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Magician extraordinaire Rick Smith Jr. and juggling phenom Billy Matsumoto will appear on the show, which airs at 8 p.m. Thursdays on WEWS-TV 5.
Smith takes center stage tonight as he competes on the new "American Idol"-meets-"That's Incredible" weekly game show, which features six skilled contestants showing off their unique talents, with a winner named nightly.
While the Lyndhurst resident and 1999 Brush High School graduate can't disclose the outcome of his performance, he said, "It was awesome. Everything went well. The audience got into it, and the judges loved it."
A successful magician by trade, Smith has become quite adept at card throwing. In fact, the 25-year-old holds the world record for card-throwing distance (216 feet, 4 inches) and speed (92 mph).
For his "Master of Champions" appearance, which was taped last month in Los Angeles, he threw cards to slice a banana, celery and watermelon, and to pop balloons. He even hurled cards - like a knife thrower - against a large wheel with a female assistant attached.
It sounds as though tonight's exposure will outweigh whether he wins.
"Really, it just means you get the bragging rights of being the best of the best in the world," Smith said. "You get a trophy and medal, and get to go around the world and do something you like."
In some ways, Smith already is living that dream. The full-time magician, who has received nationwide attention with appearances on "Last Call with Carson Daly," "Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge" and the Game Show Network series "I've Got a Secret," is quite busy, having performed more than 80 shows in June alone. He said he has more than 90 gigs planned for this month.
Being so busy means Smith often has to turn jobs down, but recently he started recommending jobs to juggling performer Matsumoto of Wickliffe, who recently graduated from St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland and placed second in his age group at last December's World Juggling Federation competition. It was Smith who recommended his former opening act at the now-closed Tony G's in Mentor to the "Master of Champions" producers.
Matsumoto, who goes by the stage name "Billy the Kid," said his performance last month was a memory he'll never forget.
"It went well," said the 18-year-old. "I was glad I got through it without any major screw-ups. I've only done this act two other times in my life, and now I was doing it in front of 15 million people, so it was kind of nerve-wracking."
Matsumoto, who learned to juggle as a freshman as part of the St. Ignatius Circus Company, pulled off the near-unimaginable feat of juggling three torches of fire while playing popular feet-oriented video game Dance Dance Revolution.
Apparently, his former job - working in an arcade and playing the game for free - really paid dividends.
Considering he appeared on "Good Morning America" last week and will be featured on "Master of Champions" July 13, it's been a memorable few weeks for Matsumoto.
"It's always been my dream to be on TV, and now I've been on national TV twice," he said.
Enrolled in Lakeland Community College in Kirtland this fall, Matsumoto said he plans to become a math teacher while continuing to juggle. He's also thinking about adding something new to his act.
"I want to balance eight chairs on my face all at once," Matsumoto said. "I can balance chairs now, but I want to rig up a system where I can stack chairs on top of each other. So far, the most I've ever done is three, but I think I can do more."
