Rick Lax (born April 17, 1982) is an American author, entertainer, and magician. He is a notable creator of viral content on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Early life and education

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Lax's interest in magic began at age 5, inspired by

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

. After attending

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

and studying political science at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, he earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

, and subsequently passed the Illinois bar.

Career

Lax was a friend and the first

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Tally Hall Tally Hall (sometimes stylized as tallyhall) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002, and publicly active until the conclusion of their Good & Evil (album), ''Good & Evil'' tour in 2011. The band is ...

, beginning in 2004. He also appeared in videos by the band. From 2011 to 2013, Lax worked as a behind-the-scenes consultant for Copperfield and wrote two books about

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. He also created the TV show '' Wizard Wars'',''Las Vegas Review Journal'', Give conjurers random props, set the clock, and ... Presto, February 23, 2014
/ref> which aired for two seasons on the Syfy network in 2014. In 2015, Lax competed on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

's '' Penn & Teller: Fool Us''. He performed an original card trick called Binary Code, and was the only contestant to fool

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since 1975. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo has bee ...

during the episode. Lax continues to work as a show producer and behind-the-scenes magic consultant. In 2015, Lax started releasing videos on Facebook. By 2019, he was gaining more than a billion views every month. Also that year, Lax launched Making Magic, which features Lax interviewing fellow magicians. Lax later launched a network of over 180 content creators dedicated to creating viral content for Facebook. Notable content created by Richard Lax's network includes pranks,

life hacks A life hack (or life hacking) is any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life. The term was primarily used by computer experts who suffer from information overload or those with a p ...

, "shocking interactions between strangers" (some of which were pre-existing clips purchased from sites like Jukin Media) "weird inspirational content", and gross-out videos featuring food. By October 2020, Lax's Facebook page had the second highest reach on the entire Facebook platform. Lax and his associates made considerable money as a result of their videos, but Lax has said he has received thousands of death threats as a result of his content. Lax's network was severely negatively impacted by changes to Facebook's algorithm in March 2022 that penalised "watchbait" videos that create "arbitrary" curiosity gaps or "promise sensational revelations".

Publications

* * *

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lax, Rick 1982 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers DePaul University College of Law alumni Jewish American entertainers Jewish American non-fiction writers University of Michigan alumni