How one conjurer used sleight of hand to fake a good review

He’s a magician, so maybe we should expect a little sleight of hand…

But James Phelan – the nephew of Paul Daniels – has conjured up a very dubious review quote to promote his new tour, The Greatest Magician.

And we can reveal exactly how it’s done.

The magician, who previously appeared on Britain’s Got Talent is advertising his new show with a coveted five-star rating from Chortle.

That piqued our interest, as we’ve never actually reviewed his act – let alone awarded it the sought-after top marks.

Those stars are accompanied by the gushing quote attributed to us: ‘There’s a moment people will remember for the rest of their lives.’

Which have appeared on this website.

In an article written by James Phelan.

And they weren’t even about himself – that would surely be immodest. But in a paragraph in which he stated the lasting impact that comedy and magic can have on audience members if done right.

Yet Phelan has chosen to use this sentence about a hypothetical scenario, which he wrote himself, to pretend to be an endorsement of his own work by this website.

Do we approve? As his famous uncle would have said, ‘not a lot’.

Published: 31 Jan 2022