Clubhouse is a new audio chat room app that has amassed an incredible number of users over the pandemic. Will the demand for a social app for group calls outlive the world going back to normal? Who knows.

One thing we do know is that Magicians love the app, and they’ll be there for good. Magicians love to “Jam” and are usually at odds because they tend to live so far away from each other. Clubhouse solves that.

But the app has highlighted something about magic jams. You’d think an audio-only app would be bad for magic hangouts, as it’s quite limiting to the ability to perform strong magic. Most magicians would say magic is a visual art form.

But when magician’s get together, be it at a convention, club or simple get-together… do they ever really perform magic? Sure, there’s the occasional card sleight that gets shared. But you rarely see a magician wheeling out their stage illusion or producing doves in a Pizza Express. Even at conventions, it tends to be magicians showing off the bargains they bought in the dealer hall.

Anyway, lots of magicians on the Clubhouse app. Lots of laypeople on Clubhouse. Not much magic being performed. But audio-only magic is nothing new. There’s a long history of examples and published effects for two existing categories of audio-only illusions…