Last updated 11:23, Thursday, 23 October 2008

If you’re unhappy because the smoking ban has stopped you having a fag in the pub, spare a thought for Pete Firman.

Pete Firman

The Middlesbrough-born magician, star of various TV shows who brings his acclaimed act to Carlisle on Saturday, November 1, has been affected more than most.

“I used to light up a whole pack of 20 cigarettes and swallow them,” he tells Nightlife. “That used to be my closer before the smoking ban.”

Firman’s doctor is delighted that this grand finale has been consigned to legend. But the magic man still clings to the principle of “no pain, no gain”. By sticking kebab skewers through his arms, for example.

“That was a bit ‘watching through your fingers’,” he says. “The audience are thinking, Is that a magic trick or is he just mental? I had a bloke faint once. I presented the skewers as a trick – ‘What you’re seeing isn’t real’ – but you do doubt that when you see it. Tricks like that appeal in a way a card trick doesn’t. You can’t watch it passively.”

All-action magic has been the 28-year-old’s trademark since making his name in Five’s irreverent Monkey Magic and Channel 4’s Dirty Tricks. Both shows have been shortlisted for some of Europe’s most prestigious entertainment awards. Firman gleefully injects the magic genre with his offbeat humour and dazzling skills. “The MySpace generation’s Tommy Cooper” said one critic.

He brings his Flimflam tour to The Brickyard next week but details are being kept under wraps to ensure audiences are hit with the maximum amount of shock and awe.

“Tricks work a bit like jokes,” he says. “If you know what’s coming it spoils it a little bit. But I can tell you some of the stuff I have done.

“Last year I dropped a mouse in a food processor. I brought it back to life though. I used to love that trick. One night in Edinburgh a woman stormed the stage. Did she really think I would liquidise a mouse? It’s a magic show, it’s not ‘Pete Firman’s Abattoir of Hate’.”

Gore, real or implied, has always figured highly in his act and, he points out, throughout magic’s history. “In the early part of the 20th century a man sawing a woman in half was seen as gory. Without wishing to sound too poncey, magic has always reflected society.”

The first people Firman saw doing edgy magic were America’s dark duo Penn and Teller. He began his career in comedy clubs, combining jokes and tricks. “I had some really bad gigs where I’ve walked off the stage to the sound of my own footsteps. But it’s a good learning experience.”

Not since the days of Paul Daniels has magic had a primetime slot on a major channel. Could it happen? “I think whether it does or not has little to do with magic and more to do with broadcasters. There’s this obsession with reality entertainment, whether it’s celebrities dancing, dancing on ice, dancing on fire, whatever. I hope there’ll come a time when rather than someone doing something not very well, they’ll show someone who is actually very good at something.

“Things come full circle. Talent shows have come back. Burlesque and cabaret are very popular and maybe magic could get a platform there.”

During his tour Firman is happy playing to hundreds rather than millions, and breathing in audience reaction rather than cigarette smoke. “Applause can be a Pavlovian response,” he says. “But you can’t fake a laugh or a sharp intake of breath.”

Doors 7.30pm. Tickets £7 in advance (or on the door if still available) from www.ticketweb.co.uk or call 08700 600 100. The show will begin after Carlisle Fireshow has ended.