Irish magician and illusionist Keith Barry has landed his most high profile show across the Atlantic to date after America's Fox network commissioned an eight part series of the hypnotism game show, You're Back in the Room.
The Waterford native is joining the show as the resident hypnotist and will follow a format similar to the version screened on ITV and TV3 where teams are challenged to complete a variety of simple, everyday tasks while under hypnosis.
The show, which will be presented by actor Taye Diggs, is due to go into production in July, however it's not the first time that Barry has featured prominently in an overseas version of the hit show. He's currently starring in the Australian version, while the format itself has already been sold to a host of other countries including Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain.
Although reports say Fox were keen to hire an American hypnotist they were convinced that Barry was the best man to ensure the show's success. He previously hosted a show on the Discovery Channel in the US, Deception with Keith Barry, however the new series is very much a step into the big league for the Irish illusionist.
He's also been drafted in to work on the sequel to the surprise 2013 hit, Now You See Me, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo after he worked on the original advising Woody Harrelson's character.
The movie hits Irish cinemas this summer and will see the Four Horsemen resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of a tech magnate.
Barry says with the publicity surrounding the movie, it made the decision to become involved in the TV series a a no-brainer.
"With Now You See Me being such a large part of that, there's a lot of movement for me in America this time around. That's why it made sense. Now it makes sense to spend some time in the US and do this show", he said.
