Tucson-born magician Eric Buss will host his first post-pandemic hometown show when he resurrects his popular comedy and magic show “Shenanigans” at the Berger Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 1.
He’s bringing his bag of magical goodies along for the ride, but he’ll leave his power tools at home in the LA suburbs.
Yes, power tools, like table saws and sanders, and hammers and screwdrivers. The kind of hardware used by handymen, like his father and grandfather before him, weekend workbench warriors who dabbled in their sheds and garages.
Buss’s pandemic dabbling started with building a treehouse for his young son weeks before the pandemic’s start in March 2020. He posted a couple of photos on Facebook and before the Sahuaro High School and Northern Arizona University alumnus knew it, he was getting job offers to build tree houses throughout his Burbank community.
For a year between July 2020 and July 2021, Buss figures he built about 30 treehouses, learning as he went and using that knowledge to make each one better than the last.
When live entertainment returned by mid-summer 2021, Buss powered down his tools, dusted off the workbench and went back to his first love: magic.
“It was a really fun pivot,” he said from home in an early March phone call to talk about his long-awaited Tucson return of “Shenanigans” magic and comedy show. “I quit while I was ahead. No injuries.”
This will be Buss’s first time on a Tucson stage since 2018 when he last hosted “Shenanigans,” which features several of his abracadabra colleagues doing all sorts of magic, from sleight of hand to illusions — Buss’s specialty.
Buss will share the Berger stage with Tucson magician and Raytheon electrical engineer Valerie Spell and veteran magician Stuart MacDonald, with whom Bus competed in the 2018 International Federation of Magic Societies‘ World Championship of Magic in South Korea. Juggler Roberto the Magnificent, known for his NBA halftime shows, will round out the ha-ha’s.
Tucson magician Valerie Spell will join Eric Buss for "Shenanigans" on Saturday, April 1.
“I’m very excited to come back,” said Buss, whose wife’s family also lives in Tucson. “I’m bringing some new friends in who have never performed in Tucson.”
Buss said MacDonald’s act is centered on a ghost story with a Harry Potter-esque theme.
“I think he’s going to kill it in Tucson,” Buss said, then described what to expect from Seattle juggler Roberto the Magnificent, who rides a big unicycle during his show. “He juggles everything. He’s a complete goofball on stage.”
Magician Stuart MacDonald is on the lineup for Eric Buss's "Shenanigans," which also features the juggling antics of Roberto the Magnificent.
Spell specializes in close-up magic, which she showcased during the prestigious 2022 International Brotherhood of Magician’s Conference in Las Vegas, an invitation-only event that’s extended to a select handful of promising magicians nationwide.
“I love coming in with a few other acts and putting on as big a show as possible and make a party all day long,” Buss said.
“I am loving performing these days more than I have in the past,” added the 48-year-old Buss, whose popular “Spring Snake Symphony” act landed him on “America’s Got Talent” in 2012; he didn’t win. “The confidence on stage is good and I’m having more fun with audiences than I have in the past. I’m still a goofball on stage but a little older.”
Tucson-born magician who has taken his act to Hollywood and beyond is coming home with a few abracadabra friends.
