#189 - Noel Britten, Magician & Humanitarian

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Scott Wells
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#189 - Noel Britten, Magician & Humanitarian

Postby Scott Wells » September 18th, 2014, 7:01 pm

U.K. comedy magician, Noel Britten, is finding less and less humor in the world today. He and his wife spend six months out of each year working with orphaned orangutans for International Animal Rescue in Ketapang, Indonesia. The rest of the year back in Bath, England where he conducts a walking tour called "Bizarre Bath" for tourists and includes lots of magic along the way.

Noel has performed in comedy clubs around England as well as at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival as well as performing street magic. In addition to humbly talking about his humanitarian efforts, he gives us some insight to how to set up a "walk" in your area plus some ideas for getting tips on the street and thoughts on the Fringe Festival.

You can hear it all on this week's podcast on The Magic Word at: http://themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwel ... el-britten You can also see photos plus see a link to the International Animal Rescue website where you are urged to donate if you can. Of course you can always download the podcast through the iTunes store...even if you don't have the new iPhone. :)
Visit The Magic Word at http://themagicwordpodcast.com/

Noel Britten
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Re: #189 - Noel Britten, Magician & Humanitarian

Postby Noel Britten » September 18th, 2014, 8:23 pm

It was great talking with Scott, but I certainly feel as uneasy as being labelled with the term humanitarian as much as calling someone who drops a few dollars into a charity tin a philanthropist. Whilst we certainly give up a reasonable amount of time to be out here in Borneo there are people who do SO much more for not only this cause but others as well that I'm not really sure I merit the nomenclature.

As Scott mentions above, one of the side effects of doing this work was that I've stopped performing in comedy clubs - while not the sole reason, it was certainly a significant part as entertaining large groups of drunk people with a (barely concealable!) conscious mind set of 'you people have no idea of what's going on in the world' became way less appealing. Luckily I had Bizarre Bath to fall back on but I think 'burn out' and ways to avoid/overcome it is a subject that is seldom talked about.

Certainly the regular answers of changing material and getting back to one's roots helps, but little is talked about if it is the market that one is in, and that one has got bored or burnt out on that particular 'audience' itself. Whilst some people feel can jump from doing a kids party in the afternoon to a sophisticated corporate event in the evening and a raucous comedy club the next day I've never bought into the idea of a Jack of all trades or General Practioner theory so I'd be especially interested in hearing from people who tend to specialise in just one market.

Summing up what does one do if you spend all your time in one market and that market suddenly becomes personally less appealing - is there any hope or is a question of back to square one in a new market?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: #189 - Noel Britten, Magician & Humanitarian

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 18th, 2014, 8:55 pm

Shouldn't Noel rightly be called an "Orangutarian"?
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Joe Mckay
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Re: #189 - Noel Britten, Magician & Humanitarian

Postby Joe Mckay » September 19th, 2014, 2:16 am

I can't wait to listen to this.

I have heard a few interviews with Noel before and he is a fascinating guy.

I love the way he analyses and deconstructs the nature of show business. And the different trade offs that are involved with success.

Plus he has one of the best comedy acts I have ever seen.

Mike Remington
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Re: #189 - Noel Britten, Magician & Humanitarian

Postby Mike Remington » September 19th, 2014, 3:41 am

I look forward to listening to this one. I took the Bizarre Bath tour about four years ago. It was very good. For the rest of the trip to Bristol and Oxford, my daughter and I kept pointing out to each other examples of the work of an architect that he kept commenting on in Bath.

I heard a good podcast interview with him a few years ago where the interviewer pointed out that it was a bit unusual that orangutans needed the help of a comedian from Bristol to learn how to survive in the rainforest.

Noel - If you transit through Kuala Lumpur on your way to or from Borneo, I'd be happy to arrange for a group of people to take you out for some meals and/or drinks.


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