MAGIC MOMENTS : Paul Kozak’s Routine Is Sometimes Dazzling, but Be Prepared to Duck
Most magicians start young, bugging family and friends with a rash of corny tricks they pick up at the local novelty shop. But Paul Kozak, a magician who offers a side-helping of jokes with all the vanishing this and that, didn’t start until he was 23.
Kozak, who headlines Thursday through Sunday at the Brea Improv, read his first magic book at age 23. From then on, he was hooked, describing the experience as “looking into (my) destiny; I thought I was born to do magic.”
The Pittsburgh native had another reason for diving in. He was eager to avoid the steel mills that many around him invariably drifted to for work. Instead, he honed his craft by performing on street corners and at birthday parties and Cub Scout shows. Eventually, he graduated to banquets and comedy clubs.
Now, he’s considered one of the better comic-magicians around. A 1989 review in the New York Times described his act this way: “Kozak does a number of positively dazzling magic tricks with a decidedly loony glint in his eye.”
At 6 foot 4, and with too-cool slicked-back hair, Kozak is an impressive sight. His act starts sensationally as well. Usually, he makes his entrance carrying a flaming stick, which he tosses into the air, where it disappears in a cloud of smoke. As the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” plays in the background, Kozak nonchalantly begins hurling fireballs at the audience.
His act has resulted in various accolades, including winning the 1981 International Brotherhood of Magicians Sleight of Hand Competition. He was also a semifinalist in the 1987 San Francisco Comedy Competition and later performed for those feuding Brits, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, as part of the Prince’s Royal Trust Gala at the London Palladium in 1989.
Who: Paul Kozak.
When: Thursday, Sept. 10, and Sunday, Sept. 13, at 8:30 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 11, at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 and 10:30 p.m.
Where: The Improv, 945 E. Birch St., Brea.
Whereabouts: Take the Lambert Road exit from Orange (57) Freeway and go west. Turn left on State College Boulevard and right onto Birch Street. The Improv is located in the Brea Marketplace, across from the Brea Mall.
Wherewithal: $7 to $10.
Where to call: (714) 529-7878.
