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i think david blaine came a lot sooner than brad christian. i think christian is simply using david blaine's Street Magic for his benefit. hes telling people how to do the tricks that david blaine does. a real magician wouldnt do that.

Hi Ryan

I like the question, but I would respectfully query whether either of them copied each other. There has been street Magicians around for a long time and most of the modern day street magicians perform similar (if not exactly the same) effects as either Blaine or Brad.

Having said this, I am sure Brad would dearly love to be in Blaine's shoes (who wouldn't) and I am absolutely positive Brad is making a very reasonable living off of the tremendous exposure Blaine (and as a result, "Magic") has received. Blaine has excited millions with his magic, but let's be honest here, if you or I weren't interested in Magic, would either of us have ever heard of Brad?

Where as EVERYBODY KNOWS BLAINE!

Sorry Brad if you're reading this... Nothing personal!

... Tony

PS. I for one would love to have half the abilities of either man!

Wow.

That was beautiful, man.

I know that Brad was doing his thing before David Blaine became famous from his 1996 TV special "Street Magic." Brad was studying under some big names in the big city. He definitely is a REAL magician.

He teaches only "magicians" or people who want to be magicians, and he doesn't teach them for free. I am sure that (from his website) he is against public exposure, and I personally think he is a much better showman than David Blaine.

However, I love David Blaine for sparking such a huge interest in Magic -- it has really helped MY business too!

Definitely Brad Christian. far cooler than david blaine.

I have heard about Brad Christian far earlier than I ever heard about David Blaine. In fact I knew Brad when he was 18 years old.

As for Brad wishing he was in Blaine's shoes it wouldn't surprise me if it was the other way round. I bet Brad actually has far more money than Blaine and will probably last longer.

I was once told that the real money in showbusiness was in the merchandising rather than the performing. And who told me? Sooty's manager. He made far more money out of all the Sooty merchandise than all the TV shows.

Brad has money coming out of his ears so I shouldn't worry too much about him.

I well remember him coming to watch me sell svengali decks in Simpson's department store and he was quite horrified to see my associate demonstrator belch over the customers. I had to explain to Brad that it was essential to treat the public like the vermin that they were and belching over them was highly commendable and should be encouraged on a regular basis.

I am proud that I gave a future millionaire his first lesson in magical merchandising.

Simply, brad christian is just less popular but i think he did come first.