The ‘extreme magician’ delivers a unique twist on the travelogue, in which he hunts out feats of magic rather than tourist attractions – and it’s surprisingly full of darkly comic moments

He’s been hung upside down, encased himself in ice, lived in a plastic box and spent a week buried underground. He’s let helium balloons pull him several miles upwards, had 1m volts of electricity fired at him, and balanced on the top of a high pillar for a day and a half. American “extreme magician” David Blaine has a catalogue of incredible feats behind him. Now, though, he’s really attempting the impossible: the sonofabitch is trying to make a watchable National Geographic travelogue. Miraculously, he’s gone and done it.

Do Not Attempt sees the unflappable conjuror visit developing, historic or remote places in search of people whose death-defying skills could conceivably get them a Vegas residency, but who, instead, are performing for coins, or just their own spiritual enlightenment. Dressed in black and full of the sort of laid-back cool that you acquire when you’ve trained your heart to beat only every other Wednesday, Blaine starts each episode at street level, looking for the real stuff, the artisan magic that tourists don’t see: think Anthony Bourdain, but instead of sniffing out premium mortadella or the world’s best noodle soup, here the sort of fine delicacy we’re after is someone covering themselves in scorpions or sticking needles under their fingernails.

David Blaine Do Not Attempt is on Disney+. It will also air weekly on National Geographic Channel on Thursdays from 27 March.