As we reported earlier in the week, Paul Daniels has been touring the British countryside looking for the best Banger. He and Debbie took a few minutes to talk with ThisIsNottingham.com and Paul offered his thoughts on todays more popular magic performers.
WHAT'S YOUR OPINION ON THE MAGICIANS AND ILLUSIONISTS ON TELEVISION TODAY? IS DERREN BROWN A MAGICIAN?
Debbie: Yes he is, he just packages it in a different way.
Paul: Magic has different aspects. Magic is only the defiance of the rules that we're supposed to live by. Of course, one of those rules is that you can't read minds. So when acts like David Burglas and now Derren Brown do the performance, you have to remember that they are actors playing the part of the person doing the impossible. It all comes down to whether or not you like the actor or the presentation or not. Some like Derren, some don't, some like me and some don't. That's the way of life. I can't respect David Blaine, Chris Angel and particular others coming from America. There was a rule for us magicians when we were on television, and that was that if you can't do it live then you don't use technology to change the appearance. You have to be able to do it live, that's the job of being a magician. If I give you a card and say remember that card, I wouldn't tell you to pretend that it was the right card on camera. I want to see the magic.
Debbie: Exactly, anybody can do that.