Jandro, magician: "On television they bury you right away"

Jandro (Alejandro López García; 45 years old, Valencia) now shares a program with a character whose features are generated by augmented reality.

(from Monday to Thursday at 9:50 p.m. on La 1) is the new television adventure of this magician and comedian, a regular on the small screen and, above all, on

, where he collaborated until 2020. A few months ago, he made headlines on half the world by becoming the first magician to win the prestigious American program

four times , with the legendary Penn and Teller, two icons of illusionism, at the forefront.

Now Jandro takes a break in La Eliana (Valencia), where he lives with his family, while he prepares to take his show

to the La Latina theater in Madrid.

She will then head to Chicago, where she will perform for a month.

She loves board games, cycling along the Turia riverbed and growing Padrón peppers.

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Wizards against farce

Ask.

Why Padrón peppers?

Response.

It gives me peace.

I like the process of seeing them grow little by little.

Then you take them all and make a pimentá.

Here every Sunday we have Padrón peppers for dinner.

Q.

Don't you grow more things?

R.

This is what I like the most, because they come out a lot.

You put the seeds, it is watered, one day you cut them and that's it, it's very easy.

For lazy people like me, it's great.

P.

With the board games you would not be bored during confinement...

R.

That was our

.

My wife liked me.

We have a lot.

Sometimes you don't know what to do for all ages and so everyone gathers at the table and you have a fun time.

From the

the

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…

Q.

Wikipedia describes you as an actor, presenter, comedian, magician, director, screenwriter and writer.

What do you identify with in all of this?

R.

With none.

I do things.

If there was a profession that was doing things, that would be me.

Things that I like, that interest me, that excite me, that have to do with generating an emotion.

And that is achieved by doing a monologue, doing magic, presenting a program, writing a book... If I think it can change someone's mood, I'm interested.

Q.

How did you start in magic?

R.

My father gave me the volumes of Juan Tamariz when I was 14 years old.

I was passionate about the magic of seeing Juan Tamariz, Pepe Carrol, MagoMigue, Màgic Andreu on TV... I've always been a very curious person, and there is nothing more curious than magic, that you achieve the impossible.

P.

You were a collaborator of

for 14 years, until December 2020. Why did you leave it?

Did he want to fly?

R.

I still don't have wings to fly... The idea was to continue trying other things and enjoying more free time, theater

... There is only one life, we should have four or five lives to be able to do everything.

P.

Tell me the truth now that you are out, how do you work with Pablo Motos?

R.

I say the same thing I would say when I was inside, very well.

It is very demanding.

A program that has been successful for so many years cannot be maintained if you do not work hard.

P.

In the United States you are almost a legend of magic.

Has your cache gone up since winning the

show four times ?

R.

Legend of magic in the United States are David Copperfield, Penn and Teller and few others.

There they love me a lot in the world of magic.

But more than raising the cache, the expectation has risen.

Winning the show seems more like an anecdotal thing to me, it doesn't make you a better magician to win

.

Q.

What makes us believe that magic is real?

R.

What we do is assume things.

Everyone lives in automatic mode.

When you eat, when you walk, when you drive, you are not analyzing everything.

When there is something that is out of the ordinary, you go into a short circuit, it breaks your logic.

Since you were on autopilot, I was able to fool you more easily.

There is a lot of psychology in magic.

P.

Your current program,

, generated a lot of controversy in networks before its premiere, with memes, jokes and even criticism before having seen it.

Were you aware of that controversy?

R.

The controversies are for those who want to have them.

Five days before the premiere, all that movement in networks arose and

had not even been released , it was a historic thing.

But now it has turned around and is almost a pop icon on the networks.

It seems good to me, it would seem worse to me if it went unnoticed and nobody knew it existed.

P.

What is the worst thing about television?

R.

It is a very unfair medium, because when you are on the air, maybe you are no longer working and they do not call you because they see you on screen, and vice versa.

A lot of presenters and great professionals are suddenly on top and the next day they disappear and have a very bad time.

It is very unfair.

It is enough that you are not on television for a month for people to believe that you no longer do anything.

When I left

, it didn't last two months and there were already articles that said 'What happened to Jandro?'

Nor that it was Chanquete and I would have died.

They bury you right away, they exalt you right away, and both are unfair.

And there is a lot of instability.

It is a very delicate world.

Mapi and Jandro, in the La 1 contest.

P.

Have you had many failures in professional life, many tricks that have not come out?

R.

Yes, yes, of course.

I don't usually call it failures, they are things that happen.

Failure would be if you stay there.

But if you look for how to do it in another way, you analyze why it went wrong... I've had everything from unfortunate, very bad performances, to things that I shouldn't have done or said on TV or in the theater.

I have always risked a lot on television and live, and I will continue to do so.

You can't live in fear.

René Lavand, an Argentine magician who was indeed a legend, said that the public can forgive a mistake, but never boredom.

We all make mistakes on a daily basis.

What happens is that we do it in front of a lot of people.

Q.

In your shows you exude energy and smiles, but what is Jandro like in real life?

How much character is there?

R.

I have never considered it.

I go out and do what my body asks of me, it's a moment of a lot of adrenaline.

You give 100% even if you are angry or have a bad day, people have paid to see you.

It's his time, not yours.

I am with magic all day, I write down ideas in notebooks with colored pens, any idea, joke, image, whatever comes to mind, and I spend many hours of the day just thinking about very strange things that I will never do.

Q.

In Spain, is magic valued as a profession?

R.

It is not very well valued, it has been lowered a bit in category.

In the United States, however, it is the number one hobby.

In Las Vegas there are two main types of

, the Cirque du Soleil and the great magicians such as David Copperfield, Penn and Teller, Mac King, Piff, Mat Franco, Shin Lim... The profession of magician is very well seen in the entertainment business .

Not here, he is more associated with children.

There are great children's magicians in this country, like Iván Santacruz, but there is the idea that magic is for children, when those who are most surprised by magic are adults.

Here it has attracted a lot of attention when I have won the four

in Las Vegas because I have won them away, but I have done better numbers in

and have gone unnoticed.

But it's enough for you to do one thing outside for them to say, 'My goodness, this is so good.'

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