Now That’s Magic! – Paul Daniels Interview
By Andy Howells for South Wales Argus
Veronica Lee talks to Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels is just as much a live-wire in real life as he is on stage – he’s not one of those entertainers who switch off their personality the minute they leave the theatre – and when we meet at the Savoy Hotel in London to discuss his new show he is straight into the jokes, most of them at his own expense.
“Comic, magician, international sex symbol…” the diminutive funnyman says by way of introduction, as “the lovely Debbie McGee” – as we all surely call his wife and onstage-partner – looks on. I ask if he is ever “off”. “No,” Debbie says with a smile. “Paul is exactly the same at home as he is on stage. I don’t know anyone else so resolutely positive about life.”
The couple, who married in 1988, are about to tour/touring a new show, Back Despite Popular Demand! – which, they tell me, contains some old favourites as well as new tricks. “People complain when we don’t do tricks they expect to see every time they come to see us, so we’ve included two oldies, my signature illusions as it were, but everything else is different,” says Paul. “And the great thing about a live show is that it’s never the same twice because the audience is different each night.”