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Stevie Starr Regurgitator, Trick or talent?

Rrose Selavy

Stranded in Sub-Atomica
Rrose Selavy
Joined
Sep 11, 2004
Messages
3,395
This guy has been doing his act for many years, with the occasional TV appearance and just appeared on Britiain's Got Talent , apparently. In its current form, it seems a truly unique act.
My question is, without revealing how it is done obviously, what is the opinion of Magicians/illusionist and scholars out there: Is it likely an illlusion (if you suspect how it might be done) or is it really physically possible?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Starr


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZFIRhJrHJE

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I saw Steve live about 25 years ago in a small club and was sat about 10 feet from him and I could not figure it out. The smaller items could and probably are being palmed but whatever he does with that billiard ball needs closer examination. I can only assume he palms the original and substitutes a prop (balloon or similar IDK) whatever the case he is still sucking a large object right down his throat!
 
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There is speculation that it could be slight of hand and/or he has a larger than normal space under his tongue or elsewhere to store objects.
 
What Azrael 5 said. To paraphrase Randi: If he's actually regurgitating this stuff, he's doing it the hard way.


{To clarify: It may be possible that he's actually regurgitating; I'm not sufficiently physiologically informed to determine that. But I am sufficiently informed otherwise to determine that this is replicable with trickery.}
 
I've always liked his act. So many magicians use the same old bag of tricks that have been around for eons (or copy the latest trends) - I always enjoy seeing something truly offbeat. I've never known of anyone else doing the same kind of routine, so I've got to wonder if he developed these tricks himself.

But to answer your question: yes, it is a trick. (Were you ever really in doubt as to whether or not he's actually regurgitating dry sugar?) But it's also in my opinion a considerable talent, especially to be able to talk normally while doing what he's doing.
 
chainlink said:
But to answer your question: yes, it is a trick. (Were you ever really in doubt as to whether or not he's actually regurgitating dry sugar?) But it's also in my opinion a considerable talent, especially to be able to talk normally while doing what he's doing.
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How is it a trick? Just curious.
 
Huh, how'd he do dat?

applecorped said:
How is it a trick? Just curious.
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One thing to keep in mind is that all magic tricks are for the most part just variations of a few basic techniques (sleight of hand, gimmicked objects, etc) that have been around for centuries, using a variety of different props and situations to create the desired illusion. Sometimes a bit of pure science is thrown in (as in the self-bending forks, for instance) but that's a rarer exception.

When I watch a magic show and see something I'm not familiar with, I'll often be thinking "How could I duplicate this myself?" and go from there. That's the way a person should approach it. What I come up with in my mind could even be a completely different method with the same end results. My method might even be an improvement over the original. Often I can think of several different possibilities -- then I'll consider which would be the most practical to perform.
 
chainlink said:
One thing to keep in mind is that all magic tricks are for the most part just variations of a few basic techniques (sleight of hand, gimmicked objects, etc) that have been around for centuries, using a variety of different props and situations to create the desired illusion. Sometimes a bit of pure science is thrown in (as in the self-bending forks, for instance) but that's a rarer exception.

When I watch a magic show and see something I'm not familiar with, I'll often be thinking "How could I duplicate this myself?" and go from there. That's the way a person should approach it. What I come up with in my mind could even be a completely different method with the same end results. My method might even be an improvement over the original. Often I can think of several different possibilities -- then I'll consider which would be the most practical to perform.
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Okay. But exactly, how did he do it?
 
IMO ... His show is a combination of standard slight of hand and an atypical example of a heavy wall diverticulum in then upper esophagus, a medical condition or defect called Zenkers Diverticulum.
 
applecorped said:
Okay. But exactly, how did he do it?
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You won't/shouldn't get an answer here. Read the membership agreement. Even without the MA, most folk on this forum would be reluctant to give out a magician's method just because someone asked.

So if you're asking because you acknowledge there is a tricky way to do it and are curious about it, you're out of luck here (I hope).

If you're asking because you doubt the claim that his feats are accomplishable through trickery then you'll have to accept or reject the testimony of real magicians who know, some of whom have long and storied professional careers.

I'm a knowledgeable magician though I have no professional career: It can be accomplished with tricks.

Others may join in to confirm.
 
Garrette said:
If you're asking because you doubt the claim that his feats are accomplishable through trickery then you'll have to accept or reject the testimony of real magicians who know, some of whom have long and storied professional careers.
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Real magicians? As opposed to fake magicians?:confused:
 
Reading on magicians forums I still havent got a definite answer as to how! Somw of it is certaily trickery-the billiard ball,well Im clueless on that!

Mr Garette kindly check your PM. :)
 
Azrael 5 said:
Reading on magicians forums I still havent got a definite answer as to how! Somw of it is certaily trickery-the billiard ball,well Im clueless on that!

Mr Garette kindly check your PM. :)
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why don't you read magic books? Youll learn more secrets than a magic forum.
 
OK, I did my homework and took a closer look at Stevie R's act. He was on Britain's Got Talent the other week (possibly why this topic was started?) and looks to be on the show again. As he can also be found on many online videos, of performances he's done over the past quarter-century, I thought I'd take a closer look ....

He performs a number of tricks in his regular act, using various sleights and gimmicks. So in that sense you could probably call him a magician. But the main thing he's noted for is swallowing large objects such as billiard balls and light bulbs, and that feat certainly appears to be genuine.

In that 'trick' - the first thing anyone might wonder about is whether he switches out the billiard ball with some sort of collapsible replica that remains in his mouth and never gets swallowed. Well, no trick there: if you watch closely you can see that after he sucks/inhales it into his mouth, the ball falls back and drops down behind his tongue, and his neck visibly swells. (also telling that although he can wail, he never speaks while the ball is swallowed)

It's amazing that he can do this at all, let alone without gagging. One can only wonder how much practice it took to be able to perform this swallowing feat as effortlessly as he does.

There's another way that he doesn't appear to be a magician in the classic sense. I was watching a video of him perform in his younger days, and thought it a bit odd the way he bent over and caught the coin in his hand which was out of sight below table level, and then lifted his hand showing the correct coin. Not very convincing (at least to me). I thought his technique there was notable because anyone familiar with the most elementary basics of coin tricks would know that there are more convincing ways to discretely manipulate coins -- with hands in plain view. (That was many years ago, of course, and he has improved his technique since then.)

Not that I'm complaining. It's always refreshing to see someone truly original who can stand out from the legions of performers who all studied the same magic books and shopped at the same magic shops.
 
chainlink said:
... the main thing he's noted for is swallowing large objects such as billiard balls and light bulbs, and that feat certainly appears to be genuine ... if you watch closely you can see that after he sucks/inhales it into his mouth, the ball falls back and drops down behind his tongue, and his neck visibly swells. (also telling that although he can wail, he never speaks while the ball is swallowed)
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In my previous post I mentioned this.

I read on a medical forum that it's pretty much a sure thing he has rare birth defect, an atypical heavy wall diverticulum in then upper esophagus ... that's where he stores the billiard balls etc he "swallows"
 
I've seen the guy perform twice, once at my student Uni at close range. Personally I don't think it is pure magic. I'm a keen amateur magician myself and it's very rare I'm totally fooled (sadly) now. Some of the swallowing is very clean - ie. dropped into his mouth at fingertips.

He may well combine more than one method including sleight of hand but I don't think that explains it all.

It's all very well claiming things are magic but that is untestable in any practical sense here. I don't think telling people to read magic books will illuminate them much to some of the object swalling if they have actually seen this chap perform.
 
its real.... he swallows it.. has been doin it since he was 12 years old. long enuff to perfect the technique..
 
Jeff C said:
its real.... he swallows it.. has been doin it since he was 12 years old. long enuff to perfect the technique..
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And you base this on what evidence..?
Not just what his website/publicity says I hope.....
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i base it on. the fact that i have been seeing this act since the 80s.. and it looks real..
 
Rrose Selavy said:
Lots of magic acts "look real". That's the point of them. Doesn't mean they are.
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There is some traditional magic involved with this act,but I do believe(having watched it also since 1980's that he genuinely does swallow things. Based on the pool ball alone! :eye-poppi
 
I was in India about 15 years ago and saw a sadhu type fella do a performance like this using rocks of various sizes and colors. He could bring them up in any order and even had several already in him at the start of the show. Being that he was practically naked and I could catch no slight of hand I feel as though this is somehow anatomically possible. Or one hell of a good trick.
 
Rrose Selavy said:
Lots of magic acts "look real". That's the point of them. Doesn't mean they are.
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Indeed. Conversely there are things that look like a trick that aren't. So I'm falling back on having a lot of experience in magic and having seen the guy perform, up close, personally.

On what are you basing your opinion?
 
First saw him on Johnny Carson with Terry Bradshaw. He put (one of) Bradshaw's Superbowl rings on a lock then "unlocked" it in his stomach. That seemed kind of dopey, and I presumed it was slight of hand (or tongue, possibly :) ) rather than he could knot up his stomach muscles enough to get that detailed of control.


The real wow, though, was inhaling a light bulb. Jeeeezus does that make you squirm. I always just assumed he had some anatomical funny business going on. The bulb would not necessarily break given more or less even pressure around it, as it passed through his throat. Still, he inhaled it rather than swallowed it to his stomach. At least to get it through the tight spot = back of his throat down to ???

I'd be disappointed if he was swapping out fake bulbs and billiard balls.



Looking at a number of vids on YouTube, he may be just inhaling the bulbs to the back of his throat rather than all the way down. Have no idea if he has unusual anatomy or is just practiced (as in anyone could) or uses collapsing fake bulbs.
 
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What is he doing at 4:12/6:12 of the video? He takes something out of his pocket and puts it up his nose. I would be disappointed, but not surprised, if he's using a numbing agent to make it go easier.
 
chainlink said:
Well, if having a rare mutant anatomy is what enables him to do the ball swallowing, it seems that there are other performers (presumably of normal anatomy) who have indeed been able to duplicate the trick.
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With nothing but that video as evidence, why do you presume that his anatomy 'normal'?
 
I've been studying Stevie Starr for many years now. As president of the Sword Swallowers Association International, we research sword swallowing and similar claims. I can tell you from experience that Stevie Starr does NOT swallow a billiard ball, Rubic's cube, padlock or sugar cube down his esophagus. The human esophagus can only be stretched so far - As a professional sword swallower, the most I have been able to swallow was 15 swords at once, and that creates a wad of steel that stretches the mouth open as far as possible in order to do so. The human esophagus can only accommodate an item about the size of a ping pong ball or very small orange with difficulty, and that is if the item is relatively smooth with no corners (such as the rubic's cube or padlock). In order to get an item like a flat sword down the esophagus, one must first create the proper alignment into the esophagus and then open the epiglottis in order to get the item down the esophagus while repressing the peristalsys reflex. In order for us to get a sword down, the epiglottis must be carefully navigated which takes a bit of maneuvering, which you will notice if you watch a real sword swallower carefully. Stevie is NOT doing this. And he is NOT swallowing items with square corners or edges like the padlock or ring... I can tell you from experience, it HURTS to swallow something like that, and he could very easily tear his esophagus if he really did it. If Stevie Starr were REALLY swallowing such items, there would be TONS of x-rays and fluoroscopes to verify it. However there are NONE... not a single scrap of evidence. To further that, a Hungarian TV show offered to x-ray Stevie in about 1992, and he refused, claiming it would give away the "secret" of his "trick". In comparison, you can find dozens of x-ray and fluoroscope videos of myself and other sword swallowers to verify that sword swallowing is real. If Stevie were really swallowing, why not show scientific proof? He is merely a very good magician who does sleight of hand and has the whole world skunked into believing his tricks are real. I would challenge him to a duel with x-ray and fluoroscope machines on live TV... I'll be glad to do it! Will he?

Dan Meyer
Sword Swallower
Cutting Edge Innertainment
Sword Swallowers Association International SSAI
 
"He is merely a very good magician who does sleight of hand and has the whole world skunked into believing his tricks are real."

That's not 'merely' my friend, that's what we magicians shoot for and rarely achieve. Politicians are much better at it than we are.

Here's a guy who uses another body cavity for an effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8GLVv5Cw4
As far as I know, he is a one-off street performer/geek act that doesn't claim the heritage of magic and whom most magicians would claim is far, far outside the fraternity. Plus, it seems dangerous and gross.

The point is, if Tony Star did use sleight of hand alone to accomplish his single effect, we'd be happy to have him. But shoving things where nature didn't intend slides over to your realm, not ours. I'm thinking "block head" here. And yes, when I stick that needle through my arm, it's a trick. (Unfortunately, a trick now spoiled by people who actually do stick things through their flesh.) I also do not really pull my own fingers off.

Magic tricks that mimic geek effects get popular around Halloween here in the U.S. and then fade away again. At least that's my experience.
 
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Halfdan said:
I've been studying Stevie Starr for many years now. As president of the Sword Swallowers Association International, we research sword swallowing and similar claims. I can tell you from experience that Stevie Starr does NOT swallow a billiard ball, Rubic's cube, padlock or sugar cube down his esophagus. The human esophagus can only be stretched so far - As a professional sword swallower, the most I have been able to swallow was 15 swords at once, and that creates a wad of steel that stretches the mouth open as far as possible in order to do so. The human esophagus can only accommodate an item about the size of a ping pong ball or very small orange with difficulty, and that is if the item is relatively smooth with no corners (such as the rubic's cube or padlock). In order to get an item like a flat sword down the esophagus, one must first create the proper alignment into the esophagus and then open the epiglottis in order to get the item down the esophagus while repressing the peristalsys reflex. In order for us to get a sword down, the epiglottis must be carefully navigated which takes a bit of maneuvering, which you will notice if you watch a real sword swallower carefully. Stevie is NOT doing this. And he is NOT swallowing items with square corners or edges like the padlock or ring... I can tell you from experience, it HURTS to swallow something like that, and he could very easily tear his esophagus if he really did it. If Stevie Starr were REALLY swallowing such items, there would be TONS of x-rays and fluoroscopes to verify it. However there are NONE... not a single scrap of evidence. To further that, a Hungarian TV show offered to x-ray Stevie in about 1992, and he refused, claiming it would give away the "secret" of his "trick". In comparison, you can find dozens of x-ray and fluoroscope videos of myself and other sword swallowers to verify that sword swallowing is real. If Stevie were really swallowing, why not show scientific proof? He is merely a very good magician who does sleight of hand and has the whole world skunked into believing his tricks are real. I would challenge him to a duel with x-ray and fluoroscope machines on live TV... I'll be glad to do it! Will he?

Dan Meyer
Sword Swallower
Cutting Edge Innertainment
Sword Swallowers Association International SSAI
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This may come as a shock to you but Penn and Teller do not actually catch bullets with their teeth.
 
Stevie

HalfDan Got it spot on!

There is an old story of a guy called 'Death Wish' who used to perform this regularly, however while drunk one night, he used the cueball instead of regular pool ball!


The secret behind this trick is bigger is better, the ball simply sits right at the back of the throat, it cannot go down as the ball is too big so it sits right at the very back, if you ever perform blockhead, you know you can get a nail to hit the back of the throat cavity area, well if you study anotomy, and see the nasal passage, then look below where the throat is, that is were the ball stops and sits!

Death Wish however, used a cue ball, which is of course smaller than a normal pool ball, and it got stuck and he died, there is a rather gory photograph of the autopsy available, of the ball stuck in the throat that killed him!

The secret of the trick is bigger ball is right size to stop it going down, he has not swallowed anything!

Having said that, it takes balls of steel to perform the trick, Stevie does it and so does the performer 'Morgue' at the Venice Beach Freakshow!

Awesome trick, but that is what it is!

Stevie has obviously developed a few other things along the way and I really do hope he shares his methods to someone one day and hands them down as he really has mastered the showmanship of the act!

Also notice the tail of the fish he 'swallows' is always the very same tail and never the same as the actual fishes lol
 
marplots said:
Here's a guy who uses another body cavity for an effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8GLVv5Cw4
As far as I know, he is a one-off street performer/geek act that doesn't claim the heritage of magic and whom most magicians would claim is far, far outside the fraternity. Plus, it seems dangerous and gross.
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Well, even if he uses a trick for most of it (I have no way of knowing) it seems quite dangerous to me to even make contact with a spectator-supplied coin (one of the dirtiest things you'll find, typically handled by lots of people and never washed) and your eye. Basically the eye is a direct route into your body, almost like an open wound. Stuffing things in your eye is NOT like stuffing them in your mouth.
 
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