Magic is not just limited to a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, levitating or making a coin disappear. “Smokus Pocus: A 420 Magic Show” brings a different type of experience, with jars of cannabis appearing, lighters coming to life and bongs bending reality.
The cannabis magic show will visit the Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre on Saturday, Jan. 27.
In the show, magician Ben Zabin brings together weed, comedy and magic, offering an immersive experience for those who do and do not partake in cannabis.
“Everybody gets to be part of the experience. No two shows are the same, which keeps things fun for myself. I’ve gotten a bunch of audience members who’ve come to the show in different cities or have come back to the show when we’ve toured to the same city. It’s a treat getting to keep it fresh for those type of people,” Zabin said.
Zabin said the theater in Tucson has around 100 seats, allowing for a more intimate experience.
“I’ll get to know a lot of people in the audience. The audience will get to know me. It’ll be a very personal experience. I love getting to hang out in the lobby after the show. People come up. They say hi. The audience members leave knowing a lot of each other’s names. People are smoking joints with each other outside of the show that they had just met a few minutes earlier. It’s a really great sense of community,” Zabin said.
Zabin based the show on traditional magic tricks but also took inspiration from his own imagination.
“A couple of the tricks I’ve taken old magic concepts and modernized them with a 420 spin. Other tricks have just come from what would be really cool as a weed smoker. I always thought it would be really cool if there was a bong that could smoke itself. Every cannabis lover would just love to make a ton of weed appear. That’s what inspired the opening of the show, where a whole lot of weed appears in the first few moments,” Zabin said.
Zabin said the show brings members of the cannabis community together, with the audience ranging in age from those in their 20s to their 70s. The show attracts a diverse audience, which can include parents with their grown children, couples on dates and bachelorette parties.
Zabin has taken the show to Phoenix in the past. He said the crowd was very receptive to his style of magic.
“People were really excited to come together over a shared love of weed. We always get a lot of people that aren’t maybe smokers themselves. They just come with a friend or a partner that likes weed. I’ve designed the show so that it’s equally fun for both weed enthusiasts and non-weed enthusiasts,” Zabin said.
“Everything has a cannabis theme to it. But even if somebody has never smoked before, they’ll be able to understand the jokes. They’ll be able to get a feel of the culture. Nobody will feel singled out if they’ve never smoked a joint or taken a gummy in their life.”
Zabin, who has been performing since he got a magic kit at 5 years old, started the show May 2021 in Portland, Oregon, in a room with 50 people. Since then, he has been growing and evolving the show. He has toured to different parts of the country following a residency at Planet 13 dispensary in Las Vegas. There is even an edition of “Smokus Pocus” in Canada, which is hosted by magician Eric Leclerc.
“I just fell in love with it,” Zabin said of magic. “I had a really bad speech impediment when I was younger. Learning magic gave me the confidence to be in front of people. And then by the time I was 12 and 13, I was doing birthday parties around town, and the events grew bigger. I started doing the magic competition circuit around the country, and then the gigs grew and grew until I was on cruise ships. I even did a few tours overseas with the Navy, doing shows on Navy bases.”
He ran an underground marijuana business in Boston while working as a magician on cruise ships right before the pandemic.
“I was living both of those lives. The pandemic happened, and the cruise ship work ended. I wanted to get out of the weed industry. Since weed and magic were always passions, I wanted to combine the two. ‘Smokus Pocus’ was always an idea on the back burner, but I figured it would be the time to start it. I moved out to Portland, Oregon, where I thought it would be a good place to launch it. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since,” Zabin said.
“The first show sold out, and we ran every week for 14 months in Portland. I was lucky that just about every show there was sold out. People were excited about embracing something unique that was at the crossroads of cannabis and culture. Since then, it’s been a blast taking it on the road across the country, and people have been receptive all over.”
Over the years, Zabin has continually evolved the show.
“It’s gotten bigger. The tricks have gotten more impressive. There’s a lot more production value, especially here in Vegas. … There’s always new stuff coming into the show, new jokes, new bits, new tricks,” Zabin said.
He has had to answer questions about the show from Nevada officials, especially related to how weed is used in the show.
“Talking with the Nevada Cannabis Commissioner’s Office was really helpful, learning about what to do and what not to do,” Zabin said.
In traveling with the show, he makes sure to adhere to local cannabis regulations.
“When I launched back in Portland, they were pretty loose when it came to the regulations there. Those shows were a lot smaller, so I was able to get away with a lot more, but now that I’m traveling a lot with the show, I’ve had to make some adjustments and tweak to different regulations. I’ve still been able to keep a lot of the edgy aspects. There’s a lot of stuff that people see in the show that won’t be seen in any other show,” Zabin said.
What is allowed, as far as cannabis use inside and outside venues, varies from place to place.
“We encourage people to arrive baked and leave bewildered. Most of our venues don’t permit smoking inside the show. A lot of our venues are cool with people smoking outside. Most of the venues take place in warehouses or underground rooms. Those can be more lax when it comes to consuming inside. It really depends on each city,” Zabin said.
He has been excited to venture into a new area of entertainment, which he expects to keep growing.
“It’s at the forefront of cannabis and entertainment. This is such a new industry, and it’s different all around the country. I think that as time progresses, there’s going to be a lot more weed-oriented entertainment offerings, and I’m excited to be pioneering that,” Zabin said.
This article appears in Jan 18-25, 2024.