Abandoman
Abigoliah Schamaun
Adam Belbin
Adam Bloom
Adam Buss
Adam Buxton
Adam Crow
Adam Hess
Adam Hills
Adam Mitchell
Adam Race
Adam Riches
Adam Smith
Adam Staunton
Adam Tempest
Adam Todd
Addy Van Der Borgh
Adnan Ahmed
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Poynton
Agraman
Aidan Bishop
Aidan Goatley
Aisling Bea
Al Grant
Al Murray
Al Pitcher
Al Stick
Alan Anderson
Alan Bennett
Alan Carr
Alan Davies
Alan Francis
Alan Hudson
Alan Seaman
Alan Sharp
Alasdair Beckett-King
Alex Boardman
Alex Clissold-Jones
Alex Horne
Alex Kealey
Alex Lasarev
Alex Love
Alex Lowe
Alex Maple
Alex Perry
Alex Petrovic
Alex Zane
Alexander Armstrong
Alexei Sayle
Alexis Dubus
Alfie Brown
Alfie Joey
Alfie Moore
Ali Cook
Alice Frick
Alison Thea-Skot
Alistair Barrie
Alistair McGowan
Alistair Williams
Alun Cochrane
Alyssa Kyria
Amadeus Martin
Amateur Transplants
Amir Khoshsokhan
Amy Hoggart
An Audience With Peter
Ancient Annie
Andi Osho
Andre Vincent
Andrea Hubert
Andrew Bird
Andrew Crawford
Andrew Doyle
Andrew Lawrence
Andrew Maxwell
Andrew McBurney
Andrew Murrell
Andrew O'Neill
Andrew Ryan
Andrew Stanley
Andrew Watts
Andy Askins
Andy Bone
Andy Brough
Andy Clark
Andy Kind
Andy Learmonth
Andy Linden
Andy Parsons
Andy Robinson
Andy Sir
Andy Smart
Andy Storey
Andy Vaughan
Andy Watson
Andy White
Andy Zaltzman
Angela Barnes
Angelo Tsarouchas
Angelos Epithemiou
Angie Le Mar
Angie McEvoy
Anil Desai
Anna Crilly
Anna Devitt
Anna Freyberg
Anna Keirle
Anne Gildea
Anne Wilks
Annette Fagon
Anthony Ayton
Anthony J Brown
Anthony Jeselnik
Anthony King
Anvil Springstien
Archie Kelly
Ardal O'Hanlon
Arj Barker
Armando Iannucci
Arnab Chanda
Arnold Bolt
Arnold Brown
Arthur Smith
Asher Treleaven
Ava Vidal
Ayesha Hazarika
Ali Cook
Date Of Birth: 26/04/1975
Beheading a chicken and a duckOn 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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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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Ali Cook: Principles and Deceptions |
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 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. |
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| Date of live review: Monday 22nd Aug, '11 | |
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Review by Steve Bennett |
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 Sunday 8th Aug, '10- | |
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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 |
Ali Cook: A Touch Of Vegas
Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Ali Cook: Pieces Of Strange
Edinburgh Fringe 2011
Ali Cook: Principles And Deceptions
