A few years ago David Blaine set a “Houdini Line” for his stage career. The magic headliner has said he would wean himself from big-size illusions at age 52. That was Houdini’s age when he died. That is also how old Blaine is now.
“After the dislocation of the shoulder, and the ice pick through the hand and, I’ve kind of been a little on high alert,” says Blaine, returning to Encore Theater this week. “So I’ve been a lot more cautious.”
Blaine returns to Encore Theater on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, returning for three more shows March 4-7.
Encore Theater is home to many music acts and comics. But as a stunt performer/endurance artist/magician/mentalist, Blaine stands alone. He’s just not apt to drop alone, which is how he blew out his shoulder at Resorts World in March 2023, during his opening 80-foot drop into a stack of cardboard boxes.
Blaine finished that show, and the act itself was finished.
“It wasn’t a matter of ‘if,’ it was a matter of ‘when,’” Blaine says of cutting the number.
Blaine pierced his hand with an ice pick the following December. In the act, the headliner Blaine invited a pair of audience members to the stage. The guests pick which paper cups lined up on a table are not concealing an ice pick. Blaine is blindfolded (or, Blaine-Folded) and slams his hand on the cups selected by the audience members. Pete Davidson joined joined him onstage in June ‘23 for an incident-free appearance.
Blaine’s method of selecting the ice-pick concealing cup failed him on this night. He also finished that show, missing about a minute to recover.
Blaine has since produced such mind-bending acts as regurgitating a frog on stage, chewing a wine glass, stitching his lips together and the signature underwater-breath hold. His record is 17 minutes, 4.4 seconds, achieved on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in April 30, 2008.
Because of such on-stage adventures, I’ve often compared Blaine’s act to 80-percent Houdini, 20 percent Steve-O. But he’s not above a new twist on an old routine. Blaine’s finale is a single-card trick involving all 1,300 folks at Encore Theater.
“I just have so much fun messing around with that audience,” Blaine says. “Las Vegas is a pretty great audience.” Al Pacino, Edge and Bono of U2, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mike Tyson, and Malia and Sasha Obama are among the many celebs who have caught Blaine’s act.
The headliner has most recently been developing new acts while visiting Paris.
“The main thing I’ve been working on is just new magic,” Blaine says. “So there’s some great French magicians in Paris that I’ve been spending some time with, playing around with new ideas and just practicing lots of new things I’m excited about. I might try to put some of them into the show.”
Blaine is a star among stars in Las Vegas, an international magic mecca for more than a half-century.
“I feel like the casinos are able to build really nice theaters, and they’re able to put in any kind of show. And I do feel like the way Cirque du Soleil has changed all of the theaters and the structure has brought some imagination to these productions,” Blaine says. “Going back, Siegfried and Roy expanded out the the business model, with a huge production that was just magic. And then David Copperfield extended that.
“They all opened up the doors to Vegas being a place for magicians to succeed.”
Blaine has some favorite Las Vegas shows.
“I’ve seen ‘O’ about 20 times,” Blaine says. “I’ve seen ‘Absinthe’ a bunch of times. I just loved it. Las Vegas has so much, and I love playing there.”
Vegas/Blige connection
Las Vegas native Kenneth Crear is a music-industry power player as manager of Mary J. Blige, coming into Dolby Live on May 1-9, and July 10-18. This is Blige’s first Vegas residency.
Crear also manages Toni Braxton, who is on the New Edition/Boyz II Men tour, stopping at T-Mobile Arena on Friday night. Crear is the brother of former Las Vegas City Councilman and mayoral candidate Cedric Crear. Both Crears will be at the T-Mobile show.
Perez pushes it back
Franky Perez and the All-Nighters’ opening at Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce at Mandalay Bay is moving back from its Feb. 4 premiere date. Nothing to be alarmed about. Perez’s rescheduled date is to be announced. The band’s schedule will be 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Jokes of Vegas
Nikki Glaser and David Spade both delved into Las Vegas material in their co-headlining appearances at the Colosseum on Friday and Saturday.
Glaser said of finding a scale in her hotel room, “Just what I want on my trip to Vegas, to weigh in.”
Spade said of calling room service at the famously King Arthur/medieval-themed Excalibur, “What time is the joust? Is there a joust? You don’t know? You have the theme, I’m just playing along. You have to meet me halfway here.” The appearances were the duo’s first at Caesars.
Cool Hang Alert
The Railhead at Boulder Station continues its “Bailongo A La Mexicana” series, with rotating artists each week.La Ruleta Norteña plays Saturday, La Proyeccion de Durango on Jan. 31. Shows start at 8 p.m. No cover, guests must be 21 years or older. Bottle service and table reservations available. Go to boulderstation.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
Who: David Blaine.
When: Jan. 21, 23-24, 2026; March 4, 6-7, 2026; all shows at 8 p.m. PT
Tickets: Start at $69.95 plus fees.
Information: Ticketmaster.com
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Celebs who have seen Blaine’s production:
Al Pacino Alex Honnold
Cara Delevingne
Darren Aronofsky
Danny DeVito
Dr. Dre
EDGE – U2
Edward Norton
Eminem
Logan Paul
Jaden Smith
Malia and Sasha Obama
Maya Rudolph
Paul Thomas Anderson
Michael Strahan
Mike Tyson
Owen Wilson
Pete Davidson
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sergey Brin
Steve Wozniak
Tobey McGuire
Woody Harrelso