Smash hit

“When I was in college my girlfriend was studying psychology: I started reading all her books and that’s when I started mixing psychology with magic,” he says. “Now I mix all the different arts: not just psychology but hypnosis, magic, neuro-linguistic programming, body-language techniques, persuasive conditioning.

“I’ve read up in all these different areas a lot and tried to adapt them to fit in with what I do as an entertainer. It’s like learning the guitar: after a while you get confident enough to write your own stuff.”

If Barry started to look beyond the realms of conventional conjuring, he similarly eschewed the usual career path of Irish magicians from early on.

“There were two rules that I made myself very early, when I was in college,” he says. “One, I would never do kids’ parties again if I was to get into it full-time. And the second thing was that I would have to get a regular pay packet. I didn’t want to be one of these people — and every magician has to do it — who sits by the phone hoping for a gig. So that pretty much ruled out becoming a professional magician in Ireland. But because I set myself those goals I ended up making them happen.”

Barry continued to work at his day job even while performing at the Kitchen, until he was spotted by the co-owner of the Champion sports chain, who offered him a full- time promotional job. He then teamed up with Maguire before landing his television series. But if Barry’s confidence is bulletproof when selling himself to others, he says he is not cocky when it comes to his more death-defying tricks.

“I always get nervous, especially when I’m doing some of the bigger stunts like the hangman stunt or driving the car blindfolded. No matter what method you think I’m using, there’s always an element of danger in those things: a lot of magicians have been injured and even killed doing these stunts. You always have to maintain your composure, but if you lose that nervousness or doubt, that’s when you’re going to have an accident.”

The impact of such tricks means that there is a natural temptation to try to top each stunt with something even more spectacular or ambitious, leading to the kind of overkill that now surrounds the tedious David Blaine. But despite his ratings success with Close Encounters, Barry says he is aware of the dangers of overexposure.

“I probably would have a shelf life if I stayed in Ireland and just kept doing TV. So you do what I did this year; I’ve only had two years on RTE and I’m not doing a third series.”

He finds the profession of magic here “very bitchy” and while remaining based in Dublin has spent much of the past few years in Los Angeles, building up a publicity team and finagling himself into the Hollywood celebrity set (his one-off MTV special came about after a network executive saw Barry at a nightclub entertaining the likes of Jack Osbourne and Paris Hilton). What is surprising, however, is Barry’s belief that his association with U2 via Principle Management has not been an important factor in his rise.

“U2 have nothing to do with me,” he says. “I’m managed by the same management company but that’s it. Principle are there in the background and they help out with everything I do. If I’m really honest, it’s more to do with me and Eamonn grafting and using the contacts he had already built there than anything else.”

Nevertheless, Barry’s determination to break America through relentless spadework and media schmoozing recalls the Dublin band at their most single-minded. Whether Barry can make it is another thing, but having recently performed high-profile one-off shows in the US he is eyeing a Las Vegas residency as his next goal. It’s a long way from performing tricks in a nightclub queue yet Barry is ready to jump to the top of the line.

“I want to be considered — more by the public than the magic community — as the best of the best,” he says. “But fame for its own sake is just s***. If you’re an entertainer, I think the only reason you should want fame is that it measures your level of success. And money? I think anyone would be stupid to say, ‘I’m not in it for the money’ as well. But the main thing is just to have a job that I love doing and to keep doing that. ”

Keith Barry: UCH, Limerick, Wed; Vicar St, Dublin, Thu & Fri; Forum, Waterford, Sat