Magician Steven Kradolfer begins his act with the seemingly basic trick of tying a five-foot-long balloon into an animal. But then he does something unexpected: He swallows the balloon whole. That's when audiences realize they're in for more than the average rabbit-in-a-hat routine.

Kradolfer performs this month at the Comedy Studio's Mystery Lounge, a Tuesday- night series that challenges audiences' expectations of a magic show. Combining special effects and mind-reading techniques with comedy, the magicians present a professional magic show that's as amusing as it is mesmerizing. "This isn't your father's magic show," says magician Mike Bent, who partnered with Comedy Studio manager Rick Jenkins to pull the night together. "It's interactive with the audience, and it's right in your face."

Bent, Kradolfer and two other Boston-based magicians, Jon Stetson and David Oliver, have spent their careers performing magic and comedy shows around the country for corporations and colleges. But the men wanted a hometown venue where they could have fun on their night off. So they created the Mystery Lounge, an intimate gathering at the Comedy Studio that allows them to stray from their usual scripted show and interact informally with the audience. The night starts out with some pre-show entertainment — the magicians meet and mystify audience members at the Hong Kong bar before they head upstairs to the Comedy Studio to present their feature acts. Stetson wows with magic of the mind, revealing the serial number on the dollar bill in the pocket of an audience member, for example. Oliver makes doves vanish into thin air two feet from where the audience is sitting, and Bent mixes stand-up and special effects comedy.

"It's great because I get to do things I can't do other places," says Bent, whose stunts sometimes include pretending to scoop out his eye with a melon baller. The group welcomes a different guest magician every week. "It's unlike anything you can find in Boston," says Jenkins.

The Hong Kong, 1236 Mass. Ave., Cambridge (617) 661-6507 MBTA: Red Line to Harvard.

Tuesdays, 7 pm. $10

­ Victoria Cook and Julie Short