Tom Binns has created a potent mix of Derren Brown's tricks of the mind with Tommy Cooper's gags for his Edinburgh Festival show Ian D Montfort - Spirit Medium. Performed through his hilarious character Ian D Montfort, Tom Binns delivers an hour of mind-reading and comedy that verges on the calamitous.
Binns said "I wanted to do a cross between Derren Brown and Tommy Cooper and make the kind of magic that Derren Brown does funny. Derren's very funny as well, but you know what I mean - proper Tommy Cooper-style funny."
The crux of the show lies in Binns' blurring of the lines between the real and the unreal. Through his carefully-crafted showmanship, he keeps the audience guessing:
"You can do the mind-reading and sometimes get it right but also when you get it wrong, like when Tommy Cooper's tricks all go wrong, it's still funny. Whereas, obviously, if Derren Brown got his stuff wrong it would just be rubbish.
"It's one of those shows where it works just as well when I'm getting things wrong as when I get things right."
He told STV that performing mediumship in a comic fashion has brought an interesting bond between believers and cynics:
"It can be really wierd because you've got an audience there and half the people believe in spirit mediums and half are proper skeptical and they're both taking away entirely different parts of the show and enjoying them. It makes for a really interesting atmosphere in the room."
So, whether you're a cynic or a believer, Ian D Montfort - Spirit Medium should be a thoroughly entertaining night. Get down to the Pleasance Courtyard for 6.15pm between the 19th and 28th August. Check out the Fringe site for tickets and more information.
