British-born daredevil Jonathan Goodwin has been hung from a helicopter, buried alive, burned at the stake, covered in bees and performed all sorts of other stunts and escapes on America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent and other web and TV specials. Now he’s bringing his unique set of skills to the Las Vegas Strip for the first time, joining the sultry cast of two-decades-strong burlesque institution Fantasy at Luxor. While the show continues performances in its temporary home in the Luxor Theater, Goodwin’s contributions (which you can see for yourself Monday through Wednesday) bring some epic danger to the bigger venue.

You’ve performed many kinds of stunts onstage and for television. Which ones are you doing in Fantasy?

My opening line in the show is that I’m in charge of the whips, chains and handcuffs, those parts of Fantasy this evening. So the first thing I do is a stunt with a bullwhip, but the main thing and my favorite thing I’m performing in the show is a version of my crossbow act where I’m shooting increasingly smaller targets from one of my assistants’ hands and mouth. We are fortunate to be in a really amazing venue right now at the theater at Luxor, and doing the crossbow there gives us a little more scale. There’s something about crossbows that creates a lot of tension for the audience. Maybe it’s because you’re so focused on watching what happens and you don’t want to miss it, and then it fires so quickly. Crossbows are really intense. I really try to take it back to the fundamentals and the level of trust you have to have to do that act. It’s really about me and my assistant and the precision of what we’re doing and the trust and relationship we have with one another.

How long have you been a resident of Las Vegas?

I moved here in 2014 and moved to the states in 2007. Bizarrely, I guess this gig in Fantasy is the first time I’ve ever performed in Vegas. I made Vegas my home but I was constantly touring so I was never here.

Could Fantasy be a sort of stepping-stone to your own Las Vegas show?

I would really love that. The challenge I have, and it’s a challenge I’m excited for, is the idea of creating a show that is representative of what I do. There’s really only so long you can ask an audience to sit on the edge of their seat. The longest set I do in Fantasy is 15 minutes, so the challenge would be to (adapt) to a 90-minute format. But it would be fun. I would love to have my own show in Vegas, but for now I’m very happy and grateful to be working, and I really enjoy performing in Fantasy.

Do you have favorite feats and stunts in your repertoire?

I do. The things that are the most fun for me to perform are the things the audience hasn’t seen before. One is a straitjacket escape and it’s quite traditional because I’m hanging upside down, but in my version I get doused in fuel and set completely on fire. It’s a very visceral thing and the audience is usually very quiet when that happens. It’s real, they know it’s real, and you can feel the heat from the flames in the first ten rows of the audience. That’s a very different experience from what most people are used to.

Luxor, 702.262.4400

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