Magicman007: Recently the magic community tragically lost your Monkey Magic co-star Pete McCahon. I was just wondering if you had any fond memories of him that you'd care to share with us? I never got to see him perform live but from Monkey Magic and 50 Greatest..... he seemed to be full of character.

Also, how did the name 'Tufty' come about?

Pete Firman: Thanks for your question. I'm sorry you never got to see Pete perform live, he was great, I know you would have loved it.

He was a very special person and a great friend. I'll always remember him calling me before anyone else to welcome me to the MM crew. He offered to let me stay at his place, he showed me round London, took me out for meals. Things that to Pete were just the things you do for people.

Not many magicians know how much youth work Pete did, he would travel hundreds of miles to entertain groups of youngsters often for very little money, just to help out. I miss him very much.

Tufty came about because of my hair really. One of the guys just called me it one day and it kind of stuck.

Adsalamon: According to a few females I know you are "so cute" etc. So how’s it like being the new magical sex symbol?

Pete Firman: Its a burden, but I manage to live with it.

Nezza: Several questions!

How do you enjoy making the show?

What have the viewing figures been like for Dirty Tricks so far and have Channel 4 made a decision on a re-commission?

Pete Firman: Making Dirty Tricks was a blast. Its so much fun and I get to hang out with my best mates and the worlds greatest magicians. I actually enjoy the early stages of the process as much as shooting the stuff. All sitting around in a room saying "Wouldn’t it be cool if...", and then figuring out a way to achieve that.

The viewing figures have been good by all accounts, particularly taking into account we're up against Jonathan Ross on BBC1, who is on at the same time. As far as a re-commission goes, who knows? I know Channel 4 love the show and I'd love to do it again, but it is a hugely expensive show to make, particularly because of my fee, but I figure I'm worth it! Time will tell...

Graham Nichols: OK, now we've got the girlie questions out of the way, let's get stuck into the meaty stuff.

Most of the kids on this forum enjoyed the show. What was your production brief? Who was the show aimed at?

By now, you'll have read some of the postings regarding the show on this forum and know that the majority of adults here though that it stank. I personally found it juvenile, wasting the talents of the participating performers. The swearing added nothing to the magic. Ok, there will always be the meat-heads in any audience who will laugh at any swearing like Pavlov's dogs. But these are usually the same individuals who went the wrong way 'round the roundabout on the way to the studio.v

For me, the show did nothing for magic at all. Magicians are constantly wining for greater respect, but then shoot themselves in the foot with an offering such as this.

I'd appreciate hearing your perspective.

Skorpion: As a younger magician myself in our circle the "older" folks tend to look down on our take on certain tricks, I hear the phrase "what happened to the Classic routine"

I enjoy bringing tricks and effects into the 21st century have you ever had this problem?

Pete Firman: Hi Graham. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the show. I've no idea how old you are, but I'm guessing by 'Kids' you meant late teens? Anyway. DT was aimed at the 16-35 year old market (roughly speaking). Our brief was to make an alternative entertainment show that would appeal to that market that was in keeping with Channel 4's late Friday night tone (Bo Selecta, The Osbournes, Spoons, Peep Show, Balls of Steel, The Word).

I disagree with your main point that the swearing added nothing to the magic. I believe a swear word correctly placed in a line or gag can break the tension involved in a trick and give a routine texture I.e. I have just pushed a second needle through my arm, the audience and Mylene are grossed out. “Look, two pricks in the same hole!” Big laugh. Go to any Comedy Club and you will see this used all the time, in fact if you do go to a Club and find not one swear word I'd be VERY surprised. Swearing, like it or not, is part of our culture and its use in entertainment was perhaps frowned upon 25 years ago, but surely not today and surely not at 10.30pm on a Friday night.

In fact this show's acceptance is comparable to the alternative comedy boom of 25 years ago, which blew the more traditional comedy away but now has become the norm. A lot of 'new styles' were not accepted at first, Paul Daniels wasn't, Penn and Teller weren't, but we have caught up eventually and now we can accept what they do as their style and we're disappointed if they don't deliver.

I think the show has done something for magic. Firstly its back on our screens and in the publics conscience, that’s a good thing. What I think is great is that DT is something completely different to Blaine and Brown. Secondly DT has inspired E4 to dedicate a whole week of magic programming with spin offs from the series as well as new specials. Thirdly we're speaking passionately about a subject we both love, we're emotional, we're thinking.

I know this response wont convert you and I expect you to disagree with everything I've said but at least I've put across my honest thoughts on the subject.

Dale Shrimpton: I think that There is nothing wrong in the line above. Its good old innuendo. A perfect example of a single entendre`. I've said much worse damning in panto and got away with it, primarily because the filth is in the viewers mind, not in your mouth.

However, use of profanity for shock, as in having Bez voice one of the animals, isn’t in the same league.

I suspect this is what has tainted Graham's view.

Graham Nichols: Pete,

I appreciate your taking the time to put across your view. While our views may differ on the subject, at least we can discuss them in a friendly way, which is what magicians are all about (hopefully).

Rene Levand said that 'Magicians should amaze first and amuse second'. I feel that DT is going for the comedy first, with the magic taking second place. Indeed, I feel that this approach disrespects the magic, reducing it to a level of stunt or playground prank. The power of magic, as you know all to well, can be a beautiful thing, which the format doesn't reflect (to me).

I understand that you are working to a brief to be inline with CH4's late-night pub crowd type slot. So, I guess my secondary question would be 'given the chance to participate in a more conventional TV magic show, would you, or is your style to be the MM/DT quirky format?'

Pete Firman: Hi Dale, the Bez voiceover in my eyes was the best of the series. Bez swears a lot, he's known for it, its his gimmick. He won Celebrity Big Brother, one of the biggest shows of last year. He swore all the time on the show, probably more than he did on DT. The reason he won BB is that people picked up the phone and voted for him, they liked him. They weren’t upset or offended by his repetitive use of the worst possible expletives. They loved it. If he hadn’t sworn in our voice over he wouldn’t have been himself.

I f**king loved it, I was p**sing me b***ard pants!

Shaun David: To be fair though, that's not saying that the public as a whole like Bez and or his swearing. That's saying that the people who watch/enjoy Big Brother and bother to actually vote via phone to change its outcome like Bez. I'd imagine that's a small minority? That said, I really enjoy DT... I enjoy a lot of the programs that come at that time on C4 and this has been a good laugh for me. I'd imagine its quite refreshing to perform the kind of routines you did in the manner you did, good job.

Tobias: Quite so, but could it be that the 'Big Brother' audience is pretty much the same as the one C4 are trying to attract with 'Dirty Tricks'? I think the days of any one show getting the majority of the entire viewing population probably went out of the window in the 80s, so the strategy is probably to target fairly narrow groups. This is borne out by what Pete said and that's pretty much what many of us had suspected.

Pete, I think your answers on this thread have been great and I hope to have time to read the rest of your guest spot soon.

I preferred Nick Frost's voiceover to Bez's, though.