Spiegeltent, Pavilion Gardens, Brighton, Until Sunday May 23

He has performed in every conceivable location, from the London Palladium to the jungles of Belize, the Las Vegas hotels to an aircraft carrier in the Adriatic and from the Comedy Store to the back of a truck in a Bosnian war zone.

But this didn't stop Brighton-based conjurer Paul Zenon, who built a TV and stage career around visual trickery, from feeling apprehensive about his first performance in the Famous Spiegeltent.

"It's almost as though someone had thought, 'Okay, we've got a circular room covered in mirrors. Who shall we book? I know, a magician, that should be good for a laugh,'" he says.

But since he first encountered the venue at 1997's Edinburgh Festival, Zenon has warmed to this "covered merry-go-round minus the horses".

"I'm not a believer in feng shui or anything like that," he says, "but it really does seem to have a special atmosphere and calming effect - even the hecklers tend to be more relaxed."

Zenon has now performed around 50 shows in the Spiegeltent, an experience he can only describe as "like doing gigs in Doctor Who's Tardis: Same show, same staff, same venue - different hemisphere!

"In Australia I would come out the door drunk at 2am and, instead of discarded kebabs, I would be surrounded by possums. When it's packed down and moved on, the only evidence that it was ever there is this circle of yellow grass - as if there's been some strange alien visitation."

In keeping with this spirit, his latest shows will feature "a cast of unusual suspects.

"It's basically an antidote to Reality TV. As far as I'm concerned, if your idea of entertainment is watching ordinary people do mundane things in everyday surroundings, then sit in a bus shelter! I'm more interested in watching odd people doing strange things in unusual surroundings."

Not a man, then, to pay much tribute to the month-long spectacle of mundanity staged by David Blaine last Summer - although Zenon has been described as Britain's answer to the infamous street magician.

This enchanting conman favours upbeat stunts which require as much front as they do skill. His home-town shows look set to combine a familiar dose of groan-inducing British humour with an element of magical exoticism.

"Basically, I'm trying to capture the feel of the old medicine shows that used to travel across America," he explains.

"An assortment of weird and wonderful performers would have you laughing prior to some dodgy quack trying to sell you some dubious cure-all medicine. That would have been me in a previous life!"

Spiegeltent, 8.30pm, £10, 01273 709709, (Over 15s only)