You might be surprised to know that Ho is 60 and a retired schoolteacher. The childhood magic shows he refers to cost him 20 sen to watch.
He tells FMT that he was captivated by David Copperfield – the charismatic illusionist, not the Charles Dickens character – during his teenage years.
“I wanted to pursue magic but it was difficult to get hold of learning materials in those days,” he says of the late 1970s. “The few books I managed to obtain were too dry and two-dimensional, and I couldn’t grasp the instructions. It was discouraging.
“Plus, I hardly got to meet magicians. Those who I knew refused to teach me as it was a trade secret.”
Ho became a schoolteacher in 1981 and taught English in Negeri Sembilan and Selangor. It was a job he would do for almost 34 years until he retired in 2015.
As education became his priority, magic fell by the wayside.
His love for conjuring was rekindled in 2010 when he came across a magic store in Subang Jaya where he was living. “I bought a lot of things from the store and eventually became friends with the magician who owns it,” he shares.
He began dabbling in magic again and his skills were noticed by the headmistress at his school, who was passionate about the arts and encouraged him to perform.
Ho was subsequently asked to do some magic tricks during a Children’s Day celebration, and it was a great success even though he didn’t have much of a repertoire at the time.
“I received tremendous applause from the teachers and children and felt on cloud nine,” he recalls. “That was when I knew magic was my calling.”
Thereafter, Ho began to get acquainted with more magicians and picked up valuable tips on how to execute tricks properly. To his delight, the magicians he met this time around were “not stingy with their knowledge” and encouraged one another.
To further expand his repertoire and broaden his skills, he invested money in props and tirelessly learnt from various sources – DVDs, books, the internet, and attended lectures conducted by local and visiting magicians.
Word soon got around and it wasn’t long before Ho started performing at schools, kindergartens, orphanages, old folks’ homes and corporate shows.
“Once your friends know you’re a magician, they’ll always ask you to do some tricks at gatherings,” he laughs.
One of his most memorable moments was when he performed at a friend’s Chinese New Year party. “My friend’s father, who was bedridden for many years, was smiling and laughing throughout my performance.
“Later that night, my friend called to thank me. She said she hadn’t seen her dad that happy in many years.”
Being an educator at heart, Ho has gone on to teach magic to adults and children.
“My goal is to impart my knowledge to the public because I feel it can benefit them in a lot of ways,” he says, adding as an example that he has seen shy children gain confidence from learning and performing magic.
Ho is also an instructor of magic and balloon twisting at the University of the Third Age, an international movement that aims to educate and stimulate retired members of the community. It is part of the Lifelong Learning for Older Malaysians project by Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Institute of Gerontology.
“Performing magic helps senior citizens keep their minds alert, as they have to be two to three steps ahead of their audience. An idle brain is the devil’s workshop,” he quips.
“It is also a great ice breaker, especially for those who might be shy to approach prospective partners.” Singles, take note!
The pandemic has been a setback for magicians, especially since many tricks require human contact. Ho presently conducts his magic lessons online and has also started a TikTok account.
He says it requires a lot of practice to be a good magician, but he hopes more people, especially women, will take up the art as the magician community in Malaysia is small.
Ho says adults these days tend to look at magic with scepticism, when before, “people believed magic was magic – it was easy to elicit a sense of wonder from them”.
“It’s not real, but you should give us credit for making it look real,” he adds. “It’s like watching Iron Man fly – you know he’s not really flying, but you play along anyway.”