Magic is in the air at the University of Wyoming. It is not the sparkle that is forming through those flirtatious gazes that have been bouncing between students in the pre-Valentine’s Day frenzy, nor is it from the supernatural card game with mythical beasts fighting for life points.

It flows from the hands of Mike Stewart. Stewart, a 19-year-old international studies major, has an extraordinary ability to entertain multitudes, while challenging their ability to judge reality.

“This trick is not my favorite, but everyone seems to love it,” Stewart said as he gently waved around a fork that had been thoroughly inspected by his small audience.

As he waved the fork, it seemed to drop over like a wilting flower. The fork’s tips frayed out, and the metal utensil formed a twist in the neck.

As if that was not enough to impress his audience, Stewart placed the fork in a young woman’s hand, tapped it twice, and when she opened her hand, the fork had yet another twist around the neck. Stewart smiled and shrugged.

“It’s one of the easiest tricks, but it’s popular,” he said. “There are people all over the world who have a fork like this from me.”

Stewart was born and raised in Lander, where he began a love affair with illusion and trickery after witnessing a simple number trick from a substitute teacher in the fourth grade.

“She did a simple trick for us, and as a matter of fact, I can’t even remember what it was. What I do remember is she would not tell me how she did it. So I went to the library to try and figure it out,” Stewart said. “I didn’t find the secret to that trick, but I found others I liked.”

From that point on, Stewart immersed himself in magic, practicing and teaching himself new tricks.

By high school, he was performing for small audiences at least once a week. He was a class favorite, offering up his talents to anyone around him.

Magic to Stewart has become more than just a hobby. He has performed for everyone, from roommates to crowds of 200.

He also dabbles in palm reading and phrenology, broadening his abilities to entertain his audiences.

“What I do, though, is more than just entertainment. It’s a way to challenge the perspectives on someone’s reality, even if they know it’s a trick,” Stewart said.

Stewart went on to further develop his talent at an intensive school for magic, where he studied the art six days a week, 17 hours a day.

He even recalled meeting the performing magician and Las Vegas strip superstar Lance Burton backstage.

“A magician can read about magic every day and still not learn everything. That’s how large the field of magic is,” Stewart said.

So how does Stewart define what he has learned to do?

“Magic is a way of challenging how people view their beliefs and life in a constructive and positive way. That’s what magic is about. That’s what I want to be able to do,” Stewart said.

Stewart is still available for performances but has shifted his focus to school and a career. He hopes someday to become a field agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

However, his magic days may not come to an end.

It has been rumored that a famous magician named Ehrich Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini, employed his talents with the secret service during his lifetime. Stewart said, “You never know.”

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Professional comedy will provide University of Wyoming students with a little breathing room from this week’s barrage of classes.

The Second City Touring Company will own the stage tonight at 7:30 in the Arts & Sciences Auditorium, bringing with them a legacy of laughs and lunacy. The show is free and open to the public.

Chicago-based Second City has had some of the most influential comedians of television and film pass through its ranks.

“Belushi, Colbert, Carell, Murray, Radner, Myers, Fey, Meadows, Farley, Aykroyd – yeah, they all came through here,” the troupe’s official Web site said. “Second City is the Mecca of comedy and we’re its emissaries.”

“We are The Second City Touring Company, which is basically a mind explosion of political and social satire cropping up in every delicious nook and cranny of this great nation and beyond,” according to the Web site. The troupe has kept trekking forward, past 45-plus years of comedy mile markers, to become what it is today, a polished group of quick-witted jokesters.

Seemingly always on tour, Second City moves from college campus to college campus, bringing something fresh and exciting to every performance.

“Every year they always have something new and they always put on a sweet show,” Jason Joyce, lead student programmer for UW’s Student Activities Council, said. “They come from Chicago which is kind of the breeding ground for Saturday Night Live stuff. It’s just so different each year and everyone’s really cool.”

Joyce has been a part of bringing Second City to campus for a few years now and is happy with how things have gone in the past.

“It’s the one event we try and do every year,” Joyce said.

Where would Groundhog Day be without Bill Murray? How would the world know about the shagadellic Austin Powers without Mike Myers? And if it weren’t for Steve Carell, would anyone really love lamp? These are just a few of today’s elite comedians who all got their start by touring with Second City.

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