Daredevil to sky dive in a straitjacket
Wednesday July 30 2008
Irish daredevil Keith Barry says the prospect of soon becoming a father won't stop him doing his stunts.
The illusionist's latest plan is to jump out of a plane wearing a straitjacket, a dangerous and risky feat.
And the popular magician (31) vowed he won't let becoming a father next month get in the way of his crazy stunts.
"I'll die doing tricks but I'd rather go that way than any other," he said.
"This is what I do. I come up with an idea and I just do it -- I don't think of the danger."
Keith says that he won't change career despite the great responsibility he'll take on next month when he becomes a father.
"I can't change who I am, and I'd rather die doing what I love," the father-to-be said.
Keith is currently gearing up for a death-defying stunt to promote a new TV show that could leave the Waterford-born illusionist splattered on the pavement.
"I'm going to jump out of an airplane with a straitjacket over the parachute. I have to escape the jacket before I hit the cement.
"It is probably the most dangerous stunt I have ever attempted but you have to keep raising your game," he said.
The magician is famous for his wild, death-defying acts, and he plans to better the stunts he has performed so far in his career.
"I'm not quite as good as Jesus yet, but I'm getting there. I can open stigmata wounds on my hand."
busy
The prospective dad has been very busy lately, having just completed a sold out tour of his live show "Keith Barry -- Extraordinary" in Ireland.
The Waterford magician will play the Olympia in September as part of the Bulmers International Comedy Festival on September 3 and 8.
Recently, Keith spoke out about his anger at the lenient penalty imposed on the driver involved in his horror car smash.
He sustained serious leg injuries and was facing possible paralysis after another car collided with his Subaru Voyager outside Newry on the way back to Dublin from promoter Jim Aiken's funeral.
"The guy who ploughed into us got a one-week driver-improvement scheme and that was it -- that's the decision they came to. I would have liked a more detailed explanation, to be honest," he said.
- - Geraldine Gittens
