Comedy Magician Amazing Jeffo
in the News

Amazing Jeffo the Magician - billed as "not your typical blind magician" - and also known as Jeffrey Smith of St. Paul, above right, performs magic with the assistance of Lilla Parada, 7, of Tucson at the Austin Public Library Wednesday.

As wondering eyes of young children watched blind magician Jeffrey Smith walk onto the auditorium stage Wednesday at Ellis Middle School, an apprehensive but short-lived silence filled the auditorium.

"Long time no see," Smith greeted the audience, which immediately erupted in laughter.

Smith, better known as Amazing Jeffo, "Not your Typical Blind Magician" entertains crowds for a living through magic, comedy and music.

But life hasn't always been magical for Smith, who at age 5 was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, a genetic and systemic disease that causes pain, stiffness, inflammation, swelling and sometimes destruction of body tissue and joints. At age 10, Smith began losing his sight and by age 25, he was completely blind.

Even in his blindness though, Smith can see the purpose of life better than most people.

As a young adult, Smith spent a few years searching for a typical 9 to 5 job, but found only closed doors. Through the "Lord's work" Smith said he met a group of magicians who befriended him and later helped him create and practice his own magic show, giving him feedback and letting him know when things weren't working correctly.

Now he knows his path in life is the path that leads up onto the stage.

"You take your challenges and find ways to use them that helps other people and gives you a sense of purpose," said Smith. "I'm using what I have. I'm funny, I like to teach; and I love to show off."

Children in the Austin community learned just how funny the blind magician can be when he performed magic shows for them during the free lunch program at Ellis and later that day at the Austin Public Library.

"Don't tell me I'm color blind too," said Smith during one of his tricks in which he was going to turn a yellow and green scarf to red and blue. "Well, no wonder I failed my driver's test."

Smith said he feels lucky that his eyesight went gradually.

"It was a blessing that it was slow because it gave me time to adjust and time to think about who I am and why I'm here," said Smith. "God's in charge and he's got a purpose for everyone."

When a child in the audience asked Smith how the tricks work Smith replied, "I'd tell you, but I've never seen them before."

Smith, who is from the Twin Cities, has been doing magic shows for children and adults for 17 years and performs up to 200 shows every year, traveling around the state and to surrounding states.

How do you learn how to perform magic when you can't see? "Blind luck," jokes Smith before explaining that he has to memorize where all of his props are located around him on stage. "Organization is huge when you are blind."

Smith said overcoming challenges in life is all about having the right attitude. "Attitude can be the most disabling thing in our lives, but the thing you can do the most about," he said. "You need to try to have a bigger picture on things."

The Amazing Jeffo can do many amazing things.

He makes scarves of one color magically turn into scarves of another hue. He makes pictures appear in books where pages were once blank. He turns children into rabbits and back to children again.

But one thing he can not do is see.

He can’t observe the faces of the youngsters who sit in awe of his magic or watch their expressions as they laugh at his silly jokes.

Yet, it doesn't stop him from his mission of "opening people's eyes" to overcoming challenges and living to the best of their abilities.

The Amazing Jeffo - also known as Jeff Smith - demonstrated his magic-making talents to a group of children and adults Monday evening at the Hoyt Lakes Library.

The 49-year-old magician of South St. Paul entertained the audience with jokes he admits are corny and a show infused with tricks and messages aimed at encouraging the children to read more.

A sign on his stage read: "Not your TYPICAL Blind Magician."

Smith - you became blind as a teen-ager due to a type of systemic rheumatoid arthritis, which can affect the tissues of the body - pokes fun at his condition as a way to make others feel more comfortable with his disability and see that his abilities outweigh the barriers of his blindness.

He wears a button that says "Disability" - with a slash through the "Dis."

"Long time, no see," he says to the audience during his performance.

During one of his tricks, he asks a young audience participant: "Do you see anything else in the bag?" The child says "no", to which the Amazing Jeffo responded: "Same here."

"I use magic blended with messages and comedy to help people rise above challenges." he said prior to Monday's show. "We can overcome obstacles. It doesn't have to be tragic. That can be a heavy message," so he lightens it with humor, he said.

Smith became interested in magic as a kid. When he lost his vision, he didn't give up on his dream, and he's been performing professionally for the past 15 years.

"I love it," he said of being a magician. "It fits my personality. I can teach people from a unique perspective. It suits who I am. It uses my natural abilities and capabilities.

Being blind and performing magic has its own challenges. "Magic is such a visual thing," he said. "It's an interesting juxtaposition." The Amazing Jeffo uses tactile markings on his props to identify things such as colors.

There are other "neat ironies" involved in his performances, he said. His hands are afftected with arthritis, yet magic uses sleight of hand, and Smith once had a stuttering problem, which could have kept him from a job that demanded public speaking. But he learned to gain confidence in front of audiences and make adjustments with handling props.

Having once had the ability to see also helps. "I benefited from being in the sighted world. I know what colors look like and things like trees swaying in the wind."

About 75 percent of his performanced are in the Twin Cities area, but he does shows throughout the state and Upper Midwest. His recent tour in Northern Minnesota included stops in Moose Lake, Two Harbors, Silver Bay and Grand Marais.

He caters his magic acts and jokes to each audience. While in Hoyt Lakes, he focused on the importance of using local libraries.

During one trick, he opened a book, which for a few seconds was lit with flames. "The more you read, the more you know the truth...your eyes don't play tricks on you."

"If you know how to read you can learn and enjoy things," he said following another trick in which an adult volunteer could not read the jumbled letters on a piece of paper, but a child could - when the letters changed to words.

The Amazing Jeffo also entertained the adults with jokes meant to be "bad." Audience participant Flossie Sowers of Hoyt Lakes was the grown-up in charge of setting off a buzzer when she deemed the jokes not-so-great. And she did so, often.

The magician jested that he might have to perform the "famous sawing a grandmother in half" trick if she kept it up.

The Amazing Jeffo also teaches magic and harmonica lessons, and he'll present shows for birthday parties, church groups, and organizations by request.

During his Hoyt Lakes performance, he told the kids not to be afraid of challenges in life. "You too can do amazing things like Amazing Jeffo."

"Who wants to help me with this trick?" A dozen hands flail up in the air. "You'll have to raise your hands a lot higher than that for me to see them" he says. That's because Jeff Smith, a.k.a. The Amazing Jeffo is blind.

Smith lost his sight at age 14 because of rheumatoid arthritis and iritis. The loss of sight forced him to hone his other senses - mostly his sense of humor.

The Eagan resident knows a lot about attitudes toward disabled people. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in advertising journalism. He spent the next eight years searching for employment but found nothing. He began to combine his disability awareness talks with the love of magic he acquired as a kid, and presto! The Amazing Jeffo appeared.

Kate Anderson principal of Dayton's Bluff Elementary School says: Jeff provides a positive model for teachers to communicate to students about disability issues and teaches students and staff skills to deal with life's situations.

"Who wants to help me with this trick?" magician Jeff Smith asks an audience of spellbound Cub Scouts. A dozen hands immediately goes up. "You'll have to raise your hands a lot higher than that for me to see them," laughs Smith, who is blind. Smith, a.k.a. the "Amazing Jeffo," lost his sight at age 14 due to iritis associated with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

The loss of his sight forced Smith to hone his other senses - this of humor and self-worth. Consequently, the audience feels free to laugh at Smith's self-effacing comedy, not to mention his really bad knock-knock jokes.

Smith's unusual career was not planned. After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, Smith spent eight years looking for conventional employment but found nothing promising. So the West St. Paul, Minn., resident began combining the disability awareness talks he often gave to community groups with the love of magic he acquired as a child - and Presto! - the Amazing Jeffo appeared. "Magic gave me confidence," says Smith.

A job that requires sight gags ("Pardon the pun," he says) and sleight of hand doesn't seem like the logical choice for a blind person with severe arthritis, but Smith loves the irony - and so do his audiences.

Smith, 40, is the only blind person in Minnesota who makes his living as a magician. "There are only a handful across the United States", he said.

Blind since 15 as a complication of rheumatoid arthritis, Smith attempts to explode the stereotypes of what a blind person with arthritis can do. Tuesday marked his first trip to Owatonna. He averages 12 performances a month in across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Smith works in schools, libraries, churches and elderly care centers.

His goal with each performance is to teach the positive. "I disarm people and let them feel more comfortable being with people that are different from them," Smith said. "A good positive feeling that things that happen in life don't have to be tragic. It's what you make of it.""

Jeff is a good magician, very smooth is his delivery. Woven in with the patter of humor and illusions, however, are messages, both stated and unstated about living with a disability. His humor includes lines like this: He tells a helper, "pick a card and don't let me see it!" "Did you know that I'm also colored blind?" "That's just a blind guess!" "Did you know I have night blindness?"

Jeff is not only blind, he is restricted by arthritis. He does an amazing job and I don't mean just because of his limitations, he really is an amazing performer he has really earned his name the Amazing Jeffo!

Jeffo, otherwise known as Jeff Smith from the Twin Cities area, said he uses magic to explain his blindness.

Between the magic wands, the colorful scarves and the hocus pocuses, Jeffo educated his audience about what it is like to have a disability.

His admittedly bad jokes also helped to get his point across. For example, showing one example of a walking cane with a plastic rabbit's head for a handle, Jeffo explained it was a "hare raising experience."

Jeffo stresses the abilities, rather than disabilities of those who are physically challenged.

Jeff "The Amazing Jeffo" Smith gave a magic lesson in the cafeteria at Pinecrest Elementary on Thursday afternoon. There was just one catch Jeff Smith is blind.

Smith came down to teach these children that even though he was blinded by rheumatoid arthritis at age 12, and even though the same disease took it's toll on his legs, those with disabilities might be different but are not incapable.

Smith performs for schools, corporate seminars on disabilities, senior citizens, Cub Scouts and even preschoolers. He is booked solid.

"This year's State Conference got off to a great start thanks largely to a superb opening speaker. The Amazing Jeffo provided proof positive that a sense of humor and a sense of self-worth can more than make up for the loss of the sense of vision. For many of us the magical part of his act wasn't the tricks and the gags it was watching him perform so effortlessly and easily. Him warmth and sense of humor helped underscore the real message: you can overcome adversity and make significant contributions to yourself and your community."

Jeff Smith is a magician, who is also blind. But just how does he know when a disappearing act is successful? When he hears the applause, wows, and gasps from his audience. Smith is a good and fluid magician, with a great smart-aleck shtick to match.

He shows kids how the disease that caused his blindness progressed. He starts flipping through a picture book. The first page is brightly colored; the next are line drawings. Finally the page is blank. Smith started to go blind as a fourth-grader, and by the time he was 14 he was totally blind. He had started fiddling with magic as a child but then set it aside for a good 10 years.

His magic had started when he was speaking to groups on behalf of the St. Paul Society for the Blind. At the suggestion of a friend he started working magic into his presentations. Smith decided to start trying to make his living at this.

His mission is to amaze people, amuse people, and kindly let them know that blindness is not a tragedy. The magic disarms people, and opens up their minds to have these concepts stick better.

"Ta da. The multicolored scarves have all turned green. But the magician who transformed them, 36-year-old Jeff Smith of Eagan, will never see them. Smith, who performs under the name the Amazing Jeffo, has been blind since a high-school illness. Smith's show - packed with really bad knock-knock jokes that kids love - not only entertains but teaches his young audiences about people with disabilities. Smith uses his colored-scarves trick, for example, to remind kids that while people may look different on the outside, they're all the same inside."