At a quarter to midnight last Tuesday, I was still wide awake.
Just as well really, because I was driving back home with a takeaway.
That, friends, was an example of how a joke, like a magician’s trick, can deceive. You assumed I was wide awake, sat up in bed, then, “Hey Presto!” I pulled the rug from under you by revealing I was in my car.
Although, as it was a joke I made up, I wasn’t really.
Confused? I’ll be asking questions later.
Regular readers will recall I explained how I thought jokes are similar to magic tricks a couple of years ago.
This idea popped back into my head recently when I was watching magician supremo Paul Daniels on a repeat of the 1970s TV show “The Wheeltappers And Shunters Social Club” on Talking Pictures TV.
As an aside, the fact that, with so many ‘glossy, exciting, amazing’ (according to the publicity bods) new TV series arriving on terrestrial, digital and streaming week in and week out, I chose to watch a 50-year-old TV show, says a lot . . . about me, mainly!
I believe it was Paul’s first appearance on national TV and was first broadcast in a primetime Saturday night slot.
Taking that into account, what I found even more astonishing than the obvious wig which he wisely ditched when he became a star, was the phenomenal confidence he exuded for an unknown performer making his TV debut.
Magic tricks and props can often go wrong, especially when a magician interacts with audience members, but Paul not only appeared to be completely at ease with the crowd, he had the audacity to keep up a constant flow of gags, quips and mock insults.
This   comedy ‘patter’ diverts attention from the magician’s sleight of hand and Paul demonstrated how skilled he was at both.
I’ve no idea what prompted me to talk about Paul this particular week, but when I checked to see when he left us, I discovered it’ll be 10 years ago next week. March17th!
I’d try convincing you this was a coincidence . . . if I believed in coincidences.