Levitating a Toblerone Bar

When you do what I do, living in a small country is a joy. When my son was growing up, no matter where I was in England, if I had to, I could get home that night. I have comedian friends in the US who do a week in Chicago, then LA, then Miami, and when they come home their kids say, “Mom that man’s here again.”

I loved being home when Finbar was growing up and I feel sorry for fathers that miss so much of it. I guess it’s up to Finbar to decide later whether I was a good dad or not but I hope in twenty years time when he is talking to his psychiatrist he will remember this.

Years ago I did a three week gig for Terry’s Chocolate Company. Terrys makes those chocolate oranges that everyone in the UK has in their Christmas stockings. This one year Terry’s decided that instead of having a big conference where they would show their range to all of the suppliers at once, they would bring their clients in one at a time.

They rented an entire floor of the Marriot Hotel in Knightsbridge and spent a fortune decking it out like a space ship. The theme of the presentation was something like – Searching for the Universe’s Taste Sensation. It started with actors, playing robots and aliens, ushering clients into space-age chairs that shook as smoke filled the room during lift off. There were huge plasma screens (at the time brand new technology) showing the earth shrinking into the distance. At one point in the proceedings the buyers were escorted into a room where I would be found floating in the air. After “turning on the gravity” I would provide the in-flight entertainment with a couple of tricks – including levitating a Toblerone bar.

It was a lot of work but great fun. Almost all of the people working on the show were parents so on one weekend we brought all of our kids on to the set and had a party.

A week later I picked up my son from kindergarten. As I was leaving the teacher came up to me.

“Your son has a very vivid imagination,” she told me.

“Oh, what did he say?”

“Well Finbar stood in front of the class and announced to everyone that his father is a magician, that works on a space ship, for a chocolate company!”

“Actually, “ I said, “that’s true.”

Tags: John Lenahan, Terry's Chocolate