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The history of the Pops of Rome and Christianity reaches into nearly every aspect of history.

In the history of the papacy podcast, we step over the rope. We dive into, discover more about the people events and background that define the influence of the Pops of Rome and church not only on the west, but the world.

To start listening now, go to pathanonpodcast.com or search for history of the papacy on your favorite podcast platform.

Welcome to the history unplugged podcast. The unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes, myth busts historical lies, and rediscoveres the forgotten stories that changed our world.

I'm your host, Scott Rink.

You've ever been to a magic show? And I'm not talking about paying a lot of money to see Chris Angel in Las Vegas or maybe David Copperfield back in the day.

I'm talking about the classic idea of a guy in a top hat who's assistant hands him a saw so he can saw somebody in half and he has that type of pointed mustache.

Maybe if your parents stole that some cash, you saw this at your birthday party. That image of a magician creating a whole immersive experience actually goes back to one really interesting flamboyant personality. And that is Giuseppe Panetti.

He was a guy who made magic into a respected theatrical art form. This guy's story is really mind blowing. And to get into his life, I'm talking with Brian Earl from the illusion podcast brand talks all about Panetti's background, how he was a professor of physics and Rome in the 1770s and performed magic tricks to illustrate concepts.

And this grew into a whole performance where he became Panetti Roman professor of mathematics in Germany and you would pass off illusions is genuine scientific demonstrations.

He was the first guy to turn magic into a theatrical art before this. It was just hustlers on street corners, but he would perform in public theaters and became this flamboyant personality who are custom tailored suits and dress like a general or a nobleman on stage and would drive around in a coach strong by four horse.

And his biography takes interesting turns where a lot of what happens in his life sounds like the Christopher Nolan movie, the prestige. He develops mechanical devices. He gets into rivalries with other people and sabotages their show on stage.

So we're going to get into his fascinating life. But moreover Brian is going to get into the concept of why we create illusions as humans as far as we know he says we humans are the only creatures that experience realities that don't exist.

And even create them deliberately. Panetti is quite a character, but the whole world of illusion and all these characters in the Vadaville era are really fascinating to explore. I hope you enjoyed this interview with Brian Earl.

Brian, welcome to the show. Thanks. We're going to look at a really interesting illusionist, Giuseppe Panetti. He's from the 18th century and I have no context for what an illusionist would be like back then or career like that.

But I know a little bit about illusionist today. So when I was a kid, I saw David Copperfield make the statue of Liberty disappear. And if you go through Vegas now, you see posters for Chris Angel, the illusionist who has a lot of eyeliner layering or you'll see a pen of pen and teller who's seems like he's more of a social commentator today than illusionist where if it's about marijuana legalization or church and state separation, he's all up on it.

And I forgot these illusionists, but what do you think Panetti would think if you were transported to today and saw what illusionists were doing now?

Well, in the first place, it's interesting that you mentioned pen and teller because teller has a famous illusion called the shadows where the way it works is he has a rose vase positioned on the stage with a light shining onto it.

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