01 April 08

Features

It’s a kind of MAGIC

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As he heads to Germany and the Netherlands, Dutch magician Hans Klok talks to Stefan Picker-Dressel about playing Las Vegas, “getting physical” with assistant Pamela Anderson and how he prepares for his off-the-wall tricks

He’s Dutch, he’s got a lustrous, blonde mullet and he’s massive. No, not in that sense of the word – before you start thinking Ryanair Magazine has been hanging out in too many of Europe’s red light districts. The man we’re talking about is legendary magician Hans Klok, the guy the Americans like to call the European David Copperfield, and whom fellow conjurers refer to as “the fastest magician in the world”.

For years he’s been one of the best-known personalities in the Netherlands and Germany – fans throw themselves at his feet – performing hugely popular live stage and TV spectaculars. He’s wowed audiences in some 59 cities across Europe, played in Monte Carlo for Princess Stephanie of Monaco, toured China in 2000 and become known to millions of football fans during the 2006 FIFA World Cup draw in Germany, when he made the 18-carat gold trophy appear out of thin air in a glass cage.

Last year, he completed a six-month, sell-out residency at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas – to play in Las Vegas is the crowning achievement for magicians.

He has even been described as the Brad Pitt of illusionists. “Oh that’s good. I love that,” he says during our interview ahead of his German tour. “I have always been the rocker among the magicians. I try to do my shows like a rock star, in venues where usually only rock stars perform.” And, like a rock star, he attracts hot starlets to his side. Whom did he have as his practically naked assistant on stage throughout the Las Vegas show? None other than Pamela Anderson, Hollywood pin-up girl extraordinaire.

“On all the Las Vegas cabs there was my name besides Pamela’s… and her name helped me, of course, because she’s a big star,” Klok explains.

“We had to have something special to get the attention of the US media when we took the Faster Than Magic show to Las Vegas, so I thought it would be great to have a fantastic woman as one of my assistants. Originally, we had Carmen Electra, but there was no chemistry between us and she had trouble performing the trick, so I asked Pamela and she said: ‘I can’t dance and sing, but I might be able to assist a magician’. We practised 12 hours a day over two weeks and performed two shows a day, four days a week. Everybody probably thinks she is blonde and a sex symbol, so she must be stupid. But she is very clever and if she gives a commitment she sticks to it.”

Sadly, Pammy is not accompanying Klok back to Europe, but he does have three other highly attractive and semi-naked assistants to keep the glam factor high, so no worries on that front!

Not that Klok himself is into girls. He’s been openly gay for years, and has been in a relationship with partner Frank for the last 15. But in Vegas, he kept it quiet until his show was well on its way to financial success. Rumours even circulated in the US media that Pamela was pregnant for the third time and he was the father, after an appearance on Howard Stern’s radio show. The pair even admitted to “getting physical” behind the scenes before the magic extravaganza – merely another publicity ploy.