Rob Bailey has returned to Oxford with his show The Columbo of Mumbo Jumbo. In many ways this show is the comedic version of Stephen Law’s book Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole. It was ironic that Professor Law was one of several plucked out of the audience in Rob Bailey’s quest to find the ‘Chosen One’. Law’s chosen number was ‘3’, presumably subconsciously showing his belief in the Trinity...

There is much to like about Rob’s show – his easy patter, the appropriate ‘special effects’ and of course the tricks/psychic divinations. For me, though, the most satisfying aspect was how I felt that really I (and about 70 others) were having a private show, with someone pretending to explain the paranormal. Rob takes us on a journey through reiki, spirit guides, homeopathy, ESP and Freudian psychoanalysis.

In fact Freud’s spirit clearly manifested itself by entering (though I know not how) the body and mind of one of the members of the audience. The various crude drawings and gross misunderstandings of perfectly plain letters that this hapless person showed was clear evidence of this. It also allowed Rob to deliver several excellent one-liners.

Another aspect of the show – as with Derren Brown – was the ‘mistakes’. I say ‘mistakes’ with the caveat that maybe they were not mistakes at all. The misplacing of the ‘throbbing’, the mistake over ‘nibbles’ and the misreading of ‘bird’ – were they mistakes or simply misdirection?

Should people go to the show? Most certainly ‘yes’ if they like ‘quiet comedy’ rather than the dazzling showmanship of Derren Brown. ‘Yes’ if they want 70 minutes or so of entertainment that will make them laugh – and think. ‘Yes’ if they want to feel part of the show, as there is quite a lot of audience participation.