talkmagic.co.uk

Lord Freddie wrote:
Vile little toad.

Completely agree with the above sentiment. I don't think 'celebs' are the best bunch of people to do magic on, because they frequently try to get the last word, and they're far to conscious of their own image to give a true reaction, although the Eamon Holmes bit was very good.

As for the show itself, I enjoyed it a great deal, I found Keith Barry a very likeable chap, with an unpredictable streak that I really enjoyed (the version of spiked, and his blindfold drive).

A nice mix of different tricks, non of which I felt fell flat, only the reaction of the 'vile little toad' above, despite being a good trick.

As for the escape, it wasn't particularly impressive, I remember Paul Daniels doing a very similar one (even looked like a similar location), where instead of blowing the shed up, Paul was secured in the shed with a large recking ball primed to smash into it, with non other than Doctor Who no 3, the wonderful John Pertwee as master of ceremonies. Much better than Mark Durdon whatsit.

So, a very old escape, done before, and not overly impressive. The rest of the show was great though, and I'd certainly like to see Keith Barry again, and I hope ITV give him another special in the future.

Did anyone else notice the little "mistake" during the effect with the kid from Ugly Betty?

In my opinion that should never have made the edit lol

liked or not, it was still good to see magic on the telly!

What i found most interesting was the fact that most of the illusions he used were "simple".

I use simple in the sense that most of us on this site know how they were done and could repoduce them.

It was good to see that with a little presentation these still made it to the final cut of the show.

Ok , so the celebs were chringe worthy and his presentation was dry but hey I bet we would all love our own tv special!

An element of jealousy often creeps in when there is magic on the tv with many people screaming "I know how it's done and I could do better!"
Well, he's doing a prime time show on national tv and you can't get any better than that. The show was not designed for magicians to drool over and comment how well he did an invisible turnover pass. It was there to entertain the lay public and that's what it did.
I like the way he avoided geeky flourishes and concentrated on the magic, and although many of the effects performed are within the capabilities of many people on this forum, he did them well enough to earn a tv special and he's out there doing it rather than moaning on an internet forum or performing solo for a webcam.
Anyone who brings magic into the public eye again is worth being behind and remember, magic is a varied art and not everyone is trying to be Derren Brown.

Freddie

So you think I am moaning on this forum do you? I can assure you that I am not I am just expressing my opiion as per the start of the thread

I will be out performing tonight to real people ( not celebs) and as far as I am concerned these are the people that I need to entertain they are my bread and butter.

As for being on tv it does not appeal to me at all so there is no jealously there at all.

On christmas day I was talking to well known person in the world of magic who told me that he was asked to be the advisor on the show but he had other commitments so he declined the offer, just to give you an idea which circles that I move in.

Anyway I gave an honest answer to the original thread

Nothing directed at anyone personally, but there is always this kind of reaction when magic is on tv (apart from the sacred Derren) and if any of us had a show on tv we would hope that other magicians would be behind us.
The public become more open to magic when it's made more accessible to them. (See how many people mention Blaine, Brown etc to magicians)
So if people see stuff like Keith Barry then it's only a good thing and if you're magic is good then you will be described as "Better than that bloke on the telly."

From a magician's point, there was nothing too astounding in this show. To a layman they were entertaining miracles. I perform magic to entertain laymen not impress "names in magic". It all depends where you viewpoint lies.

Jeb Ho, were you talking about a particular 'feature' of the card box during that effect HAHAHAHAHA it had me in stitches! Also convenient how the shed had massive windows cut in it convieniently placed on a side not covered by the cameras lolol I don't think it was really a mystery to anyone how he got out

It was an alright show, obviously aimed at laypeople so all in all not too bad

I've been reading a thread on a TV message board, and it seems the laymen weren't too impressed with him either!

My missis thought he was boring and had silly hair...she went upstairs to do other things.
I must admit I did start flicking channels towards the end. As previously stated I really hope it takes off for him and that the publlic enjoy what he does. Unfortunately I dont find him at all engaging to watch.
Specials like this are only good for magic if the audience enjoys it.

I am half irish and have a lot of family in Ireland and although i think technically he is well polished, the jokey happy accented patter really took away from the trick for me. I fyou are going to be an entertainer with magic so be it...but if your going to me a magician with some entertaining, make sure you could at the smaller thing too!

To be honest, the final escape was pretty pathetic. It was meant to appeal to the everyday halfwit who thinks that because of a large explosion it somehow means that the escape is a lot lot harder.

The trick i liked most, would have to be the popping ballon to wine botttle. Im oh so obviously aware of how it was done and it is not a hard feat, but the two women were being to silly and awkward and I think he pulled it off very well.

Finally, a sad ending to a good ish show, but the set up of each trick in the weird little area with the black table really annoyed me. Seemed cheap and way to phoney. Give me Derren Brown meeting someone in a REAL cafe anyday.

Although i did actually meet him in a coffee room so maybe he influenced me a wee bit

I found the show entertaining, it's nice to have magic around the holiday season!
But the escape i found to be boring, i don't really like escapes much anyway, but thought his close up magic was really good. Ok a few people might think he has no personality but all you have to do is look at the faces of the audience, if they are enjoying it then that's what counts isn't it.
And someone mentioned the effect with denise van outen.... i would have killed to do smash and stab on her... or anything else that would have made her sweat

I must agree with you there my friend, I'd like to make her sweat to !!!

To me he's trying to be just like Derren. I didnt like the show at all, it was a bit silly and not very professional.

...and to be honest, wasn't impressed. Keith is a good magician, I'll give him that, but the production of the show itself was awful.

Kieth came across a little nervous throughout the WHOLE thing (which, you might say is fair enough - but if he's been on in the US, this should be nothing). The 'celebs' were cringe-worthy. Mark Durden-Smith... Why? First Keith was the presenter, then suddenly Mark was?! There were too many "tease" clips to pad out the show. Some of the reactions were awful.

Whoever directed this/produced it need to re-evaluate their job titles!

But, as I say, Keith did what he did.

I hate slagging things off, but this was on ITV!

To me he's trying to be just like Derren. I didnt like the show at all, it was a bit silly and not very professional.

Tis true. Thing about Derren is, he really is a bit...different. This guy has just practised like hell and then put on a weird persona that isn't very convincing.