Michael Carbonaro, Star of truTV's 'The Carbonaro Effect,' Presents "Michael Carbonaro LIVE!"

Michael Carbonaro is the star of his own television show, truTV's "The Carbonaro Effect," which is now airing its second season. In the show, the openly gay magician plays elaborate tricks on unsuspecting people, and the reactions are absolutely gold. Even now, audiences around the country can experience a feeling of magic and wonder with Carbonaro as he brings the tricks to you -- and it's all live!

In the show "Michael Carbonaro LIVE!" he brings a mix of his hilarious antics, audience interaction, video clips from the television show, and mesmerizing magic tricks, all to the stage for a show you won't soon forget.

I spoke with Michael Carbonaro about his dedication to magic, his television show, and his stage show in this exclusive Hotspots interview.

When did you first realize you were interested in magic?

My love for magic came through special effects. I loved horror movies and Halloween and monsters, and I wanted to be a makeup artist. I would buy makeup supplies at a magic shop, and when I was there I would pay attention to the magicians and picking up tricks from them. I started performing, and I loved the performing aspect of it all, so that's really how I got "bitten."

Tell us a little bit about your show. What can we expect?

The live show is a party. It's awesome. The fans are so cool, and the way they react when they figure out how I pull off the tricks that I execute on my television show, they just light up. "Now I get it!" It's great to see, but it's also tricky because everyone in the audience knows me, and on the TV show the people who see my tricks don't know me. So there's a lot of audience participation, and I just love doing it.

How do you set up segments of the television show? Do you scout places and ask them to be a part of it?

There's two kinds of worlds we can set up: one where I'm in a retail environment, or a bar, or a park, somewhere where people would normally go; and then one where I work as an employee and trick another employee. In that case we usually call ahead to companies and explain our show and the premise, and ask them if there's anyone they want to trick, and if so, they can work with us for a day.

Was there ever a time when a trick went awry?

Oh, yeah. The biggest downer is not so much if a trick fails, but if a trick works and the other person isn't paying attention. Once, I pulled a bowling ball out of a flat box, and the person said, "Yeah, and I want a pack of stamps, please." Are you kidding? But I get it, we're in an ADD world and we're wrapped up in our own things.

My favorite story about a trick going awry involved a guy who was making a credit card purchase in the store I was filming at, and I tried to convince him that the big magnetic strip was facing the wrong way. So I peeled their magnetic strip off, place it the other way on the credit card, put it flat on the counter, and it's back to being a credit card again. When I peeled this guy's magnetic strip, he freaked out and thought I was trying to steal his personal information. He stole everything, including my gimmick for the trick, and my thought was "Oh, no, he has my gimmick!" and he thought I was taking his credit card information. We didn't catch him fast enough, either! I was just doing a trick. [laughs]

You film in Georgia and recently the governor vetoed a bill that would have discriminated heavily against LGBT people. What would you have done had Georgia passed that law?

It's funny, because we shot a bunch of segments in the governor's mansion this season. [Governor Nathan Deal] is a big fan of the show and we put together a lot of set-ups in the mansion. This was all before everything went down, of course. I tweeted at him and I said, "I was so proud to film my show in your mansion, now please do what's right and veto this bill." I'm so happy he did. Georgia has been really great to me and to the entire crew. If that law passed, I couldn't have gone back to shoot there. We talked about it heavily and I am very confident the network would have been on my side on that one.

I have a live show coming up in North Carolina. We talked about it and I decided I wasn't going to cancel. I was going to go there and say what I needed to say and find a way to donate proceeds from the show to an LGBT organization. Because I have a lot of kids who watch my show, and if I could be an inspiration to someone, why wouldn't I go? Why wouldn't I make a stand in my own way?

For more information on Michael Carbonaro, visit michaelcarbonaro.com. Follow him on Twitter @M_Carbonaro. "Like" The Carbonaro Effect on Facebook at facebook.com/carbonaroeffect. The Carbonaro Effect airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on truTV