“Next, from the United States, Joey Pipia.”

The announcement that preceded Joey Pipia’s act at the North American Magic Championship is what the Port Townsend magician remembers best from his first international show, which he walked away from as a finalist.

“My usual introduction is sort of tongue in cheek,” Pipia said of the standard talk that precedes his magic shows – read by another person and full of his glowing accomplishments. That usual introduction ends: “If you watch the ‘Tonight Show’ next Thursday night” to which Pipia interrupts: “I’ll be watching, too.”

“What I like is that it really just lets the audience know that I really am just a regular guy,” Pipia said of his self-described self-deprecating humor. “We’re all just people.”

COFFEE CUP AND BELLS

Pipia performed well after the generic introduction, he said, and earned a spot as one of the five finalists in the competition that brought thousands to Louisville, Kentucky, in July.

Two of those finalists received first and second place, so Pipia considers himself a third-place winner, along with the other three finalists, he said. “It was really great fun,” Pipia said. “I really feel just crazy lucky.”

His act was a piece that he’d created to open his show, “The Magic Chamber,” he said. “It’s sort of my take on classic magic.”

It’s the classic cup-and-ball magic performance, but with a coffee cup and jingle bells, Pipia said.

The judges, he said, were “pretty impressed with how I presented myself as a performer,” and remarked on his calm demeanor.

He was surprised that one judge had read an article he wrote for Vanish, an international magic magazine.

The article is about what he’s learned in the theater industry and how that applies to a magician. There’s a debate, Pipia said, about whether or not a magician is an actor playing the part of the magician.

“I believe it is true.” Pipia quotes a line from his article: “A magician is a person who lives truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”

NEW YEAR’S EVE

The event brought together the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians in a combined convention for the first time since 2008. Word is, Pipia said, that it will be a long time, if ever, before it happens again. The event also served as the meeting place of the Fédération Internationale des Sociétiés Magiques (FISM), and included workshops and vendors selling magic wares.

Pipia bought something, but wouldn’t disclose what it was. “I can’t tell you,” he said. He noted it was something he’s been on the lookout for. “How lucky for me that I was able to find one,” he said. “That’s as much as I can say.”

Perhaps he’ll be using those magic items at the one chance Port Townsend has to see the magician in action, during a New Year’s Eve event at the Wine Seller on Dec. 31, which will include the opening act Pipia performed in the international competition.