Lennart Green

Close-up card magician
Cards that fly all over the table, spill onto the floor, and disappear beneath a laser beam. Welcome to the chaotic and flabbergasting magical world of Lennart Green, grand master of close-up card trickery.

Why you should listen

Swedish card trick maestro Lennart Green has been baffling audiences for years with card tricks that seem barely under control. In 1991 he won the grand prize in close-up card magic from the International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM), sometimes called the "Olympics of magic." He might've won it in 1985 also, except his act of seemingly impossible cardplay fooled even the judges.

With his DVD series Green Magic, Green not only showcases his stunning routines, but divulges many of his most closely guarded secrets, including his famous "Snap Deal" (where cards seem to vanish without a trace as they are dealt). His talents have carried his trickery around the world, including an appearance on NBC's The World's Greatest Magic.

What others say

“One cardman who delivered a terrific performance in the contest was Lennart Green, a Swedish physician with an utterly original repertoire. He did not place, because some of the judges, completely fooled by his bizarre methods, jumped to the incorrect conclusion that the spectators who had shuffled the cards during his routine were actually stooges.” — fism.org

Lennart Green’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Lennart Green

An unlikely master of card magic: Lennart Green on TED.com

August 20, 2008

The rumpled, avuncular Swedish doctor Lennart Green says, “Pick a card, any card.” But what he does with those cards is pure magic — flabbergasting, lightning-fast, how-does-he-do-it? magic. (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, California. Duration: 31:08) Watch Lennart Green’s 2005 performance on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and […]

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