RUSTY AMMERMAN - ENTERTAINER 

A Revealing Look at the Maniac behind the Magic

For most adults, the chance of realizing a childhood fantasy is so elusive, it seems like magic. 

For Rusty Ammerman, it IS magic. 

The comic and magician is now a regular, featured performer at the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA, fulfilling a dream he first put on paper back in 1984 when he was asked his goal in the entertainment industry. 

“My answer was quick and unequivocal,” he says. “I said I want to be on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and I want to perform at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.”

Carson’s Tonight Show is long gone, but the Magic Castle remains a Mecca for magicians. It is to magic, Rusty says, what the Grand Ole Opry is to country music. 

So how did he get there? It’s magic, Rusty-style 

Over a quarter-century and thousands of performances, Rusty has developed his “Dimension of Illusion,” creating a personal mix of mystery and maniacal mayhem that has delighted audiences in 43 states and nine countries, including two overseas military tours. 

“Rusty is Magic with a personality, a voice, a brightness, a wit, and a visage so charming. A client . . . I’d be happy to invite him back again and again. A friend . . . hey I am his friend, and glad to call him one.”

— Tom Savini
Special Effects Makeup Legend and Actor

By its nature, magic is a mystical craft, its secrets zealously guarded by its prestidigitators. Rusty, with a face as open and honest as a golden retriever, seems at first to be an awkward fit with the dark art. Happy magician seems like an oxymoron after all. 

“Magic has nothing to do with fooling people, it’s all about entertainment,” he explains. “You can make the Eiffel Tower disappear in front of 10 priests, all swearing that it’s gone, only to have it reappear on the moon, verified by NASA, and people will still know it’s a trick ...You can’t fool anyone ever, not really.”

Instead, he says, the trick is in making the audience enjoy the illusion, and suspend their disbelief. 

“I remember the first time I did a trick and people went huh?” Rusty says. “It was like a drug. I was hooked.”

Rusty cut his entertainment teeth in front of his bedroom mirror, acting out scenes from classic television - The Twilight Zone, Carol Burnett, Gilligan’s Island, Jack Benny, Steve Martin, and the like.

“Rusty is a dedicated performer with an endearing presence and an unforgettable voice. He has a natural ability to engage audiences of all ages . . . a true showman!”

— Angela Funovits
Star of NBC’s Phenomenon

At age 16 he spent a summer vacation working at one of those old-time Wild West amusement parks, doing everything from staging gun fights and stunts to playing comic characters in the can-can show. 

There was already a magician on staff, but Rusty thought he could do better and got to work. Success soon followed. 

“At some point, I stopped doing tricks and started doing shows,” he says. “I realized that the ability to do a magic trick doesn’t make you a magician, and being a magician certainly doesn’t make you an entertainer. It’s all about how you make your audience feel.”

Rusty currently hones his legerdemain at dinner theaters, amusement parks, casinos, universities, fairs, schools, libraries, and trade shows.  He is also proud to be the staff magician for Good’s Candy Shop in Anderson, IN. 

A genuinely nice guy, hard work and talent allow him to do exactly what he wanted as a youngster standing in front of that mirror - perform and entertain. 

Nothing magic about it.