David Copperfield once rejected Jerry Seinfeld as his opening act in Las Vegas.
The magician tells Judd Apatow in the new issue of Interview magazine when asked about the similarities and differences between comedians and magicians, “I’ve always taken a lot of cues from comedy minds. The guy that discovered me in the very beginning was Joseph Cates . . . Joe produced a lot of comedy specials, Steve Martin specials, and he discovered me, this 18-year-old kid. He said, ‘You’ve got a point of view with your magic. There’s this comedy to it, there’s drama. You’re telling stories with magic.’ ”
Copperfield further recalled that, “Later, when I was at Caesars Palace, and they were trying to get me to have opening acts for the show, they gave me a list of people, and Rosie O’Donnell was one of them. I said, ‘I don’t really need any opening acts. I have funny stuff in the show, and I do a lot of comedy and stuff.’ ”
And, “There was another guy suggested. He was tall and dark-haired and Jewy, and I said, ‘No, he’s too close to me.’ It ended up being Jerry Seinfeld.”
Apatow cracked, “Who knew that you guys were so similar?” Copperfield also recalled working with Bob Fosse on some magic for the famed show “Pippen” when he was just a teenager.
“I saw it hundreds of times,” Copperfield told Apatow. “So I said to them, ‘Maybe I can help you guys out.’ I was 16 at the time, and I came backstage and started hanging out with them. I said, ‘Well, maybe you can “vanish” the silk this way,’ ” for a Ben Vereen scene.