A native of Minnesota, Tim Gabrielson’s introduction to entertainment came by way of magic. Perfecting the sleight of hand requires dedication, determination, drive….and took Tim years to accomplish. “My first memory of magic was at Disneyland,” Tim recalls. “I was only 10 years old, yet I was so mesmerized. I watched a magician perform a disappearing sponge ball trick – a common, simple trick. I was so fascinated I made my parents buy it for me. I practiced all during the long drive home to Minnesota. At my age, it was very difficult to do, but by the end of the trip, I was able to make the ball vanish. I still do it in my act today.”
Tim began performing at a local theme park at age 16. While his peers enjoyed the normal teenage years, Tim’s focus was on his craft. “Although I practiced constantly….even performing shows for family and friends….I look back at that time and still feel incredibly humbled and grateful…here I was; just a kid being given the chance to perform what I loved to do and receiving all the accolades that go with it…even though I worked hard, I still feel incredibly lucky”. His comedic wit and natural timing combined with magical prowess quickly made him a park favorite.
“At the theme park, I did three shows a day, six days a week. Every situation that arose, be it comments from the crowd or hecklers, I was ready. It forced me to improvise, to respond quickly and creatively with words as well as facial expressions.” His increasing popularity took him from a best-kept secret among the college venue to a highly sought-after performer. He soon became in demand nationally for his riveting show combining clean humor and highly-skilled magic.
It didn’t take long to gain the attention of agents and producers alike–which landed him fill-in spots for Vegas headliners like Ron Lucas and Mac King—before acquiring his own room on the Las Vegas Strip.
When Tim realized, however, that his humor was touching lives by allowing people to see beyond their immediate hardships, he began infusing his highly-entertaining show with a simple and profound take-away message. His signature message about the power of positive choice and responding rather than reacting blends comedy and breathtaking magic with principles for creating a more meaningful and enthusiastic life—starting now. Today, Tim is a keynote speaker who blends comedy, magic, and inspirational principles as he presents to corporations and educational groups—equipping them to live with more joy and intentionality.
Tim’s presentations have exceeded 250 in a single year and he has averaged 94 events per year for over 20 years. This has provided limitless exposure to every imaginable audience, which gives him the additional ability to handle any crowd. Tim’s “Keep it Funny” philosophy, as highlighted in his signature book, Lemons to Laughter, is apparent throughout his laugh-a-minute on-stage presence. He prides himself in providing a clean presentation in which he takes it to the line, but never crosses.
Tim’s business is inspiring people through comedy and magic, but for this consummate professional, it’s much more than laughter and tricks. “People are always talking about the technicality of magic. You have to be good, but the magic by itself can be meaningless. Do you entertain the crowd? Can you grab an audience in the first few minutes and hold their attention while teaching them a valuable take-away lesson? Do you inspire people to think differently? You can be a fabulous magician, an outrageous comedian, but if you can’t entertain the crowd, and give them something of value to take away, people aren’t going to come back. I don’t want to be just a good magician, or a great entertainer. I want to ignite people to live better, more productive, and happier lives.”
Tim’s Disneyland introduction to magic makes his adoption of Walt Disney’s philosophy seem predestined, “Do something so well that people will pay to see you do it again, and when they come back, they’ll bring their friends.” Tim’s viewpoint is just that; he does what he loves to the best of his ability and has fun in the meantime.
The Gratitude-Attitude-Behavior- Environment (GABE) training is a way to harness the excitement created in the keynote and customize it for the individual groups who want to put it into practice.
By identifying things for which we are Grateful, we create leverage to change our Attitude, thus affecting our Behavior, which then creates a better environment for ourselves and those around us.
As mentioned in the keynotes, one of our first jobs is to identify when we’ve gotten off track. Whether we notice this for ourselves or if someone is kind enough to help us see it, either way, the next step is to pause, recalibrate, and then come back in with a fresh perspective.
TIM is about creating the interruption that allows for a reset. Lemon to Laughter is about using humor to act as an immediate quick fix reset. GABE is an action-oriented approach to redefining our experiences, essentially rewriting our internal script, and creating that reset. It’s both a short and long-term solution. And once it is a habit, it often prevents a negative mindset from forming in the first place.
Witnessing Lemons to Laughter is a solid exposure to the concepts, but actively working with Tim is a way to turbocharge it from a hypothetical concept to a fully-manifested reality.