Comic Details

Ali Cook

Date Of Birth: 26/04/1975

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Videos

Beheading a chicken and a duck

On Penn and Teller Fool Us

More Ali Cook videos
Beheading a chicken and a duck
Water tank escape
'Best card trick ever'
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Biography

Magician and comic Al Cook began his TV career as a sketch actor on Jerry Sadowitz's Jerry@Trick Show before appearing in the shows Monkey Magic, Psychic Secrets Revealed and Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe...Ever for Five, as well as Sky One’s Secret World of Magic and Channel 4’s Dirty Tricks.

He made his debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008.

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Reviews

Ali Cook: Principles and Deceptions
Live Review

 rated 4/5
Ali Cook: Principles and Deceptions

Ali Cook has some pretty spectacular tricks, but he wears them very lightly, letting the deception speak for itself, rather than surrounding it in Vegas-style glitz. Even when he opens the show as The Enchanter, a supposedly cheesy cruise ship entertainer for two quick tricks – a levitation and making his assistant appear from inside a fiery cage – the presentation is relatively unfussed… rather begging the question why he needs this alter ego at all.

Cook has taken his title from a 1948 book by his magician hero Arthur Buckley, and says he aims to include a trick from every style of magic – and while that’s not technically defined, he has taken great pains to produce a varied line-up, from the close-up magic of coins moving around the table (projected via overhead camera on to a big screen) to an impressive teleportation, making a woman’s shoe appear in a box suspended from the ceiling.

There’s a spooky trick in which one person feels the sensations of another that the non-sceptical could ascribe to ESP, while the obligatory card trick is one known as the trick that fooled Houdini – and if the great conjurer himself couldn’t figure it out, you sure as hell won’t be able to. I found the trick with the love letters a bit easier to suss (I think!) but it was the only one when I even had an inkling, and even then he followed it up with a much more brain-scratching payoff.

It’s all done with an everyman charm; and this year Cook has played down the comedy – probably wisely, as it was never his strong suit – yet remains witty and affable throughout. He might have an old-fashioned craft, but Cook has a modern, pared-down approach to it.

His finale’s awe-inspiring, too. He puts his assistant into a box and starts running solid poles through it. So far, so predictable – but then he pulls of a truly remarkable coup de theatre that brings the solidly entertaining show to a suitably impressive climax.
Date of live review: Monday 22nd Aug, '11
Review by Steve Bennett
Ali Cook: Pieces Of Strange
Ali Cook: Pieces Of Strange
Sunday 8th Aug, '10-
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Comments

Ali is one of my favourite acts to work with and never fails to impress! An awesome mix of magic and comedy.

Alex Jarrett, March 2011


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Where can I see Ali Cook next?

Where can I see Ali Cook next?

20:00 - Thursday 21st Jun, '12
Venue: Braintree Arts Theatre
Prices: £10
Comics: Alfie Moore, Ali Cook, Debra-Jane Appelby, Paul Ricketts (MC)
Show starts: 20:00 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:30 - Friday 13th Jul, '12
Venue: Nottingham Bartons
Prices: £10
Comics:
Info:
Plus: Scott Bennet
Show starts: 20:30 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
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Ali Cook's Shows:
Edinburgh Fringe 2008
Ali Cook: A Touch Of Vegas

Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Ali Cook: Pieces Of Strange

Edinburgh Fringe 2011
Ali Cook: Principles And Deceptions