The Naked Magicians are back in town for Fringe World 2018, their show opens at the Regal Theatre on Thursday 1st of February for a limited season.

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We chatted to Christopher Wayne, he’s the one of the left with the rabbit, back in 2015 when they last brought they show to Fringe World.

Here’s what Christopher had to say about the art of performing naked, the difficulty of removing pants and the pressure of staying fit.

Is any show just automatically better if you just add the word ‘naked’ in front of the title?

Well not every show, but being naked is a lot of fun!

We have learned in this show that there is ‘good naked’ and ‘bad naked’.

What’s the difference?

Well, for example, we’re both men and naked men is socks – no. Naked woman in socks – maybe. We learn little things like that.

There is no cool way for a guy to take his pants off on stage, you just can’t take off your pants smoothly.

Not unless you have those special stripper pants that just tear down the side.

We don’t have those. We’ll leave that for the professionals. I don’t think everything is better naked but many of the things that I enjoy certainly are.

It must take a certain amount of bravado and confidence to perform naked?

Oh my goodness – when we did our first photo shoot. Mike and I are just magicians we don’t have a background in stripping or anything like that.   When we did our first photo shoot we were so nervous.

Now we’re totally comfortable, being naked in front of a thousand people is our time to shine.

We have learned also that we have to keep our bodies in pretty good shape, so the people who are there to see us get their money’s worth.

So there’s some added pressure to stay fit.

The biggest pressures is added temperature wise, as a guy you know what happens when it gets a bit chilly! We want to make sure that we’re fit and there’s a few good inches between us.

 When did you first get interested in magic?

Mike and I are both thirty. I was interested in magic as a kid, but when I was twenty one I really took it up as a hobby. A year later I appeared on a kids TV show called ‘Toasted TV’ and I had a regular segment.

From there it’s just taken off. I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world doing magic. I love the industry of magic and comedy, whether it’s out front or behind the scenes.

I’m very passionate about the Naked Magicians, it’s a great mix of comedy and magic. I spent a year writing it, putting my heart and soul into it.

Its a nice combination magic and comedy.

It really is, there’s no other show like this on the planet. There is no other show that combines super strong magic, and it is some of the strongest magic you’ll see, combined with hilarious comedy.

We’ll guarantee that this is the funniest show you’ll see in your life. On top of all that hilarity, you also get full frontal nudity. It’s a combination of these three things.

Did you have magician heroes when you were growing up?

If there’s one, it’s David Copperfield. Before David Copperfield magicians just did tricks. Copperfield introduced theatre into magic whether that was dramatic or comedy. He made magic such a performance. He’s been my idol since I was kid until today.

The obvious challenge in being a naked magician is that you can’t hide anything up your sleeves.

That’s our whole motto – good magicians don’t need sleeves, great magicians don’t need pants. We stick by that and prove it every night.

The Naked Magicians are performing from Thursday 1st February at The Regal Theatre. Tickets are available via Fringe World.

Graeme Watson