Coffee with... Derren Brown

Touring with a new stage show, Derren Brown reflects on the quiet magic of cafes, the chaos-taming power of writing, and the deeper responsibilities of live performance. “It’s not about tricks,” he says, “it’s about holding the room—even when everything goes wrong.”

Genii Magazine
Coffee with... Derren Brown
Photo courtesy of Derren Brown

Mint tea, please. It’s the main thing when you’re touring. You need a good coffee shop. You can be in the most god-forsaken town, and the shows can be no fun in the evenings, or anything can go wrong, but if you’ve got a good coffee shop during the day, particularly if you’re writing (because I tend to write while I’m touring), it saves everything.

I like working in cafes. I’m about to start touring a new stage show called Only Human in the U.K., which I think kicks off end of March. I’m normally writing. At the moment, I’m getting my head around what my book project is going to be while I’m touring.