Illusionist, magician, hand-shadow artist, ventriloquist, mime artist, comedian ... Raymond Crowe goes by many descriptions. To the list add gambler.
The Adelaide performer, who came to attention when he reached the final of Australia's Got Talent in 2013, says the television show might have provided a timely impetus to his lengthy career, yet there was no small chance it all could have backfired.
''Entering such shows is a career gamble,'' Crowe reflects via phone from Melbourne, where he is taking a brief break from travelling the world with international production The Illusionists 2.0 before he brings his solo show The Unusualist to New Zealand next month, a visit that includes a performance at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, on February 24.
The flipside to such exposure is the potential to be knocked out or ridiculed, he notes.
''I had a friend who was nobbled by a judge the week before I was due to go on the show. He told me what happened and I didn't want to go on.
''I thought the judges were going to say something horrible. Still, I knew the work I had prepared was good; it had been refined over a number of years.
''The Illusionists 2.0 followed straight after that and also provided great exposure. That show also gave me an opportunity to present a broader array of tricks. The work did increase, both in terms of corporate shows but also touring shows.''
Crowe, who will celebrate his 53rd birthday while in New Zealand, describes The Unusualist as a variety show in which he regularly changes direction.
''It doesn't have a storyline, but that allows me to play with a whole lot of different elements. For instance, I have a performing flea and a 3-month old baby who plays rock ukulele,'' he says before breaking into what sounds like baby-speak (though no ukulele can be heard).
''There is a lot of audience participation in the show, but they are not forced to get on stage. Most people describe it as an adult show that children also like. My world is retrospective in many ways.''
Inspired by Charlie Chaplin and other exponents of silent film, physical comedy and slapstick, as well as magic routines, Crowe took his first tentative steps into the world of showbiz as a boy growing up in Adelaide.
Though his family didn't want to, he forced them to watch his fledgling performances.
''I loved magic as a kid. I loved puppetry and old comedy movies. Back then, Adelaide was a small place, really, and didn't have any magic shops.
''I did write to a couple of magicians, who turned out to be great mentors. They would never show me too much, meaning I had to work a lot of it out myself. One of the guys had grown up through the Great Depression in Australia and had to forge his own path. He thought that by doing it that way, you could better find your own voice.''
A shy teenager, he'd visit the state library in Adelaide and borrow books on magic from the late 19th century.
''I think that's why my show now includes hand shadows, ventriloquism , those forms. But I'm certainly not an antique show.
''I think a lot of shy people are attracted to these sorts of things because they give you skills a lot of other people don't have and it keeps you from getting bored. It is kind of solitary, too, because you need to spend many hours practising.''
By the age of 18, Crowe had a job fixing office equipment (photocopiers, answering machines and the like).
Meanwhile, he was studying mime part-time with a teacher whose key advice was, ''always be human''.
''That advice has opened a lot of doors to me. People respond to universal moments.''
Bored, Crowe quit his job at the age of 21 to focus on performing and has slowly and steadily built up a range of routines, including a hand-shadow piece performed to the Louis Armstrong classic What A Wonderful World.
Before his Australia's Got Talent breakthrough, he had performed in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, at Caesar's Palace for NBC's The World's Greatest Magic and in The Late Show with David Letterman.
For the past 15 years, he has found plenty of work within the corporate world.
Though lucrative, it made him ''invisible'', a career trick he certainly didn't want to master.
''A lot of careers go through waves,'' Crowe reflects, adding he is off to the World Congress of Magic in Italy later this year, when he will be more than happy to walk in the shadows of others.
''It's a great opportunity to see how others in the world approach the art. We all talk the same language ... it's going to be great fun.''
