This event has been postponed to 2023.
By Denny Patterson
Illusionist and actor Michael Carbonaro, best known as the star and executive producer of truTV’s hit hidden-camera series The Carbonaro Effect, will be returning to South Florida with his brand-new tour, Carbonaro: Lies on Stage. Continuing to showcase his unmatched blend of humor and charisma along with never-before-seen tricks, there’s no telling what’s up Carbonaro’s sleeve.
He will be performing for one-night only at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts on October 16, 2022.
Discovering his love for magic at a young age, Carbonaro went on to study experimental theater with the aspirations of performing through a variety of theatrical mediums, including hidden-camera magic, which he later showcased frequently on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Carbonaro first crossed many LGBTQ folks’ radar in 2006 as Andy in Todd Stephens’ beloved comedy, Another Gay Movie, and he has now cemented himself as one of today’s most dynamic entertainers of his generation.
Carbonaro took some time to answer some questions for OutClique.
Denny Patterson: We are so excited for you to be coming back to South Florida! What can we expect from Lies on Stage?
Michael Carbonaro: A lot of lying, but the good lying. I think magicians are noble liars because we’re honest about lying. That’s the best way to do it. ‘Lies’ is a bad word these days, there’s way too many of them, but I get excited to lie to people who like to be lied to and know they’re being lied to. I’ve had a lot of colleges write and say, you’re teaching our students how to think critically because they watch the way you fool people and they’re like, wow, it’s really easy to be duped. So, there’s a good lesson there, but this is a really fun show. I draw a family audience, and I had all this pandemic time to work on brand-new tricks. I had that rainy day to hone all this new stuff that I wanted to play with, and the tour is in a great spot. I’ve done a bunch of dates, the jokes are solid, and there’s a lot of audience participation. Expect some wild magic, like making two people a night from the audience disappear on stage. I’m very excited.
DP: This is your first tour post-pandemic?
MC: Yes, and I kind of needed a break because The Carbonaro Effect was beating me to pieces. I loved it and I’m so grateful, but man, we were just churning those episodes out. One after another after another. So, I had to release the pandemic amongst the world in order to take a vacation (laughs). Just kidding. I was like, good, I just want some downtime to chill. Then pretty much after a year into the pandemic, I was like, now I’m bored. I need to perform again. So, right from my little office, I did a show called Live from Space, where people tuned in on Zoom. About 500 people joined all eight nights, and it was awesome. I made a live chicken appear in my office and I flew out the window at the end, and it was wild because it was sort of like doing the TV show and a live show at the same time, but there’s nothing like being in front of a live audience.
DP: What do you always hope audiences take away from a Michael Carbonaro performance?
MC: I like to see them feel inspired and happy. There’s a lot of excitement, and a lot of people bond over watching me. Whether it was my TV show or a live show, I love to see them all connect with each other. They’re all there for the same reason. Everybody has this really nice, joyful energy, and it’s very exciting to see that because as you know, we don’t always have that in the world.
DP: Have you always had a passion for magic?
MC: Oh, yes! First special effects and makeup. I loved monster makeup and I wanted to be an effects artist before anything else, which is kind of like magic. I love anything that’s an illusion. The magic behind theater, TV, and movies. Making something look like something that it really isn’t. I’ve been drawn to that ever since I was a kid.
DP: Is there a trick or illusion that is your absolute favorite to do?
MC: Right now, it’s the one when I bring two people up on stage and make them disappear. It’s really cool because the whole audience gets involved, and after that, it’s like a roller coaster ride. I try my best not to blow my voice out every night because we’re all screaming with excitement during that whole segment, and it’s a bit of a long segment. I can’t help but get excited. So, that’s definitely the best one to perform now.
DP: Circling back to The Carbonaro Effect, the show has been on hiatus since the pandemic began. Any word on if it will continue?
MC: Yeah, we never canceled or anything, and I was the one who wanted to stop. When we finished season five, the last episode, I turned into a 13-year-old kid and never turned back. The credits literally rolled while the kid was playing me. He had accidentally turned into me through some scientific device, and the person literally believed it. The kid then revealed what this was, saying, ‘Hi, I’m Michael Carbonaro, and you’re on my hidden camera TV show right now.’ The credits rolled, and I never came back out, which I thought was a really cool way to end it. We’ve talked about bringing it back, and in fact, I recently met with my co-producer for coffee. He was like, do you want to do something with it? He’s currently working on another TV project right now, which is in development. I love The Carbonaro Effect, and I definitely wanted to end it while on a high note. I think they would have kept it going until I died, but I’m interested in maybe doing something with it again. Never say never. We did five seasons, 120 episodes, but it could come back.
DP: Weren’t you looking at turning it into a movie version?
MC: I did! We explored that a bunch, and it’s funny because the people I talked to about this want to develop it more into another TV version. They’re going back to the series idea because the world has changed a lot with streaming and such. Also, there’ll be a little bit of pranking, but it’s sort of like making a hybrid of me getting to do live performing. I wanted to have that part of me into the next TV project. A lens to have a little bit of everything, so it’s kind of a magic variety show where I’m the Master of Ceremonies of the whole thing, and it goes into all these different worlds and channels. A lot of ways to divide it all up into one. We’re calling it “dream logic,” even though it’s live and has audience participation. Even though it’s not a narrative, it still has dream logic.
DP: I must ask about Another Gay Movie, which was my first introduction to you. I saw that film when I was in high school and thought it was hilarious. Did you ever expect it to become such a cult classic?
MC: No, I had no idea. It’s funny you say you watched it in high school, because when I made that movie, I got the joke and I was so excited about it, but I always imagined the crowd that I’d be playing for was sort of the people who were in the know. People who I would see at gay bars and the guys who really knew it was a spoof on a teen movie. It was about high school students, but I never really imagined actual high school students would watch it. This guy interviewed us for the 15-year anniversary of it, and he was talking about the same things. How he watched this movie in high school and it changed his life, and I couldn’t believe that. It’s been amazing to see the kind of impact it’s had on people, and that was something that came way later. Back then, it’s kind of scary to imagine a high school student watching this (laughs). But it’s like, I knew me in high school, and if I saw a movie like this, I would have been excited too.
DP: For the 15-year anniversary, didn’t you, Jonah Blechman, Mitch Morris, and Jonathan Chase reunite and watch the film?
MC: Yes, we got to screen it in Austin, and that was the first time all four boys watched the movie together. Jonathan, who played Jarod, didn’t like the cut of it, so he never took the whole ride. He never came to any festivals or had fun with it. He had an amazing and emotional experience getting to embrace the movie, and for the four of us to sit and watch it together, it was definitely one of the highlights of my life.
DP: How come you didn’t return for the sequel?
MC: I wanted to at first. We knew we weren’t going to get Jonathan back for Jarod, so we talked about the three of us coming back, but everything started to fall apart. I felt like it wasn’t the right energy to pull off, so I didn’t do it.
DP: Would you like to return and do some more acting projects?
MC: Oh, for sure! I’m always fighting for that. I’ve auditioned and I did another guest star gig, but I’m still trying to nail that sitcom or movie project. I’m still hoping and dreaming and auditioning.
DP: What are some other future goals you hope to accomplish with your career?
MC: I love live performing, so I never want to stop doing that. I actually got to do a residency in Vegas this past summer at the Penn and Teller Theater. They took off to Australia and they had me fill in. I thought they were kidding when they called (laughs). They were like, you want to take over the theater? So, I got to do this little seven week run, and it was awesome! I’m like, I could see myself doing that. I love the idea of having a little Vegas residency. So, that will always be in mind, but I definitely want to still pursue that next great acting gig. I haven’t really rung that bell since Another Gay Movie. I would love to absorb a role and really take on a whole film or be a series regular on something. And with this new TV project, I’ve always been a fan of variety shows, which is sort of like a bad word in the industry because they hardly ever work, but I know there’s a way to remake the variety show in a way that would be really hip and awesome. That’s what I’m working on right now with this show, and I hope it happens. I hope we can pull it off.
DP: Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?
MC: That’s pretty much it. New dates for this tour are being released, and I’m just excited to be coming back to Florida! We’re doing a whole run of four different places, and Florida has always been so generous and awesome. I love the audiences there. I can’t wait to come back!
Stay up-to-date and connect with Carbonara by following him on Twitter and Instagram @Carbonaro, or visit his official website, MichaelCarbonaro.com. Visit TheCenterCS.com for more information and to purchase tickets for his Coral Springs performance on October 16.
