Magician, illusionist and hypnotist-extraordinaire Keith Barry chats to us about his love of magic, finally making it in Las Vegas and freaking out Hollywood star Keanu Reeves.
Linda McGee: Going right back to the beginning, did you just get a magic book or set and become absolutely addicted?
Keith Barry: Yeah, absolutely. It was a magic set at Christmas and it was Paul Daniels' magic set, of all things. I just really enjoyed it and then every year I'd get magic tricks and magic sets. But it was really when I was 13, I got a really good book on magic when I was in Scotland on a school tour. It was called the Klutz Book of Magic and I got that and there was really good tricks in that and I started performing in public pretty much when I was 14, at kids' parties and in restaurants. Even when I was 14 I started doing that in restaurants, table to table, and it just snowballed on from there.
LM: At that stage did you become addicted to the thrill of performing or was it more about the excitement of learning the magic?
KB: It was a mixture of both, because I know a lot of magicians who are addicted to magic but yet they don't perform at all - just they perform pretty much in their bedrooms but they love it. So I think it has to be a mixture of both. For me, obviously I wanted to get out there and do it in the public domain. I'm kind of a performer by character.
LM: Do you think magic is something that anyone can learn or do you have to have a certain aptitude or mindset?
KB: Well, anyone can learn a trick but to make it entertaining, to put a presentation twist on it and then to take it out there and really amaze people is a whole different ball game. You have to have some kind of a natural ability to do that I suppose. I don't know what it is but you have to have something else, rather than just being able to do a trick because anybody can do a trick. Anybody can learn a bit of magic and amaze their friends, that's for sure.
LM: Are you bothered by the labels - do you prefer to call yourself a magician or an illusionist?
KB: It doesn't really bother me. Once people enjoy what I do I don't mind if they call me a magician or an illusionist or a hypnotist, entertainer, comedian, whatever people want to call me. I'm comfortable with all of the above so I don't really mind at all what people want to call me.
LM: With some of the more bizarre tricks that you do (like driving around a cliff-face blindfolded or putting a noose around your neck in the name of a trick) is fear never an issue for you?
KB: Aw no, it's always an issue. I'm always really nervous, even before I go on stage in my live shows I'm really, really nervous. Like you'll find me in the bathroom two minutes before I go on stage!
LM: So do you worry about elements of the tricks going wrong or do you have to make yourself believe that everything will be alright on the night?
KB: I think it's just that there are so many things that can go wrong, whether they go wrong or not. But I think subconsciously you are, even though your conscious might not be. But, for instance when I'm doing the hangman stunt or driving blindfolded, whatever they are, there's always that possibility. But people know that and I'm a magician and I know what I'm doing and I'm a professional. And yes, there are safety aspects at play which people aren't aware of. But yes, at the end of the day there is always that 1% chance that it can go wrong. At the end of the day you do have a noose around your neck or you're driving a car blindfolded. And things have gone wrong with a lot of magicians in the past.
LM: But that would never put you off, would it, if you saw something going badly wrong for someone else?
KB: No, I think if you have a passion for something like magic - I suppose it's like race-car drivers, they don't think of the danger, they just think of the enjoyment they get out of driving race-cars. It's the same with me. It's the enjoyment I get out of people being amazed.
LM: So other people's reactions really drive you on?
KB: Yeah, I mean it's all about the reaction of the people, just taking them away from their everyday lives for a moment and forgetting about their problems and just for that moment in time the only thing that's on their mind is whether I'm going to live or die or whether they're going to live or die or what's going to happen here. They're not thinking about anything else and that's what I find most compelling and that's what drives me forward.
LM: You've been in Las Vegas a lot recently. Has it always been an ambition of yours to showcase your talents over there?
KB: Yeah, I think any magician, if they get into it even semi-professionally, I think the end-game is to try to get to Vegas. Now unfortunately, nearly 100% of magicians don't get there. It's just not possible, you know. But I've really been focused on that for about eight years now and it looks like I'll be in there before Christmas, you know I'm 99% sure I'll be in there before Christmas. I'll do an eight-week run at one of the hotels out there before Christmas and then back there next year for probably the whole year and maybe many years hopefully. So yeah, I mean it's always been at the back of mind... and now it's got to come to the front of my mind because I've got to start rehearsing for Vegas, which is great. I'm actually excited about it. I'm looking forward to it.
LM: Was it very difficult to break in to the US market as an Irish entertainer banging on doors trying to sell your show?
KB: Yeah, but I think perseverance has a lot to do with it. You know, I'm spending a lot of time over in the States now. I've spent the best part of every year over there for the past seven or eight years now, banging on doors, knocking on doors. I made some inroads with my TV shows. And even they were hard to get. I mean I was banging on doors and for about two or three years I didn't do any work at all, I was just knocking on doors.
LM: That's an element that I think people don't really see. When you landed your TV shows I think people thought that you just became an overnight sensation but you've fought to get where you are, haven't you?
KB: Yeah people don't see the work that goes on behind it for years or the amount of money you spend, your own money, trying to get there, going into debt. Most people wane, they just don't have the heart for it, but for me I just kept knocking on doors and luckily now we're getting there.
LM: Do you prefer doing the live shows or the television work?
KB: It's all live. For me it's all about live. TV is just an avenue for me, for people to get to know who I am, to go to the live shows. For me, I live for performing live because people look at magicians on television and they always wonder 'is it a camera trick?', 'is it a stooge?' whereas live they know there's no set-ups, there's no stooges.
LM: And as well, it must give you a bigger adrenalin rush to perform live?
KB: Oh yeah. I much prefer performing live. TV is great but I much prefer performing live.
LM: So are you planning to relocate to Vegas once your show residency is finalised?
KB: Yeah, I'll definitely live there. Yeah, I'll have to be there for the eight weeks before Christmas and then after Christmas I'll probably move out there full-time.
LM: So being on the road and travelling all the time is just second nature at this stage?
KB: I'm quite used to it. I mean travelling is hard. It's not easy but you just kind of get used to it. And I enjoy travelling. I enjoy seeing the world and I get paid to do it now at this stage so that's great. So I can't complain.
LM: You've recorded a lot of tricks with celebrities, have you ever had any bizarre reactions from any of them?
KB: Yeah, Keanu Reeves was scared sh**less. Imagine he ran out of a restaurant when I came in to do a trick for him. He genuinely did. But then he got a friend of his, a mutual friend, to call me and ask me to go up to his house that Friday night and do magic for all his friends... but don't go near him or he'd punch me in the face, that's what I was told. So I did, I went up and did magic for all his friends, left him alone, and it was fantastic, just had great fun, but he actually genuinely has a phobia of magic so that was a real kind of weird one. He was scared, you know?
LM: But you must get that a lot, do you? Because people have this idea that you can mess with their minds they're bound to feel a little bit threatened by you or scared around you.
KB: Yeah, now I do because people think I'm going to hypnotise them and knock them straight over, which I can do, so I suppose I can understand why they're scared. I think, more often than not, it's almost like they enjoy being nervous of me because they're wondering 'can be f**k with my head or not?' and when I do they kind of enjoy it, so it's kind of a mixture of both, you know?
LM: For you at this stage of your career, is it always a case of trying to find a new trick that nobody has ever done and up the stakes all the time?
KB: Oh yeah, I just come up with my own stuff and learn new techniques and new methods.
Watch Keith Barry's appearance on 'Eye2Eye' on Friday 31 October on RTÉ Two at 5.05pm.
Visit the 'Eye2Eye'website here.
