The Ehrlich Brothers enchant the masses. However, the fact that the brothers Andreas and Christian make their audience's eyes light up is not a trick, unlike their magic: they have worked hard for the success of their world-class shows.
Although they like to float above the audience or vanish into thin air during the Ehrlich Brothers' shows, Andreas and Christian have both feet firmly on the ground. To reveal a secret about the brothers straight away: The Ehrlich Brothers are really siblings, but their name is not Ehrlich. They come from the region of East Westphalia-Lippe and actually bear the family name Reinelt.
Andreas Reinelt was born on 1 February 1978 in Herford, his brother Christian, four years younger, on 19 February 1982. At first, only Andreas was fascinated by magic. He spends all his pocket money on magic kits and accessories. He rehearses his first performances on Christmas Eve in front of his family, in his grandmother's retirement home and at neighbours' houses. From an early age, Andreas learns: magic is not magic, but craft and practice.
Honest beginnings as "Andy McJoy" and "Chris Joker"
Andreas devoured whole mountains of magic books as a teenager. Together with his father Werner, a vocational school teacher for car mechanics and composer of children's songs, he invents his own magic tricks in the cellar. At an early age, all signs point to "stage show" for him. At that time, Christian's passion was still table tennis: in the top youth league, daily training at a professional level was on his agenda.
While Andreas was already performing on the magic stage under the name "Andy McJoy" and earning impressive sums of money, the spark finally spread to Christian. Lonely and bored during a school exchange in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, he receives from Andreas the magic bible "The Great Card School" by Roberto Giobbi, plus three packs of cards. It doesn't take long before Christian, as "Chris Joker", also wows the audience.
What if the magic hadn't worked? The Ehrlich Brothers think Andreas would probably be a sports and maths teacher now, Christian a trained pyrotechnician. Fortunately it turns out differently. In the beginning, the two perform separately. Christian fills in when Andreas is double booked. After winning several awards, they both finally join the "Magic Circle of Germany" - Andreas at 18, Christian at 17. The foundation stone for the Ehrlich Brothers shows is laid.
A craft called magic
Inspired by the duo Siegfried and Roy, the brothers started performing together in the 2000s. Big magic shows in front of live audiences were not booming in Germany at the time. To start their career, the Ehrlich Brothers therefore first had to invest a lot of work: In their workshop, they painstakingly hand-build props for their tricks and initially establish a good reputation as magicians for company parties.
The Ehrlich Brothers have a good reputation as magicians for company parties.
Even before the Ehrlich Brothers' shows became known to a large audience, news of the brothers' magic had already reached the master magician himself: in 2011, Andreas and Christian received a call from David Copperfield. He wants to buy the rights to two of their magic tricks, including one with a tree that grows out of an orange stone, complete with fruit, in fast motion. But the brothers keep the secret to themselves. Since then, they can claim that they can even fool David Copperfield with their tricks!
The fact that Christian and Andreas finally really take off is due to two things. Firstly, their passion and award-winning talent for magic. As in 1995, they become German Youth Champions in magic in 2004. In the same year, they also use the stage name "Ehrlich Brothers" for the first time, because they do not want to stand for mysteries and supposed miracles, but for modern entertainment in the form of perfectly crafted illusion art - "honest magic" in other words! In 2013 they won the Live Entertainment Award. The second reason for their great success: Dirk Rossmann. The entrepreneur has always been a fan of the two magicians and supported their first, self-financed tour of Germany in 2012. The Ehrlich Brothers owe half of their approximately 30,000 spectators to PR in Rossmann shops alone.
The Ehrlich Brothers shows: modern magic on stadium tour
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Although they are masters of small sleight-of-hand tricks - think card magic and disappearing money coins - it is at large stadium shows that the Ehrlich Brothers' magic tricks unfold their amazing effect. Modern LED screens, a crew of lighting and sound experts and the latest sound technologies ensure that every single member of the audience, young and old, feels like they are in the front row.
What makes an Ehrlich Brothers tour so special? All the things you wouldn't normally expect from a magic show: Fireworks, a 25-piece live band for the stage music, lighting effects, 30 stage performers, two dance groups - and of course the brother duo, who could just as easily be a rock band. Since 2012, the Ehrlich Brothers have been magically drawing crowds with this recipe.
The Ehrlich Brothers don't do anything less than "spectacular" - and so they not only fill football stadiums with their tricks, but also hold several world records. These include:
- 2019: World record for most spectators at a magic show (40,211 spectators)
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- 2019: World record for the magic trick with the most spectators involved (40,211 spectators involved)
- 2019: World's longest fan letter (23 kilometres)
The Ehrlich Brothers' tricks include toy cars that become monster trucks, helicopters that land on stage, gold-plated Lamborghinis that vanish into thin air and appear at the other end of the arena. They lighten it all up with cheeky jokes and original ideas for audience participation. In turn, emotional show moments show that the Ehrlich Brothers have never forgotten their roots.
After the show is before the show
The magician brothers have come to stay. Not only do they make celebrated appearances at their sold-out stage shows, they have also become an integral part of the television and cultural landscape. They teach young magicians how to do magic in the TOGGO talent show "Ehrlich Brothers Magic School" and appear in the "Tigerenten Club". They have even performed at the Wacken Open Air.
When they are not on stage, they tinker with new tricks in their magic workshop in Bünde near Bielefeld. The workshop is around 1,000 square metres in size, where they tinker with new tricks together with around 100 employees, and more than 1,000 suppliers provide the magician duo with materials. What are they working on at the moment? Of course, Andreas and Christian are still keeping that a top secret - if you want to know, you should get yourself a ticket for the next Ehrlich Brothers show!
Ehrlich Brothers: Frequently Asked Questions
Are the Ehrlich Brothers brothers?
Andreas and Christian are really brothers. Ehrlich, however, is their stage name; their real name is Reinelt.
Are the Ehrlich Brothers single?
Andreas is married and has three children. Nothing is currently known about Christian's marital status.
