10 Quick Qs – The Naked Magicians
Christopher Wayne and Mike Tyler are bringing their stripped-down magic act to the Adelaide Fringe. We asked them the penis questions. I mean the hard questions. Tough questions! We asked them the tough questions.
1. Describe your show Twitter-style, 140 character or less!
Mike: Funniest, cheekiest, naughtiest magic show combines nudity with amazing magic & non-stop comedy. See us with our sleeves up and pants down.
Christopher: Think of every other magic show as Twilight. We are True Blood.
2. Are we talking full frontal male nudity, or just that still-in-underwear stuff you can get on television?
M: The majority of our show isn’t suitable for TV so we’ve had to manage that with recent media appearances. The show is like a first date with the audience – plenty of comedy, magic, and cheek – with us getting naked during the night.
C: The show is more about cheeky, sexy, naughty fun with really impossible magic. Its not all “balls out”. In saying that, we do definitely get naked, and you will definitely see things that you won’t see when you are watching Home & Away.
3. Is this your first Adelaide Fringe? If so, what are you most looking forward to? If not, what’s your least favourite part of it?
M: This is my first. I’ve heard amazing things about how Adelaide effectively gets taken over by a buzz of live acts by performers from across the globe. As two single guys, we’re looking forward to the atmosphere… once we sell out our shows.
C: This is our first time coming to Adelaide for the Fringe Festival. I was recently there working on The Illusionists 2.0 and fell in love with the city.
We are both very excited to check out the shows, check out the bars, and to get naked – on stage and off.
4. How did you guys start out? As clothed magicians or non-magical strippers?
C: We have both made our livings as magicians. Mike has performed all over the world and Christopher had a TV series in 3 countries.
When the movie Magic Mike came out, we started getting women making stripper/magic jokes at us like “Can you make your clothes disappear” etc. Then we got thinking,”What if Magic Mike actually had magic?” And here we are.
5. What’s your favourite Internet-related guilty indulgence?
M: Googling myself.
C: Aside from the obvious internet activities, I’m pretty sure I could watch Fail videos on YouTube all day. That and flashmob wedding proposals, they make my non-existing ovaries tingle.
6. If you could be stranded on a desert island with a federal politician, who would it be and why?
M: I’d throw the life jackets over board and destroy the survival kit before than happened.
C: Julia Gillard. Her ability to stab things in the back would make good for hunting.
7. Is heckling allowed?
M: Banter is allowed. There’ll be plenty of that on stage between us and the audience with the show having a strong interactive element. (No, the audience won’t be asked to get naked!)
Heckling in the form of a lame muffled joke called out by some bloke with too many rums under his second-hand belt he bought from a thrift shop isn’t ideal. If you’re funny enough to heckle well, that’s awesome, why not put a show together for next year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival.
8. Who is your idol in the world of magic?
M: Tim Ellis – an Australian magician who’s won awards at FISM (World Championships for magicians) in the early 1990s. I’ve never been lucky enough to meet him though.
C: For me, David Copperfield absolutely. David has paved the path for every magician past and present.
9. What is the biggest accolade you’ve received from one of your shows?
M: Someone had her friend deliver panties to me after a show with a hand-written note. Biggest accolade… these panties were the size of a bed sheet!
C: After a show once someone wrote me a note and left it in my case. They had gone through one of the worst times in their life and the note detailed that, followed by “Tonight I just needed to laugh. Thank you.”
We get pretty wild in our shows, but at the end of the day, we do what we do to make people laugh and to remind people that we don’t always have to take life so seriously.
10. What other Fringe show could most benefit from more nudity?
M: I’d love to see Randy from Sammy J & Randy come out from behind that table and get his furry little bits out. I’d pay to see that.
C: Humphrey B Bear is performing there this year. I’d like to see him do “Humphrey, Be Bare”
The Naked Magicians will be in Adelaide from the 3rd of March.
