Kyler Yeomans carries a deck of cards everywhere he goes.

You never know when someone will want to see a magic trick.

The 2012 Hiawatha High School graduate has been performing in one way or another – whether in magic or on the stage in school plays – since he was 9 years old.

Born in Hoffman Estates, Yeomans performs magic shows throughout the area, most recently at Kirkland's Fourth of July celebration last week. "Kyler the Magic Man" gives about 50 magical performances a year, most of them in the winter months, during the holidays. In big demand for kids' birthday parties, Yeomans also performs for local service groups and at corporate events.

"My life has just exploded in the past  year," he said. "For so long, it's been just magic. I spent last summer at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. I learned there are so many other media to release my energy: acting, comedy, all of that."

Besides performing as a magician, he is also a DJ and works at a Renaissance fair.

"All of them are media for me to release my entertainment energy and get that high I can't get anywhere else," he said.

The 18-year-old took time to discuss his budding career and magic in general with MidWeek reporter Doug Oleson. While at the MidWeek office, he also put his deck of cards to good use with an impromptu performance.

MidWeek: How did you get started in magic?
Kyler Yeomans: Whenever we went to a carnival or circus and there was a magician, stop the show, I need to go see that right then and there. Whenever there was one on TV, my mom would wake me up or I would wake her up to see the magic show. I never fathomed that those people were human, touchable, that I could do something of such caliber. They were so incredible. My mom bought me magic kits my entire life. But I was horrible at them. I was so bad. ...I couldn't work with balls, I couldn't work with cards. I was so clumsy.

My mom loved Wizzo (from Bozo's Circus) and has one of his magic kits, signed by the man himself. As much as I love magic kits, I would want to play with that one and she told me, "Don't even think about it. When you're a real magician and doing professional magic shows, then you can touch it." Nine years later, I still can't touch it.

MW: So did you get this from your mother?
KY: She definitely gave me my love of magic.

MW: Please go on.
KY: Then one year we go to Navy Pier in Chicago and there is a magic store called Magic Masters. I stayed for what seemed like four hours, but it may have only been an hour. They had this big circle stand that the magician would stand behind. He would sell the tricks, but he would do the tricks for you. He had a whole mess of trick playing cards. And I fell in love with these. I begged my mom to buy me some. She bought me four trick decks. They were like 80 bucks. She spent a lot of money on them.

This was the first step I took that wasn't little kid magic.This was the legitimate, real magic, the stuff that the professionals use. I was about 8 or 9. And I practiced those tricks and I worked hard. Eventually, I got pretty good at them. And I decided, hey, I'll bring them to school and see what happens. And I did.

And they loved it.

But they were trick decks. They could not inspect them. I could only do one trick with each deck and I had to switch the decks. People started getting suspicious. People would bring their own decks and say, "Hey do the same trick," but I couldn't.

MW: So then what happened?
KY: A magician named Dan came to perform at the Kirkland Days Festival. I asked him if I could learn from him and he said, "yeah." So I started going out to shows with him and he taught me a lot of stuff. He told me to stop using the trick decks altogether. It's not useful and it won't help. You need to take a normal deck of cards and learn the same tricks with that. For the next few years, I took a deck of cards, and I haven't used trick decks in five or six years.

I kept on learning and learning.

MW: How does a young magician learn? Do you need an experienced magician to show you or are there classes you can take?
KY: I am self-taught. Dan did teach me a lot, but he didn't teach me tricks. There's a difference between learning how to be a magician and learning how to do magic.

MW: What's the difference?
KY: YouTube and Google will teach you the tricks. Up until I was 13, all I could do was tricks, which are great. But I couldn't do a magic show. But Dan and Rizzo, who I am now working with, showed me. I also go up to a Houdini convention every year and I learn from them. I'm not learning magic, I'm learning showmanship, like what to say with a trick, the patter, how to introduce each trick.

That's what being a magician is all about. I haven't learned magic in five years. I don't need to. I've taught myself everything I need to know about magic. I can look at a trick and know how it's done as it's being done.

MW: I was going to ask you if you can do that.
KY: Absolutely. It's a really cool experience to go from seeing with muggle eyes to seeing the way a magician sees the world. It's a totally different way of seeing things.

MW: Do you go to a magic show and see the technical side of it and not the entertainment part?
KY: I can watch a magician do a trick I've never seen before and know what he's doing. That probably happened when I was 13 or 14. When I started learning magic, I started watching magic shows even more. I started going to magicians' groups and learning with them.

All of a sudden, instead of seeing it as a spectator, where they waved their hand over here and you follow it, I'm no longer susceptible to misdirection. I just naturally look where I know the magic is going to happen. I know if he moved his hand in a way that it didn't need to be moved, or if he touched something in a way, like, why would he do that? That's where his secret is.

MW: Are the older magicians helpful to younger ones?
KY: Well, they're helpful now.

I do different kinds of magic than them. Magic evolves. Apparently, they don't do the same magic I do. A lot of the magic I do is the newer age. So we found ourselves interacting, teaching each other.

MW: Do you have something you're known for?
KY: I consider myself a close-up magician. I prefer cards and coins to props, but I still love the stage. I want to be on stage for the rest of my life. ...I am more of an accidental magician. I do tricks on accident. It's this kind of thing I do. ...I like to take close-up tricks and make them stage tricks, which some magicians won't do. For instance, I'll do card tricks with a giant deck of cards, which is hilarious because I can't do any sleight of hand with a giant deck of cards, as far as they know.

MW: How long is your act?
KY: Twenty to 30 minutes. Thirty minutes is a typical magic show.

MW: Is this a family-oriented show?
KY: Definitely. It is not a kids' show because I involve adults as well. I don't ignore them. I do have shows just for the little kids in case the parents are leaving, like a day care. And also I do ones for adults only where I use more fire and jokes that I couldn't otherwise say.

I do a lot of bars, for example.

MW: At your age, can you perform in bars?
KY: I've performed in bars since I was 12. Now, they don't pay me. But until I was 16, for four years, I told them, "I know you can't pay me, that's illegal, but give me all the free soda that you can and I will perform in here for as long as you need me to." It came to the point where the owner would call me and tell me, "You need to get down here, people are asking for the kid." I was like 12 or 13.

Do you have any idea how fun it is to perform for drunk people? It's great. It's really wonderful. I have a whole routine of fake magic that drunk people love.

Since I was 16, I can actually work in bars and be paid, which is nice, especially since gas is so much.

MW: Are there many magicians in this area?
KY: More than you know. There's definitely more in Rockford. There's a good number in DeKalb. There's the hobbyist magician, who doesn't do shows at all. They collect and do stuff. There's the part-time that has the real job and they do magic on the side. And there's the full-time ones.

MW: To most people, Houdini is the big name. Is he still the magic name in magic?
KY: Yes, he's definitely one of the legends. There are more among magicians. ...There's a bunch. They are today's legends. Houdini will be a legend forever. Almost every magician does a few of his tricks. My handcuff escape is his trick.

MW: What is your ultimate goal?
KY: My ultimate goal is to own my own auditorium, as big as possible. I would love to be able to put on my own shows, whether that be theater or comedy or escape magic.

MW: Do you see yourself still doing magic 10 years from now?
KY: Magic will be who I am for the rest of my life. It's not a part of me. It is me. Everywhere I go, I do magic. I have seven to eight basic tricks on me and at least a thousand smaller tricks on me right now. It's with me for the rest of my life. ...I just want to entertain, to perform.