Buzz
The magician’s assistant, often portrayed as a glamorous figure, is a key and indispensable part of any magical performance. But what’s the reason behind magicians having assistants? What role do they play in the act?
Though many illusions can be executed solo, working with an assistant opens up the possibility for more complex and numerous feats of magic. A skilled assistant can help the magician by buying them time and diverting the audience's attention. This is why most assistants are trained professionals, often expert dancers. They know how to captivate the crowd, allowing the magician to complete the necessary steps of the trick.
While audiences generally expect assistants to serve as distractions, they often don’t realize that they are sometimes the ones performing the illusion. In many cases, the magician is the one serving as the distraction while the assistant executes the trick.
The Zig Zag Girl, shown below, is a quintessential example of one such illusion. Created by Robert Hardin in the 1960s, this classic trick is a twist on the famous 'sawing a woman in half.' Hardin would place his assistant inside a cabinet, then separate her into three parts, moving the middle section away from the others, creating the illusion of an empty space where the woman's torso once was.
The illusion gives the impression that Hardin is performing all the actions—placing the assistant in the cabinet, shifting the segments, and using the saws—yet the true magic happens within the box. Hardin’s assistant, a professional contortionist, skillfully bends her body to fit into the separate sections of the cabinet. As Sabotage Times explains, “Here the woman does all the work while the man simply distracts the audience, contributing to the misdirection that makes the illusion possible.”
Other magicians prefer to work with confederates instead of assistants. While the role of the confederate resembles that of the assistant—helping the magician execute a trick—the confederate operates covertly, not visibly as part of the performance. For example, in the following clip, magician David Blaine seemingly makes an audience member’s card appear on the far side of a restaurant window.
When the volunteer shows their card to the audience, Blaine’s secret confederate inside the restaurant can see it. When Blaine throws the deck at the window, the confederate simply places the correct card on the window while the audience is distracted.
In recent decades, the gender dynamics between magicians and assistants have faced growing criticism. While both magicians and their assistants are often incredibly skilled performers, it is almost always the magician who receives the primary recognition. As professional assistant Sophie Evans told Weekend America, "They're playing these victims on stage yet they ended up being the brains behind the magic—the actual magician."
Although magic is often seen as a gendered realm, some magicians have chosen to break down the traditional magician-assistant hierarchy by working as partners. The Pendragons—a husband-and-wife duo of illusionists—are a prime example. In their signature Metamorphosis illusion, Charlotte and Jonathan Pendragon both play crucial roles in performing the trick, which relies on their ability to switch places with remarkable speed (see how it’s done here):
Having an assistant, confederate, or partner enables magicians to shift the audience’s focus and expand the range of illusions they can pull off. In the cases of the Zig Zag Girl and the card-through-the-window trick, the magician draws the audience’s complete attention, while the assistant or confederate quietly does the trick behind the scenes. It’s clear that teamwork is at the heart of what makes the magic work.
