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Episode 22 – Piff The Magic Dragon with John Van Der Put
Of all the magicians I’ve met, Piff The Magic Dragon is the most unique. After all, he’s a dragon who has appeared on Las Vegas casino...
Episode 21 – The Sting with Matthew Specktor
There are two types of con artist movies: those made before The Sting and those made after The Sting. The 1973 George Roy Hill film won...
Episode 20 – Sucker with Lawrence Leung
On a cold wet Scottish night over five years ago at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I had a quiet drink with comedian Lawrence Leung in a...
Episode 19 – Sleights of Mind with Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde
The word neuromagic sounds like an obscure subgenre of cyberpunk fantasy novels. In reality, it’s a branch of neuroscience dedicate to...
Episode 18 – Keeping The Bastards Dishonest with Dee Madigan
Dee Madigan is an advertising creative and political campaigner who spends her days selling politicians to the public and her nights...
Episode 17 – The Cottingley Fairies with Sarah Baggs
In 1920, five photographs took the world by storm. Taken by two young girls, Elsie Wright and Francis Griffith, the photos appeared to...
Episode 16 – Scam School with Brian Brushwood
Brian Brushwood is the ultimate drinking buddy. A king of bar magic, propositional wagers and short cons. Since 2008, Brian has been...
Episode 15 – Out Of Your Mind with Art Maines
On Scamapalooza I spend a lot of time talking about how people get scammed but very little time asking why? What is it that makes some...
Episode 14 – Snipe Hunts with Laura Davis
The snipe hunt, the art of sending a sucker to find something that doesn’t exist, is a grand and noble tradition. Jerks the world over...
Episode 12 – The Magic Castle with Magician Rob Zabrecky
Rob Zabrecky was once the leader singer of indie rock band Possum Dixon. Now he’s a magician on the board of trustees of The Magic Castle...
Episode 11 – Just A Little Prick with Mark Crislip MD
In 1998, Andrew Wakefield fooled the world into believing that the MMR Vaccine causes autism. Almost two decades later and his scam is...
Episode 10 – Now You Seem Mean with Nick Mason
Nicholas has a love/hate relationship with the 2013 magician heist movie film Now You See Me. On the one hand, it is a con artist heist...
Episode 8 – A Fool and A Thief with Simon Pampena
Melbourne Stand up mathematician Simon Pampena specialises in explaining complex math to simple minds. In this episode, Nicholas tries to...
Episode 7 – Nightmare Alley with Simon Caterson
Melbourne Author Simon Caterson shares Nicholas’ love of film noir. In this episode Simon explores the great con artist film noir,...
Episode 6 – Kids Today with James Munton
Identity theft speaker James Munton has the unenviable task of teach high school students how to stay safe online. In this episode James...
Episode 5 – Certifiable Genius with Pop Haydn
Magician Pop Haydn is a time traveller, confidence man and snake oil huckster. In this episode Nicholas meets his idol, gets schooled in...
Episode 4 – Pseu-Pseu-Pseudonym with Peter C. Hayward
Erotica author Peter C Hayward writes under four different non de plumes. In this episode Peter explains why he uses fake names and...
Episode 3 – Belly Talkers (with Sarah Jones)
Ventriloquist Sarah Jones knows how to speak without moving her lips. She also knows how to speak about the dark history of throwing your...
Episode 2 – Every Child Wins A Prize (with Glenn Hester)
Police officer Glenn Hester spent 28 years shutting down crooked carnival games. In this episode Glenn teaches Nicholas how to cheat at...
Episode 1 – Lose Yourself (with Lawrence Leung)
In his television series Unbelievable comedian Lawrence Leung set himself the goal of attempting to con a skeptic into believing that...
Here you'll find resources for teaching and promoting critical thinking, scam protection, and deception education. Many are linked to his school incursions while others are just for fun.
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Make sure you subscribe to Nicholas's podcast. Scamapalooza. He interviews psychologists, authors, and researchers about why people are so easy to fool.
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