MICF - Paul Zenon: The Wizard in Oz!

Paul Zenon is a smartarse, and proud of it. His act is one that artfully combines sleight-of-hand magic with some vintage bad-taste gags and crass sexism (in a good way), all of which manages to create a smooth and likeable British lad persona. Zenon possesses the rare skill of being a brilliant and talented magician, whilst still allowing his deliciously devious sense of humour to dominate the show. While the audience is breathtaken by each trick, he throws in a few quick setup-to-punchline-in-a-couple-of-seconds gags for no other reason than to keep himself and a few early breath-catchers amused. He then moves onto the next bit of magical brilliance, followed by a couple more quick gags while everyone is catching up. The Zenon personality is not to everyone’s taste, and on the night his audience volunteers appeared less than willing to put their trust in his hands when on stage. He is, however, having great fun doing what he’s doing, and it’s hard not to be captivated by it. Up his considerably lengthy trick-pocket-filled sleeve are a vast array of tricks, the best ones of which are a bowling bowl materialising from no-where, a mysterious holey jacket and a gravity-defying glass of Melbourne Bitter. The tricks are brilliant, the gags subversive, and the finished product is fun to watch.