CasiNotes: AC magician hopes to make audience appear
MOST MAGICIANS would like to be the next David Copperfield. Paul Kozak would rather be the next Mac King. In case the latter's name doesn't ring a bell, King is the illusionist who introduced the headliner matinee to the Las Vegas Strip. His mid-afternoon show at Harrah's, which ushered in the era of early bird, one-person productions out there, yielded him a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract. Now, Kozak is looking to do the same in Atlantic City.
MOST MAGICIANS would like to be the next David Copperfield.
Paul Kozak
would rather be the next Mac King.
In case the latter's name doesn't ring a bell, King is the illusionist who introduced the headliner matinee to the Las Vegas Strip. His mid-afternoon show at Harrah's, which ushered in the era of early bird, one-person productions out there, yielded him a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract. Now, Kozak is looking to do the same in Atlantic City.
On Christmas Day last year, the 54-year-old Pittsburgh native, billed simply as "Kozak" and known to his friends as "Koze," opened what's been described as a five-year residency at the Comedy Stop inside Tropicana Casino and Resort. His daily, 6 p.m. set makes him the first entertainer to establish a permanent (read: more than a few months) home in an AyCee gaming hall.
Some observers might question Kozak's sanity: A weekday dinnertime show in Atlantic City? Especially when the town is reeling from the competition in Pennsylvania and the worst economy since legal gambling came to town 31 years ago?
"People in Atlantic City are negative, negative, negative," he acknowledged prior to Wednesday's performance. "But I know exactly what I'm doing. I look for the positive in everything. I see opportunity here."
When Kozak - who repeatedly rebuffed Comedy Stop owner Bob Kephart's attempts to bring him east before finally relenting - lays out the rationale for his out-of-the-box move, things start sounding a whole lot more rational.
"I knew what I was getting into here. I know this is not Vegas [where the overnight-stay market enables daytime shows to succeed]," he said. "But I think there's a market here for me. I have no competition at that time, and I have no competition as far as magic shows go."
Maybe not, but so far, the chuckle hut located on the second floor of The Quarter, the Trop's dining, retail and entertainment complex, has hardly been teeming with customers for Kozak's brand of comedy-dipped magic.
Wednesday's show was attended by 11 paying customers, and he did one recent turn for exactly two people. But he is confident better times are on their way.
"People are gonna come [to the Shore] for the summer, and they're gonna need to be entertained," reasoned Kozak, a gentle giant with the physique of an NFL linebacker. "I believe it's just a matter of branding myself."
To that end, Kozak - who boldly predicted he'll add at least one, if not two daily performances by Memorial Day Weekend - plans to take a page from the playbook of another Vegas buddy, comic George Wallace. His nightly gigs at the Flamingo have catapulted him to stardom in the desert playground.
Wallace - who, in Kozak's pre-show video identifies Kozak as "The New Mr. Atlantic City" - is a master of over-the-top self-promotion, something the magician pledges to introduce for local consumption.
Kozak also hopes that his PG-rated show will fill a void in a town where most comedians seem to vie for the title of "Filthiest Mouth Alive." He makes no apologies for his act being appropriate for anyone old enough to appreciate magic tricks.
However, he offered, "I'm not doing a cheesy kids' show here. I'm not twisting up balloons into animals. I'm just not cussin'."
The big question, of course, is whether or not Kozak, who spent more than five years as the featured performer in the long-running Vegas revue, "The World's Greatest Magic Show," has the goods.
The answer is: absolutely.
His Wednesday night set was a joy. Most important, he is a true wizard of sleight-of-hand, flawlessly conjuring various objects from thin air, and somehow transporting objects from one ostensibly secure location to another.
Mechanically, he is as good as it gets.
But Kozak also delighted with several mind-boggling bits in which he somehow got random audience members to divine information he had previously determined.
Adding to the fun is a gift for sharp (but inoffensive) ad-libs and an engaging stage presence that makes him a particularly likeable fellow.
And if he can somehow make throngs appear at the Comedy Stop at an hour when every other entertainment venue in town is dark, then Kozak will have pulled off the greatest trick of all.
If I was a wagering kind of guy, I wouldn't bet against him.
Comedy Stop, Tropicana Casino and Resort, Boardwalk at Brighton Avenue, 6 p.m. daily, $23 (show only) and $30 (with dinner), 877- 386-6922, www.comedystop.com.
Shuffle up and deal!
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Chuck Darrow has covered Atlantic City and the casino industry for more than 20 years. Read his blog at
http://go.philly.com/casinotes. E-mail him at darrowc@phillynews.com. And listen to his Atlantic City report Saturdays at 1:25 a.m. with Steve Trevelise on WIP (610-AM).