I've had the pleasure of seeing Apollo work in person a few times, and the words in this article don't even properly describe it.

If you haven't seen it already, check out his TED talk, where he does the exact routine mentioned in this article: https://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirec...

Also, check out the movie Focus (with Will Smith and Margot Robbie). Apollo was a big part of that movie, and makes a cameo, as well as designed all of the steals in the film.

Came to say this. The TED talk is fantastic. You should watch it in one sitting (it's short) -- no pause or rewind!!! ;-)

Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4991016

Awesome read, thank you for sharing!

  He estimates that he met twenty-four people during every show, and that he stole something from three of them. 
  At six shows an hour, five hours a day, five days a week, forty weeks a year, that works out to at least 
  eighty-one thousand pockets picked.

Am I missing something here or should this be 18k not 81k? My brain won't let this go.

From the article, I get the feeling that he's extraordinarily good at his art, but struggling to find a good legitimate way to practice it.

Being a corporate entertainer isn't glamorous, but it seems like he probably makes a decent living.