Kiwi comedy magician Jarred Fell – “making the possible possible” – is a bogan Paul Daniels, equipped with a sarcastic wit, a filthy mouth, and a box full of signed naked selfies for lucky crowd members.

We’re promised more comedy than tricks, and we’re assured that half the tricks will probably fail, but are warned that ultimately that will be our own fault for not playing along properly. It’s a great conceit that lulls the audience into a false sense of security and superiority: under-promise, over-deliver and be as rude about it as possible, all while delivering a terrific hour of magic.

Fell is a whip-smart comedian who cracks through the gags at an impressively relentless pace, to the extent that you’d have to attend twice to get your head around everything that’s going on (a good marketing ploy). He is also a masterful improviser who adeptly incorporates (and often abuses) the offers of the audience.

The night I attend the ‘volunteers’ from the audience seem far more up for it than your usual staid Christchurch ringers, which adds a terrific sense of spontaneity to the proceedings. The seeming casualness with which things are incorporated and then referred back to belies the skill with which the magic tricks are constructed, so that even the best reveals are often smeared with a fair amount of belligerence and sweary bathos. 

The Little Big Top at the World Buskers Festival is a good sized venue for this show, as even the slightest of visual or physical jokes can still be made out.  Given the crassness of the content I’m surprised he’s been programmed so early in the evening, as this is most certainly a post-watershed show, and those younger members of the audience probably got far more of an education than they were expecting. 

Fell is an equal-opportunity offender, so for me the adolescent vulgarity of his off-colour gags, which are frequently at his own expense, tips well past offensive and into mischievous silliness. The audience is totally onside from the outset, but while I have a fantastic time sniggering away happily, the coarseness of the big reveal of a disappearing card trick at the end feels far less justified than many of the other cracks. Your mileage may vary.

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Jarred Fell has quickly become one of New Zealand’s most in demand and reliably entertaining comic acts. With his quick wit, sarcastic humour and flashy magical acts, an hour in Fell’s presence always goes fast and his latest offering (and his last in New Zealand for some years), Possible, is no exception.

On for one night only in both Auckland and Wellington, Possible features the conventions of Fell’s act that have almost become trademarks: terrifying audience participation and tricks which are seemingly impossible. Deftly dealing with mousetraps, card tricks and a whole lot more, the audience are in awe the entire night, and Fell sustains the laughter throughout.

What makes Fell such an enjoyable watch is his ability to lull the audience and his oft-unsuspecting participants into a false sense of security (or occasional insecurity, such as during the almost unbelievable pick-pocketing sequence). We are taken on a journey through each segment, and the pay-off or punchline is always worthwhile. 

If I have one complaint about the performance, it would be that while the Q Theatre’s Rangatira room still feels relatively intimate, I feel that Fell is better suited to smaller venues and this show may have benefited from several nights at The Classic, for example, rather than one at Q. But this, certainly, takes away nothing from what is a clever, engaging and overall excellent performance by one of New Zealand’s best.

While it may take a few years for Fell to be a regular performer on our shores again, we can only hope it isn’t quite that long. Catch this seasoned performer as soon as you can!

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