Dirty Tricks preview
I heard about Dirty Tricks, a "new Friday night comedy magic show for Channel 4 from the producers of Derren Brown's shows". I was offered "blood loss and exploding celebrities" and thought it was rude to refuse & I got tickets to watch the recording today.
There was a long queue outside the LWT Tower's studios on the South Bank and my guest & I feared being bumped. The line failed to move for 45 minutes - due to a technical fault. Then the front-runners were allowed in.
My heart stopped when we and the dozen people in fornt were stopped from entering. We were told that there might not be seats left for us but they were checking to see if there was still space. After a minute contemplating a wasted trip, we were ushered in.
We were shown to the middle of the Upper Circle but I blagged seats at the front.
We were warmed up by a Friday Night Project performer.
The first act had a Las Vegas couple reprising William Tell - firing crossbow bolts at apples balanced on the wife's head!! Then, they set up their piece de resistance. It comprised multiple crossbows (7) arranged so each bolt would hit a target below the next, setting off another bolt to hit a target below yet another crossbow. The end of the chain was to be bolts piercing apples on both the performers’ heads. The first take left the humans alive although the bolts weren't dead in the middle of the fruit - achieved on the second take. They finished off with a gag involving a dog that looked like a bolt had skewered it. I thought it was very impressive.
There were the classic “magic in a box” tricks where first a dog and then later on a woman appeared out of nowhere. Between the conjurations, a large (2m x4m) screen was moved to hide the props from the audience. The warm-up man said all we were missing was a gay bar.
2 magicians turned a plain piece of paper into a 50 pound note.
The celebrity was Zoe Ball and apart from pouting, her most demanding role involved counting up to 8 - the total number of lit cigarettes simultaneously swallowed by another magician. This was done in 2 takes - to allow him to wash his mouth out so the ash wouldn't appear on camera. As a bonus feature, a friendly audience member provided a commentary during the recording and at this point, he boasted his friend could do the same thing.
The live action was broken up with video clips of other tricks filmed elsewhere, including DJ Neil Fox being shackled to a bomb-proof box and then blown up.
It was a good show with both classic and new magic with funny bits as well. I look forward to see the broadcast soon
There was a long queue outside the LWT Tower's studios on the South Bank and my guest & I feared being bumped. The line failed to move for 45 minutes - due to a technical fault. Then the front-runners were allowed in.
My heart stopped when we and the dozen people in fornt were stopped from entering. We were told that there might not be seats left for us but they were checking to see if there was still space. After a minute contemplating a wasted trip, we were ushered in.
We were shown to the middle of the Upper Circle but I blagged seats at the front.
We were warmed up by a Friday Night Project performer.
The first act had a Las Vegas couple reprising William Tell - firing crossbow bolts at apples balanced on the wife's head!! Then, they set up their piece de resistance. It comprised multiple crossbows (7) arranged so each bolt would hit a target below the next, setting off another bolt to hit a target below yet another crossbow. The end of the chain was to be bolts piercing apples on both the performers’ heads. The first take left the humans alive although the bolts weren't dead in the middle of the fruit - achieved on the second take. They finished off with a gag involving a dog that looked like a bolt had skewered it. I thought it was very impressive.
There were the classic “magic in a box” tricks where first a dog and then later on a woman appeared out of nowhere. Between the conjurations, a large (2m x4m) screen was moved to hide the props from the audience. The warm-up man said all we were missing was a gay bar.
2 magicians turned a plain piece of paper into a 50 pound note.
The celebrity was Zoe Ball and apart from pouting, her most demanding role involved counting up to 8 - the total number of lit cigarettes simultaneously swallowed by another magician. This was done in 2 takes - to allow him to wash his mouth out so the ash wouldn't appear on camera. As a bonus feature, a friendly audience member provided a commentary during the recording and at this point, he boasted his friend could do the same thing.
The live action was broken up with video clips of other tricks filmed elsewhere, including DJ Neil Fox being shackled to a bomb-proof box and then blown up.
It was a good show with both classic and new magic with funny bits as well. I look forward to see the broadcast soon
posted by Iconochasm at 4:52 pm
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