Kevin McMahon, Magician's Diary

April 2008

OK, big news, Edinburgh Festival 2008 is confirmed I will be performing with my good friend Alan Hudson at Zoo Venues (just up from the Pleasance for those of you who know Edinburgh). It's a 9pm start and the show runs from the 17th August to the 25th August inclusive. The show is called Magic to Get Girls By. As the title suggests, Alan and I will be taking a satirical look at the underground movement of magicians that use magic to pull the ladies! If you seen my show in 2006 then you'll know that there will be lots of laughs and gasps just like usual. You can watch the video of my last fringe show here. The three minute clip will give you a real feel of the energy and fun I try to put into my shows!

Had the pleasure of meeting up with my Good friends Drew McAdam, Colin McLeod and Daniel Alexander. Firstly Drew, watch out for him on the daytime TV show Trisha. He'll be using his interogation techniques, with a bit of mentalism no doubt, to extract information from the gormless participants of her show. Drew has told us how much fun it has been to be a part of, so I'll be taking advantage of my magician hourly week to watch a few of the shows to see if he's done us pround. Colin McLeod, decribed by Ian Rowland as 'Mentalism's next superstar', is perhaps one of the most thoughtful performers I have met. He will be releasing some material very soon and magicians and mentalists alike would be well advised to have a look at it. And lastly my mate Dan! Congratulations mate! Dan is getting married in July, and the sly dog has invited me along. Daniel Alexander is a great guy, as inspiring as he is infectuous. Watching him perform is a joy. I just hope he does some public shows soon so people can appreciate his skills. But dragging him away from corporate magic will be some task! Hannah - you're a lucky woman.

In other news, magic will be taking me to London, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow this month. I've got all corners of the UK covered, so if you want Wedding Magicians give me a call.

March 2008

Nice and peaceful month after a hectic February in Dubai. A good friend of mine, Eck McCallum, got hitched on the 29th March and I was lucky enough to be an usher. Was a great day, it made a nice change to go to a wedding and not perform. Don't get me wrong, I love magic and how it can affect people, but sometimes it's nice to chill and not be centre of attention. I suppose with characters such as Eck and Terry (Theresa McCallum) it's pretty hard to get all the attention anyway! A singer and an actor.

Performed at a lovely Highland wedding at the Tomdoun Hotel, Glengarry, nr Inverness. Was a spectacular settting for a nice intimate wedding of around 30 people. A magical performance fitted in really well with the dreak surroundings. Getting there was a nightmare though - talk about off the beaten track. It was single lane driving for a good hour. Really gave the place it's isolated feel. I can understand why so many people escape up to Scotland.

Working at the Tall ship in Glasgow for another corporate gig and I can highly recommend this venue to any Glaswegians looking for a place to hold a party. Tried out some new tricks, but by far and away the best of the evening was the Rose productions for the ladies. How smooth is that!? In other news, I have just bought myself my first ever house. Probably at exactly the wrong time according to the doom and gloom merchants at the estate agents, but hey, it's mine. No regrets. Well, unless prices go down alot, then I'll be really pissed off.

February 2008

DUBAI for month! Thank goodness. My mum told me temperatures dropped below -8 degC this month back home. Fortunately I am spending the month out here in sunny Dubai. Not only that but the client has put us up in the FIVE STAR Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates. As I write three weeks have past and I've just about got a bit of a tan. Dubai is such a cultural melting pot. People from all over the world live and work together in a city full of oportunity and almost no crime. It's great to be a part of it and allows a magician such as myself to perform magic to people who's first language isn't English. This has really honed my skills and forced me to use really visual magic and body expressions I may not have to use at home. The upshot is that I become a better magician.

I've also had the honour of working again in Dubai with the legendary magician Ben Woodward. He must be the funniest magician working in the UK. He's just hilarious and so professional. Ben really knows if a routine will be funny or not, and if I'm busy you should really get in touch with him! A pity he's so terrible at tennis. James Harrington is also working out here too, another great magician who is skilled enough to use a manipulation act in his closeup routine! His love of sambucca is only bettered by his popularity amongst the punters out here in Dubai.

January 2008

Session convention woo hoo! I went along only to see some proper card magicians in action, these guys were amazing. I'm really in Awe, some of these guys have been writing original card magic for years and it's just amazing to watch. Doubles, seconds, bottoms look natural. Seeing Will Houston's FISM act live was quite an experience too. His original thinking, combined with a real flair for routining really set him out as a highlight. I also got a chance to spend time with my good friends Rob and Alan down in Hull. Hull was great but I did have a little issue with my laptop and ipod (touch - for insurance purposes) getting nicked. Fortunately all were returned via the insurance company after a record 2 weeks. Even more fortunately I backed up all my files on a external hard drive before I left.

December 2007

All magicians know that this time if year is hectic. The number of parties grows exponentially. I was lucky enough to have worked for a number of great companies including Crieff Hydro, G1 Group, Rothschild, Wood MacKenzie, Castle Computing, Riccardo, Gillespie MacAndrew, and many others. I didn't manage to stop until after Christmas when my cousin Chris arrived from America. An extemely mild winter allowed us to go biking a Glentress and celebrate Hogmanay on Princes Street, Edinburgh in only a jumper.

November 2007

Found myself travelling far and wide in the run up to xmas. My first time at Chepstow Racecourse, and performing up in Aberdeen also. Lots of miles, lots of fun.

October 2007

I've managed to find 5 days off this month to have a break, so I'm off to see my good mate Andy in Denmark. I'll be sure to bring a pack of cards with me to see if I can get as many free drinks over there as I do back here in the UK!

September 2007

See Kevin perform live at the Stirling Castle of Magic (22-23rd Sep) and Aberdeen comedy club (6th Sep) Snafu!

Both events went down a storm. Thanks to everyone who email me saying how much they enjoyed the two events - Stirling Castle in particular. Mick Magic (Mark Fiskin - the organiser) done a great job in putting it all together. A big thanks to him and all the girls at historic scotland who were also on the team.

On the evening of the Stirling Castle event, I was lucky enough to sit down and have dinner with some of my idols in the magic world. Alongside Mark, Alex Proctor (a great glasgae magician) and myself were none other than Ali Bongo and Pat Page. Pat was one of my mentors from the Faking it show back in 2005 and it was great to sit down with him and catch up. He is one amazing magician. It was also the first time I had ever met Ali, and again it was a big pleasure for me. He is one of magic's most creative minds, and just listening to some of his ideas really inspired me.

August 2007

Edinburgh festival month in Edinburgh right now, and the place has a real buzz about it. Unfortunately I haven't managed to put a show on this year. Thanks to everyone who got in touch and asked though. It's great that you enjoyed the show enough last year that you'd get in touch this year so enquire. However I have seen a number of excellent shows.

Pete Firman - excellent show highly recommended.
Ian Kendall - my mate Ian has put together his best show yet.
Dougie C - Excellent work from an up and coming glasgow talent. Watch out for the paintball finish! (I was scared)
Chris Cox - Radio 1's Chris Cox was back in town with a much improved show! Well done Chris! (I really wanted to steal some routines, but alas I am too honest)
James James - doing his thing on the streets of Edinburgh. Always very popular.

July 2007

Have managed to get away to Dubai this month working out there at one of those posh hotels! I'm really excited. I had the pleasure of working with an excellent magician by the name of Ben Woodward. He is such an excitable man, and we had great fun amazing the locals and holiday makers alike. Ben is a good friend of my 'Faking It' mentor Nigel Mead.

Highlights were appearing on the telly in Dubai on what can only be described as the UAE's answer to lose women. Was a fun experience and I had a great time wowing the presenters. I also managed to persuade the local rag (Emirates Today) to do two-page spread about me performing out in Dubai. However, the pics were terrible and you've no chance of seeing them. So hah!

April and May 2007

Edinburgh Magic Circle has it's open night on the 22nd May. I'll be performing a new piece of 'chav' magic, wearing my burberry fez as always! It's on at the pleasance theatre in Edinburgh, the renown fewstival venue and will be a great night of fun magic. Details on the Edinburgh Magic Circle website above.

Seen Derren Brown's new show this month too. Was absolutely amazing. He has really made it as the UK's most famous performer. The production of his show was a joy to experience and left me wondering 'how the hell did he do that?!'.

Jan-Mar 2007

The Edinburgh International Science Festival is taking up most of my time. A great fusion of performance and learning for kids and adults alike. Check out the website www.sciencefestival.co.uk for more information.

December 2006

Kevin has performed the length and breadth of Britain this month, as far south as Brighton and as far north as the Shetland Isles! A fun and tiring month. Clients all over the country got to enjoy some strong and entertaining magic.

Have received some Christmas cards from people that came to see the fringe show. They even have some of my catch-phrases inside! Brilliant, people are actually quoting catch-phrases from my Edinburgh Festival characters! I love it. But do my best not to show it.

November 2006

The Christmas party season is almost upon us and it was around this time last year I decided to do the New York Marathon. How I'm regretting it now! Off to New York tomorrow (3rd Nov) with a lot of doubts! Charity fund raising went well and my running partner Gary and I passed the Ł3000 mark last week. Found out more on our fundraising page. NHS technical staff really enjoyed watching my comedy magic act at their annual conference at Dunblane Hydro Hotel on Halloween. The 250 strong crowd really got into the halloween spirit during an act featuring bits from my sell-out Edinburgh Fringe Show. Other than that, lots of booking for November.

October 2006

I'll be at the UKs biggest Wedding Fair at the Glasgow SECC on the 28th and 29th October. These fairs are a great opportunity to get ideas for up-coming weddings. Also a great chance to see me in action! Visit the Scottish Wedding Fair website for more info.

September 2006

Performing at the BLCC Wedding fayre in Dunfermline on the 24th September. A chance to see me in action and get an idea of how a magician can enhance your wedding day!

August 2006

Edinburgh Festival is finally over and I've finally found a few days to holiday. My brother and I headed west to Oban for camping and relaxing. Performing at the Edinburgh Festival was great but tiring! I even managed to sell out every night on the final week, it's amazing how the word of mouth kicks in! A great experience. I'll definitely be doing this next year.
Here's a three minute clip of me in action in front of a live audience at the festival, it really captures the fun nature of the show.

March 2006

Down at the NEC in Birmingham for large corporate event (600 People!), met fellow magician Laura London for the first time. Great Event, lots of fun.
Performing for the first time at Gleneagles hotel, but is really as plush as Tony and George say? Watch this space.
Performed at the Stand Comedy club in Edinburgh doing only stand-up and no magic. It is so much easier when you have props to hide behind but it is something I want to be good at.