INTERVIEW
Stuart Taylor in a magical comedy show
Cape Town Today chats to
Stuart Taylor about magic, comedy and his new show "Joker
in the Pack" at the GrandWest Casino.
How long have you been
working on the new show and what's new?
Stuart Taylor: The
stand-up material has developed over a long time, the
magic we started working on at the beginning of the year.
The opening illusion and the shower illusion are new to
the show.
How long do you prepare
before the show?
ST: The first time over an hour,
as time goes by it will drop to 45 min to half an hour.
Which is a bit sad because it's over in an hour.
How many people are
involved in the show?
ST: All together about
ten people
Can a lot of things go
wrong during the show?
ST: There's always something that can go wrong, for example,
last night (opening night) there's two things that didn't work. There were
two pyros which didn't go off. When they opened the
illusion box there was supposed to be a big bang with lots
of smoke. There was another bang that didn't go off - as I
dropped the gun in the bin, there was supposed to be a
bang. There wasn't a bang and the chicken still fell!
What's the hardest part in
the new show?
ST: The hardest part in the magic
would be the floating rose illusion.
Which do you prefer, magic
or comedy?
ST: Last night, strangely enough I enjoyed the magic more.
Usually I enjoy the comedy a lot more because it's a lot
less stress. Last night the magic was working and I was
enjoying the fact that everything was just going very,
very smoothly.
Can you pull a rabbit out
of a hat?
ST: I did once. But that's a stereotypical thing,
though.
Could you make a model
appear out of thin air right now?
ST: If I could do that
we wouldn't be sitting here!
Magicians are always either
using birds or rabbits, why?
ST: I think it's just a
matter of practicality. Rabbits don't make any sound. So
if you had to hide them in a box - it's a very docile
animal. With doves it's virtually the same thing. If a
dove is perched on your finger - they're very easy to
tame, first of all - you can train them to fly away and
then fly back to you.
For the comedy aspect of
the show, how do you choose the person you're going to
pick on for the night?
ST: You just go
randomly. Sometimes you get a real dud. That's the truth.
It's the luck of the draw. But for the most part you can
coax them into saying something you can turn into
something funny. The worst person is the one who won't
answer.
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