WMF Matt Hollywood

Ever heard of Matt Hollywood... well if you are not an Australian, probably not. But he seems to be the shit over there. Seems to be.

But he is not what he makes himself out to be.

He does a card sword routine which apparently is an exact copy of a routine that Mark Kornhauser does.



Matt uses it without consent. Not making it his own is lazy and could be considered theft.
He also copies Kornhauser's Little Man comedy bit.

Matt has a website called Sydneymagician which used to be a website just about Matt Hollywood, although he is not from Sydney. He is from the Gold Coast, Sydney is way more south. (btw: His office in Sydney is still a construction site.)
Later the website was changed to include other magicians in the list. Each link brings you to the main page which has just Matt Hollywood listed and Ace McDermott (the mentor of Matt). So technically, if you are looking for an Australian magician, let's say Phil Cass you might end up on this website and you cannot get any details about him. Well a few might stop and just take that Matt Hollywood. Phil Cass was not asked to be listed on the website, nor did he give any permission. What does this mean? Matt Hollywood actually uses other magicians names to get booked. In nature there is a good term for that. Parasite!

Also, Matt does multiple bookings. He gathers all the possible bookings and then decides to which to go to. Then he calls the other clients and tells them he is sick. That really makes him unreliable. Also two years ago he was booked for a wedding for 3000$ (Australian Dollars mind you), two nights before the show he sold the show to another magician for 600$ who then sold it to yet another for 400$. That is low. Really low behaviour. So naturally Matt Hollywood got kicked out of all kinds of agencies.

So what does a smart, young man with a business plan do? He made up his own agency. Boastfully called Australian Speakers and Entertainers Bureau. It is totally fake. The only magician listed is Matt himself. Sad isn't it.

But wait, there is more. At Melbourne Magicians (again Matt is from the Gold Coast, and Melbourne is even more South) no actual magician from Melbourne is listed. But if you are from Melbourne and want to be listed it says:

Would you like to be listed amongst Melbourne’s Leading Magicians?

We have strict qualification criteria including skill, interpersonal skills, product knowledge, stage presence, professional presentation skills and more. Please send your name and details with your website, show reel and speak with one of our team players to organise for a viewing and official feedback of your performance. For those who qualify, it is a yearly fee of $495.00 and a $375.00 joining fee application.

Now this is just a scam. You don't pay money to be in an agency. They pay you, by booking you.

So far, Matt Hollywood is a Thief, a Jerk, a Parasite, and Blowhard. Now add Scam Artist to the list.

But there is even more. He also saturates the Internet with himself by having tons of websites, acting like he can be in more places that one at the same time. I don't like this behaviour.

According to his own claims and website Matthew Thomas, sorry Matt Hollywood is Australia's Champion of Magic.



This title doesn't exist. (However there is a title called Champion Magician of Australia, which was awarded only twice to Peter Rodda in 1976 and to Loris Purcell in 1980) The only things Mr. Hollywood ever won was 3rd prize in the close up category at the 28th Australian Magic Convention in 2002, 3rd place in Strolling Magic in 2000 and 1st place in the close up category in 1998. Matt claims to have won awards in Germany. I checked. He won nothing major. Although I must admit there is this weird habit of some local circles to hand out little fake certificates to children. They look really neat. And I assume Matt's German skills don't go beyond "Guten Tag" and "Gesundheit" so he might have misunderstood that.

So add liar to the list...

Now his technical skill. Is he a good magician? Well no. I have seen a few of his stuff. Most is self working store bought stuff. (At least he can backpalm ONE card)
Here have a look at one of his many appearances at the Shak, an Australian children's television program



Stock jokes, no personality, no skill and no good routining. So add bungler to the list.

Matt used to be a police officer and I don't know why, but every single police officer I know who does magic (I know 5 of them) is an greedy asshole. Coincidence? Might be.

But hey, Matt if you should read this. I will give you a German award. It's called Weekly Magic Failure. You can keep it.




This just in:



I checked out the business mastery course. It says: BE AN ASSHOLE!