Comedy: Pete Firman: Jiggery Pokery

The funny magic man is off our Saturday night screens in The Magicians and into our favourite comedy club

So, how would you describe your show?
“My show is part stand up, part magic show, and so I try to make it as funny as possible and with really amazing tricks. I’m not going to say exactly what tricks are going to be in the show because that would spoil the surprise but there’s one thing that’s a little bit death-defying – that I won’t reveal too much about – some mental telepathy, and all sorts of wonders. It’s a carnival of wonders.”

You were on the TV winning praise for a trick in which you seem to eat a live fish. Where do you get such ideas?
“Well with that particular trick, the beginnings of it were in my notebook. You know, whenever I get an idea I just write it down and try to either flesh it out there and then or come back to it at some later date. That was developed for a TV show that I made a few years ago and yeah, basically I was in a room with some of the magicians, producers etc and it was just like ‘oh, it could start like that, and then you could do this, and then you could do that!’ It was basically helping me get the most disgusting tricks in one routine.”

Do you find that it opens more doors to be like you said, bastard child of the comedy circuit – to have that extra thing going for you?
“Yeah, yeah, I mean crikey – I don’t know how many comics there are currently on the UK circuit but I would say a lot. So, for me to be doing something a little bit different is certainly an advantage. At the moment I’m not doing as much circuit work because of the TV thing and going into the tour straight after but I always found that comedy promoters and bookers quite liked having me on the bill because it breaks up the stand up a little bit. You know, three white men in their early 30’s talking about cardigans. The tough thing about that is of course that nobody has come to a comedy club to see a magic show. So immediately I would always come out and do a few gags up front and then sort of segue into the magic. I would never rule out my sparkly box too soon.”

What’s your most bizarre ad hoc thing you’ve had to do?
“I once had a guy faint in the front row.”

What did you do?
“He fell off his stool because I used to do a trick where I put a BBQ skewer through my arm, and it looks real. I mean it’s a trick obviously, but it looks really real and there’s blood and all that kind of thing and this guy obviously had a problem with blood. He just fell off his stool. I thought the guy had died!”

Pete Firman: Jiggery Pokery, Komedia, Wednesday 21 March, 8pm, £12/10, 0845 293 8480, www.komedia.co.uk/brighton