Local Magician Carves a Unique
Entertainment Space For Himself
Story by Matthew St. Amand
The only problem Windsor magician Eric Bedard had when Merv Griffin summoned him for a private performance was that he didn’t believe it.
“A Swedish guy called me out of the blue and said: ‘Is this Eric the magician?’ I said yes. He said: ‘I work for Merv Griffin. We’re on a boat in the inner harbor and Merv would like you to come down this evening to perform some magic.”
Yeah, right! It was the mid-1990s and Eric lived in Victoria, B.C. with his wife, Linda, earning a good living performing magic on cruise ships, corporate events and entertainment venues.
Undaunted by doubt, Eric prepared himself to perform, donning a jacket with extra pockets sewn into it. A master of “strolling” or “close-up” magic, Eric requires little more than items that fit into a pocket to enthrall an audience.
“I have coins, dollar bills, pens, decks of cards,” he says. “I can walk into any room and work for hours with what I have in my pockets.”
He went to the waterfront meeting place where a boat waited. It took him out to a yacht where legendary talk show host, Merv Griffin, awaited his arrival with a gathering of friends.
“I performed an hour of magic,” Eric says, “and got an excellent tip! And a great story!”
Eric grew up with magic. Born in 1950, he grew up in North Bay. His father, Ray Bedard, performed as a magician under the name “The Great Gilbini” throughout Timmins, Hearst, Kapuskasing, Sudbury, among other locales. He brought Eric on stage for the first time as an assistant when Eric was seven years old. At age fourteen, Eric performed his first solo show before an audience of three hundred. There was no turning back.
“I came to Windsor in 1978,” Eric says. “My brother was living here, and I was looking for new opportunities.”
During those early years, Eric understood why his father referred to his magic career as a “well-paying hobby”. Paying gigs were sparse.
Eric remained determined. He worked long hours honing his craft, performing
before mirrors with decks of cards.
One day he came home from work and said to Linda: “I want to quit my job and perform magic. I promise that I’ll take you around the world and I’ll earn $100,000 in one year.’”
Through sheer tenacity, Eric made it happen. He landed bookings, found an audience, and before long had a plum position performing magic on cruise ships. The secret to his success?
“I don’t trick my audience,” he says. “I share my love of magic with them.”
Eric remembers one show in particular: “I was in front of two-hundred-and-fifty people, and every time I paused, no one looked away. No one spoke. I had everyone’s attention.”
Things changed when Mike Ravenhill, CEO of the David Foster Foundation, saw Eric perform in 1994.
“I was working in Victoria on a fine dining paddle wheeler that did sunset cruises,” Eric explains. “I did magic for Mike and his wife. After the cruise, he asked to see more. As I performed a few more tricks, he said: ‘We have to get you to LA!’”
Mike ran Touch of Class, a high-end event planning company. One of Eric’s first bookings through Mike had him perform before Johnny Mathis, Johnny Rivers, Merv Griffin, Jimmy Vaughn and David Foster.
That opened the floodgates.
One of the gigs was a party thrown by late singer, Olivia Newton John, for her mother.
“I did a special trick for her mom,” Eric remembers. “When it was done, I wanted to get a picture with them. It was then that Olivia Newton John asked for my autograph. And I thought how I used to feel intimidated working for celebrities, but that day I finally understood that entertainers enjoy being entertained.”
Another entertainer who enjoyed being entertained was singer Patti LaBelle.
“I met Patti at a David Foster event,” Eric says. “I did one trick for her that involved a news-paper prediction. Patti enjoyed it so much, she insisted I do it again so her band could see it.”
Eric has performed three times for Aerosmith lead singer, Steven Tyler, and has done thirty shows with David Foster—including David Foster’s birthday last year at the Hollywood Bowl.
Eric has gotten to know the legendary music producer quite well—to the point where David Foster asked to learn some tricks. Eric showed him a few, which has led to some interesting experiences. Like the phone call from Turkey one morning:
“It was six-forty-five a.m. and an LA number came up on my phone,” Eric says. “It was David and he said: ‘I’m on a yacht in Turkey with the guy who invented the Power Rangers—I kind of forgot the tricks!’ So, I stood there in my kitchen, with my coffee, and walked David through three tricks I showed him.”
Another time, David Foster called and said: “I was at a party last week and I was driving Charlize Theron and David Blaine home. I went into David Blaine’s house—did you know he has three hundred frogs?—well, I showed them the trick you taught me.” Eric interjects to say it’s the “point to any card and it’ll be the Jack of Clubs” trick. David continued: “Charlize pointed to a card and it was the Jack of Clubs! She screamed and David Blaine looked at me like ‘How the hell did he do that?’”
The greatest praise, however, came when Eric performed a card trick for his father that took eighteen months to perfect. When he finished, he asked his father if he wanted to know how it worked. The Great Gilbini looked at him, blown away, and said: “‘How it works? It was magic.’”
When Eric is not being whisked around the world by private jet to perform for celebrities, he can be found doing close-up magic at the Harbour House on Sunday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m. Learn more about him at ericbedard.ca/biography/.
Published in the Autumn 2025 Edition.
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