When he was 18, [Cox] interviewed Derren Brown for a student newspaper in Bristol. They got on well, and later Brown offered him a job as his assistant tour manager. Cox opted to stay at university. Then he put on his first show at a tiny Bristol theatre, for which he “borrowed” a couple of Brown's tricks. A magician was in the audience, and told Brown what had happened.
Cox got an e-mail from Brown. “It taught me the word ‘galling',” he says. “I had to go and look it up in the dictionary. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed.” He sent apologetic e-mails, but the two haven't met since. And when Brown visited his workplace one day - Cox's day job is working for Radio 1 - he hid until Brown had left the building. “I went through a stage when I wouldn't watch any of his stuff so I couldn't be influenced by it,” says Cox. “The only good thing about it is that it's made me find my own persona.”
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
1 comment:
Who doesn't want to imitate Derren? No one can be Derren, though. Derren has the showmanship of Derren, and that's why he can not be duplicated.
Since I was a little boy I have been obsessed with Charlatans (more along the lines of Leonardo). I have seen a few mentalists perform on stage, and they all lack the concept transitions Derren has developed as a professional.
Like Penn and Teller, you watch a show and think, "this is real," even though you know it must be something else.
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