Scott & Muriel are full time professional entertainers.  Their shows consist of clever illusions of their own creation combined with modern clowning.  They began working together in 1999.  In the year 2000 they travelled to Portugal to compete in the World Championships of Magic.  Out of 140 contestants, the judges chose Scott & Muriel as the best overall act.  They were awarded the prestigious Grand Prix and thus became first comedy duo in history to win the title “World Champions of Magic.”

Since then they have travelled the world delighting audiences wherever they go.  To date they have performed in 20 countries, both live and on television.  Some of their more famous clients include Cirque du Soleil; The Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, Canada; the Greek Isles Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas; and the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo.  In Monte Carlo they received two special prizes and a standing ovation from the audience which included H.S.H. Princess Stephanie and H.S.H. Prince Albert of Monaco.

In Germany they have performed in Roncalli’s Apollo performed, the G.O.P., Dinner Zirkus, Kleines Fest im Großen Garten, and on TV in “Traumtänzer” and “Stars in Der Manege” with Dieter Pfaff.

They call their new style of performance “Slapstick Magic.”  Scott Nelson, from California, plays a typical magician for whom nothing goes as planned.  His assistant, Muriel Brugman of the Netherlands, plays a zany, carefree spirit who often pays the price when things go wrong.  Magic does happen, but it’s never what they, nor the audience, expect. 

Often referred to as the “Lucille Ball of Magic,” Muriel is one of the very few female clowns in the world.

In 2004 they expanded their act to a complete theater show, “Scott & Muriel’s B!G Show with Joe!”  This 110 minute extravaganza, complete with a live band, toured extensively throughout Holland and Germany for four years.  In 2009 they were invited to perform at the prestigious Theater Princess Grace in Monte Carlo.

Scott & Muriel have also created their own perform-anywhere comedy & illusion show they call their “Two by Two Show.”  In this show a large black box unfolds into a complete theater.  Full of new original illusions and comedy routines, this show took them six years from concept to performance.  With a built in sound system and lighting, and requiring just three by three meters of floorspace, they can now present their comic craziness anytime, anywhere.

In November, 2009, Scott & Muriel were awarded the Golden Clown at the 2nd World Festival of Clowns in Ekaterinburg, Russia.  As a result of this they were invited to perform their latest act - the finale illusion from their Two by Two Show - on Holland’s most popular prime time TV show, “De Wereld Draait Door.”  On this show they sawed the host, Matthijs van Nieuwkerk (the Thomas Gottschalk of Holland) completely in two.

As an encore they put him back together again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the very hard working Comedy Illusionists, World Champions of Magic, and really nice people, Scott & Muriel.

The Story So Far…

In 1966 a child was born in Berkeley, California to normal parents. The kid, however, turned out to not be so normal.

His interest in magic began when a magician came to his eighth birthday party.  His interest in comedy began with his first Bugs Bunny cartoon...

At age 16 he started doing magic shows for children's birthday parties.  At 18 he was performing close-up magic, table magic in restaurants.  And at 20 years old he was on the street... performing that is!

An education in ‘busking’ at London's Covent Garden led to touring the streets of Europe as a street performer in between university terms.  But wanting to learn more about this thing called "Comedy," Scott enrolled in The Commedia School in Copenhagen, Denmark.  There he learned about movement, acting, and ‘the clown.’

His street performing led to a 20 week contract in an amusement park called Holland Village in Nagasaki, Japan.  Upon returning to Europe, Scott won the biggest street festival in the Netherlands, the Oranjeboom Straatfestival (now the Rotterdamsefestival.)

This led to Scott performing around 200 shows a year at corporate events, private parties, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, openings, galas and street festivals throughout northern Europe under the moniker Scott the Magician.  Then in 1992 he was hired to perform at the prestigious Magic Stars Festival in Monte Carlo.

At this festival the dream was born to have a stage illusion show of his own.  But not wanting to be a carbon copy of the rest, Scott invested many years and many thousands of dollars in his own original comedy illusions.  However one thing was still missing: a partner.

Ads were placed, interviews were done, but it wasn’t until Muriel (born in Holland in 1971) completed a Phillipe Gaulier workshop on ‘the Clown’ that he knew who his partner should be!

Muriel, having performed her own one-woman cabaret show in festivals and theaters in the past, was busy in a traveling theater production interspersed with performances at corporate events throughout Holland as a Theater Piccolo with Davris Entertainment.

Finally in 1999 they began working together as Scott the Magician & Miss Muriel.  They were an instant success!

They traveled to Monte Carlo, Germany, and Japan in their first year alone.  Then in June they entered their act in the Dutch National Convention of Magic.  They won and were crowned the National Champions of Holland!

But fate had bigger things in store...

In July they headed off to Lisbon, Portugal, for the FISM 2000 World Magic Convention. They entered in the comedy category and their act received a standing ovation. The next day at the award ceremonies they did not receive the 1st place in Comedy, BECAUSE THEY WERE AWARDED THE GRAND PRIX!!

Never before in the history of FISM had a comedy act won the highest award in all of magic.  In one moment their lives changed forever and they have been catapulted into their future, full speed ahead!!

Since that fateful day they have been traveling the planet with their hilarious style of slapstick magic combined grand illusions.  They call it appropriately, “Grand Dellusions.”  So far they’ve performed in 19 countries including the U.S.A., Monaco, Japan, and most of the countries of Europe.

In 2003 they became the first illusionists to work with the world renowned Cirque du Soleil in their television series Solstrom.  Other television appearances include: Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde in Paris, Traumtänzer and Stars in der Menege in Germany, NHK Television in Japan, and Life & Cooking and VARA Laat in the Netherlands. 

2004 saw them make the big step to a full evening theater production with a 30 city tour of Holland’s City Theaters.  Entitled Scott & Muriel’s B!G SHOW with Joe! it received rave reviews and standing ovations everywhere it played.  110 minutes of hilarious visual comedy accompanied by a four man band.

Since then they have done two more successful tours of Holland while branching out into Belgium and Germany (where they received a 15 minute long standing ovation!)

During all this touring Scott & Muriel created a smaller show for smaller venues.  Entitled the Two by Two Show, it is perfect for events where there is limited space and/or there are no stage facilities.  In short, Scott enters with a big box and in one minute folds it out into a complete theater, including lights, curtains, a stage, and professional sound system.  In this way they can do a complete illusion show right on a dance floor!

In October & November of 2006 Scott & Muriel performed in the prestigious Roncalli’s Apollo Varieté in Düsseldorf, the number one Varieté Theater in Germany.  There they performed two spots in the show and were immediately the press and public’s darlings.

In February 2007 Scott & Muriel were invited to Viña del Mar, Chili, where they performed in the biggest festival in South America: Viña 2007.  They were the only variety act in a four hour long show and went on right after Tom Jones!  15.000 people were in the live audience, 8 million more were watching it live on TV, but it would eventually be seen by over 55 million viewers all over the world.

The rest of 2007 saw them in Athens, Greece, The Canary Islands, all over Germany & Holland, and at the famous Festival der Träume in Innsbruck, Austria.  There they received a standing ovation and were lauded as “a new milestone in the history of the festival.” 

In January, 2008, Scott & Muriel traveled to Monaco for the 32nd International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo.  There they received a standing ovation each time they performed their act and were awarded the Nice-Martin Journalist award and the special award from the four star Fairmont Hotel.  Over five minutes of their act was broadcast on the ARD in Germany in May which was seen by over 8 million people.

Scott and Muriel are currently living in the Netherlands and working mostly corporate and private parties in the Netherlands and Germany.  They are also working on the script for their first television series:  The Adventures of Scott & Muriel.  Stay tuned!