Rusty Ammerman's Dimension of Illusion

Who is Rusty Ammerman?

Rusty Ammerman is a Master Magician and Comedian with over thirty years of performing experience. He has entertained thousands of satisfied audiences in forty-three states and nine countries, including two over-seas tours to perform for our troops. Rusty has been a featured act at The World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA and regularly appears on The CW network.

What is The Dimension of Illusion?

To put it simply, it is an exciting and engaging experience that your audience will love. Rusty utilizes a charming blend of magic, comedy and (here’s the key ingredient) a lot of audience participation. The crowd doesn’t just watch the show, they become a part of it. It is surprisingly flexible and can be adapted for virtually any audience, situation or budget. Rusty’s performance is adapted to each audience and event so it is always appropriate.

One of its strongest points is that it is a logistical dream. Rusty provides his own sound and backdrop. The performance, from set-up to break down, is maintenance free. Rusty does all the work.

THE FIRST DIMENSION...
Close-Up Magic

In the 1st Dimension the individual tables will witness magical effects right in front of their eyes. Using common items such as cards, coins and rubber bands as well as objects borrowed from table members, Rusty will leave the seated spectators checking for trap doors in their table.

This type of magic is perfect as an entertaining addition to your trade show booth.

Price: $200 per hour.
Show Length: 2 hour minimum.

THE SECOND DIMENSION...
Platform Magic

This 60 minute show is perfect for smaller venues with or without an elevated platform. An ideal showcase for the 2nd Dimension would be a banquet room, dining hall, or auditorium. In this show Rusty makes uses music, sound effects, his flair for comedy with great magic effects to develop a strong rapport with the audience. This show could be described as a cross between magic and stand-up comedy.

Price: $750.
Show Length: 60 minutes.

THE THIRD DIMENSION...
Stage Magic

In the 3rd Dimension Rusty is joined on stage by Lexie. With the help of his beautiful assistant and a state of the art sound system, Rusty uses hot, current music to dazzle the audience with larger effects and grand illusions.

Price: $1,500.
Show Length: 60 minutes.

Rusty Ammerman—Entertainer
A Revealing Look at the Maniac behind the Magic

There’s something magical about the power of laughter. It is the elixir that can
exorcise demons, quash the blues, and add a new lift to any step after a long
day’s slough. Add a pinch of abracadabra and viola...you get Rusty Ammerman
and his “Dimension of Illusion,” a mix of mystery and maniacal mayhem. Magic
is a mystical art, its secrets zealously guarded by its prestidigitators. Rusty, with
a face as open and honest as a golden retriever, seems at first to be an awkward
fit with the dark craft. Happy magician seems like an oxymoron after all. But in
performances stretching across 41 states and nine countries, Rusty shows the
two can coexist quite well. “Making an audience laugh is...well...addicting,” he
says. “I’m a laughter junkie.”

Rusty isn’t a stoic tuxedo sort of guy—a funeral director in a top hat. He’s an
entertainer and he’s quick to point out the difference. “Magic has nothing to do
with fooling people, it’s all about entertainment,” he explains. “You can make the
Eiffel Tower disappear in front of 10 priests, all swearing that it’s gone, only to
have it reappear on the moon, verified by NASA, and people will still know it’s a
trick...You can’t fool anyone ever, not really.”

Instead, he says, the trick is in making the audience enjoy the illusion, and
suspend their disbelief. “They wonder, ‘how did he do that?’” Rusty says. “I
remember the first time I did a trick and people went huh? It was like a drug. I
was hooked.” An Indiana native, Rusty cut his entertainment teeth in front of his
bedroom mirror, acting out scenes from classic television—Johnny Carson, The
Twilight Zone, Carol Burnett, Dick Van Dyke, Jack Benny, Steve Martin, and the
like. “Television was my extended family,” he says. “I used to memorize scenes
and spend time in my room playing different characters.”

At 16-years-old, Rusty’s world changed when he spent a summer vacation
working at a nearby tourist trap, doing everything from staging gun fights and
stunts to playing comic characters in the can-can show. The attraction had a notvery-
good magician as well. “I remember thinking that the tricks were good but
he didn’t bring a lot of personality to the magic,” he says. “Like most 16-yearolds,
I thought I could do better than that...That was the start of everything.”

He dug around in old magic kits, melding the best tricks into one show, and soon
hit the birthday party circuit at 10 bucks a pop, carted from venue to venue by his
girlfriend, who was already in possession of her driver’s license. “I thought I was
rich,” he says.

Rusty gradually transitioned from kids’ birthday parties to adult dinner theater,
with a few detours into other entertainment venues such as a deejay.
Somewhere along the path, he caught the eye of veteran vaudeville comic Buddy
Graf, who helped the young magician develop his own personal style. “Buddy
really took me under his wing. I learned more about performance and working an
audience doing cabaret entertainment than anything I’ve done before or since. I
guess you could say that’s when I went to college. (Laughs) Yes, I got my
Masters in Entertainment at Vaudeville University from Professor Buddy Graff.”

That’s when his career blossomed.

“At some point, I stopped doing tricks and started doing shows,” he says. “I
realized that the ability to do a magic trick doesn’t make you a magician, and
being a magician certainly doesn’t make you an entertainer. It’s all about how
you make your audience feel.”

Today, Rusty spends his days and nights at dinner theaters, amusement parks, casinos, universities and trade shows, honing his legerdemain and delighting audiences. He has also presented thousands of elementary, middle and high school programs—where he’s consistently voted Best Show of the Year—and has even done two tours of military bases across Europe, something that, all joking aside, he calls a special honor. “I’ve never been more proud than those tours, entertaining the brave men and women who defend us,” he says.

A genuinely nice guy, hard work and talent allow him to do exactly what he
wanted as a youngster standing in front of that mirror—perform and entertain.

Nothing magic about it.

I'll need about an hour to set-up, and 45 minutes to strike. I'll also need a few minutes (less than 5) to do a sound check.