Emma McAlpine talks to the prominent comedy magician about his life's obsession; from cigarette swallowing to tricks for Grandma.
I always bugger up getting to the artsdepot. I don’t know why, it’s really very simple. Take the Northern line to Finchley Central then a bus to the rather inappropriately named Tally Ho Corner. However my brain always thinks there is a quicker, secret route. There isn’t. Luckily I’m only five minutes late and meet Pete Firman in the cafe who it turns out, has no problem getting to the artsdepot because he lives right round the corner.
Like many people, he got into magic as a child, but never lost interest: “Every boy gets a magic set and it goes on a shelf with a unicycle or a guitar. But the whole idea of secrets really appealed to me. Someone asked me in an interview the other day: “Were you bullied as a kid?” but it wasn’t a social thing – I just liked it!” Growing up in Middlesbrough, he devoured books on the subject and joined a local magic club before he left to study acting at university.
In between terms he came home and worked for his Dad selling second hand cars. “That must have made you good at...” (talking to people I am about to say). “Lying?” he jokes. "Well that’s what magic is essentially. There’s nothing in this tube, there’s only 20,000 miles on the clock – it’s the same thing!”
Although Firman decided the car business wasn’t for him, his father was supportive: “He was always behind me. He was my first agent in fact – he rang up a restaurant and got me a close-up magic job there.” “Do your parents go to your London gigs?” I ask. “If they can make it they will try and come. I just think why would you come and see this shit again - you’ve seen it a million times! When I was a kid I would pester them to watch me do tricks but these days I usually only get home for Christmas and my Dad will say: “Do a few tricks for Grandma” and I’ll say: “Dad the last thing I want to do is tricks for Grandma. Let me just drink this bottle of sherry and fall asleep!”
After university, Firman moved down to London where he started developing his routine as a comedy magician: “I wanted to do something with a bit more performance and there was more work on the comedy circuit.” His big break came in 2002, when he answered an advert looking for magicians for a TV show. He sent in a tape of himself performing in his parent's garden in his pants and was snapped up for the show, which became Channel 5’s popular series Monkey Magic (shortlisted for a British Comedy Award).
More TV success followed and in 2006, he starred in Channel 4’s Dirty Tricks with fellow magicians Barry & Stuart. He became renowned for his gruesome stunts involving maggots, cigarettes, skewers and the old ‘mouse in the blender’ routine. “To begin with that stuff was my calling card I guess. With the cigarette swallowing, if I did a weekend of gigs by Monday my mouth would be so sore. Imagine biting into pizza when it’s too hot – it was like that twice a night.”
Nowadays there is still a bit of gore to his act but more of an emphasis on classic theatrical illusions with a twist. Coming up with a new trick can be a long process: “I have quite a big working library of old magic literature. Even though the books are antiquated you can take the ideas and turn them on their head. A lot of them don’t have pictures so you just have to sift through the text and find them. It’s like mining for gold. Another thing I do is daydream. Like the mouse in the blender. I just thought ‘a mouse in the blender, drink it, regurgitate it – that would be cool – how do I go about it?’ Then I write a few ideas, maybe go see Barry and Stuart and we’ll spit-ball some things. Then I go to a prop man and he’ll fabricate a prototype.”
Firman might be performing two or three gigs a night but he is far from having that dead behind the eyes look: “I feel really lucky to do what I love it’s a real passion. I can’t see myself ever leaving the circuit; I get itchy feet if I haven’t done a gig for a few days.” As the interview draws to a close, some children recognise him and start waving frantically from a balcony. “My people” he says, waving back, somewhat embarrassed by the attention.
Pete Firman: Jokes and Tricks will be at the Southbank's Udderbelly tent on Saturday 15th May.
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