Peter "Pete" Firman (born 26 April 1980) is an English magician,

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He has appeared in magic shows on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

, ITV,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, Five, and

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

. He was also the presenter of two game shows on

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

: ''Stake Out'' and ''Wait for It..!'', and one of the regular magicians on series 2 of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

show '' The Magicians''. Firman performs live in theatres and comedy clubs worldwide.

Early life

Born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Firman began his interest in magic as a child of eight when his mother bought him a magic book. He was educated at Acklam Grange Secondary School, where he twice won the school talent show. He then studied at

Middlesbrough College Middlesbrough College, located on one campus at Middlehaven, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, is the largest college on Teesside. Admissions It provides predominantly further education, but also selected higher education provision, and ...

then at the School of Arts & New Media unit of the

University of Hull Scarborough Campus The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

where he gained a Bachelor of Arts in theatre. Firman performed his

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

in pubs and as he later explained: "anywhere I could get paid for doing tricks, basically. I figured I wanted somewhere a bit more regular to work, and I saw the comedy circuit as something I could explore. Because I'd always tried to make the magic I was doing funny and lighthearted, and I never took myself too seriously."

Career

Firman's first big break came in 2002 when he responded to an advert from

Objective Productions Objective Media Group (OMG), previously known as Objective Productions, is a media production company. It has produced shows including '' The Cube'', ''Lingo'', '' The Gold'', '' Feel Good, Peep Show'', '' Fresh Meat'', and '' Toast of London' ...

, who were searching for new magicians for a new television show, '' Monkey Magic''. Together with writer Paul Outhwaite and musician Andy Elvin, the three friends formed a short lived comedy team, " Threefellas" and made a short film of Firman doing tricks in the local area. He sent in a tape of himself in his underpants performing magic in Outhwaite's back garden and was chosen almost instantly. " Threefellas" made a few more short films before disbanding. In April 2003 the cast of ''Monkey Magic'' had their first meeting and Firman met fellow magician

Ali Cook Ali Cook (also credited as Alistair Cook) is an English actor and comedian from Yorkshire. Cook played Sgt. Paul McMellon in the feature film ''Kajaki (film), Kajaki'', which won the ''Producer of The Year Award'' at the 2015 British Independen ...

with whom he later shared a flat for two and a half years. During this time they wrote routines for ''The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever'', the second series of ''Monkey Magic'' and ''The Secret World of Magic''. The first seven-part series of ''Monkey Magic'' was broadcast on Five in 2003 as well as a Christmas special. The show featured a team of four magicians each with their own unique style and personality. It was short listed for a

British Comedy Award The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

and nominated for a Rose d'Or. A second series of ''Monkey Magic'' aired in 2004, which saw his first Mr Ball routine. Firman co-hosted ''The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever'' series on Five which saw a countdown of the most amazing tricks of all time from Horace Goldin's

sawing a woman in half Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person (traditionally a female assistant) is apparently cut or divided into two (or more) pieces. History There remains a debate about the origin of sawing ...

illusion to

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

's Vanishing the Statue of Liberty illusion. In ''The Secret World of Magic'', which aired on Sky1 in 2005, Firman travelled the world with Ali Cook, interviewing the world's greatest magicians, including Mac King, Juan Tamariz and

Max Maven Max Maven (born Philip T. Goldstein; December 21, 1950 – November 1, 2022) was an American magician and mentalist whose performances were considered erudite and intelligent. He is ranked as one of the most influential mentalists of all time, a ...

, whilst also performing their own brand of

sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' () comprises fine motor skills used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card fl ...

on the streets of Paris,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, New York City, Los Angeles,

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He also did a Mr Ball routine in ''The Secret World of Magic'' which was developed by him and Ali Cook. ''Dirty Tricks'' was a six-part series in 2005 on Channel 4, hosted by Firman along with Barry and Stuart. It was described as "like magic meets

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims ...

" by critic Sam Wollaston of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. The show had regular spots from Ali Cook and Jonathan Goodwin as well as guest appearances from international variety acts and celebrities including

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since 1975. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo has bee ...

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

, Mylene Klass and

Kevin James Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), known professionally as Kevin James, is an American comedian and actor. He began his career by performing stand-up comedy at clubs on Long Island in the 1980s. He rose to prominence for his portrayal ...

. The show was nominated for a Rose d'Or. Firman was a special guest on '' Don't Miss a Trick'', a one-off family show version of ''

The Real Hustle ''The Real Hustle'' is a BBC British television series created by Objective Productions, Alexis Conran and R. Paul Wilson for BBC Three. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on memb ...

'', which first aired on 25 August 2008 on

. Pete Firman has hosted two game shows, ''Stake Out'' in 2008 and ''Wait For It..!'', in 2009. Both aired on

. In 2009 he appeared in "

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, and writer. He is a self-described "psychological illusionist" whose acts are often designed to expose the methods of those who claim to possess supernatural powers, ...

Presents: 3D Magic Spectacular". '' The Magicians'' was a primetime Saturday night series for BBC1 that aired in 2012. It was the first magic show in 30 years to be broadcast live. Firman was one of the featured magicians, along with Barry and Stuart and Jason Latimer. In 2016 he appeared as a contestant in the first series of ITV's '' The Next Great Magician''.

Theatre

In 2007 Firman performed his debut solo show ''Hokum'' at the Underbelly as part of the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. Since then he has performed each year at the festival, returning with a brand new show every time, most recently in 2018 with ''Marvels'' at the Pleasance Beyond. His shows have been critically acclaimed by the press and he has been described by ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' as "the new poster-boy for British comedy magic." He has toured the UK several times with his solo theatre shows. In July 2008 he was invited to perform in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada, as part of the '' Just for Laughs''

comedy festival A comedy festival is a celebration of comedy with many shows, venues, comedy performers (such as stand up comics, sketch troupes, variety performers, etc.) and is held over a specific block of time. Normally, each festival has a diverse range of ...

Author

In 2006, Firman wrote his first book, ''Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends'', in which he reveals secrets such as "how to crack your nose", "how to take a bite out of a glass" and "how to stick a barbecue skewer through your tongue". It also included simple card tricks and how to swallow knives. It has a foreword from

Television

*'' Monkey Magic'' (2003) *'' The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever'' (2003) *'' Monkey Magic 2'' (2004) *'' The Secret World of Magic'' (2005) *'' Dirty Tricks'' (2005) *''

Greatest Ever Comedy Movies Greatest may refer to: * ''Greatest!'', a 1959 album by Johnny Cash * ''Bee Gees Greatest'', a 1979 album by Bee Gees * ''Greatest'' (The Go-Go's album), 1990 * ''Greatest'' (Duran Duran album), 1998 *Greatest (Raspberries album), 2005 * Greates ...

'' (2006) *'' Greatest Ever Disaster Movies'' (2007) *'' Saturday LIVE Again'' (2007) *'' The Convention Crasher'' (2007) *''

Comedy Cuts ''Comedy Cuts'' is a comedy programme on the British TV channel ITV2 that aims to provide an opportunity for new comedy performers to present their talents. Featuring 40 performers demonstrating a mix of stand up and sketches, the series is shot e ...

'' (2008) *'' Don't Miss A Trick'' (2008) *'' For One Night Only'' (2008) *'' Stake Out (CBBC game show)'' *'' Derren Brown Presents: 3D Magic Spectacular'' (2009) *'' Wait For It..!'' (2009) *'' This Morning'' (2010) *'' Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford'' (2011) *'' Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live'' (2011) *'' E4 Comedy Summit'' (2011) *'' TV's 50 Greatest Magic Tricks'' (2011) *'' The Magicians'' (2012) *''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

'' (2012) *''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weekdays at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Roman Kemp, Ronan Keating ...

'' (2012) *'' Something For The Weekend'' (2012) *'' The Body Shocking Show'' (2013) *''

Celebrity Mastermind ''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. ''Celebrity Mastermind'' began in 2002 as a one-off special hosted by Magnus Magnusson, the original host of the main ...

'' (2013) *'' Come Dine With Me - Comedians Special'' (2013) *''

The Sarah Millican Television Programme ''The Sarah Millican Television Programme'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British comedic television show hosted by comedian Sarah Millican. The show's central theme is a comical review of television programming (particularly British tel ...

'' (2013) *'' Jon Richardson Grows Up'' (2014) *'' Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live'' (2014) *'' The John Bishop Show'' (2015) *'' The Magic Show Story'' (2015) *''

Now You See It Now You See It may refer to: * ''Now You See It'' (American game show), a 1974–1975 game show, resurrected in 1989 * ''Now You See It'' (Australian game show), a 1985–1999 children's game show * ''Now You See It'' (British game show), a 1981 ...

'' (2015) *'' When Magic Tricks Go Horribly Wrong'' (2016) *'' The Next Great Magician'' (2016) *''

Weekend The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most o ...

'' (2016) *''

'' (2016) *'' Tommy Cooper Forever'' (2017) *'' Let's Sing & Dance for Comic Relief'' (2017) *''

Tonight at the London Palladium ''Tonight at the London Palladium'' is a British television variety show that is hosted from the London Palladium theatre in the West End. Originally produced by ATV for the ITV network from 1955 to 1969, it went by its original name ''Sunday ...

'' (2017) *'' Don't Unleash the Beast'' (2020) *''

Good Omens ''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written by the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The novel is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. ...

'' (series 2, 2023)

Theatre

*2018/19 - Marvels - UK Tour *2018 - Marvels -

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

*2016 - Trix - UK Tour *2016 - Trix -

*2015 - Super Duper -

*2014 - Trickster - UK Tour *2014 - Trickster -

*2013 - Scoundrel -

*2013 - Hoodwinker - UK Tour *2012 - Hoodwinker -

*2012 - Jiggery Pokery - UK Tour *2011 - Jiggery Pokery -

*2010 - Jokes & Tricks - UK Tour *2010 - Jokes & Tricks -

*2009 - The Pete Firman Magic Show -

*2008 - FlimFlam - UK Tour *2008 - FlimFlam -

*2007 - Hokum -

Bibliography

*'' Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends'' (2006)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Firman, Pete English magicians 1980 births Living people People from Middlesbrough Alumni of the University of Hull English male comedians Comedians from North Yorkshire