Rising Stars: Meet Michael Griffin of COLUMBUS

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Griffin.

Hi Michael, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
OK, using talk to text. We’ll see how this goes. I actually got started when my brother and I were little we used to watch the superhero shows and almost every single week. The superhero would get tied up so my brother and I would always tie each other up with rope I could always escape no problem but he never could so we still feed him twice a day to this day lol and then when I was 16, my dad who is a psychiatrist came to me just for my birthday goes. Hey Mike now that you’re turning 16 what kind of a car do you want as a dad? I don’t want a car he goes. You have to have a car you live in California and you’re 16 I go dead. I don’t want a car and with that he got the funniest look on his face and it goes. Oh my God what do you want and I said dad can I have a straight jacket and my dad goes a straight jacket with the family straight jacket I chose the path far less traveled to this day. I present Nightly on stage evidence of my misspent youth.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t know if it’s ever necessarily been a smooth road. Again, I’m using talk to text. There’s always bumps in the road. 
In my case, there were major roadblocks, LOL. One of the biggest roadblocks I had was I grew up in California. And when I got out of high school, I started making the rounds with managers and stuff. 
And I had a manager contract. I can’t name the names because it’s pretty big people. But they wanted me to do several things that I would not do. 
And they, it got to the point where they actually, they actually told that cliche line to me. They said, you’ll never work in this town. And I looked at him, I said, did you actually just use that cliche? 
And I said, I may make it, but it may take 30 years. And in the space of 30 years or 40 years now, I’ve traveled around the world several times, making my own way. Um, setting records, doing escapes that have now consistently ranked as some of the most dangerous ever attempted. 
Um, I’ve been very fortunate. Yeah, I mean, there’s always roadblocks. I think in anybody’s life, there’s always roadblocks. 
You know, I’ll say it like this. Because people say, don’t you ever want to give up? Have you ever looked at a baby learning how to walk? 
That baby will fall down many times. It’ll bang its head up. It might even get cut, bruised, it’ll cry. 
But have you ever seen a baby fall down and just stay on the ground and say, you know what? I guess walking just isn’t for me. No, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, it matters how many times you get back up. 
And I keep getting back up.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Okay, so what do I do? Again, I’m using talk to text. I’m going to be using talk to text for all of these, so just bear with me. 
But what I do is, I’m known as an escape artist, and I’ve been very, very fortunate, because I’m probably the only escape artist who that actually offers a challenge to anybody anywhere in the world who can come up with something that I cannot escape from. It’s not my stuff. It’s their stuff that they build. 
In fact, I offer $100,000, and it’s a worldwide challenge, and that’s what I’m known for, and that’s what keeps me away from other magicians or escape artists. Now, I will say I’m probably most known for being the only human being alive to have survived a real hanging. I was put on the back of a horse, a 13 knot noose was put around my neck, strung up over the gallows. 
My hands were then tied behind my back. At the appropriate time, the horse was taken out from underneath me, and I had to escape, obviously, before I died. So I’ve set a lot of escape records around the world. 
Actually, a few years ago. I was the 1st escape artist given permission to actually escape Houdini’s box at the bottom of the ocean. That box had been in dry dock for over 90 years at that point. 
So that was something I did, and I’m lucky enough to be the only 2 time winner of television’s world magic awards in the same category, Best Escape Ours. It’s never happened. other than when I did it. And I’ve just, I’ve just been very lucky. 
What am I most proud of? It’s nothing in the industry. A few years ago, my daughter posted something on my Facebook. 
And she said to my very 1st friend. And it’s so funny because with the awards and stuff that I’ve won. The only thing that really has any gravitas in my mind is what my daughter said. 
She said I was her very 1st friend. Um, What sets me apart from others? It said I’m willing to get hurt. 
While I’m doing this. I’ve heard too many stories where an escape artist gets hurt or a broken bone and they stop. Not me. 
I don’t feel the show’s doing anything unless I’m getting beat up, bloodied, or bruised. I’ve actually broken my wrist on stage getting out of handcuffs. Um, I had to stop the show because I thought my wrist had been broken. 
We had a doctor come up and the dog, oh, the nurse indicated that, yeah, my wrist was broken. So I asked the audience. I said, folks, If you’ll give me some extra time, I just want them to put the handcuff above the brake. 
If you give me some extra time, I’d like to try the challenge for you. And they said, yes. So I won’t stop. 
In fact, we actually helped catch a murderer once getting tied up with rope and I actually passed out, but I came too, because I thought I heard my grandma telling me, Mike, you can do it. Well, it wasn’t my grandma. Some lady in the audience who was crying, but it woke me up. 
So that’s what keeps me different from the other so-called escape artists and magicians is I’m willing. to get hurt and I know it’s going to hurt. Evil Knievel once said it of years ago, he said, nobody wants to take my place, but in their mind. They’re all grabbing those handlebars with me as I’m hitting that rampant 90 miles an hour before I sail over those trucks. 
So yeah, I’m willing to get hurt.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Regarding what role has luck, good or bad plating your life in business? I really don’t know. I don’t necessarily know if I believe much in luck, good or bad. 
Um, it’s been said by a lot of people over the years. That good luck favors those who were prepared. So I just, I don’t know. 
I mean, I’ve had some luck here and there. I’ve also had some bad luck. But again, I don’t know if it’s really luck or not, or just circumstances. 
You know, um, Someday you’re the bug. Someday you’re the windshield. Thankfully, I’ve been the bug more often than I have been the windshield, LOL. 
But I have been the windshield on occasion. And I’ve had to deal with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michaelgriffinescapes.com
• Instagram: @michaelgriffinescapes
• Facebook: michaelgriffinescapes
• Twitter: @escapeguy
• Youtube: @michaelgriffinescapes
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@michaelgriffinescapes