Meet Jonathan Fesmire | Magician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jonathan Fesmire and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jonathan, as a parent, what have you done for you children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
Recently, the most important thing I’ve done, for me and my son, is retiring from writing novels, and focusing on another of my long-time interests, magic. This year, I began focusing on tricks and sleight of hand. Some magician friends of mine suggested that I’m ready to do magician gigs, so I’m doing that now.

Writing novels takes so much time, and so much energy. When you’re writing, you have to focus on to the exclusion of everything else. That was eating up a lot of time, and I felt like it was taking some away from me spending time with my son. With magic, I can practice card and other sleights while I watch the news or wait in line with my son for a ride at Disneyland. When he wants to talk, I don’t have to ask him to wait as I finish a paragraph.

Also, magic is something fun we do together, and he’s acting as my assistant at our strolling magician gigs.

That’s not the most important thing I’ve done ever as a parent, but it’s recent and relevant.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Learning the art of magic has been great fun. It involves learning tricks and sleight of hand, and then learning ways to improve upon what I’m learning. That can involve creatively changing the patter for a trick, learning or coming up with variations on sleights, or finding ways to allow my son to assist.

Much of this is new to me. The last time you interviewed me, it was about my writing, but I recognized that writing novels wasn’t joyful for me anymore. Plus, combining writing, marketing, blogging, writing newsletters, and everything else that goes into attempting a novelist career, well, it’s a lot. For me, I realized it was too much. But performing magic and seeing the amazement and delight it brings is so joyful for me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My best friend did visit over the summer! My son and I went to Disneyland with him and we all had a fantastic day.

Alternately, it would be fun to go with him to The Magic Castle. My son and I went in November and look forward to getting to visit again. It’s wonderful seeing various shows there and exploring.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shout-out to all the magicians who work at Main Street Magic in Disneyland. They’ve encouraged me to follow my passion for magic and often help out with tips!

Website: https://jonathanfesmire.com/

Twitter: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfesmire.bsky.social

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanFigment

Other: https://www.gigsalad.com/jonathan_and_clark_figment_anaheim

Image Credits
Logo by Jonathan Fesmire
Photos by Clark Fesmire