Students and their families lined up in front of the Grand Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Friday to be dazzled by the magic and comedy styling’s of Justin Kredible.

Kredible performed to a full house of fans. His first magic trick was drawing a bowling ball on a pad of paper and making the ball miraculously appear out of thin air.

Kredible also performed a rope trick (which he brought an audience member on stage for) and a variety of card tricks.

“This is called the Sarah Palin shuffle.looks good but does nothing,” Kredible said.

Audience interaction was key for Kredible’s magical performance. He picked audience members out of the crowd for acts such as guessing what card certain audience members had, vanishing and reappearing money and wedding rings and balloon animal tricks.

Five-year-old Hyden was brought onstage by Kredible to act as his assistant for a few magic tricks.

“I was 5 when I was your age,” Kredible said.

Hyden showed the audience some of his dance moves and even gave Kredible a dance lesson or two.

Kredible made an array of balloon animals for Hayden. He even pulled a colorful ribbon out of the back of Hyden’s shirt.

Kredible told Hyden, that if he put the ribbon under his pillow, it will turn into a $1 bill in the morning.

The magic trick that the audience seemed to like the most was dubbed “The Table Trick.” Before performing the trick, Kredible gave some background information about it.

Kredible originally performed “The Table Trick” when he guest starred on Disney Channel’s TV show “Suite Life on Deck.” However, Disney cut the trick because they felt it looked too fake.

“The trick was too magical for Disney,” Kredible said.

For “The Table Trick,” Kredible made a table levitate in midair. He even brought an assistant from the audience onstage, and they both made the table levitate to the tune of John Mayer’s song “Gravity.” Kredible’s audience member assistant, however, seemed more scared of the levitating table then amazed by it.

After the show, there was nothing but positive reactions to Kredible.

“The show was hilarious! He was really funny and magical,” Sara Heinking, a freshman undecided major said.

Otis Seawood, the University Board Special Events Coordinator, enjoyed how Kredible interacted with the audience.

“I really liked the flow of the crowd. I liked how Justin worked with the crowd and how the crowd interacted with him,” Seawood said.

Family Weekend and performing at a college campus specifically hit close to home for Kredible, because his parents drove from St. Louis to be at his show.

“I love it (performing at college campuses) especially Family Weekend because it’s just cool to get a massively different demographic in one room and make everyone laugh at the same thing. It’s like a Pixar movie; it’s funny for everybody. It’s cool to come and entertain all ages at once. And I love campuses especially, because you can do a show and the college people can make it free for the students, and people can come have a good time and not have to worry about not affording tickets,” Kredible said.

Samantha Bilharz can be reached at 581-7942 or

slbilharz@eiu.edu.

Justin Kredible makes a table float during his show Friday night in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. Kredible is the host of Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” (Audrey Sawyer

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