David Blaine has entombed himself in a plexiglass cube over the Thames in London, in a plastic box at one of Donald Trump’s Manhattan properties, in a giant ball of water at Lincoln Center.

Blaine, 45, is a famous illusionist and street magician, but those acts of endurance made his name. These stunts usually last days at a time, during which he eats nothing, drinks only enough to survive and sometimes hallucinates. He almost always has to go to the hospital afterward.

But Blaine’s current live show, which is scheduled to tour in the U.S. through mid-July, unnerves him more than anything he’s ever done before, he said in a phone interview. “The show is the most difficult challenge of my career, in the sense of doing all these things combined into one evening, night after night.”

The show is intimate, partly interactive and threatens to take a toll on Blaine’s oft-beleaguered body; for one thing, he doesn’t eat on show days “for safety reasons.”

In that phone conversation, Blaine talked Harry Houdini, Donald Trump and whether he’s ever regretted a stunt. Here’s an edited transcript:

Q: If you’re doing something famously physically challenging, like hanging in a box over the Thames, is there an element of PTSD afterward?

A: Doing those things, it does affect you, and it does last, and it does return. The effects of it are very long-lasting, but you do recover and the body does change and adapt, so I think it’s OK.

Q: Is there a time when you’re in the middle of doing a stunt, where you think, “I’ve made a terrible mistake. I never should have done this”?

A: That’s a good question. Do I regret doing those things ever? The answer is no. I always think they’re incredible learning experiences, and I’m always surprised at how able we are to endure things that we would never assume that we can. I start by meeting (with) a team of really clever scientists or doctors, and they always tell me that it’s impossible. For example, when I started breath-holding, (one) time my heartbeat dropped to eight beats per minute, and they pulled me out of the pool because the telemetry scared them, but the body is able to adapt and survive in ways that we don’t understand.

Q: When you’re doing something to the point of hallucinating, is it like somebody taking peyote in the desert, where they come back having learned something about themselves?

A: Absolutely, but it’s not the same as what you’re saying. Native American Indians often used sleep deprivation to get to that place where they’re hallucinating while awake, but almost in a dreamlike state. That happens to me often. In three of my stunts, I started to hallucinate in a way I’ve never experienced before, and it is an incredible and enlightening experience. But for me, I needed a team around me that I trust, because you do go into a scary place as well, when you have no control of your thoughts and your brain.

Q: It’s amazing to think of what someone like Houdini could accomplish with today’s technology.

A: If he was still doing what he was doing now, it would have still been amazing, because it wasn’t about the high tech, it was that he could escape from anything. You could shackle him up, put shackles up and down his arms, throw him into a river, and he’ll get out, even if you brought your own handcuffs. Even today, it’s mind-blowing.

Q: Is it fun when you’re (doing a stunt), or only in retrospect?

A: When I’m going through it, I’m very focused on what I’m doing and how I’m going to do it. It’s like a very clear state of awareness, which is amazing, and when you push through and you succeed, I’m ready for the next one.

Q: You seem like you have an ability to compartmentalize fear and just keep going.

A: I’m very lucky, because when I was young and my mother was sick, she fought and never complained. She kind of erased the idea of fear from my life. Other than insects. When she saw bugs, she would scream, so I had that for a while, but I overcame that.

Q: Do the people you’re dating ask you how you do illusions?

A: It’s not usually a “How do you … ?” It’s like, “Please don’t push that far. Can’t you do less?”

Q: What do you say? “This is what I do for a living”?

A: I say that I approach it very carefully, I have a great team, and I slowly and carefully try to figure out how things are done.

Q: Why are most magicians guys?

A: I think there’s a weird stigma connected to magic in the past, with female magicians being associated with witchcraft. I think that’s part of the reason, but I’m hoping that’s changing.

Q: You’ve performed for many presidents. You know President Donald Trump, and have done a stunt with him. Do you have any plans to perform at this White House?

A: When I was young, I approached him at a party and said, “One day I’m going to do a crazy stunt at one of your properties.” He gave me his card and said, “Sure.” I called him a few years later — and he grabbed the phone, and he said, “Which property do you want?” He gave it to me, no questions asked.

Q: There’s an element of showmanship to him. He probably appreciated how you pulled stuff off.

A: Yeah, he was the guy that was promoting Mike Tyson fights, and all these big heavyweight events. I didn’t look at this as a heavyweight event, but I looked at it as an unusual form of entertainment that nobody was really doing. I was trying to associate it not with what people assumed was magic, but more something unique, I guess.

Allison Stewart is a freelance writer.