with David Letterman , and magicians and audiences alike were stumped as to how he pulled it off . He even made a fake X-ray of his stomach showing it full of cigarettes and tissues , which he displayed at the Tomfoolery to throw people off more .
In 1980 , Mullica ’ s childhood hero Red Skelton stayed in Atlanta , and Mullica called his hotel to confirm that he was actually there . He was mistakenly put through to Skelton ’ s room , and ended up inviting him to come and see a show at the Tom-foolery .
To everyone ’ s surprise , Red Skelton showed up and enjoyed the performance , and Mullica became good friends with his idol . Skelton ’ s advice was a huge influence on Mullica . Mullica said : “ He told me ‘ You ’ re a very talented man but you ’ re doing some blue material . You ’ re very clever , you don ’ t need that dirty stuff . Who ’ s going to pay money to hear something that you can read for free on a bathroom wall ? The people that have longevity are the ones who keep their acts clean .’ My style of humor changed that very night .”
Mullica came to view Red Skelton as a father figure , since he was never very close to his real dad . He took all of Skelton ’ s advice to heart , so when the Tom-foolery eventually closed in 1987 , Mullica followed the advice of Skelton and trained to perform his act to pantomime music , so that he could break down any language barriers audiences may have .
He moved to Paris , France and worked at The Crazy Horse Saloon for four years using his new act , before moving back to America to restart the Tom-foolery . Mullica grew tired of doing the same work , though , and he was finding it hard to compete with the new trend of comedy clubs in Atlanta . His rent , which was only $ 800 a month in the 80s , was about to skyrocket to $ 3000 a month . His career was waning , so when Red Skelton died in 1997 , he decided he had to carry on that style of performing .
He spent eight months writing his own material and building his own props for his tribute act – RED ( A Performance Tribute ). The one-man show sold well throughout the US and Canada , and eventually Red Skelton ’ s widow licensed Mullica so that he was the only legally certified Red Skelton tribute artist .
His show received critical acclaim , with audience reviews saying things like “ I was crying from laughing so hard ! This was simply a wonderful hilarious show !” He performed RED for over 17 years , but in 2015 he felt the show had run its course , and formulated plans to possibly start up a new Tom-foolery . He also focused on pickpocketing tricks , and performed these at several magic conventions .
Unfortunately , after being diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 , his health deteriorated , and he died on February 18 , 2016 following complications from a routine hernia operation .
His gravestone displays a verse from the song Make Someone Happy by Jimmy Durante . He felt it summed up his career , and his life in general . “ Make someone happy , make just one someone happy , and YOU will be happy too .”
Tom Mullica definitely made more than just one someone happy .
Throughout his long career as a comedy magician , he discovered the great relationship humor could have with magic . He made audiences laugh until they cried , and puzzled even the greatest magicians with his famous tricks . A true showman , Tom Mullica lived an incredible life , and his name is sure to be famous within the magic community for years to come .
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