Pete Firman
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| Pete Firman | |
| Born | April 26, 1980 Middlesbrough, England |
|---|---|
| Occupation | comedian, illusionist / magician |
| Website www.PeteFirman.co.uk |
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Pete Firman (born April 26, 1980) is an English TV magician. He spent his teenage years practicing magic. Seeing an advert for new magicians to present a TV show Pete stripped to his underpants in a snowy back garden and filmed himself performing tricks. The show was Five's Monkey Magic and Pete's career as a TV magician started.
He has stared in British television magic shows for Channel 4, Five, and Sky One, produced by Objective Productions. Pete's TV appearances are: Monkey Magic (Five), The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever (Five), Monkey Magic 2 (Five), The Secret World of Magic (Sky One), Dirty Tricks (Channel 4) and he did a guest appearance on Celebrity Five Go Dating (Channel 4) where he did sumo wrestling with a model and Honey Trap presenter Angel Bell.
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[edit] Biography
Pete was born in 1980 in Middlesbrough, an industrial town on the Northeast coast of England. He got into magic as a kid after watching Paul Daniels on TV. He started dabbling with magic when he was given a magic set on his eighth birthday and he became fascinated by the ability to impress people that were bigger than him. “I’d show friends of my Dad my card stuff and they were blown away”[1]. At thirteen he joined the Middlesbrough Circle of Magicians[2].
After winning the Acklam Grange School Talent Show twice Pete went to Middlesbrough College then to University in Scarborough where he gained a BA (Hons) in Theatre. He had always gigged in pubs and bars as a magician to earn extra money. Hopelessly single and skint he worked part time for his father selling second hand cars.
[edit] Television Shows
[edit] Monkey Magic (Five)
Pete's first big break through came in 2002 when he responded to an advert from Objective Productions, who were searching for new magicians for a show called Monkey Magic. He sent in a tape of himself in his underpants performing magic in his parent's back garden and was chosen almost instantly.
In April 2002 the cast of Monkey Magic had their first meeting and Pete became great mates with English magician Ali Cook with whom he later shared a flat for two and a half year. It was the time in which they wrote routines for The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever, Monkey Magic 2 and The Secret World of Magic.
Monkey Magic broadcasted on Five in 2003 and was a 2x seven half hour series and a Christmas special. It was a radical new form of magic show, with a team of 4 magicians each with their own style and personality. It was short listed for a British Comedy Award and nominated for the Rose d'Or.
A second series of Monkey Magic aired in 2004 to critical acclaim.
[edit] The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever (Five)
Pete and the Monkey Magic boys hosted this series where they counted down the most amazing tricks of all time from Horace Goldin’s sawing a woman in half to David Copperfield vanishing the Statue of Liberty. The show proved to be one of Five’s highest rating shows.
[edit] The Secret World of Magic (Sky One)
Pete travelled the world with Ali Cook, interviewing the World's greatest magicians while performing their own brand of sleight of hand on the streets of Paris, Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Bueno Aires.
The series included some of magic’s legendary performers including Mac King, Juan Tamariz and Max Maven.
[edit] Dirty Tricks (Channel 4)
Dirty Tricks were a six part series hosted by Barry and Stuart and Pete. It was described as “like magic meets Natural Born Killers”[3] and included ritual killing, swearing and loads of blood. The show also had regular spots from and the Monkey Magic boys Ali Cook and Jonathan’s Escapes as well as guest appearances from international variety acts and celebrities. These acts included Penn & Teller, Stephen Fry, Mylene Klass and Kevin James.
The show was nominated for a Rose d'Or.
[edit] Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends
Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends is the name on Pete's first book published in Great Britain in 2006 by Michael O'Mara Books Limited. It is a book with sick, rude and scary step-by-step tricks to freak out your friends. In this book Pete reveals the secrets how to crack your nose, take a bite out of a glass and stick a barbecue skewer through your tongue. Everything from easy card tricks to swallowing knives.
[edit] Mr. Ball
Pete's first Mr. Ball routine was in Monkey Magic 2. It came about as a "Magicians at War" rehearsal piece that Pete wanted to do. Originally he wanted to have a puppet that looked just like him but it was going to cost a fortune to make so instead Mr. Ball was created. It was an idea of Terry Seabrooke. Later he did a routine with Mr. Ball in The Secret World of Magic which was developed by him and Ali Cook. "I perform that routine in my live shows, it's always well received, the fact I move my lips when he talks is of course deliberate. I see it as a post-modern evaluation of ventriloquism in popular culture."[4]
[edit] Hokum
Hokum is Pete Firman's one man show for the Edinburgh Fringe at the Smirnoff Underbelly in 2007.
[edit] Smoking Ban Dispute
A dispute has broken out over the finale to Hokum since the introduction of the Smoking Ban in the United Kingdom. Although a dispensation has been introduced in England and Wales for Entertainers who can smoke as long as smoking is integral to the act, Scotland has refused for this dispensation to be introduced. For this reason, Firman's finale to his show will not be legal. However, Firman has vowed to perform the ending to his show in August.
[edit] References
- ^ Official website
- ^ Comedy CV
- ^ "The man with the maggots in his eyes" - The Guardian
- ^ Magic Bunny - Guest Speakers
