In The Sunday Times today is a feature about us and our Edinburgh show ‘Part-Time Warlocks’, the article can also be seen online here.
- Come see us performing live in our Edinburgh Fringe show "Part-Time Warlocks".
Author Archives: barry
We Stick a Needle in the Eye
Aug
6
2008
If you missed our live interview on Fresh-Air the other day you can listen to the podcast version of it here.
How to Avoid Tipping
Jun
23
2008
Alan Abel: jazz musician, comedian and general prankster hates tipping waiters and waitresses in restaurants - even when the service has been fairly good. I must admit that being a Scotsman I do too, as these workers will surely at least be on the minimum wage. I don’t tip my doctor and he might save my life.
Alan suggests that to avoid such tipping embarrassment, you print off cards like the one below. You simply tick the box(es) to detail the reasons why you did not tip. Of course, it is more fun to not tick any of them and just keep them guessing.
Use it wisely… if you suspect that you may dine in the restaurant again then maybe you should think twice before risking having your food spat in during your next visit.
Bonus Tipping Bit:
There is an old joke in which you brazenly put your hand into the top pocket of a cab driver’s shirt or jacket, rustling a small packet whilst saying, “Have a drink on me”. It is only polite for the driver to wait until you have left his taxi before investigating what gratuity you have left him.
It is then he discovers that the rustling packet was actually a teabag.
All the Pretty Things
Jun
8
2008
Thanks to the people who have sent us nice things! We can’t post all of them here but we would like to give a special mention to the ever faithful Magick Mel. She has created these images that can be used as wallpapers and backgrounds. She is also the curator of Barry and Stuart: Thee Fansite and it constantly amazes me how she finds pictures that neither of us remember having taken, or even knew existed.
The black and white picture, for example, confused me for several minutes before I finally remembered where it had been snapped.
An Experiment
May
27
2008
My house lies at the side of a curved shaped road. I usually take route A to get from the station to my house on foot but I thought that due to the width of the road and the long curve would it actually be shorter and therefore quicker to cross the road and take route B to my house. The only way I can find out for sure is to put it to rigorous scientific testing.
Aim: To see which of two routes is quicker to my house from the train station.
Method: I shall walk both routes counting the number of footsteps and timing the journey using the second hand on my wristwatch.
Results: My normal route A is 423 steps and took 4 minutes and 7 seconds to complete whereas route B took 391 steps and took 3 minutes and 48 seconds to complete.
Conclusion: The results of my experiment proved two things:
- Route B is shorter and quicker, therefore route B is now how I will walk from my house to the station. If I have to wait a total of 19 seconds for cars before crossing the road though, then I may as well have taken the old route.
- I truly am a geek.
Barry and Stuart: The Cartoon
May
21
2008
The talented Yazmyn has created another cartoon in her “Mini Magicians” series featuring us.
I’d say that is a fairly accurate portrayal of our daily existence.
Also on YouTube, electronifilm has made a quirky tutorial video that teaches you his wacky take on how to perform one of our tricks.
5 Celebs We’d Love to Ambush with our Violent Magic
May
13
2008
Doing magic shows for television has meant that we sometimes get to perform our illusions for real celebrity guests (although, technically, sawing a woman in half is murder up until the point you put the halves back together again. )
Here is a list of the top 5 UK celebrities that, given the opportunity, we would love to ambush with our violent guerilla magic.
5. Piers Morgan
It’s the totally unqualified “Britain’s got Talent” judge Piers Morgan, or as ‘Private Eye’ magazine refer to him “Piers Moron”. For someone who claims to be an authority on talent and celebrity, he seems to be making his talent and reason for becoming a celebrity simply being unable to get along with people.
The Illusion:
He is strapped down on a large red X. Read More