Circuit Training 59: Pete the magic Firman

"I've just found some refuge from the snow in the Festival Hall," says Pete Firman, down the phone. "I was gonna have a bit of a stroll on the South Bank while I was talking to you but it's absolutely belting it down, it's a blizzard!"

It seems almost odd that a master of the mystic arts should suffer the same crappy weather as the rest of us, but then Firman is no Dr Strange. The Middlesbrough-born magician represents sorcery's mirth division - very much the British way, he reckons - and can at least offer a few hours' respite from grim reality via his current tour show.

A typically rich mix of tricks and quips, Hoodwinker is approaching its final few dates during April, but he's also to be found in an all-too real new TV venture called The Body Shocking Show, which kicked off with the world's strongest... well, we'll get into that later on.

For now, let's discuss his current whereabouts...

You've been around for a decade or so - I can imagine you've probably performed at the Festival Hall?

I have, I did a gig here with Ronnie Corbett. We did a season of shows over Christmas. He was the draw, the headliner, and it was hosted by Sandi Toksvig: a really great experience, working with such a hero. Every night his walk-on music was the Two Ronnies and it used to give me a bit of a tingle on the back of my neck.

I can imagine you pumping him for Tommy Cooper anecdotes.

Well there was that as well, he's worked with all those people: great stories. But what was interesting about him, he wanted to watch my set, which was a huge thrill, and we'd talk about the audience. He'd do the second half and I'd do the first half, so I'd be having a conversation with Ronnie Corbett where he says 'ooh, they're tough tonight aren't they?' He's so much of a pro, he still watches and listens and wants to get it right, not phoning it in. It was marvellous.

That's the point where you know you've made it, talking shop with Ronnie Corbett.

I know! It was in the big hall here as well, a monstrous room.

Looking back to your early days on the comedy circuit, did it take you a while to get headline slots, being a 'spesh' act?

I still feel a bit like an outsider in a dressing room, I'm not quite one of the boys, which is fine. They used to put me on in the middle to break up the acts, and now I'm in a position where they'll have me close the show, which is nice. But there was no sense of being looked down upon. I know some comics are a bit snotty - 'he's cheating' - but if you get up on stage you could be doing the most amazing act in the world, but if they don't like you, they don't like you. So no, I've never felt any kind of magicism.

Nicely put. I notice on your website that you describe yourself as a comedian/magician, rather than the other way round.

I suppose if you put a gun up to my head and said 'what is it you actually do?' I'd have to say 'magician', but I just think that sometimes 'magician' conjures - ha, conjures! - a negative image. Also there is no magic circuit per se, and I wanted to work regularly, although my journey to it was a bit arse-about-face.

I'd done some television, and then didn't have any TV work and needed to earn a living, and you wouldn't want to go to the working men's club circuit. This was 2004, and comedy clubs were the only place that I could work regularly and make a living. But you do two or three open spots and you realise no-one's going to a comedy club to see a bloody magic show, so that's when you start to work on the humour.

Do all of your gags start off with tricks?

Yeah, sort of, I couldn't stand on stage without a trick and do 10 minutes of stuff. The thing about those early days, you could sort of go on and do alright, because the trick would save you, not like comics starting who've got no material - if that's not working, you're fucked.

I suppose magic tricks are gags too really - they always work towards a big punchline...

That's why in my opinion comedy and magic are really good bedfellows, it's the same structure - it's a surprise. Also in this country, more than any other nation, we've led the way in that comedy/magic thing. The American magicians can be pretty earnest, which is a big generalisation, but Copperfield, David Blaine, people like that. Whereas in this country the magicians that have been on TV and been successful have incorporated humour.

So British magicians have to take the piss out of themselves?

Exactly that. Actually, two of my favourites, Penn & Teller, are American and they can do it, but their act has more of a British sensibility.

You do seem to have gotten regular TV work throughout your career, whereas normal stand-ups tend to be in and out of favour quite quickly...

It's nice, yeah, and what's good over the last two or three years is that I've been doing stuff that's not magicky. This new E4 show, I'm just presenting: there's jokes in it, but it's got nothing to do with me as a magician. That's quite nice because I've certainly felt it over the years, that sometimes you can be put in a little box, and it's difficult for people to see you doing anything outside of what they know about.

So how does 'The Body Shocking Show' work?

It's like an adult Record Breakers, with an element of Eurotrash. The first show is the woman with the world's strongest vagina, and a lady that sells her lactated milk all over the world. It'll open your eyes.

I must admit, with that title I'd probably scoot straight past it on the Sky guide, without realising you're in it.

I'm sort of co-hosting it, but it's not like 'The Pete Firman Show', to a certain extent I suppose I'm like hired help. But yeah, it's nice to be a part of it, and hopefully some people will stumble across it and find you there.

You worked with Derren Brown years ago - did you ever think about going in a similar direction?

I think it's style isn't it, you cut your cloth. When I was just doing magic gigs it was light-hearted, it was never the raised eyebrow. To do that sort of stuff you almost have to be selling it as real, otherwise how does it have any weight?

So how does your current tour show work?

I'm just basically trying to show off as many different skill-sets in the show as I can. Sometimes it's difficult, because sleight of hand magic can be quite small, but I want people to see that I can actually do that stuff, so we're using an A/V screen for that. And at the other end of the scale I end up inside a big wooden box, and we've got a little flavour of what I would call mentalism, but what some people might call mind-reading.

I said that quite flippantly then didn't I? 'Yeah, just gonna read a few minds.'

Are you doing Edinburgh this year?

I'm just getting that all together as we speak, deadlines, the room. It'll be my seventh consecutive Edinburgh which has flown by, but I love it. I love working on new material, it's a huge thrill for me to go and try it out, something not working then trying to find a way to make it work.

Are you not bored still doing last year's show on tour then?

I'm using my judgement and flushing it in and out a little bit actually, on the current tour. I can do that because I have a support act, but I come out at the top and do about 10/15 [minutes] then introduce him, and then the second half is what was last year's Edinburgh show. That opening section where I greet the audience is a little bit like MCing at a club - you make friends with the room, warm them up - I never like the idea of pushing out the support act cold. So I'm using that section at the top to try out some new bits, slowly but surely working up some new things.

I suppose you can't really take an A/V screen to a new material night.

It's quite difficult, as my shows have grown in size so it's harder and harder to take some stuff out to clubs to work on. To actually do the full show, you need a theatrical venue really.

Sounds like the future's mapped out nicely though, if the venues keep getting bigger?

Yeah, and hopefully this TV series will do well, I'd like to do some more because it's a rich seam. There are so many nutjobs out there.

For Pete's upcoming dates visit www.petefirman.co.uk