Pete Firman is heading to the Watermans Arts Centre for a preview run of his new Edinburgh show. Firman has pulled off a number of jaw dropping tricks in the past, including putting a mouse in a blender and pulling a maggot out of his eye, but he spoke to WILL GORE about his aim of making this show bigger and better than anything he has attempted before.

What have you got in store for us with your new show? I don’t want to give too much away because people should come and see for themselves but I’ve got a mind reading animal, some floating ladies and I’ll be doing a big Vegas-style dance number. I’ve called it The Pete Firman Magic Show, partly because it is what I do but also as a tip of the hat to The Paul Daniels Magic Show.

So was Paul Daniels one of your main inspirations then? Yes, because he was the only guy on TV at the time really, but there were other guys such as the Great Supprendo and I’m a big fan of Tommy Cooper. All of those three guys were the most successful magicians of their generation and they all used magic and comedy - they are really good bedfellows.

How do you go about inventing your tricks? I’m a little bit anal in that I started adding new bits into my act as soon as the last Edinburgh run was finished - it’s important to give the material as much airtime as possible. I work backwards, so a few years ago I did an idea of dropping a mouse in a food processor - I thought it would be a great image and a funny thing to do. Obviously tricks like that doesn’t exist so I start from scratch. It’s a bit like being a mad professor and figuring these things out. I’m also a real student of magic and I’ve got a big library. I’m fascinated with what the stage magicians were doing in vaudeville 100 years ago. The zeitgeist at the moment is for street magic, card tricks and other small stuff, but this is going be my biggest Edinburgh show yet.

Is it difficult to get the balance right between the comedy and the magic? As far as the tricks are concerned I practise and practise at home and get it right, but when I think of something funny in my head and then I say it out loud and it doesn’t get a laugh that can be more difficult. I really try hard to work on the magic and make it as good as possible. The difficulty is doing justice to the comedy aswell, so I’ve tried to make the show funny but also hopefully people will come away scratching their heads.

Will you be getting the audience involved? There is a bit of audience particaption but I don’t make anyone look daft. It is good having someone up close to the tricks because they become the eyes and ears of the rest of the audience.

The Pete Firman Magic Show, Watermans Arts Centre, Brentford, July 23-26, 7.45pm, £5, 020 8232 1010, petefirman.co.uk