When a kid, I had a seemingly a priori dislike for two things: religion and magic. Not unrelated, right? Yet, I was still forced to go to church and coerced into a Broadway matinee of The Magic Show starring Doug Henning. Well, it usually starred Henning. The day I attended, the lead was his understudy, some dipstick who donned a Henning-esque wig and facial hair. Even dumber. Anyhow, I thought of it recently because Marc Maron had Ivan Reitman on WTF, and the now-famed Hollywood director discussed his involvement in launching the original version (called Spellbound) in Canada. Howard Shore and Paul Shaffer apparently got their start in show business working for Henning’s north-of-the-border stage shenanigans.

But magic wasn’t enough for Henning. He also founded a political organization, The Natural Law Party, which helped him lose elections very badly in both the UK and Canada. Sometimes democracy works.