He is the first platinum buzzer in the history of “France has incredible talent” and the only artist of this season 18 to go directly to the final. Markobi was unanimous last night on the jury’s side. Even the sarcastic Sugar Sammy was won over by this stunning card trick performed in a falsely nonchalant manner. “This is my sixth season and, for me, you are the best magician I have seen here,” he conceded. The character is so successful! It’s so original what you do, the guy who doesn’t care about magic (…) I think I’ve fallen in love.” Marianne James admitted: “magic isn’t really my thing. That’s a slap in the face.” Eric Antoine himself admitted that he found him “virtuoso”. It must be said that Markobi – a contraction of his first and last name, namely Marc Bittar – won the 2022 world championships in the card magic category. In an interview with 20 Minutes, the magician remains in his jaded character, “this guy who doesn’t care about anything and who is detached from what he does” as he himself sums it up. Some answers are to be taken in the second degree, others leave room for the artist rather than the character.
How did you feel at the moment of the platinum buzzer?
Not much because I didn’t understand… I had forgotten it existed. And since I didn’t listen to everything that was said to me, I was a little dormant, so they told me afterwards. But I didn’t know it was the platinum buzzer when I received it.
When you discovered its meaning, what did you think?
In fact, in this show, I disconnected all my expectations a little to be able to be free, to be able to enjoy without thinking. I often get upset and, this time, I didn’t want to.
What does it mean to you when four jurors unanimously agree on your number?
The flip goes down. We’re afraid of being lit on this show, so rather than seeing it as something super positive, it’s the absence of negativity that’s nice.
Did you fear a particular jury?
I didn’t fear much because I didn’t care about anything. I said that in general. We can get turned on but I disconnected everything so I went in peace. I know that Sugar Sammy can turn people on and that Marianne James doesn’t like cards, but I don’t consider myself doing card tricks. I don’t put the emphasis on the cards, but on the moment we are experiencing. To the extent that it’s an authentic moment, it can’t be clashed. So there was no risk.
In this case, the jury was full of praise for you. What touched you the most?
I wasn’t really listening actually, I was thinking about something else. I was hungry, I was tired. I had done my job so I was happy. From my point of view, it was mainly for the public what the jury said. That way he might understand better what it’s about. I heard a little of the melody of what was being said and I understood that it was positive.
Sugar Sammy still said that you were the best magician he had seen in six seasons…
Oh he said that? In fact, he liked it precisely because it’s not the magic that I embody. I just play a guy who doesn’t care about anything and who is detached from what he does. For an artist in general, the most important thing is to be detached enough to live your thing. In many cases, we feel the work and Sugar Sammy is where he goes to shoot. In my act, he just saw a guy who didn’t care. That’s why he loved it. He says magic, but that’s not what he liked, it’s the fact of being disinterested in magic.
How was this magician character born, a little indifferent to everything?
He was born at the same time as me. It was the magic that came later. In fact, I’m someone who doesn’t like to work too much, who does what he loves and so, when you don’t want to worry too much, there are a lot of things you let go of. So I kind of let go of everything, all the constraints, all the frameworks. It feels good to not care.
However, you are world champion of magic. How did you work to get there?
I worked on I-don’t-care! Someone who takes the cards in hand and says to himself: “Now I have to work for an hour”, he will do it but will not go beyond. Whereas someone who plays tricks all the time, on everyone, who manipulates without thinking, will work ten hours, fifteen hours, but in his head, it won’t be work. In fact, it is by working the least that we work the most.
How was your vocation born?
When I was seven years old, I was on a beach in Lebanon – because I am of Lebanese origin – and a cousin taught me a number of card tricks. It made me dream. So, when I had cards, I did the tricks he showed me. But I really started with a YouTube tutorial, at 18, when I had just started biology school. After that, I never stopped.
How do you become world champion in the card magic category?
I will say by not deviating from his aspirations. There are a lot of people who will give up trying to find a character. For example, they will find something that doesn’t suit them, whereas perhaps it would be better if they had remained themselves. There are others who will try to learn while thinking that you have to know everything to be good. Whereas for me, I have always only done what I loved. So it’s by not deviating from yourself, and by always remaining like that, that you achieve this in my opinion.
Did you combine humor and magic from the start?
Yes, because it makes me laugh. Many artists practice their art and stop living. I live at the same time as my art, I enjoy it, it makes me laugh, it makes me laugh that people are laughing so, from the start, I was immediately in an attitude like that, a little improv, the guy who doesn’t care… It’s just that I don’t like rules and so, this is what it comes to.
When you are world champion, what do you expect from “France has incredible talent » ?
We let ourselves be carried away. I discover at the same time as the public where I am going. It’s super funny. They were the ones who contacted me to participate in the show. On the other hand, I applied for many years to “France has incredible talent”, starting in 2015. There, I did not let myself be carried away. I was in an active process of effort, work and headache, and it never resulted in anything! The first time I decided not to care, it did what it did.