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Ben Hanlin: The lighter side of magic
(Courtesy of Universal)After making his name by shock-tricking unsuspecting strangers and celebrities with his signature naughty magic, British magician Ben Hanlin is looking forward to doing some more hilarious and edgy pranks
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(Courtesy of Universal) (Courtesy of Universal)
(Courtesy of Universal)
After making his name by shock-tricking unsuspecting strangers and celebrities with his signature naughty magic, British magician Ben Hanlin is looking forward to doing some more hilarious and edgy pranks.
Fresh from completing the second season of his television show Tricked, where he mixes together elaborate hidden camera pranks ala MTV's Punk'd and shocking street magic in David Blaine's style, Hanlin said he wanted to go for bigger laughs.
'I look at it unlike other magic shows. It's very much a comedy show. It's not just about making people amazed with the trick, but you also want people to laugh and enjoy it. The major challenge is to make it funnier and more interesting,' Hanlin told reporters in Jakarta during a recent visit.
The 28-year-old visited Indonesia for a series of interviews and meet-and-greet sessions as part of the Tricked Asian tour, which is held in conjunction with Tricked Marathon Specials ' aired in Indonesia on the Universal Channel on Sundays from Nov. 23 to Dec. 7.
'In the future, I want to push the show even more. We always push it a little. The sense of humor of the show is pushy: some of the pranks are very funny and some are very edgy,' he said.
Hanlin's naughty adventures have led to him dropping celebrities' jaws around the world.
One of the most memorable moments in the show's first season was when he tricked British boy band Blue into believing that one of their members had plunged over a cliff in a caravan. In the prank, he set up the boy band for a fake photo-shoot and had them watch as the caravan disappeared off the edge of a cliff.
In a more recent ambush, he left Kim Kardashian awestruck by swallowing a dozen needles and a piece of thread, when the controversial American celebrity was in Cannes, Frances.
Hanlin said it was easier for him to prank celebrities rather than random people on the street.
'With celebrities, you get tons of information by researching them. They have done interviews and there are videos of them. You can predict what kind of reaction from them you'll get.
'Every single person is different. Some are more aware of their environment in general. Some people notice the camera, some don't. We have to work on how to put them in a situation and make them not realize it's a trick,' he said.
With people on the street, it's more unpredictable and as he pushes the prank, situation can get really tense.
'My crew made a bet whether or not I'd get punched and how many times ' which is very nice of them. But I haven't actually been punched. I've been pushed, shoved and smacked up against a wall; that's normally what happens when it involves a member of the public. I deliberately try push it, to try and get people as annoyed as possible and really push their buttons,' he said.
The native of Birmingham fell in love with magic after watching David Blaine's breathtaking stunts on TV and felt he needed to learn magic. He continued learning tricks and kept practicing even at school as he sat in the back of the class.
In September 2010, he began creating content for his YouTube channel, MagicBoyTV, and caught the attention of TV executives as he tracked down celebrities through social media and filmed as he did magic tricks for them.
Two years later, Hanlin was one of four magicians starring in Breaking Magic for the Discovery Channel, which looked at the science behind magic and illusions, fusing the showmanship, street magic and science.
'Most magicians are always very serious and very mystical about their persona. Anything I do is very much being on the light side of that with comedy and personal elements. I don't have special powers, but I have a certain set of skills that I learned: psychology, sleight of hand, lying and cheating, to make it look that I can do magic.
'I'm a magician, I'm going to lie to you, so let's enjoy it,' he said, grinning.
