show that they are working on. This was a new potential experience and loved the idea of being a part of a Burlesque show, so he agreed to do it. And in pure Gambit fashion, He came up with his routines the day of the show.

Little did he know that during this show, he would get a little taste of Burlesque that would change his life forever. Gambit was tasked to perform 2 magic numbers in the show. One per act. So one before the intermission and another after.

Act one. I can not for the life of me remember what He did for this one. Oh well After the first act, he joked about the idea of doing his next act in what are called pasties. Which is material that covers the Nipples in a burlesque act. That's the base description.  Everyone laughed and then went on their way. A little later a performer later to be named Boudica Snow, re-brought up the idea and pushed Gambit to do it. As it would be amazing and Hilarious.

Someone offered an extra pair of heart pasties for him to wear and Gambit decided, Sure why the heck not. Let's see where this goes, he thought.

Act two. Gambit walked on stage nervously holding 2 silver bowls. The lights on stage blinding and only the hard outlines of silhouettes can be seen in the audience. Only the expressions of the first row can be seen. After that nothing. The sound of the audience applauding as he makes his way to center stage, where a chair and a glass container await for him. He held up his hand in a gesture that told the audience to calm down and become silent as he set the silver bowls down.

The audience becomes motionless. Waiting. Anticipating, What is about to happen? You could read it in the air as the tension built. Gambit slowly started to unbutton his shirt. Slowly. One. Button. at. a. Time. The audience leaned closer. Until everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats. No sound, no movement. Just a stillness in the air. But then\

Gambit dramatically opens his shirt to reveal 2 red heart shaped pasties. The audience explodes in applause, and catcalls. Cheering for the absurdity of the situation. Gambit, now filled with the energy of the audience, takes the shirt the remainder of the way and proceeds to perform his trick. After the trick was over and Gambit made his way off the stage to a deafening applause, the troupe was waiting perplexed. They didn’t see what happened. As they were all preparing for their next numbers, they just heard a massive explosion of the audience erupted in applause, cheers, and catcalls. As if a favorite sports team won the biggest game of their life, and it was being aired in a bar that was only in support for that team.

This most definitely caught them all by surprise and they all wanted to know what the heck Gambit did. Later Gambit was offered a chance to audition for the troupe. SO he did, and he became a member and the only male performer of Lock and Key Burlesque. Later he would join Whiskey City Burlesque. But that story is for another day.

I don’t recall if this has been mentioned in here or not, but Gambit has removed himself from Burlesque for personal reasons and as much as he misses it, he has no plans on returning. He claims that he has taken early retirement.

Who is Tally Ho?

Ok Dr. Jekyll, who is this Mr. Hyde you speak of?

Ok sooo being a part of the Lock and Key Burlesque troupe, there was a subsidiary of the troupe called Lock and Key Sideshow. And Gambit had a Mad Hatter-ish Character he was playing around with for a Halloween Show he did years back. Now one thing about Gambit that has not been mentioned is his love for Horror Movies and things on the odd and Bizarre side. So he felt this would be a good place to stretch his weird wings as a performer and give him an outlet to do the dangerous and odd magic that he couldn’t really do in his normal show. Not to mention play up a bit.

So by taking his Mad Hatter Character, tweeking it to be a lot darker, removing his ability to speak. Tally-Ho was born. A Darker More mischievous version of Gambits self. Who without uttering a word can command the attention of the audience and make you laugh while he impales his arm with a 12 inch hat pin. That’s pretty much it. He performed in shows around Illinois with the rest of the sideshow troupe until it disconnected from the Lock and Key Troupe and became its own thing.