Feigning a pompous-professor persona and punctuating his spiel with Bobcat Goldthwait–esque cadences, Sebastian Boswell III insists he's not a magician. After all, his mental and mind-over-matter feats are the real deal, not tricks—but that may be the biggest hoax of all. Anyone who's caught a Coney Island–style sideshow has seen variations on his routines, throwbacks to the vaudeville era like mind reading, card memorization and nail-in-nose pounding. But Boswell executes them with gusto, skill and mystery. (My daughter and I still have no idea how he guessed the size, gender and rather obscure name of our family dog.) The small, seedy Under St. Marks theater and Boswell's ancient suit and props enhance the hour-long show's retro vibe. In an era when you can watch big, splashy, high-tech illusions on YouTube, Boswell's shtick has the analog appeal of discovering your uncle can pull coins from his ear.—Raven Snook
Click here for full Time Out New York coverage of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival.