The Billet Article - Joe Pasquale

Joe Pasquale

and special guest Wayne Dobson

From the moment he arrived on stage, Joe had the audience laughing at his antics, One of his opening quips was so funny that I shall keep it for myself and use it at some future opportune moment - provided I don't forget it, of course! In his opening spot Joe performed the Bandana Trick, which I am sure we have all seen dazzling Darren use to great effect. Joe's version went down exceptionally well, particularly when the banana actually vanished at the end.

Joe went offstage and then returned carrying someone on a chair, covered in a cloth. This turned out to be Wayne Dobson, who proceeded to explain about his MS, and then had the rest of the first half to himself, probably about 25 minutes. He threw a pack of cards, held together by an elastic band, into the audience and had three individuals flick through the cards and note a card.

He then got each of them to stand up and he called out the name of three cards, At the end he asked each person to sit down if they had heard the name of their card called out - they all did. Following a number of gags, Wayne got two gents up onto the stage with him. He borrowed a £20 note from one spectator, which the lender signed before handing over. He borrowed £1 from the other spectator. After various gags, the £20 note vanished. During this process the second spectator just named a card. The finale of the effect saw the £20 note and named card end up inside a purse which had been in the second spectators pocket throughout. The end result was arrived at whilst Wayne was doing his voices bit, with the larger gentleman, who played along excellently, having the light voice. Wayne thanked Joe for inviting him to tour with him, at which point Joe reappeared, dressed in an American Naval ouffit, and carried Wayne off the stage to close the first half.

The second half was all Joe Pasquale. An hour of mayhem. I did make some notes at the show, but managed to lose them - probably a bit like Joe Pasquale! However, bits I can remember were using coat hangers for linking rings - that didn't manage to link; and using the Supreme item "Hands Off', where he gave away the effect when his assistant allowed the blade hiding his hand to fall away (mind you, I always thought that the effect was pretty transparent with the rubber hand provided).

When we were chatting with Paul & Julie at the interval, in between licking away at our ice creams, Paul mentioned that he had seen Joe buying a full size model of a speed camera at the Blackpool Convention and we wondered how he would use it. We found out in the second half. Joe said that he normally brought his camera along to take a photo of the audience, but he had forgotten it, so he had been out and bought a disposable one - yes, out came the speed camera. He asked one of the youngsters on the front row to run backwards and forwards as fast as he could! - whereupon the speed camera flashed! Joe said the pictures would be along shortly and they would have 28 days to pay for it!

He got a lady on the stage to help and then proceeded to paint a picture of her upside down on a large sheet of paper. When the paper was over, the picture was the Mona Lisa.

At one point cards shot out of a top hat, whereby Joe commented that he wouldn't be doing that trick that evening. Whether this was intentional, or it just went off at the wrong time, I never did work out. He had a "bird" in a cage, which he covered and carried to the centre of the stage. He threw the sheet into the air, and the birdcage fell onto the floor!

Finally Joe tore up some paper and performed Snowstorm in China, with more “snow” floating over the audience at the front from a machine at the top of the stage. With that Joe left the stage to a very loud and prolonged round of applause. Leaving the theatre, we could still hear people chuckling over his antics. It was the first time we had seen Joe Pasquale, but it won't be the last. Next time go and see him, it's much better than sitting in watching the tele!