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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2016)
4C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016 PARTING SHOT FROM JOSHUA BESSEX A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers The Astoria Bridge and Saddle Mountain as seen from Washington state in March. ODDITY Creative Commons Australian entertainers Christopher Wayne and Mike Tyler are known for their magic skills and comedic chops. They have nothing up their sleeves Two Australians mix nudity and magic By MARK KENNEDY Associated Press N EW YORK — The idea came to them, remarkably, without alco- hol playing a factor: Two magi- cians in Australia decided to create a new kind of show that mixed stripping and illusion. That’s right, a naked magic show. “It’s kind of crazy because magic is the second-oldest profession ever and we couldn’t believe that no one had combined the two things that every- one loves — magic and nudity,” said Christopher Wayne. “You know what? We weren’t drunk when we came up with this.” Wayne and his co-creator and co-star Mike Tyler have successfully toured Australia, New Zealand and Hong ZHFRXOGFUHDWHWKHZRUOG¶V¿UVWQDXJKW\ magic show?”’ said Tyler. “Good magi- cians don’t need sleeves and great magi- cians don’t need pants.” A tour last year included three weeks in America, with stops in Massachusetts and Florida. It was a test to see if Yanks outside Las Vegas, where nudity and magic have been merged before, were ready for this level of sharing. “We weren’t sure when we went over how America would take this show,” said Wayne. “In our head, we thought ‘Sleeves up, pants down’ Wayne, 31, who had his own TV you guys might be a bit more conser- series, “More Than Magic,” and Tyler, vative or you might not get our Aussie also 31, a former competitive swimmer brand of humor. But it just absolutely and magician at corporate get-togethers, exploded over there.” The pair said they spent the better part have been friends for years. After the release of the Channing of a year making sure both parts of the 7DWXPPDOHVWULSSHU¿OP³0DJLF0LNH´ act were balanced perfectly — the magic they noticed members of their audience was good and the eye candy was buff. “We spent so much time making sure getting a little feisty, asking things like “How big is your magic wand?” and it was legitimately the funniest show “Can you make my clothes disappear?” that we could make, and we feel like “So we got to thinking, ‘What about if we’ve kind of caught some lightning in Kong. Now they plan to tour the U.S. “We promise that ‘The Naked Magic Show’ will be one of the most amazing magic shows you’ll ever see,” said Tyler by phone from Brisbane. “We promise it’ll be one the funniest comedy shows you’ll ever see. And we do promise full-frontal illusion.” The North America tour kicks off later this month in Baltimore and makes stops in Eugene and Seattle in late May. a bottle, thanks to a lot of hard work,” Wayne said. “And then we wanted to make sure that we had something nice for the audi- ence to look at so we both dedicated every spare moment of every day to working out.” Slowly stripping They’ve somehow gotten comfort- able slowly stripping in front of fans. 7KHKDUGHVWSDUWZDVWKH¿UVWWLPHWKH\ got into their birthday suits together. “We were best mates before we started doing the show and the moment had come where we had to get naked in front of each other,” said Tyler. “Once we got naked in front of each other, it’s surprisingly easy to get naked in front of an audience that’s clapping and cheering and having a great time.” And, yes, their parents have seen the show. It was no big deal. “They saw us naked when we were kids anyway,” said Tyler, laughing. W hile other n ew spa pers give you less, The D a ily Astoria n GIVES YOU From left: H illa ry Borru d , M a teu sz Perk ow sk i, Pa ris Achen O u r n ew M ORE C APITAL B UREAU covers the sta te for you
