He won at the ‘Olympics of magic’ and impressed Penn & Teller. Meet Vancouver’s Billy Hsueh
The Taiwan-born Canadian magician talks about his 2025 Fism World Championship of Magic win and performing for his idols Penn & Teller
Billy Hsueh’s favourite magic trick is the classic Think a Drink, for which the magician pours whatever drinks audience members request from a teapot.
Hsueh uses his special stainless steel teapot from Taiwan and some water to conjure up drinks such as citrus sunrise cocktails, pinot noir, rosé and piña coladas.
The 31-year-old’s take on the trick was so beguiling that he was one of the magicians to win a prestigious Invention Award at the 2025 Fism World Championship of Magic, held in Turin, Italy, in July.
The event, known as the “Olympics of magic”, is hosted every three years by the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques, one of the world’s most recognised magic organisations.
“To someone who’s not versed in magic, [the magic trick] will look the same, but to magicians, the way that I’m doing it is, in their minds, impossible, because I am basically taking all the old methods that everyone knows and disproving them and doing it in a brand new way,” he says.
Previously, when a magician performed the Think a Drink trick, spectators were not invited to inspect the teapot or the glasses, let alone sample the drinks.