talkmagic.co.uk

by **alz** » May 5th, '03, 20:18

I just wanted to say that Zenon is the best!!!!!!
He has a real cheeky style and show huge confidence even when he mucks up. I have gone on to buy many tricks having seen how well he uses them.
I also think that he is a light hearted breath of fresh air compared to the dreariness of David Blaine's shows (although great).

Am I alone in thinking this????????????????????????????????

by **magicdiscoman** » May 5th, '03, 21:35

i half heartedly agree :!:

the other half of my heart was taken away by my late wife as a momento, bouy its hard to get the dead to return anything they take :?:

by **Brad Monks** » May 5th, '03, 22:05

Hi Magicdiscoman, not the same but i lost my dad when i was young and i really wish that he'd of seen me doing magic cos i know he would have loved it. That said he'd have also been the best spectator going cos he would have told me if i was doing it wrong or obviously.

by **magicdiscoman** » May 5th, '03, 22:16

my wife loved to figure out how it was done even to the point where i had to lock my trick box. :lol:

after a wile she settled down, iengaged her as my assistant as she liked to be the center on attension, she was great misdirection.

i like what paul zennon does hes not pretensious like blaine (coughs up hairball).
he did a trick useing a haunted hank and a key (actualy a haunted key).
this spurned me to get my haunted hank out of mothballs and give it a go also he did a trick where he pulled asilk from a rolled up note.

i have since then looked at my old stock and revitalised most of the tricks by handeling them in a different way or useing them for a different pupose no thanks in small part to paul. :idea:

by **maximus** » May 18th, '03, 20:08

I met paul xenon when I was young, my mum was treating a bad shoulder injury he had and told him to show me a magic trick, I was hooked. thanks paul

by **seige** » May 19th, '03, 12:18

Paul Zenon is in a league of his own. Although I would consider Brown to be the UK's most enjoyable and skilled current magician (check out his books and video's RATHER than the quite objective TV shows), I must say that Zenon has the higher 'household name' profile.

To draw parallels between him and Blaine (yawn), yes he IS a street magician, yes he DOES perform at corporate functions, yes he HAS travelled the world with his magic.

But the bottom line is that he's funny.
He's basically a cross between a stand-up comic, a street con, a magician and your best mate down the local.

He's original. He's cheeky. He's a breed apart.

For Zenon fans with Sky TV, you'll want to tune into Bravo at 9pm from Monday 19th May, 2003. He's hosting what looks to be quite an amusing collection of 'candid-camera' style madnesses called 'Worst Case Scenario'.

Could you see Blaine as a presenter? No. He takes himself far too seriously. Zenon deserves credit.
(And it's definately ZENON, not Xenon, like the gas)

by **timnicebutdim** » May 23rd, '03, 15:21

'He's basically a cross between a stand-up comic, a street con, a magician and your best mate down the local'

That is the best description of him I have ever heard - thank you seige.

I remember seeing one of his shows onstage and loved every second of it. To be honest, the best thing about him is that he swears, don't get me wrong - I know swearing can be very offensive and I personally don't swear unless I need to. The very fact that this stage magician swears is like smashing the barrier between what the audience thinks a traditional magician is like, and what Paul Zenon is like, it also makes the atmosphere alot less formal and more of a good laugh!

It was kind of ironic @ the interval, I went up to the balcony (where my mum and dad was sitting - they never like going up on stage!) and I passed this small child asking staff whether he can meet Paul, I heard them say that Paul will most likely be going to the bar after the show.

Obviously, after the show we headed straight for the bar, to see whether he'll turn up. I managed to get a big poster off the notice board for him to sign, it was about 10 mins later (which is pretty quick)until he came. Hardly anyone apart from my parents and my friend were there to see him - so we had a nice, pretty long chat. he signed my poster and we had a picture taken together. He also apologised to my parents about his swearing which I thought was very decent of him.

I agree with seige though, Derren seems to have that much more skill about him then Paul, but Paul does have the higher 'household name' profile.

I'm proud that us english have the Derren Browns and Paul Zenons, who don't do massive stunts to get attention / money / gain an experience, but people who have a genuine presense about them (a word that Lance Burton or David Copperfield wouldn't of heard before). I really found it funny when Paul Zenon on his special from Prauge had a deck of cards which he flung against a car window and it broke - I thought that's good of him to take notice of the parallels between David Blaine and himself - and also highlighting the differences.

P.S - don't get me wrong, I like the Lance Burtons, David Copperfields and David Blaines, if they're millionaires and I'm not - then I must be doing something wrong! I just don't find them as entertaining as Paul Zenon / Derren Brown.

Talking about Derren Brown - I also saw one of his shows and thought it extrememely clever. Not the principles behind the tricks, but also the fact that he doesn't try and make the audience believe in magic instead he presents them as something that is not mystical or magical, but something all very psycological which the audience already does believe...
I also met him after the show and (like Paul) had alot of time for everyone, signed this and that - talking, posing for pictures with people - a very geniune person.

by **seige** » May 23rd, '03, 16:02

Great post...

I really think that the projection of mainstream magic in this country is pretty poor.

There was discussion previously in this forum about how our TV scheduling treats magic as a 'Bank Holiday' special, and provides little or no support for such geniuses as Zenon and Brown.

The problem is that we're becoming Americanised - saturated with TV channels churning out utter rubbish. Programming schedules are padded with dross soap-operas, terrible 'pop-star' crud and painful reality-TV shows - whereas there's so much more available out there.

The art of magic is one of the oldest forms of entertainment. And the groundbreaking new-age magic of artists such as Zenon is only usually seen under pursuit.

Remember back in the 80's when BBC2 first showed the Young Ones? Or Not the Nine O'Clock News?
Spurned by the need for change, and moulded by creative minds who were sick of 'comedy' being no more than a sad Saturday re-screening of The Morcambe and Wise Show, this 'Alternative' comedy spawned some of the most original material we've seen - and gave others the confidence to follow suit and break out of the normal, conventional rules which seemed to hold everything back.

There's never been a better time for magic... and yet it seems muted, somehow. I admire guys like Zenon - for his sheer lack of convention.
Think Jerry Sadowitz, Derren Brown, Paul Zenon... real people doing real magic for real people.

Mentioned above is the 'spectacular' magic of Copperfield, Burton and the like - it's stayed and stuck in it's ways. I enjoy watching it, no doubt, and the sheer scale of the props and illusions is very impressive... but once you remove the smoke, mirrors and 'black-art' - it's nothing more than a routine performance, night after night the same.

But the personal approach taken by Zenon & Brown is where the REAL magic is. One on one, or to small gatherings... a sense of participation: you're the focus of the magician - he's performing to YOU.

It's a real shame, in my opinion, that Blaine hit the limelight in a big way before Zenon did. It's so nice to see honesty in magic, something which David (Jesus) Blaine lacks.

I'd love to meet Zenon. He's my own dictionary definition of a role-model. But we're not all that outgoing, and I could never do what he does. His years as a conman have taught him utter confidence.

But our British heroes prove one thing to be true: Be yourself. Be original. They really do enjoy what they are doing.

And I, for one, enjoy what they're doing too.