Product Code Database
Brian Allen Brushwood (born January 17, 1975) is an American magician, podcaster, author, lecturer, YouTuber and comedian. Brushwood is known for the series Scam Nation (previously Scam School), a show where he teaches the audience entertaining tricks at bars so they can "Confidence trick" a free drink. The show also claims to be the only show dedicated to social engineering at the bar and on the street. In addition to Scam Nation, Brushwood co-hosts the podcasts Weird Things with Andrew Mayne and Justin Robert Young, Cordkillers with Tom Merritt, and Great Night with Young. Brushwood was also a regular guest on the This Week in Tech podcast. Brushwood performs his Bizarre Magic stage show across the United States and is the author of six books. Brushwood also co-hosted a YouTube show along with Jason Murphy called The Modern Rogue. Brushwood has appeared on national television numerous times including on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CNN and Food Network.
As an undergraduate, Brushwood attended Rory Coker's pseudoscience class which introduced him to scientific skepticism. Coker mentored Brushwood for his senior thesis and has invited Brushwood back as an alumnus to help demonstrate concepts in his class.
Brushwood graduated from the Arts degree Plan II honors program at the University of Texas at Austin in 1997. After graduation, Brushwood married his wife, Bonnie, and began testing video games for Rockwell Semiconductors, followed by a career at Dell where he designed high-end computer systems. During his time at Dell, Brushwood moonlighted as a magician on Wednesday nights at The Electric Lounge in Austin, Texas, while The Asylum Street Spankers took their break. In 1999 Brushwood was offered a raise at Dell and realized he wasn't following his passion, so he made the decision to quit working at Dell and to start performing his Bizarre Magic show full-time.
When a television deal fell through, Brushwood decided to look into Streaming media where he would be able to have more control over the product and process. After filming several episodes of Brian Brushwood: On The Road, Brushwood got the idea for Scam School. He originally intended to produce it independently but eventually sold the idea to Revision 3 and the first episode aired on April 6, 2008. Revision 3's location in San Francisco required Brushwood to travel to California to shoot episodes of Scam School, usually a dozen at a time due to travel expenses. In October 2008, one of Brushwood's childhood heroes, Richard Garriott, performed a magic trick he learned from Scam School while he was aboard the International Space Station. When Discovery Digital Networks purchased Revision 3 Brushwood used it as an opportunity to move production of Scam School from the San Francisco Bay Area to Austin, Texas, where he currently lives with his wife and three children.
Brushwood is friends with fellow Austin residents Korey Coleman and Martin Thomas of Double Toasted. Urging them not to abandon the audience they had built with its predecessor Spill.com, he assisted them in setting up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the launch of Double Toasted.
In the September 3, 2010, episode of the Point of Inquiry podcast, host Karen Stollznow asked Brushwood about myth debunking in his various shows. Brushwood responded,
Brushwood starred, with co-host Jason Murphy, in Hacking the System that premiered on February 27, 2014, on the National Geographic Channel.
| Scam Nation | Brushwood explains magic, street cons, scams and entertaining tricks so watchers can "scam" a free drink off their friends. | April 6, 2008 |
| Weird Things | Hosts Brushwood, Justin Robert Young and Andrew Mayne discuss supernatural and strange reports in the news. News reports are often introduced by Andrew Mayne presenting scenarios where his co-hosts must respond to the events of a report as Mayne reveals an increasing amount of detail. Weird Things airs live on DiamondClub.TV and Twitch on Monday afternoons. | October 19, 2009 |
| Cordkillers | Hosts Brushwood and Tom Merritt, along with producer Bryce Castillo, discuss weekly news related to cord-cutting, including television, movies and streaming devices. It is a successor to Frame Rate, which was also hosted by Brushwood and Merritt, and aired on TWiT.tv until 2013. Cordkillers airs live on DiamondClub.TV and Alpha Geek Radio on Monday nights. | December 23, 2013 |
| Great Night | A comedy podcast hosted by Brushwood and Justin Robert Young, featuring announcer Brett Weaver and producer Bryce Castillo. It is a successor to NSFW, which was also hosted by Brushwood and Young, and aired on TWiT.tv until 2014. Great Night airs live on DiamondClub.TV and Twitch on Tuesday nights. | March 4, 2014 |
| The Modern Rogue | Brushwood and Jason Murphy together teach what they describe as the three pillars of a Modern Rogue. Each episode focuses on one of the three pillars, teaching their audience the ways of the warrior, gentleman, and scoundrel. It is a spiritual successor to Hacking the System after the latter show's cancellation by National Geographic Channel. The Modern Rogue premieres on YouTube on Fridays. | December 14, 2015 |
| World's Greatest Con | A narrative podcast in which Brushwood explains the hidden stories behind the most audacious con jobs, swindles and heists in history. Season 1 tells the story of Operation Mincemeat, also known as "the con that fooled Hitler." Season 2 tells five different stories of cons involving Game show. | June 7, 2021 |
|
|
