Wilson's one of the best magicians alive today, one of the fastest on his feet and a clever creator. I own several of his effects. Which is why I was so disappointed in this. It's nothing more than a 4 hour advt for several of his effects which he was plugging.

I thought surely at FOUR HOURS there'll be a TON of material? But I was sooo let down. It's as if Wilson can do no wrong. In 4 hours he only goes over less than a handful of tricks, and they're not terribly good. He also spends FAR too much time joking around, but this time it's nothing funny or clever. It's like he's simply biding his time, trying to hit the 4 hour mark to use that as a selling point, which it should never be.
What you'll see if you waste your $ on this is about 3 hours of him joking with the audience, trying to ad lib his way through 4 hours, and even Chris Rock can't be funny that long! Also the sound STINKS! Alvo Stockman (in the audience) looks like he's completely lost and the entire production looks woefully amateurish.
BTW, most of the tricks are taught on his various other DVDs. I have no idea what the 88% who gave this five stars were thinking? Maybe they're 13 year olds who are easy to please and as long as their parents are footing the bill, watching this is still better than doing their homework. I just can't see any other reason for the high ratings because buy his individual DVDs but stay far away from this! Greg, you let your audience down on this one.

I have a lot of respect for Gregory and I think his magic is great. I must be honest with my view. The lecture felt like a dealers show. While there were some items not requiring buying something, It seemed like over half the items required you making another purchase from Penguin. I still would recommend this purchase. Thank you

*** Pros ***

I agree with the other reviewers. Gregory Wilson is a great lecturer. He makes you (both spectators and magicians) laugh a good majority of the time. Great sense of humor.

His technical skill is amazing both with cards and coins.

He really focuses in on being a step ahead of the spectator and is clearly a master of misdirection. But with him it all seems natural, and the misdirection is invisible.

I thought the toothpick trick he demonstrated was an excellent impromptu trick. Probably the first trick I will learn from this lecture, due to the strong visual impact you get plus the fact this trick seems like it could be learned rather quickly.

He also introduces lots of cool moves and names them as well so you could go research their origins further if you were so inclined.

Very high energy, great guy. Plus the lecture went long which ended up being pretty funny.

*** Cons ***

If I had to think of SOMETHING negative to say, it would be that several of the tricks he performed require special gaffs, so I probably won't end up performing them. But this is a very small "con". I still rate it a 5/5 stars.

Just watched the first three tricks of the DVD

1. first with pen have to buy the pen.
2. Exact change You have to buy the coin gimmick
3. Note change plugging the magazine for the method.
4. Stopped watching

I have seen Greg on many occasions and greatly admire his work. I have a lot of his stuff. Its just a shame I purchased the lecture hoping to see more than a sales pitch.

Wow... tons of stuff, Gregory was great, it was very entertaining even above all the magic. A huge value at the price. I hope Penguin has sent Britney a big package of magic, she was a trooper!

I re-watch this lecture more often than the other lectures. The routines are a nice variety and are fun.

I adopted Neat Freak right away and get more milleage out of the multi-bill change setup. Pointless is wonderful but now wish that he put the pens out in colors other than black. ilogo isn't for me but I can appreciate the organic-ness of it. Exact Change is the one I was glad to see him tip in this lecture.

Seeing the timing and pacing really help me understand why they work and how to pull them off. Learning to recover from mistakes was enlightening too, but I've seen Greg recover better elsewhere. His approach of still making a routine fun regardless of any mishap is a lesson in itself.

He seemed able to go on for hours more, and I wouldn't have minded.

OK this is a great lecture and I did get a lot out of it. He goes over a really simple routine w a poker chip. I great new handling of the invisible deck, a wonderful handling of bounce no-bounce. Lots of great coin routines. He teaches a Hundy 500 but it is so brief that I barely got anything out of it (I didn't have one ahead of time). He teaches a lot about Pointless to the point where you would not have to buy it to get the basic moves down but you would have to buy a cheaper gimmicked pen available on this website. Greg's pen looks better though. This did seem like a dealer show at times and the jokes about him shilling for Penguin got old after a while. But it was very good. Penguin did just raise the price by $5 since I bought it so that should tell you something. Oh and the best trick of the bunch he dosn't teach. I still liked it though. You will know it when you get to it :)

8 years ago I decided to get into magic and while on Penguinmagic I was lucky enough to pick 'On the Spot" for one of my selections. I now own Hundy 500,Pointless, Chip on Shoulder and Exact Change.....why? Because his magic works and works great! He takes everyday objects and turns them into magic.
I seen Gregory when he came to Jacksonville and lectured for our local club last year and I thought that was outstanding, but he took this lecture to even a higher level. If you want to learn from a creative mind that uses a detailed thinking process when creating his magic and the workings, then don't miss this one! You will learn some great effects that are easy to carry around on you and you will learn a thing or two about timing and pulling off a move during that "off beat moment". Great lecture, thanks Gregory and Penguin!

Gregory Wilson is one of those people in this industry that stay interesting and amazing decade after decade. If you have not purchased any of Greg's works before, this will give you a TON of material and also give you great insight into which of his products to purchase (because trust me - you will want to get his other stuff too). If you already have grabbed most of Greg's material this will give you new and interesting takes on it based on years of refining, some new stuff and all of it is grade A material.

And as if that wasn't enough, it's just purely entertaining to watch Greg perform and interact with the audience. Watch this to see how one of the absolute best in the business manages his spectators.

I really loved the lecture and I got a lot out of it. The tips on off beat/on beat are worth the price of the lecture alone. The only negative thing I can say is that there is a lot of material that requires difficult to make gimmicks that are not sold in stores. Over all a VERY good lecture, you get to see Gregory Wilson lecture for four hours AND get to keep it all forever! Thanks Penguin!