I absolutely love Penguin. I think Dan Harlan is the best. Cyril is an outstanding magician and his magic is second to none. Paradoxically though, the aforesaid has nothing to do with the Cyril LIVE presentation. Others have said it already: If one wants the Cyril LIVE "lecture" in order to learn more about Cyril's effects then one will be SORELY disappointed. There was a good chemistry between Dan and Cyril. Cyril also bonded with the audience. That's all fine and dandy, but I would not have paid that amount of money to see two guys sit in front of their peers and reminisce about the good old days. Let's face it. Most purchasers of lectures buy them because they want to learn something. How many times will somebody watch two guys sit and mostly talk? Sure, Cyril demonstrated 3 effects and showed how he did them, but the teaching was inadequate. This review pained me to tell it like it is since I am a great fan of all the parties involved. I think though that reviews are supposed to be real. Nothing personal.

This is a good interview that gives you insight into who Cyril is and how he started out and what his road to success has been. It was very interesting. But there really isn't any teaching in this interview so if you are looking for this to teach you new effects you will be disappointed.

After having host so many lectures, you might think that Dan Harlan could have try to help Cyril and try to tell him what we were expecting, but it seems Dan Harlan was most focused on seeing stuff he used to see a long time ago than trying to have an actual lecture.

I mean, not only Cyril just arrived without any idea what he was going to do "I don't know. Tell me what you want to see", but he was asked to perform effect he did not perform in a long time.

I have never heard of Cyril before and it seems like a nice guy. But, I have not learned a single thing I can use in this lecture.

Fortunately, I got this with the suscription so I did not pay 30 dollars for "this".

This is by far the most different Penguin live show I've ever seen. It's more of an autobiography of Cyril rather than showing/teaching magic.

I really don't care about his life story. I want to see magic and how it's done. Save your money.

Obviously, Cyril is one of the great magicians. I was very disappointed with the lecture, though. He came across as arrogant and unprepared. I felt like we were keeping him from something he would rather be doing. Poor Dan had to play the part of a dentist pulling teeth just to get demo out of him. When finally did show us something, he wasn't prepared to do it. It seems to me, if you agree to do a live lecture people are paying to see, you be prepared for it.

Cyril is a Great Performer, but this Lecture is more an Interview then a Lectute where you can learn some cool stuff.

I was counting down the days for this lecture for the simple fact it was Cyril. I was expecting something very different then what I had watched. This is more of an interview then anything else. So if you want to learn tricks then don't get this but if you want to hear about Cyril story from the man himself then go ahead and add to cart. I really hope Cyril does another lecture but will be better prepared. I knew I should have saved my money until the reviews came out. Lesson learned

This is more an interview than a lecture. I've loved Cyril since T.H.E.M. but I was hoping for more from this. There's good information in here, but I wish there was more. I was also disappointed how much Dan talked over Cyril during the interview.

Cyril is brilliant, creative and dedicated to perfection in magic. It's a shame he was unprepared for the lecture. I got almost no usable material out of it. Nobody does lit cigarettes anymore. It's illegal in most venues. His card work was very original, but I already do most of the card work with different methods. Thread work was excellent, but he screwed that up the first time. I felt sorry for Dan, trying to pry some explanations out of Cyril and almost begging him to DO instead of just talk. I got more usable material from Silly Billy...and he was more likable and better prepared.

Cyril Takayama is such a nice guy, and he is a pretty good teacher too. I enjoyed learning cigarette manipulations and card productions from a master. I also enjoyed learning about his TV show and how he got to where he is. I like that Cyril seemed so honest and he responded to the questions from Dan Harlan so professionally.

I wish that Cyril would relax and teach a regular lecture, it seemed like the formal format of the "interview" really harmed his ability when he was trying to teach. I'd love to see Cyril come back and teach us in a less formal environment, perhaps.

Other than that, I really liked listening to Cyril's thoughts, and listening to Dan Harlan trying to pick his brain. It was fun, and I learned a lot about trying to become a TV magician. Turns out, its a lot of hard work!