The Outta Control Magic comedy dinner show is in its 25th year at the International Drive attraction Wonderworks Orlando. The family-friendly production offers an unlimited pizza and salad menu and features longtime magician Tony Brent or other performers.
The attraction focuses on edutainment, but also features laser tags, rope courses, art galleries, extreme weather belts and dinner shows.
Brent’s magical journey is wounded from West Tennessee through Walt Disney World through I-drive’s upside-down building. He was an outta control performer from the beginning, and was also his producer from the early points. He sat in the first floor room where the show happens every night and talked with the Orlando Sentinel about the show’s roots, attention span, British fans, and more.
Orlando Sentinel: Have you been here from the beginning? How did you start?
Tony Brent: It was the idea of (founder) John Morgan. He is a fan of magic. This was a party room. They tried a few different things that didn’t work here. So he had the idea of doing a comedy magic show. That’s how the whole thing started.
OS: So, did you answer the ads for the paper?
TB: I came here in ’99 to work at Disney, and I was working at Hollywood Studios at the time. Do you remember the blue sheet? Well, I moved here and subscribed to the blue sheet…and there was an ad for the magician. So I called out the number and talked to this gentleman, and that was the end. Later I found out he came to Disney to see me play. I’m one of the people in the Street Miss Pair and I also pre-showed “Fantasmic.”
This guy came and saw me, then they called me, then we had a meeting and they offered me a job. It was originally called The Night of Wonder and was a scripted show about the magician and his assistant. His assistant is in love with him. He doesn’t understand that. She was a singer, so she sang on shows. There was even a live keyboard player who played music. …It was an original show, but the audience thought it was just for adults because of the romance angle. So there was the problem of marketing it the right way. So, after about a year and a half, we decided to change the whole thing as a group. …
I was able to hire another companion named Danny Devanny, who I had known since the early 90s. We worked in many other places before Florida, so he joined us and it became a two-person show with more comedy than magic. And one of the owners said we couldn’t control it.
OS: Where did you move from?
TB: I lived in Tennessee and mostly toured. I did all sorts of things when colleges, corporate events and comedy clubs were popular. I was here once before and auditioned for Disney, but didn’t get it. And my buddy – Danny Devanny, who I just mentioned – was working here at Disney. They had a place to fill, so he called me. I got off, auditioned and got it.
OS: What else has changed?
TB: Danny eventually left when he built another mysterious work in Pigaon Forge (Tennessee). He went there and worked for one of them. I stayed here to do this. It was still a show for two for a while, but in the end I was working with a couple who decided to do a cruise ship. I decided to try it myself, so it’s been a first person show ever since.
OS: How did the magic change from the beginning?
TB: The trick has been shortened. Some of them were on the show from the beginning, but before that it was only 12 minutes. I’m now five years old. So, like in the movies, things have become faster. Fast, cutscene, that’s what it is.
It wasn’t necessarily intentional. It was based on the audience and the changes in the audience over the years.
OS: Did you get to feel them nod?
TB: Just, yeah, or you’re looking at their phones and stuff like that. Therefore, it should be adjusted based on crowd feedback.
OS: Are you in conflict with your phone? Do you feel that? Isn’t it all of us?
TB: The backstage of that doesn’t bother people recording their families on stage. I don’t want to take it either. …Even if I’m interacting with people in the audience, if I’m talking to you, if they’re with someone, they’ll call them on them, you know. So I don’t want to take it from them. it’s okay. That’s a good memory.
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OS: Which trick is the biggest talker or stamper?
TB: The original I was talking about, including lemon and a $100 bill, is actually a classic magic trick from hundreds of years ago. …But it was the longest on the show, and it is probably the most talked about one. And there are some with bowling balls, which are really popular too.
OS: Is there a Heckler? Do people yell at how the trick is done? Or will you google it later?
TB: I’m sure they’re Google it. …and usually, if there’s someone screaming, I can make them on my side, right? That’s not too over.
OS: Do you change the show frequently?
TB: If I feel like I’m in a rut with something I’ve done many times, I spin things up and then put something new in it. There is also extra depending on the crowd.
OS: Are you enjoying something?
TB: Ah, that’s right. The good thing about comedy magic is that I do some things that seem to be wrong, so in the end, to do the right thing, if that means, the audience doesn’t necessarily know. It’s part of the show. And sometimes they’re not part of the show and they really don’t know. They just keep laughing.
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OS: Developed a follow in the UK. How did that happen?
TB: I don’t know how that happened. Yes, there are a few elements of the show. And I think that came from when I was a kid. I creeped up at night and watched “Monty Python” and “Benny Hill” on Sunday nights. It wasn’t intentional, but yeah, people in the UK tend to become fans.
OS: What is the biggest question people ask you?
TB: No. The first question is probably when did you start? How did you start again?
OS: So, how did you do that?
TB: Two things… There’s a guy who came to my elementary school. …He was a retired police officer. I once did a “no drug” show before saying, “When I say “drugs, no drugs.” That inspired me.
Then there was a man on local TV from Memphis who was the weatherman and magician for Channel 5. He had a show called Magic Land, and it was America’s longest-running television magic show. I think I’ve been running 26 years from Memphis, but he was a local legend. People loved him. His show aired at 10am on Sunday mornings. He had a live audience and played cartoons during his magic tricks. …
He and I became friends. …He told me everything inside after he retired.
For tickets and more information, visit Wonderworksonline.com.
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