Arts & Laughs

COMEDIAN CUTS RED WIRE ON STAGE; BOMB SQUAD RULES IT 'MISDIRECTION, NOT DETONATION'

Some called the 2012 bit too obscure. Some said it crossed a line. Forensic analysts say it walked right up to the line and waved.

By Sadie Yre

Comedy Desk, The Spoiler Alert

Meesh, scissors metaphorically in hand. The audience is looking at the wrong wire, as intended.

Explosives experts this week completed their review of Red Wire, a 2012 bit that the comedian himself admits "felt risky" when he first performed it.

"Some thought it was too obscure. Some thought it crossed a line," reads the squad's summary, quoting Mr. Samman's own notes. "Our finding is that it didn't. It used misdirection, and it worked. The audience was watching the other wire the whole time."

Analysts say this is the comedian's preferred method: lead the room towards the dangerous thing, then cut somewhere else. "A lesser act would have blown the place up for the thrill of it," said one technician. "He just made it look as if he might." A visiting cargo officer, who once settled a far worse dispute from inside a power loader, watched calmly and rated the bit "well contained."

In a week dominated by one man's reckoning with a reckless movie villain, the Comedy Desk notes that this is what checked chaos looks like: a man standing at the edge of the line with a pair of scissors, enjoying the tension, and choosing the right wire anyway. The room laughed. Nothing was burned down.

The squad has asked future audiences to stay seated during the bit, "and to trust the man with the scissors. He knows which one."

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