I was watching one of those 'Secrets of the Masked Magician' shows on satellite last night (there really was nothing else on!) and thought of this sketch. There's no real punchline and you know what's coming but I thought the situation in itself was humorous enough for a short sketch...?

WE SEE A MASKED MAGICIAN DRESSED IN BLACK IN A DIMLY LIT ROOM. THERE ARE TWO SCANTILY CLAD ASSISTANTS WALKING BRISKLY AROUND HIM BRUSHING THEIR FINGERS AGAINST HIS CHEST AS THEY PASS.

VERY SERIOUS AMERICAN VOICE-OVER
Welcome back to ‘Secrets of the Magic Circle’. Please do not attempt to recreate anything you see in this programme.

CUT TO CLOSE-UP OF THE MAGICIAN

VOICE-OVER
Here we see our masked magician about to perform the great ‘broken thumb’ illusion. Don’t be fooled by the pretty girls – they are there simply to distract you.

THE GIRLS PASS THE MASKED MAGICIAN ONE MORE TIME AND WE FOCUS IN ON HIS HANDS. THEY ARE CLOSE TOGETHER AND WE SEE WHAT LOOKS LIKE THE TIP OF ONE THUMB SLIDING UP AND DOWN THE ADJOINING FINGER.

VOICE-OVER
So how did he do it? Let’s take a closer look.

THE SAME SCENE AS DESCRIBED ABOVE IS SHOWN FROM THE REVERSE SIDE. WE CAN SEE THE ‘BROKEN’ THUMB IS SIMPLY BENT BACKWARDS WHILE THE THUMB ON THE OTHER HAND IS USED AS THE ‘TIP’.

VOICE-OVER
Incredible isn’t it. And now for the amazing ‘Finger guillotine’ illusion………

Yeah that's really good. certainly worthy of a sketch. Even a series of sketches....just don't steal my nose.

Really very silly and excellent value.

Great I loved it. You don't always need a punch line, in fact I find that punch lines are overrated, they make me think of pub jokes or jokes you'd get in a "1001 jokes to tell your family" book. This is much much more intelligent and original.

Hi Andy

Like the idea of the 'Secrets of the Magic Circle' explaining really simple, obvious tricks. Keep going as it'll work better as a recurring sketch right the way through a series rather than as a standalone.

Dan

i think also that this sketch could be a series, with them stupid tricks that your uncle shows you when your a kid and they think they are Paul Daniels or something, so i think this sketch could be a on-running thing, (if you need any magic tricks ask me, i took a 6 month course on magic),
good work
keep this one going.

Thoroughly liked.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys - much appreciated. When writing it I did indeed think it would work well as a series. I stumped for the 'broken thumb' as it was one I thought everyone knew when they were a toddler and felt I could describe it well in words. Would work equally well with many other kiddy tricks I think. Cheers.

Do a few like this and then finish it off with a simple trick that goes all wrong, just as a twist

Dan

Nice idea Dan - I guess after a few 'similar' sketches it would be nice to finish off with a wee twist - perhaps he takes a step up in difficulty and actually cuts an assistant in half in true Tarantino-esque blood spurting style. Very dark, very cruel and possibly quite humorous.

Well, I was thinking more that watch gag where they smash it up in a bag with a hammer and can't put it back together.

Er... but yours works too!

:-)

Dan

Guess I was going for a bigger more unexpected twist Dan - but thinking about it your idea would probably be more in-keeping with the original 'joke'.

;o)

if you want a twist then obviously a cock up is good, it could be the tarantino style blood fest, but it could be something like, he gets a member of the audiences tie and does the cut and restored trick, just without the restored or to echo Dans suggestion he smashes something like a valuble saucer in a bag and spends the rest of the time with some super glue in his hand mending it, with the audience looking on in shock and after a while you get a "da-da", or something along them lines

Another twist is you could perform a simple trick e.g. putting a penny on his finger and clicking his other fingers to make it disapear up his sleeve. When they reveal how they do it they claim they use a complicated teleporter which deconstructs the molecular structure of the coin and transports it from the finger to the sleeve. something like that. It would give you another twist on the series of sketches that maybe the audience wouldn't be expecting after they have already had one

Some good 'end sketch' options there chaps. Gives me somethin' to mull over....