Paul Zenon
Presenter & Performer
Paul has always had a devious streak. He was eight years old when he pulled off his first sting, selling raffle tickets to the residents of his street and inventing a fictional lucky winner to avoid having to award the non-existent prize.
As a teenager, he travelled around the Mediterranean earning his living through similarly suspect practices, the more respectable of which included performing as a street magician and fire-eater and telling the fortunes of tourists ("I can see that you will be travelling in the near future . . ." etc).
On his return, Paul spent a short spell as a casino croupier before returning to his vocation of professional trickster and comedian. Since then, Paul has appeared on over a hundred television shows (including presenting four series of his own on BBC1), and performed in every conceivable location; from the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas to the hold of an aircraft carrier in the Adriatic, from the London Palladium to a clearing in the jungles of Belize, and from the Magic Castle in Hollywood to the back of a truck in a Bosnian war zone.
For over ten years Paul has specialised in corporate entertainment, performing and presenting at conferences and events world-wide, as well as being a favourite on the comedy club circuit, headlining all over Britain, the United States and, for some unaccountable reason, Denmark.
Paul produced and presented 'Magic You Can Do', a teach-yourself videotape on general retail release, and was the creator and associate producer of 'Crazy Cottage', a television game show which reached number one in the ratings in each of it's three series on the ITV network.
His one-man show was a huge hit at the '97 Edinburgh Festival, receiving much critical acclaim and five star reviews in The Scotsman, The List and The Guardian.
During 1998, Paul appeared in Arizona, Cologne and Hong Kong, performed at major theatres around Britain as part of the first Comedy Store National Tour, and was invited to appear at the Royal Television Society's annual Craft and Design Awards.
He appeared on two episodes of 'The Comedy Store', two episodes of 'Food Fight", and 'Jack Docherty Show', (all on Channel 5), 'The Basement' and 'Late Lounge' (Bravo), 'Net.Comedy' (Carlton Digital), the 'Give Your Mate a Break' pilot (ITV), and his one-man special was screened in November as part of Channel 4's 'Comedy Lab' series. In 1999 his hour-long Easter Special for Channel 4, 'Paul Zenon Turning Tricks' received rave reviews, and in the summer he appeared as performer consultant and comedy expert on the six week series of 'Give Your Mate a Break' on ITV.
Other recent TV appearances include thirteen episodes of 'Livewire' (Carlton Digital), 'Josie' (a Channel 5 chat show with Paul as the sole guest), 'The Big Stage' (Channel 5), two episodes of 'All Over The Shop' (BBC1), two episodes of 'Absolute Cobblers' (Challenge TV), 'Members Only' (Meridian), 'Comedy Café' (ITV), "The Big Breakfast" (studio guest - Channel 4), 'Live at Jongleurs' (UK Gold) and a further two appearances on 'The Comedy Store' (Channel 5).
Paul's Christmas special "Paul Zenon's Tricky Christmas" initially screened in 1999, was Channel 4's highest rating entertainment show during the festive season and was repeated at Christmas 2000 prior to his follow up special "Paul Zenon's Trick or Treat", which again received critical acclaim. Paul has changed the face of magic on television. Watch out, there's plenty more in store.