BLAKE VOGT
Read More About Blake
The promise he made to David Copperfield, and the creative method it turned into.
He Promised Zero Good Ideas. He Got the Job. →
About Blake Vogt
Blake Vogt is a professional magician, inventor and keynote speaker based in Los Angeles, and his illusions have been performed by some of the biggest names in entertainment. He has created magic for David Copperfield and David Blaine, designed illusions for the Now You See Me films and Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, and built effects for productions across NBC, ABC, Fox, A&E, Discovery, Disney and Marvel.
When David Copperfield was considering hiring Blake to join his creative team, he asked him a simple question: what good ideas would Blake promise to bring if he were hired? Blake's answer was "I promise you zero good ideas. But I promise I'll be the guy who never runs out of bad ideas." That answer got him hired, and it became the creative philosophy he has carried through his entire career. The willingness to keep producing rough, unfinished, obviously wrong ideas is the thing that eventually produces the one that works.
Blake brings that philosophy to the stage in three programs. His signature keynote, Creating the Impossible, is part keynote, part world-class magic show and part live creativity experiment, using original magic throughout to show how an idea moves from something that sounds impossible into something real and standing in front of the audience. Think Like a Magician focuses on creative problem solving and the way magicians begin with the impossible outcome and work backward, and Inventing Magic is a full show of original illusion in which the audience helps Blake invent a brand-new trick live on stage.
Beyond his keynote work, Blake performs as a Featured Guest Entertainer for Disney Cruise Line, presenting his original magic in their 1,000-seat theaters. He has been a semifinalist on America's Got Talent, appeared four separate times on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and been featured on Ellen, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Today Show and Fox's New Year's Eve Live special.
Blake is unusually easy to work with for a performer of his caliber. The entire presentation travels with him in one carry-on and one checked bag, so there is no freight, no truck and no separate load-in day.
- Has created magic and illusions for David Copperfield and David Blaine, including work for Copperfield's MGM Grand Las Vegas show and Blaine's Real Or Magic special
- Illusion design for the Now You See Me films and Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, where he taught Paul Rudd the on-screen illusions
- Semifinalist on America's Got Talent, Season 11
- Four separate appearances on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and two appearances on Ellen
- Featured on The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Today Show and Fox's New Year's Eve Live
- Featured Guest Entertainer for Disney Cruise Line, performing original magic in 1,000-seat theaters
- Illusion and visual design for Pharrell Williams, Kanye West's Yeezus Tour and Avicii festival production
- Magic consulting for NBC, ABC, Fox, A&E, Discovery, State Farm, Chevy, Marvel and Disney
Watch Blake Speak
Highlight Reel & Television
Additional footage from Blake's August 2026 presentation to Purdue Football is available here.
Speaking Topics
Blake's signature keynote. Built for annual conferences, corporate meetings, innovation and strategy sessions, association events and sales kickoffs.
What if the secret to having more great ideas is being willing to have more bad ones?
When David Copperfield was considering bringing Blake onto his creative team, he asked what good ideas Blake could promise to bring. Blake promised him zero good ideas, and promised instead that he would be the one who never runs out of bad ones. That answer got him hired, and it became the creative philosophy behind a career inventing magic and illusions for David Copperfield, David Blaine, the Now You See Me films, Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp and other major entertainment productions.
Creating the Impossible takes audiences behind the scenes of that career and into what actually happens between "I have an idea" and "we made the impossible happen." This is not a traditional keynote with a few magic tricks added on. Blake uses original magic throughout the presentation to demonstrate the creative process in real time, so the audience does not just hear about creativity, they experience it.
Along the way he explores why we so often kill ideas too early, why experimentation and failure are essential parts of innovation, and how staying with an idea that first sounds ridiculous can lead somewhere no one expected. It is part keynote, part world-class magic show and part live creativity experiment, designed to leave a room amazed, energized and looking at their own ideas differently.
Audiences Leave Ready To
- Stop waiting for the perfect idea and start working with the ones they already have
- Become comfortable generating imperfect ideas, the same approach that got Blake hired by David Copperfield
- Give ideas room to grow before judging them, instead of killing them too early
- Experiment sooner, treating failure as a normal and necessary part of innovation
- Stay curious long enough to discover what an idea could become
- See a full creative process run live, with the audience inside it
A keynote on creative problem solving. Well suited to leadership teams, innovation and R&D groups, strategy sessions, sales meetings and any organization working on problems without an obvious answer.
Magicians spend their lives solving a strange kind of problem: accomplishing something everyone else believes is impossible. Blake has spent his career doing exactly that, both on stage and behind the scenes creating magic for David Copperfield, David Blaine, the Now You See Me films, Marvel and other major productions.
In Think Like a Magician, he reveals how magicians approach problems differently. Instead of beginning with what is practical, they begin with the impossible outcome they want to create and work backward from there. Through live magic, stories and audience participation, Blake invites the room to question assumptions, change perspectives and search for solutions in the places others overlook.
Audiences Leave With
- A playful but practical approach to creative problem solving they can use the next morning
- The habit of starting with the outcome and working backward, the way a magician designs an illusion
- New ways to question assumptions and look at a familiar problem from a different angle
- An eye for solutions in the places others overlook
- A question to bring back to their own work: What would we try if we didn't already believe it couldn't be done?
A full performance experience. Ideal for awards nights, galas, opening and closing sessions, incentive trips and client appreciation events.
An invitation to step inside the mind of a magician and inventor for a show of wonder, amazement and completely original magic. Every illusion in Inventing Magic was created and handcrafted by Blake, so audiences are seeing work they will not find anywhere else in the world. Rather than simply presenting a collection of tricks, Blake invites the audience into the inventive process behind them.
One of the signature moments of the show comes when the audience helps Blake invent a brand-new magic trick live on stage, which he then performs moments later. No two shows are ever exactly the same, and what happens during that performance will never happen again.
What Makes It Different
- Completely original material, created and handcrafted by Blake and performed nowhere else
- A brand-new trick invented with the audience and performed moments later
- Proven in large rooms, with his original magic currently filling 1,000-seat theaters for Disney Cruise Line
- Works as an opener, a closer or a standalone evening event
- The entire production travels in one carry-on and one checked bag, with no freight and no load-in day
All three programs are available in person, and each is tailored to your audience, industry and event objectives. Blake is based in Los Angeles and travels nationally and internationally. Because the entire production fits in one carry-on and one checked bag, there is no freight, no truck and no separate load-in day. Optional meet-and-greets, close-up magic during receptions, and custom illusions built around a client brand or product announcement are available on request.
Best Fit Audiences
- Annual conferences and association meetings looking for an opening or closing session people talk about all year
- Corporate organizations and leadership teams focused on innovation, creativity and problem solving
- Sales kickoffs and company-wide meetings that need energy and a message in the same session
- Innovation, R&D, product and engineering teams working on problems without an obvious answer
- Executive retreats and incentive trips where entertainment and content need to share a slot
- Awards nights, galas and client appreciation events
- Universities, athletics programs and private organizations
Recent Engagements
- Pacific Rim Capital, Inc., keynote presentation, February 2026
- Purdue Football, team presentation, August 2026
- Disney Cruise Line, Featured Guest Entertainer, ongoing
Selected Credits
- David Copperfield, MGM Grand Las Vegas
- David Blaine, Real Or Magic special and Las Vegas show
- Now You See Me 1, 2 and 3
- Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, including teaching Paul Rudd the on-screen illusions and appearing on screen
- Justin Willman, Magic For Humans and Magic Prank Show
- Dan White, The Magician, New York City
- Dynamo, Magician Impossible
- Disney's Magic Camp
- Pharrell Williams, illusion and visual design
- Kanye West, Yeezus Tour
- Avicii, festival visual design