The Amazing Kreskin, who passed away recently at the age of 89, wasn’t always Amazing. He was plain old Kreskin until Johnny Carson added the honorific based on the mentalist’s 88 appearances on The Tonight Show, making him one of the program’s most prolific guests.

What made the Amazing Kreskin such a Carson favorite? A magician himself, Carson was fascinated by Kreskin and his popular trick in which someone hid Kreskin’s fee for appearing on the show. Kreskin denied being “psychic” — he always claimed his powers were based on suggestion — but how would that help him find his paycheck? That’s Kreskin’s secret but he always got paid.

Kreskin shared his most memorable Carson moment on his YouTube channel. He and Carson had agreed to an astounding trick for a Tonight Show appearance, but a few days before the show, Kreskin got a call from one of the heads of NBC.