If you’re not keen on magic, Pete Firman might be just the right man for the job, because apart from being notoriously good at tricks, he is also hilariously funny.

Having just returned from Edinburgh where he was doing four shows a day, he is also rather hoarse.

“Edinburgh is always like a boot camp for comedians so you have to be match fit with hours worth of material to hand,” he tells me. “And as this was my 10th year there it was quite special really.”

Ten years in the comedy business is quite something in anyone’s boot, but having to come up with new tricks as well as new joke is no laughing matter.

“You have to keep coming up with new magic because the audience may have seen your work on YouTube and want you to surprise them.

“Neither do you don’t want your show to ever feel weak or old, and I’m really conscious of that.

“But with so many shows to go and see I always think it’s a compliment when they come to mine.

“And every comedian has their own point of view and unique selling point and mine is magic.

Pete was given a magic kit for his birthday when he was eight and started doing shows immediately.

“Even then my act was always light-hearted. I never took myself too seriously and realised early on that humour went well with magic.

It wasn’t until Pete started checking out the local venues around his home in Middlesbrough that he realised he needed the comedy clubs: “People hadn’t come to see the magic so that’s how the comedy came in.

“At first the magic was just seen as a way of bolstering the comedy. But for me the magic came first and I work really hard to make my shows as fun as they are magical, which is always a challenge.

“But then there have been funny magicians, Tommy Cooper who’se tricks always went wrong accidentally on purpose.”

So hellbent was Pete on making his career in comedy, that he’s “never had a proper job, instead coming straight out of Hull University and moving to London to take part in Channel 5 magician series Monkey Magic.

“I was still fairly young and living in the big city, so I had to try hard not to burn the candle at both ends and remind myself that I was there for a reason,” he remembers.

The Secret World of Magic on Sky1 followed, Dirty Tricks a six-part series on Channel 4,

two game shows on CBBC: Stake Out and Wait for It..!, and Pete was one of the regular magicians on BBC One show The Magicians.

“Getting some TV under your belt always helps sales and I’ve done more and more of it over the years.

“They want to come and see you live to see if you are the real thing or to see if they can work out how you do the tricks by being in the audience.

“So while The TV shows get the punters through the door, after that it’s always up to you to come up with the goods. That’s how you grow a loyal audience.”

As for what you can expect from Pete’s shows, a favourite on YouTube is his infamous mouse eating trick which involves lots of blood and munching.

But I was really pleased because it went well, you iron out the creases in the preview shows in June and July.

“If it goes well you can enjoy some jaw dropping stuff and have a great time. There is some audience participation and I’m a big fan of slight-of-hand magic “But like a dancer you can fall on your arse, so Im hoping to be match fit for Chipping Norton

“It will be my first time at Chipping Norton Theatre actually which is very exciting. I always add a few new ones onto the tour every year to keep things interesting, the heady heights eh?”

Pete Firman, Wed Oct 5, 01608 642350. www.chippingnortontheatre.com