Desert Island Tricks
Each week we invite one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on a desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
Episodes are uploaded every Friday and are available via all Podcast service providers!
To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk
Desert Island Tricks
Ben Hanlin
Ever wondered what happens when a car vanish illusion goes wrong hours before filming? Or how swallowing needles helped a struggling magician pay his rent before television fame? Ben Hanlin pulls back the curtain on these stories and more in this incredible episode.
The celebrated British magician, known for ITV's "Tricked" and Discovery's "Breaking Magic," reveals the eight effects that defined his career, from close-up card magic that stops conversations instantly to elaborate television spectacles requiring aircraft hangars and custom-built props. His selections paint a portrait of modern magic's diverse landscape, where success requires mastering both intimate performances and grand illusions.
Ben's journey from Birmingham recruitment consultant to television star hinged on unexpected moments, like performing needle swallowing on the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon and later for Kim Kardashian on a yacht. He shares the high-stakes problem-solving required when overnight temperature changes threatened to ruin a £10,000 television illusion just hours before filming. These behind-the-scenes glimpses reveal the combination of creativity, technical knowledge and quick thinking that professional magic demands.
What makes this conversation particularly fascinating is Ben's thoughtful analysis of why certain effects connect with audiences. Whether discussing the natural tension created by water escapes or the visual impact of producing liquid from nowhere, he demonstrates a deep understanding of audience psychology that transcends mere technical execution. His candid thoughts on outdated props ("no grown man should be walking around with a purse frame") and his recommendations for creativity tools offer valuable insights for performers across disciplines.
Join us for this entertaining exploration of magic's past, present and future through the eyes of one of Britain's most versatile performers. Whether you're a devoted magic enthusiast or simply curious about the craft behind the illusions you've seen on television, Ben's stories will change how you view the art of deception.
Ben’s Desert Island Tricks:
- Multiple Selection
- Needle Swallow
- Moving Car Vanish
- Manip Act
- Sam the Bellhop
- Beer Production
- Phone in Fish
- Water Torture Escape
Banishment. Purse Frame / Rope Around Neck / Confabulation Routines
Book. Books of Wonder
Item. Evernote
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
A lot of this is theory. So what he's doing essentially is choreography as well. So he's got this choreography thing he has to hit With us. We're dealing with physics and the theory is wellar.
Speaker 1:For three, two and a half days, I think, we rented the hangar for, and then we had to build the sheets of what we needed, all bespoke. Each one was about 500 pounds a panel and you needed X panels. And what Martin and Nigel did is they went on the first day and they set up the whole setup, tinkering minor little adjustments to each prop and position to create the illusion. We went home that night, we came back in the morning and by the time we left the first night it was working. This is amazing, it's worked.
Speaker 1:We came back and we stood there in the position and what we were looking at all looked warped. The illusion wasn't. I was like hold on. What happened overnight is the temperature of the hangar had changed temperature and our props that were mounted onto wood. The wood had warped overnight and therefore the prop we were using warped and changed the reflection, if you like. And we're now it's nine o'clock in the morning, the celebrity is coming at 4 pm and the producer's going. What's going on? Lads that looks rubbish and then panic set in.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Now this is another one of the ones we've done quite a few of these recently where you can actually watch this episode, so you can go to YouTube right now and you can see a whole videoed version of this. That's because today we have a very special guest Now. I actually just said to him a second ago that I've actually watched so many of his programs over the years and his episodes and his stunts and I think that in terms of performers in the UK, he was definitely someone who almost defined an era of TV magic Certainly a certain kind of magic he always did better than everyone else. I think Now you're going to hopefully know him by name, but if not, you are absolutely missing out because he's just achieved so much in his life. Now listen to this.
Speaker 3:He presented Breaking Magic on the Discovery channel. He had his ITV2 hidden camera magic series, tricked, which is absolutely phenomenal. There's so many clips of it over YouTube now. Just go and see them and hopefully we can talk a little bit about some of the things in those shows as well. He's was in the west end performance of the illusionist. He's done live at the palladium. He's had edinburgh fringe shows. He is a regular guest on shows like celebrity juice this morning, good morning britain soccer am. And, more honestly, for someone still so young, um, the fact that he's achieved so much is phenomenal, and I know that this is going to be such an interesting and engaging talk. So I'm very, very excited to bring on to our island the wonderful Mr Ben Hanlon. Hello Ben, hello Jamie, what a lovely introduction.
Speaker 3:Guests always say that, but the truth is I'm just reading out all of the incredible things that you've done and you've been reading out the introduction I sent you, so you've, you've just had such an incredible career and like tricked and those shows it sort of reminds me of the carbonara effect, those shows where he has the right, he has the right amount of, uh, prank and magic. If that makes sense. It doesn't ever seem to cross the line into anything negative. It's just fun and joyful and exciting yeah, no, that it was.
Speaker 1:Uh, that was to put magic in the context of prank, where people do not know they're seeing magic. Their, their reactions are totally different, and that is. You know, there's going to be a lot of comments online saying it's fake or they're in on it, but you can just see it in their face when people just haven't got an answer for what's just happened, which is quite nice.
Speaker 3:And I'm guessing that there are very, very few magicians on Earth who have had as many jobs as you have now. You've worked in an off license in a market.
Speaker 1:All of these different things you've done yeah, you have to just everywhere as a till. You have to learn the till in about five minutes and pretend like you're just a bored person at work, whether that's the cinema, a market store, a bowling alley, whatever it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah well, they were great shows and, like I say, there are clips of it all over the internet, so do go and see it. Now, in terms of your list, yeah, you are in such a unique position and I sort of feel it with jonathan goodwin as well where you have had to create magic from scratch and you've had to create these really interesting bespoke pieces of performance, so I'm guessing your list will be probably one of the more eclectic that we've had to create these really interesting bespoke pieces of performance, so I'm guessing your list will be probably one of the more eclectic that we've had.
Speaker 1:Yes and no. So first of all, I'm a fan of this show. I've listened to a lot of the episodes the Jonathan Goodwin one, the Nick Muhammad one and I love it. But I think sometimes if I just do things that magicians can't go and buy and get involved in, I think sometimes you can get a little bit less interesting. So I've combined it. There's a couple things I think, one thing on here mainly that is from my show and the rest are products and things that you could go out and buy if you wanted to, but all of them resonate with me somewhere along the line.
Speaker 3:Amazing. So we're all going to have to play Ben handling bingo. Now. What do you think is going to be on the list, guys? Now, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, the idea is we're about to maroon Ben on his very own magical island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks. Banish one item, take one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic Particulars, one non-magic item that he uses for magic particulars. Who's there? What's there? Are there animals? All that good stuff? Maybe there's a till system there, it does not matter. This is in ben's own imagination.
Speaker 1:So, with that being said, ben, let's go to your island and find out what you put in position number one by the way, as a fan, this is actually very exciting and I've assumed my assumptions are anything is possible on this island. The audience can be manipulated in any way that you, any scenario that you need. So I'm going to start with a close-up trick, which is not something I do much anymore, but I thought let's start with an opener, because openers are always the hardest thing. And for me, a trick. When I before I was doing a lot of telly, do a lot of close-up magic, loads of weddings I do like loads and loads of gigs, and this was my opener every single time. So so it's a trick I've done thousands of times and it is multiple selection. It's as simple as this. Now I've listened to this show. This must have come up a few times, jamie, I'm guessing. Yeah, right, you're nodding, yes, so I'm just gonna get out the way.
Speaker 1:Whenever I see multiple selection that's a lot of people kind of do as a closer, often, closer, often, to finish a big card routine, I used to walk up to any group ever, even now. If we're an event now and someone said do us a trick. And if I had a deck of cards, it would be multiple selection, and the reason I loved it is because it forces every single person to instantly stop talking, get involved and listen and look at me, which, as we know, when you're working in the trenches you need that attention grabber. So for me it was just great. And what I like about it is, if I've only got eight tricks, I can take this millions of different ways every time. I can jazz with it, I can play with it, I can make the deck vanish. I can do essentially hundreds of tricks, all under the guise of multiple selection. So that is my number one Opener done.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you mentioned that you are a regular listener, which is amazing, but you also know that Devil's Advocate does like to come out every now and again on this island.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hold on. I know this Devil's Advocate. This is not a utility prop, Jamie.
Speaker 3:This is a trick multiple selection.
Speaker 1:But go on what are you going to say?
Speaker 3:So in terms of multiple selection, I would say that's quite a broad demographic of either moves or procedures. Now your version of multiple selection, because there have been several published. I think Andy Gladwin had one, so you know, this could be your own thing or it could be part of other people's published things. What? What does it consist of?
Speaker 1:yeah, okay, so I'd give you my perfect version of it. Normally, so at one point when I was doing table magic, I would do it with 10 people. Um, it could get a bit lengthy. I think the sweet spot for me is about four or five people. So four people, five people have picked any card.
Speaker 1:Um, I very quickly kind of gathered them back. I don't even do any particularly fancy, I just grab them, chuck them in the deck, few false shuffles and then we're off and I have my set usually my set opening reveal and my clothes again, because it is. It does vary slightly, but in essence I will always close by a second to last card comes out the pocket that enables me to helpfully, uh, get into my final bit where I just slam my hands together. The entire deck has vanished and I'm holding just one card. That was the last selection, the end, and that, for me, is such a perfect explanation to somebody.
Speaker 1:Within two minutes, this guy can do things with the deck of cards that you know, because a lot of people go oh, I've seen this one. Oh, my friend can do this. I've just shown you, within two minutes I can do things that you've never seen before and also they've been watching you. They've shuffled the cards at the beginning and then they're gone, and you can do that in a T-shirt and jeans and it's just. I think it's fantastic. It's such a simple plot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great. That's great. Now you mentioned that this is your opener. Does that mean that your list is compiled of?
Speaker 1:No, no, it's not. When I compiled this list, it was on there and I thought well, if I'm going to put it anywhere, let's talk about openers, because openers are, and if I was doing stage things in fact. Fact, there's a thing I've got later on which is a stage opener for somebody else actually. Um, I love openers. By the way, openers is, I think, one of the best openers I've seen. This is not even on my list. Did you watch the willman special, his opener with the printer? If anyone's listening to this, just give yourself an hour and go and watch justin willman's netflix special. He's been doing this opener for a while. I think he's been doing it for years. It's a thought of prediction. He opens a box, reveals there's a printer in it it's a joke and then he squashes the printer with his hands because it's made of paper, um, hence like pulling the rug from under the but it's. But these openers, you need them quick, you need them amazing and you need to have punch and impact.
Speaker 3:So I always I'm always fascinated by really good opens, but yeah, okay, so that's given us a little sneak peek into the future of the list as well. So let's find out what you put in your second spot, right this second trick is one of the most special tricks to me.
Speaker 1:You know, if you were to, to put your journey in magic, this trick is up there and it is the needle swaller and I I'll tell you the reason. So this trick. So in 2009, I quit my job and I was working as a recruitment consultant in Birmingham and I had a flat and I was living with a friend of mine in Birmingham. I had to pay my rent and I'd kind of done a thing that a lot of people do when they quit magic. I had a couple gigs lined up, like friends and weddings and events, but there was a real gap of earnings and I so I decided that summer to be a street performer. So I went to stratford upon avon and I started to study very quickly how street performing was done there's a format to it, etc. And every street performer that really is based around one big moment and they, they do their build. I didn't have that because I was a close-up guy. So I and it was at the same time that year that Steve Spill released his Confessions of a Needle Swaller. So the needles to me, I learned it. I started learning it with toothpicks and then I learned it and that became my act on the street for about a year. So anytime I didn't have a gig, I'd go to Stratford full of tourists and I would do a essentially a close-up parlor mini street show, always building to the needles. And if I'd swallowed the needles and pulled them out I'd get money in my hat and I would do that on repeat. So that was helped me become a professional magician.
Speaker 1:And then there's been certain times throughout my career where that trick has just played a part. So there was this, once the biggest gig I did. At the time I was doing TV and I got flown to a yacht to perform to Kim Kardashian, which at the time again, going back eight, 10 years ago, she's been written about three or four times a day in the newspapers. And I was thinking well, what do I show somebody who's been flown so? And the way they did it is they stopped the party and said right, magician, go. And I had 100 people looking at me, cameras on me, and I went right, I need to do it surrounded, I need to do it anytime, I need to be big and make an impact. So I did the needles and again that made it into the paper because the guy swallows needles. So it's this lovely trick that's always been around my career, um, and actually I used to only ever do it in parlor and stage settings.
Speaker 1:And I remember I did a gig many years ago with, um, oh gosh, mark Paul. Mark Paul, he was doing the stage act and I was the close-up worker at a corporate event and I was showing him this in the green room and he went why don't you do it at tables? And for a while I used to do needles at tables, which again, I could imagine people going. Well, that's a bit disgusting, but if you time it right and it's at the end of the meal and you get that really lively table, I used to sometimes just close my close-up sets with swallowing needles. So it's, for me it's quite a special trick. I still do it every now and again. It's visual, it's not like any other magic trick. It's you, you put it into a photo, it looks amazing. So yeah, for me it's Needle Swallow.
Speaker 3:I think that's great and the idea of you doing it at tables, I think, sounds phenomenal, mainly because, like you just said, it's different to everything else and I think that as performers sometimes we almost pigeonhole ourselves into performing what everyone else is performing, because everyone says it's quote-unquote commercial oh yeah, I used to, and the good thing is what was nice about being a street performer is you learned to build a crowd during it.
Speaker 1:so I would always go to the corner of the room to a table. It would always be my second visit. I'd never do it on the first visit, so it would be a table that I know we're up for it. It would always be after food, because you don't want that coming out just before you eat. They're always a bit more tipsy, usually at a wedding, and when I start swallowing the first needle, the whole of the first table are engaged. But then somebody from the second table sees you swallow the needle. Then you swallow another needle and another table, so by the end you've got four tables watching you stood up, so now you've got 40, 50 people watching you at a close-up gig. So all the book of cares is across the room. You've got 40 people cheering and clapping. So for me it was just a real reputation maker in that sense from that point. So it's a special trick for me. I love it.
Speaker 3:Please, nobody else go and learn it, uh in terms of learning something like that, because obviously there's going to be a fear, much like the blockhead. Is that where you would get people to to start?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean that that for me, I mean I'm all. I'm pretty much doing it. So you? So I studied the needles and there's a lot. I mean, teller's needles are amazing and arguably far superior than what I do. I only do about a dozen or so. I'm not doing reels and reels a bit. Um, I haven't really changed steve spills method, which, again, you could argue it could be more sophisticated how you bring certain things in and out, but the audience aren't really bothered. I've been doing this 15 years. This trick about they're not studying where the needles are coming all their studies that you're holding a needle and you're very slowly putting it in your mouth so from his method is pretty much what I use. But what it enables me to do is build lots of lines in between. So you know you've got lots of moments of interaction, playfulness, uh, women, people will gasp. So there's lots of things to play with an audience there as well, which is fun well, both killer tricks so far.
Speaker 3:So let's find out where you went with number three so this is.
Speaker 1:I had to do something from one of the shows we've done and I was thinking what are my like top tricks that I've done on TV that I'm really proud of? And for me it was between this and Summit with a Caravan, which I didn't do. I didn't put it into this list. So this trick is moving car vanish. So we were in series two of Tricked, which, as you heard, is a prank show. So it's always that combination Do we lean into the prank, prank and the comedy or do we try and do amazing magic? It's quite hard to balance. But there was one trick, when we started writing series two, where me, nigel mead and martin roland we were writing it, we went back to the future, car vanish. So we started with that line of what would it, how, what could we do where the car drives and vanishes? That's the back to the future, that's the, the, the, the video we want to create. So if that's our end goal, then it was a case of well, what story can we do? Well, let's convince somebody that we've created a real time machine. What celebrity will believe that? Well, let's get probably not professor Brian Cox for that one. So we've got Joey Essex. So it all kind of fitted into place.
Speaker 1:We just needed a method and with this, so I'll tell you what the audience sees. So we had to rent an air hangar and we had to build the prop to make this work. So we had to use a low car, like a low sports car. We used a Lotus Elise, a very low to the ground and if anybody has a bit of an interest in illusions it's mostly smoke and mirrors is how a lot of the methods are done in certain things. This was that all bespoke, built, all for this one location.
Speaker 1:And we built this, this concept, with a model to begin with and we thought, well, with this we can make this model car vanish in in a scale form in real life it should work. So we rented the air hanger, we got these big sheets of something made and dressed in, and it took us a day to dress it. And what I'm really proud of is if you stood in and the window of error for this, by the way, was about six foot, so if you'd have stood, it may be more about 10 foot in this whole hang if you just stood 12 foot either direction, the illusion wouldn't have worked. But what I'm really proud of. If you stood there in that spot which we contained the person in, and they stood in that spot and the car drove and then to hide the vanish we had to do a pyrotechnic and the pyrotechnic went off, you would have seen that car vanish as it drove. And that is a beautiful thing and I figure, if I'm on an island, all the conditions are perfect.
Speaker 3:We can recreate that all day long now something like that how long does it take you from sort of like concept to to the final thing? And do you get? Because when we spoke to jonathan goodwin he basically mentioned a stunt where a car drives off a cliff and he said you know, you get one chance with something like that. You don't have all these cars piled up, so a lot of this is is theory.
Speaker 1:So what he's doing essentially is choreography as well. So he's got this choreography thing. He has to hit with us. We're dealing with physics and the theory is well, if we build it on a small scale on a desk in an office and it works, why shouldn't it work 50 times bigger, 100 times bigger? But there was a huge problem. So when it came to budget, it was a big spend and we have to rent a hangar. For three, two and a half days I think we rented the hangar for, and then we had to build the sheets of what we needed all bes bespoke. Each one was about 500 pounds a panel and you needed x panels.
Speaker 1:And what Martin and Nigel did is they went on the first day and they set up the whole setup, tinkering minor little adjustments to each prop and position to create the illusion. We went home that night, we came back in the morning and by the time we left the first night it was working right. This is amazing. It's worked. We came back and we looked. We stood there in the position and all and what we were looking at, all looked, walked. The illusion wasn't. I was like hold on.
Speaker 1:What happened overnight is the temperature of the hanger had changed temperature and our props that were mounted onto wood. The wood had warped overnight and therefore the prop we were using warped and changed the reflection, if you like. And we're now it's nine o'clock in the morning, the celebrity's coming at 4 pm and the producer's going. What's going on? Lads, that looks rubbish. And then panic set in and martin and nigel very, very clever, could that? You know they? Okay, it's the temperature. It's warped. We had to get essentially heaters and hair dryers on each panel to unwarp them and warp them back by like lunchtime. So by one o'clock we were just about back where we'd left it and we were fine, but we were panicking for four hours going. We might have to pull this whole thing wow, that sounds stressful at the time very stressful and that's what people the people obviously have views on TV magic.
Speaker 1:It's a different skill, it's a different platform it requires. But to watch somebody think on their feet and we've had multiple times throughout series where we've had to fix something within an hour and we've ran around and those are the days you go I mean those lads you earned your money today, wow, like you've managed to fix this problem and create this thing, and then everything went in the bin that night. All those things were gone, could never be done again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that sounds incredible. What an amazing thing to be able to work on and quite a big diversion from your previous two. So we went from multiple selection to a needle swallow to a moving car vanish. I think that's not one that you're doing at your close-up gigs, um, but it does lead us very nicely onto number four. So what's in your fourth spot?
Speaker 1:so number four is a trick I have never done and you could have a million guesses and you probably wouldn't guess this. Uh, it is something that I just don't do, but it's a manip act, because I don't do a manip act and I I feel like, as you get older, the chances of you learning something as hard as that or as in-depth as that it should have been something I should have learned when I was 12, 13, 14, and I had all the time in the world. But and it doesn't really fit my style, it's not really what I do, but it's real magic when you watch a proper manip act producing cards, one after the other, different colors, whole decks behind their hands, it's what I, as a kid, thought magic was. So if I've got all the time on the world on a desert island, I will just, I can just practice it and practice it and practice it, and I just think having something like that in your act is kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Um, often manip apps can lose connections with audiences because they're quite passive. Uh, you can get around that, I think. But in essence, when you see it done and it is lightning fast, it's just brilliant, and when there's no sleeves, it's just, I mean, I know ben hart has a moment, I think, in his show when he does things and there's other people that do it, um, and I'm in awe of that dexterity and the time it's taken.
Speaker 3:So yeah, Okay, well, I quite like the idea of maybe you're just making loads of till systems appear over the course of your act.
Speaker 1:I even feel like it'd be funny to bring out a CD manip act now, because no one else is doing that. I just think it's funny to say look, I've wasted all my time learning CDs. It's gone now, isn't it, don't?
Speaker 3:waste the time learning? Yeah, that would be great. Well, that's a great entry at number four and leads us to a number five. So what's in your fifth spot?
Speaker 1:Right. My fifth spot is a second and final card trick and it is probably my yeah, no, it is my favourite card trick ever, sam the Bellhop. My, yeah, no, it is my favorite card trick ever, sam the bellhop. I remember when I was getting into magic I was about 14 years old and I was in birmingham and there was a shop in sally oak that was open late on a friday night and me and a friend of mine were into magic guy called steve seaborne, and we would finish school. He learned to drive. He was about 17. I was about 15 16 and we would finish school. He learned to drive. He was about 17. I was about 15, 16. And we'd go to the magic shop and one night he bought the Bill Malone collection as it came out and we went back to my house and we put it in and I saw this trick and I still remember sitting there just watching it over and over again and even get my parents to come around and watch this trick on the telly. Uh, it was just the best moment of what. You know what a car trick could be. I thought, and I still do it now I do. What I like about it is you can make it completely your own. So I've got my own version of it, the one that I've written, uh, for me. Um, if I got bored of it, I could rewrite it and rewrite it and keep rewriting different versions. So I think, creatively, it's interesting. Um, I perform it now to a thousand people on stage and it still does really well. So I love that it is close up, but it's also huge stage it's.
Speaker 1:I find audiences at the moment are getting harder and harder to convince about things. You know, like I did something with a cube last week and somebody went oh, I think I know how you did that. It's an electric Rubik's Cube that solves itself. And I went, wow. And they said, oh, your other hand was in your pocket. You're probably using the remote.
Speaker 1:Now, that's not. Obviously we know methods, that's not the case, but the fact that we're not far off from that anyway. So I find the audiences are getting harder and harder to just enjoy and persuade that what you're doing you're doing and I think, sam the bellhop, it is what it is right. You're manipulating the cards to your whim to create a story. I liken sam the bellhop to watching a world-class guitarist doing a guitar solo. You just go wow, that is what you can do. I could never do that. It's so professional and advanced in what I'm seeing and I just like that. It's quite nice in a show or an act to just have a moment to go. This is the result of all those hours I've spent with a deck of cards. I just think it's quite nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's a lovely trick. Is there a particular version that you really like, like the one that got you hooked?
Speaker 1:So definitely Bill Malone's. Like Bill Malone, I was doing that again, but then what you do is you end up being a 15-year-old kid in Birmingham repeating lines of Bill Malone and it doesn't connect right, I think. Another brilliant version if you're going to talk to Sam the bellhop, the one that's probably got done more views than anyone else on this planet is James Galea's version, and I had the the pleasure of working with James in a show in New Zealand and watching him do that night after night. I thought he was really clever. How he got you know when he did that he went off the stage and had a closeup table in the audience with a camera, which again 12 years ago, was pretty forward thinking really in his approach to it. So I think that was really cool.
Speaker 1:Um, let me know in my version that I do. I talk about um, I mean it's a story about a night out, but I talk about my hometown of birmingham and working in tgi fridays, because that was I try. I always try and put as much truth into my act as I can because that gives me a point of difference to somebody else. There was a version I wrote for a show where I just did a whole tribute to Birmingham and I listed all the brilliant things about Birmingham. You know it's the second city, it's got more canals than Venice, and then at the end played some music from artists from Birmingham producing the right cards at the right time. So it was a bit of a mishmash of a bunch of things.
Speaker 2:So yeah, hello you amazing human beings, mark Spellman here to tell you about something I'm so excited about for 2026. And that is the inaugural Alakazam Magic Convention in Ashford, half an hour from London and a short journey from most European countries. Come and join us at what will be an incredible day. For all of you that already know about Alakazam, what I'm going to say will be no surprise, but for those of you that haven't had a chance to meet the team in person, it is like a family. This is going to be an intimate gathering. Tickets are limited, but it's going to be the most incredible day.
Speaker 2:I will be lecturing and I don't lecture half as much as I used to, and it's all new material and some things that I've kind of held on to for a while, that I'm not even done in that previous lectures, that I'm kind of ready to let go, ready to let them fly and for you to enjoy them. But, equally, I'll be performing my one-man show in the gala show, which has never been seen before. It's completely new, completely different. It's the stuff that I do for real corporate clients and also private events as well. So get your tickets. It's an amazing venue. I've seen the venue itself. It is super modern, super contemporary hotel nearby. Come over and stay the night before. We're going to have jam sessions, brainstorming sessions, a few drinks maybe We'll see how it goes, but ultimately we're going to have the best time. Tickets are limited. Get them now so that you can say I was there the first one. I was there. Get your tickets now. See you soon.
Speaker 3:Well, it brings us into a number six. So what's in your six spot?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I was doing this list. I would say the first definitely the mobile selection, the needles, the car vanish Sam, the bellhop they were like absolute no brainers, because when I listened to this show if you're listening to this you probably start creating your own little lists those were always resonating with me. This only popped into my head really yesterday and the day before when I was really thinking about stuff and I don't know why, but I just think I'd really enjoy doing this. Um, again, it's not my trick, so I'm always quite envious for somebody that, uh, this would be. So I'm always quite envious of somebody. This would be Dom Chambers' beer production. I'll synopsisize you, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Dom Chambers, australian magician, great energy, young, got quite a fun cheeky side to him. He comes on stage, he uses it as his opener. For certain reasons I probably wouldn't do it as an opener, because I just think it's actually strong. I'd put it somewhere. He comes out to music. He makes a pint of beer appear, crowd goes nuts. He gives it away. Then he makes another pint of beer and another pint of beer from his shoe, from a towel, from a this, from a that. Um, he's wearing, just you know, jeans and a shirt, um, and he makes, I think, something like eight or nine pints of beer appear and then he invites the audience to come up and grab a beer before he starts his show and nine people run up grab a beer and you're four minutes in and you've seen nine pints of beer and people are now drinking beer in the audience.
Speaker 3:It's just a great fun way to start yeah, and the the great thing about that is these aren't just small glasses either. These are big statement piece glasses in some respects.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just, you see certain routines and you go, oh, that's good, like the fact that he has that four minutes act in his pot, like ready to go for the rest of it, like you just go, oh, oh, that is a lovely piece to have. So but I think it's the reason I put that in is I was thinking about tricks that I love and I was gonna just say producing a pint of beer. So I used to do it in my show, you know, sometimes you'd walk up, walk out on stage, borrow a jacket off somebody arm through the jacket and pull out a pint of peroni or a long, thin glass out of their jacket arm, which, as a trick, it's so visual, simple and it's producing liquid right from nowhere. I just think it's so magical to produce open glasses or things of liquid, and the fact that he's got nine of them, I was like, well, that that's the best one in.
Speaker 3:Now, when I think about that sort of routine, I can totally imagine you doing that. But I can actually imagine you doing that on Tricked, like this idea of just these points appearing Well we did.
Speaker 1:Actually, we did a thing in a bar where, because you always start, often when you're writing pranks with conflict and when somebody orders a drink at a bar, we wanted to say, well, hold on, I need to search you because I think I've been told you're smuggling your own booze in here. And then I borrowed a jacket and I produced a can, and then I think I produced an open pint glass, which, ok, that's quite nice, but they don't know it's coming. They just think you're a barman at this point. And then the. The kicker to that and we did it in real time, um was to then produce a yard of ale from their jacket.
Speaker 1:Um, and you know a little bit of a spoiler alert is because you, in a bar, you can hide a yard of ale and if you pick a long enough winter jacket, you can steal it without them realizing you're stealing a yard of ale. But when you, the lovely thing about producing a yard of ale is, the first inch or two looks like the top of a normal pint glass, and then it keeps going and going and going until it is a solid yard of ale. So that was quite fun yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3:I always think how do you come up with those routines for the shows? Is it a case of you seeing an effect like this and then thinking, oh, that would be great for the show, or do you come up with the concept to then find something to fit that? Yeah, it depends, I think with a prank show.
Speaker 1:It's like give me a location and let's write all of the worst things that could happen in that location. Let's start there. So you get denied, you know. You get your credit card declined. You get ID'd. They say your ID's fake and they cut it up. They say you're too drunk and you have to do some sort of drunk test. They accuse you of bringing in your own alcohol, whatever.
Speaker 1:You just write it all down and then you go okay, alcohol, what would? Ah, beer production, that's quite fun. And then the telly side of you goes okay, well, we're on telly, we can control this entire environment. What is better than one pint of beer, a yard of ale? So that's, that's how you get to that. And then you go well, I can do that if we hide. We created, um, essentially a cover, a hide, and I go all I need to do is dip my hand down and snatch it and then and we created a holster for it so I could grab it at my fingertips, and the large, large winter jacket just covered it. So actually, oh, that's, it's kind of. It's easier than it's easier than doing it on stage.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, yeah, that's great. Well, what a great entry in at number six, and let's go to the tail end of your eight with number seven number seven.
Speaker 1:I was too in a frame whether we're allowed to use this anymore, but given that it's a desert island, I feel we're allowed to do this, this and I had to do. Obviously, if I was the first person ever on this show, I probably would have put teller's miser's dream, but I feel like we almost need to bank that. I think you almost need to go. You can't put that in anymore, because it is one of the best tricks ever and we're going to keep hearing it. So I thought about pen and teller and how amazing they are, and for me it's phoning fish. Now, apologies to anybody, any animal lovers here. My thought here, though, is I wouldn't probably do this anymore in real life, because it's you know, it's not fair to use animals and and however, we're on an island and I need food and I'm surrounded by fish, so I feel like it's organic and we can. We can eat every day, so as long as I'm eating it for my own survival, I feel like it passes the test. But, um, what do I love about this? So, again, it's. It's not always about the trick, it's about all of it, all of the elements, and what Penn and Teller do very well is they always entertain you before they hit you in the punchline. So again, this is their opener.
Speaker 1:They walk out on stage and I've seen them do this live in London. They walk out on stage. They ask everybody in the audience to phone Penn's number. What a great start, everyone. What a great start. Everyone's got their phone out. Everyone's making a phone call. Everyone's excited. There's energy. Someone gets through. They bring that person up on stage. They make their phone vanish in a bit of a jokey way by. However, they do it and the vanish isn't particularly that interesting. But prior to this, uh, I think they'd hidden. Uh, oh gosh, they've either handed it out beforehand or it's already in the audience. They, they phone it. There's a noise. It's coming from a box that's under a seat a few rows back. That seat is a big polystyrene. It's like a polystyrene case that is brought onto the stage. They open it. Inside is a fish. A full fish Teller puts on his gloves and cuts into the fish, and inside that is that person's phone. And that's how they start their show.
Speaker 3:It's fun, it's edgy, it's getting everyone. It's just ticking all the boxes for me, yeah, great. I think you're absolutely right now in terms of an item to impossible location. You're not going to get stronger than that. It's a borrowed item. Um, I love the fish. I would love to know the original thought process for a fish. Why a fish, of all the things?
Speaker 1:yeah, and I can't even remember the, just because obviously we always try and justify things and there's probably something in their scripting. But actually if you could argue, if you've been, why fish? It's got no logical reason to anything. It's. There's no callback later to the show. It might as well be a melon or whatever. A melon would be a good version.
Speaker 1:There was just something about a fish which, funnily enough, that inspired us for a trick and again we couldn't do this. Now we did a borrowed watch in fish on Tricked. So the prank was we're on a boat on the Thames and a celebrity's got a lovely watch, a Rolex watch, and I asked him to take it off because I'm just a guy on the crew and I'm just interested in it. Oh, can I have a look at that? And as I do that, I trip and I drop his watch in the Thames and then I say and this makes no logic that I could I'll fish it out and I get a long net and I go down into the water and I come up with a fish and it's a dead fish. And then I cut into the fish and his watch is inside the fish.
Speaker 3:I think what's really interesting with what you just said is certainly with tricks. Each trick is quite literally a mini story and the way that you've constructed that, the idea that you drop the watch, so then of course you have to get out with the, the net, but then why would you not come up with a fish?
Speaker 1:so I I love the storytelling that you put into those tricks yeah, because everything, every movement has to be justified right and even when it's absurd, in the moment. You're going I'll get it, I'll get it back. And he's going how are you going to get it back? You're in the, I'll get it, trust me, I can get it. I can get it, I can get it, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1:Oh, I've got, I've got a fish. And then it's just ludicrous at this point, isn't it Right? Um, but the method for that, if I'm allowed to reveal it, is we didn't. It was one of these shoots You're duping the watch, swapping the watch that was fine Getting the fish into a net.
Speaker 1:So imagine you've got an empty net and you go over the edge of the thing and you come back up with a fish. Well, how are you doing that? And what we realized was there was a porthole in the boat and it was Martin Rowland loaded this fish with his genuine Rolex now Real 10 grand Rolex and the cue was I'll hold it over the edge of the porthole, he'll hold one hand out and drop it into the net. So there is a moment where his hand goes out of the boat and drops into the net, but he's only feeling for it. So if he'd have dropped that in the wrong bit and his actual rolex would have been gone, that would have cost us 10 grand wow, that's brave on his behalf as well, yeah so he literally was like I just dropped it and hoped for the best now, that's great.
Speaker 3:Well, that brings us into a number eight. So what was in your final position?
Speaker 1:yeah. So my final trick is something I have done on stage in a version of, and it's quite unlike a lot of my normal material. It is a water torture escape. In particular, it wouldn't be a full tank, it would probably just be a single box over the head, because I just think the tank's a bit overkill, isn't? It really Drown me in a box, but the water torture. So I'm not really big into escapology and illusions, it's not really my thing. But I did this trick on one of my Edinburgh shows called 50. I had to do 50 tricks in an hour and I put this in there and I put my head into a water tank, a fish tank, and bent my body over head into the fish tank and then locked into place. Then I've got to find the key to get out of the lock.
Speaker 1:But what I realized is when you're constructing a show, you're trying to always think about all the feelings you're giving the audience. And it's like with comedy. It's really hard, because if you just make people laugh for an hour it's great, but they can also get fatigued by the same feeling over and over again. So you want to give people comedy, you want to give them um skill, you want to give them the feeling of amazement. There's something about the water torture escape. It doesn't matter how many times you see it the moment a human puts their head underwater, you can feel the tension in the audience. And it's just this, because we know, even if this has worked a hundred times, it could go wrong today. And there's just something about that tension that you don't have to fake and you can even say look, you know I'm going to get out, but what if this is the day that goes wrong? And you know that being underwater for that amount of time, um, I think, is quite interesting.
Speaker 1:I think if I was doing this on a desert island, obviously it would be fully safe. I'd have my crew. So things like that, things that I would normally worry about, I'm assuming, are not the problem here. The water would be warm enough, um. And also I learned, because I did a bit of a tv special on this. I learned how to hold my breath. So so actually, the more you practice it, the more impressive it gets as well. So I think a water torture escape at the end, yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, that's a great round out, I think, in terms of a routine. Now, I think it's interesting what you just said there, because I think audiences inherently know whether something is still dangerous but safe. So, for example, there is no real way to make these illusions completely safe, as we found out on this podcast with nick muhammad when he mentioned you know his near misses with that routine. Um, and I think audiences know that. I think audiences know that if you've got your head in a box, it doesn't matter how safe it is. There's still a real risk there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then yeah, and then, when you add in the skill of being able to do a longer breath hold, if you can get into the four minute realm or the five minute realm, then it's just because most people can only manage 60 seconds. So it's just all of that. It just feels like it's also okay. You are lying to the audience with certain escapes, but there's a certain honesty there of like this is not going to be safe until I'm out, but yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's a great one to close out, we've started with multiple selection. Then we went to Needle Swallow, moving Car Vanish, manip Act, sam the bellhop, a beer production, uh phone in fish and water torture. And what's really interesting about your list is there's there's quite a few elements of danger or or sort of uh something different there. We've had like a needle swallow, I would say the moving car vanish, sort of there's quite a big thing um, your uh phoning fish, that poor fish um. And then we've got the uh the water torture escape as well that would be a good show, wouldn't it?
Speaker 1:I mean, I can't do half of it because I don't own any half of the tricks and I can't do them in impact, but what a show that would be to uh watch that would be, and this will be ben's next edinburgh Fringe show.
Speaker 3:to get tickets, I'll just print that on the flyer. Well, we've given you eight tricks, ben, but we're only giving you one each of these. So I want you to imagine that you're going to dig a big sandy hole on your island, you're going to chuck something inside and then we're going to bury it, never to be seen again. What would that be?
Speaker 1:yeah, so there was a few on this list. Um, and I've come up with and I had to, because I'm not into the. I don't see much close at magic anymore, or much, so I had to remind myself I actually went on the alakazam website. I had a deep search over props and things and and one that really resonated with me. Two words for you, jamie purse frames. No grown man should be walking around with a purse where the material's been ripped off. What are we doing now? Andy nyman will probably say you can make anything relevant, you know I get it, he'll be going. But you can make anything relevant. You, you know I get it, he'll be going. But you can make anything relevant. You can't make purse frames relevant. I'm sorry. What are we doing? If you want to vanish a coin, don't use a purse frame. What are we doing? What's going on?
Speaker 3:Sorry. First off, I'm very excited to see Andy Nyman's next project on purse frames. He would be amazing. I'm sure it would be. It would be great, um, but I have wondered why? Because the things that you can do with the purse frame is very clever, the way that you can make things appear from it very, very clever. My thing is I wonder why? Well, certainly not to my mind there's not been a modern equivalent of a prop that can be used in that same way yeah, I mean, what is it?
Speaker 1:it's just, um, it's, it's a loop, isn't it? It's a piece of it's, that's so, but not just. Let's all just take a step back. If I went to my mates and said, and I pulled out, they go, what's that? And I go, oh, it's a purse frame, let me show. I wouldn't even be able to get into the trick. They would destroy me. Because why am I? Why do I care about this prop? Why am I bringing it out? What if there's just no point to it in? We've got to be better than that. I'm sorry, but yeah, well, to your point, like what you're using, you could get, even if you just, um, created a loop with your fingers and that's better or something I don't know. There must be a million other ways to do it. Then people are probably shouting it is going. Well, there are. But the moment I see a grown often a grown man pull out a purse frame, um, I just think we've lost all context here. What's going on?
Speaker 3:well, you also mentioned that there were several things that you put on your management. So the other thing I'll give you some bonus ones.
Speaker 1:If I look across a party and there's a close-up worker with a piece of rope around their neck, that's gone for me. You know, when you see people and they use rope magic, with rope and rings and all that, but the way they store it is they put it around their neck and it looks like you're like a tailor on a market store with a length of rope. Why, why are we doing that? I could probably banish all rope magic, but there are good things you could do with rope magic, but that rope around the neck, if you're a close-up worker and you do this, please just put it in your pocket. That's all I'm asking. Or the third one I'm going off on one now.
Speaker 1:Um and this is very controversial and even I hate myself for saying this confabulation routines, because britain's got talent and america's got talent have told us the only way to do tv magic in the last few years is a confabulation. I knew you would do this, I knew you would do this, I knew you would do this, and I feel like we've just exhausted that narrative and I think it needs to go away to leave space for something else. Anyway, that's my rant over Jamie. That's a separate podcast, that is.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, we could do a whole banishment podcast, but I think that you've got some interesting points there. Certainly, the purse frame, I would say, may be not even culturally relevant. Some people may not even know what one of those is nowadays. I think, yeah who carries money?
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, there is that as well. Rope around the neck. That's fair enough, but I do feel like you're going to need that rope on your island. That could come in very handy, okay, well, let's go on to your book then. So what did you put in your book position?
Speaker 1:yeah. So my, my book. This was a slightly tricky one. There could have been a few here. I just very simply books of wonder, tommy wonder. It's just really simple. It's full of stuff. He's got little side essays with his thoughts. Um, I actually went up, went up and looked at my book because I don't really read any magic books anymore. My book would have been a non-magic book really, but I figured actually I was looking and going I bet you there's some gold in there that I've forgotten about. That I could just flick through. So yeah, it'd be that.
Speaker 3:Well, the books of wonder are incredible, and normally, you know, devil's Adv advocate comes out with books, collections of books. But I will let you take all of them if you tell us what your non-magic book would have been, because you just said it would have been a non-magic book, so a non-magic book would be something that I think just read.
Speaker 1:It is something like atomic habits by james clear is just a great book. Books like that that make you a better human, better performer, and therefore you'll be a better performer off the back of it. What is it? Seven Habits of Highly Effective People something like that is another good one, which again makes us better communicators. If we're better communicators, we're going to be better performers. Things like that.
Speaker 3:Nice, there you go. So we got a two for one there. Really, that was great. Now it leads us to your non-magic item that you use for magic. So what did you put in this spot?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard different. I mean, you gave somebody a laptop once, jamie, which I feel is a, I mean, laptop. Yeah, we'll all have that thing. I could have a jet pack as well. So it's not. It was going to probably be. I went through a lot of things, some tiny little things up to the main thing. I reckon it was going to be a notepad and pen.
Speaker 1:But actually something that I think could help people if you're not using it already is an app called Evernote. So Evernote is a note app. So I use it, for it's a way of having lots of notes and storing your notes in different collections of notes and files. So if ever I have a meeting or I'm speaking to a client or whatever I create a new note, it gets stored away. So every meeting I've ever had, every note, is in there. If I want to come up with ideas, I can create. If I'm coming up with a new show, I'll create a file in Evernote and I can brain dump loads of ideas. So I figure, if I'm on an island, I can just any thoughts I have about anything. I can create my own Evernote in all that. By the way, I'm not sponsored by Evernote, but I do think it's a great's an app that is live on my computer every single day, evernote well, thank you so much, ben.
Speaker 3:That was an eclectic mix, as predicted. So just to go back over it, read it back to you. We had multiple selection, needle swallow moving car, vanish manipax, sam the bellhop beer production phone in fish water torture escape, but with the box over your head. Your banishments are purse frames, ropes around the necks and confabulation routines. Your books are the books of wonder and your item is Evernote Great list. Did you have any of them in your bingo? Absolutely none of them in my bingo.
Speaker 4:What did you have, John?
Speaker 3:Other people may have, though Other people may have, so we'll have to get them to comment down below. So, if you're watching this on youtube, comment underneath how many of these you got, um, and whether you would have put something else there, because obviously you've got loads of things that you've done on tv over the years that people may have thought you were going to put in there yeah, the caravan was going to be in, but I took it out because I think the moving car vanishes.
Speaker 1:A better trick? Well, no, thank you for having me. That's been fun.
Speaker 3:It's nice to chat magic well, I think it's a great, great list and amazing that we finally got you. Uh, the guys won't know, but we've been trying to get you for a few months now. Um, just to try and sketch it in because you're so busy. So thank you for taking the time if people want to find out more about you, about shows, stuff like that, where can they go to?
Speaker 1:yeah, just at ben, handling on socials is the main thing. Um, so yeah, and that's it amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much again, ben. Thank you for having me and thank you for all the years of funny pranks on tv as well which is great, you Alakazam, because we'd phone you up the day before and go.
Speaker 1:can you get us this by tomorrow? Thank you, Amazing.
Speaker 3:And thank you all for listening. Of course we'll be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week. Goodbye.
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