Comedy and Scotland Editor James Macfarlane sits down with magician and mentalist Colin Cloud to discuss his new Edinburgh Fringe show After Dark, adjusting to Zoom life and why he loves Scottish audiences.
Colin Cloud! Lovely to speak to you. First, a question I’m asking more since the pandemic: how are you?
I’m in a really good place now and life is good so thank you for asking! I’ve gotten into mental health stuff a lot more since the pandemic. I’m very cognisant now of when I ask people how their day is going of knowing when someone is saying they’re fine to get on with the conversation and people who really want to talk about mental health stuff if they’re not having a great day. But I’m okay!
A little about you to start. There are so many ways to describe you: a magician, a mentalist, the real-life Sherlock Holmes, a stage artist. How would you describe yourself and your act to someone who has never seen a Colin Cloud show before?
A man who wears far too much hairspray! I think when I was younger and trying to get established and stand out especially at somewhere like the Fringe, you need that hook that people can latch on to. I used to say “Don’t call me a magician – it’s not magic!”. Now as I’ve gotten older, I don’t really mind. I think as long as you enjoy the show, it challenges the way that you think and you leave having been able to switch off and enter my world for 60 minutes, I’m happy. All of the titles you mentioned still apply. There is magic, there’s mentalism but I don’t want people thinking it’s psychic. It’s all of the above but I really fundamentally hope that it’s just thoroughly entertaining and people are wowed for 60 minutes in a multitude of different ways depending on what it is they’re looking to get out of it.
British audiences probably first saw you audition on BGT, performing under your real name. The vibe was quite different then. What was your creative process for creating the Colin Cloud persona that we see today?
So, the name change came down to pronunciation. Whenever I performed in America they’d say “Please welcome Colin…Mc-lee-odd?” So, the name change was largely just for ease, and I changed it to “Cloud”. The alliteration and the same number of letters looked good on posters.
When it comes to the persona, obviously, Derren Brown is huge in the UK and parts of the world, so when I was younger and trying to stand out and be different I thought about what Derren wouldn’t do and what did I love. At the time I was doing a lot of sketch comedy with The Colour Ham at The Stand Comedy Club every other week and I thought I’d play more to that vibe and try and make sure that what I’m doing is unlike Derren. At the same time, I wasn’t sure if it was fully me either. It was a question of thinking “What is my Colin approach to these mentalist routines?” The shift in persona was me discovering who I was, what I was passionate about, what I wanted share with an audience and just being aware of the fact that when people pay to see you on a stage, you should be giving of yourself and being as honest as you can. Certainly, this new show is the most honest thing I’ve ever written and performed. It's not just me standing up, showing off and being clever anymore, it’s very much an honest, vulnerable show.
Speaking of your show, you’re here at this year’s Fringe with your latest show After Dark. One of the bits I read in the press release that scares me says “Warning: This show contains spoilers about your future!” What can audiences expect from this show?
Well, what I can tell you is that the show has already started for everyone that’s attending. It started months ago and they don’t even know it yet. Every show I do, I try and make sure it’s completely different to things I’ve done before. This show is about looking at knowing and predicting your own future in the most logical way. If you could know, would you want to know? It looks at that from a point of view that I don’t think people will be expecting.
How long does it usually take you to prepare and create a show like this? Is there a specific way you like to work?
Usually at the Edinburgh Fringe, what I love to do is the first week or two of August, I’d be perfecting the show that I was doing that year and then I think “What do I wish I was doing instead?!” I start bullet pointing new things that would be cool to do and I get little snippets of ideas. Then, typically, I would be on tour with “The Illusionists” show in America where I’d be performing two or three 15 minutes spots over the course of an evening, so I’ve got so much free time. I’d just be writing for 6 months and I’d try and find time to come back and do some warm up shows to try out the concepts and ideas. This show is very different though because there was a pandemic! I love America and I love performing here, but the Fringe is my performing home. It’s where I grew up and earned my chops – I’ve really missed it! I wanted to come back to Edinburgh and do a show, but what would that show be? Thinking this, it opened up a part of my brain that I never thought would open for a show. The problem with a magic or mentalist show is that you’re trying to connect with the audience through deception and lies, so when you’re doing this, it doesn’t quite click. When you watch comedy, for example, it feels like you’re connecting through truth – it’s relatable. It's not the same when you watch a magician. This time I wanted to find a way to go back to my roots of connecting with an audience in the most genuine way possible. It’s about being as honest, vulnerable and real as you can be. When you are sharing peoples’ secrets, you can tell them anything and everything about themselves, it’s nice that they feel like you’re on the same level by giving that of yourself as well. For what the backbone of the show is, I think it’s more relevant than it’s ever been to any of my shows before.
What’s some of the feedback that you’ve had to some previews of the show?
It’s been great. I’m very aware what people want out of an hour of their time at the Fringe. I did the first show in February in Glasgow. The feedback for the main backbone of the show was unlike any feedback I’ve been given for any show before because of the way that it impacts people. The messages I got after it were amazing. Without giving too much away, one person messaged me after that show and said, “Hey listen, there should probably be a trigger warning with the show”.There’s nothing horrendous in the show, but I’m talking about stuff that’s impacted me and will impact other people. It’s just about being aware of that going in. The show is comedic, uplifting and fun, but there’s also very real stuff being shared in this show. I don’t think people expected that. The fact I’m able to articulate certain things in the show makes it more powerful than anything I’ve done before.
You’ve said before that one of your favourite places to workshop material is in Glasgow because if it works there, it’ll work for audiences all round the world. What is it about Glasgow audiences or Scottish audiences in general that you love?
I think people in America are more open and comfortable with sharing their emotions and expressing themselves, especially in New York, LA and San Francisco, and I love that. In Glasgow and Scotland, even in the UK, I think people cage their emotions and won’t express exactly what they’re thinking. Performing in a place like Wild Cabaret in Glasgow where people are getting drinks, ordering food, coming in late, I knew that if material captured attention there, it would work anywhere. Performing that same material on Broadway stages is very different. Glasgow audiences are very honest, loving but they’re very tough. Once you learn how the material can break those barriers and illicit the reactions and responses you want, when you can do it in Glasgow, it can be done anywhere.
You’ve been a part of so many shows, both solo and as part of a group. How is the creative process working on and creating a show with other magic minds as opposed to just you?
I’ve been so fortunate to travel the world with amazing magicians. The magicians on The Illusionists tour are considered some of the greats in the magic world. People like Kevin James, who was on the Britain’s Got Talent: Ultimate Magicians episode with me, he and I toured the world for five years together. He’s written some of the best books on magic. There’s Jeff Hobson, who in my opinion is the best comedy magician on the planet. People might not know these names, but these are the guys who many magicians would look up to. To be able to spend as much time with them as I have, and to have them watch me do my acts over and over and give input and ideas, it’s just like “Holy shit!” because to an extent, you can’t buy this training and coaching from these guys. That’s been incredible. I’ve always tried to surround myself with people who are better than me, which means I’m always trying to improve. Being around people like them helps creatively, as a motivator and as a reminder of why I’m there and why I’m doing this.
The show I’m doing now Limitless with Shin Lim (who won America’s Got Talent, twice!) has been great and I’m able to learn so much by studying people like Shin and watching them hundreds of times do their act and learn the nuances. It’s a training that I don’t think many people will ever get. But to apply those learnings of theatre, timing and rhythm of performance create unique moments. When I then do my own show, I get to take my interpretation of that and create something that is unlike anything I would have thought of on my own.
How does it feel to be a name that people look up to?
It’s pretty insane! Real people love the show, but reviews from magicians in the magic world are very positive. It’s a big responsibility. I’m honoured and it’s crazy to think that this little boy from the middle of nowhere in Scotland is now on a Las Vegas stage and has a reputation. I used to be so shy at school and scared that the teacher would pick on me! I flash forward 20 years and now I’m here, it’s mad! I’m trying to learn to be more present and appreciate this. When magicians do come to the show, especially younger ones, being able to spend time with them and answer their questions is great. In any sense, to be someone to lead the way for them is great and long may it continue.
Back during the pandemic, obviously theatres were closed, you would have had a lot of shows cancelled. How was the process of bringing the Colin Cloud experience to Zoom?
Well, how it started was Shin and I were in middle America and we had our show cancelled that night. The tour manager phoned and said the next show would be cancelled. Shin and I were in a hotel room ordering Indian food which – no lie – was dropped off in a Corona box! This was before anyone was even making those jokes! We were flown home and my manager phoned me and asked if I wanted to do a show online for people and I said, “That’s never going to work!” We had thought The Mirage in Vegas was only going to be closed for four weeks and then we were going back. My manager told me that from everything he was hearing, it was going to be at least six months. I had just moved my entire life here and I thought, “Shit, what do I do for work now?!” So, I agreed to the show and had ten days to work out what the hell I would do to make it work. Thankfully, I’m very good at problem-solving and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn when I say that I was one of the people pioneering and leading the way with how to do magic and mentalism online. Usually, I’ve got the methods in my head for how I do the stuff and the stories I want to tell with it. With Zoom shows, I had to start over and create a whole new toolbox of tools before I could even start building with them. Very quickly it became a question of how was I able to still read minds through the screen and write a full show around it that people still wanted to watch. I had to make it feel like people were still connected. I had to think about the benefits of Zoom and how I could incorporate them. One of my opening lines was, “The two places you should feel safest in the world are your home and your own mind…and sadly for you now, I’m in both”. Now I’ve done well over 1000 online performances over the last 3 years. I’m very lucky that I know people in the film industry who’ve helped me with what cameras to buy and what lighting to use. By the end, I really enjoyed Zoom shows! I could just walk down the hall and be at work! Once I knew what I was doing, that it worked and that people were enjoying it, it became an enjoyable process. I am insanely proud of what I created.
My final question, do you have any particular shows that you’re excited about seeing this August or any hot tips for more magic shows?
I’ve heard nothing but great things about Mike Birbiglia’s show. I’d love to go, but he’s at McEwan Hall the night after I finish, so I won’t see him! Magic-wise, Ben Hart. I love Ben. He’s such a creative guy. He’s been behind the scenes of so many of the best magic shows over the years and to see him excel over the last few years has been great. He is someone that I trust to look at something and work out weird visual ways of making it different and feel bigger. I can assure you whatever Ben is doing is worthy of your time.
