Starting Friday in New York, he'll stand on a pillar without sleep or food for 72 hours with nothing but a special metal suit protecting him from being zapped.

In the past, Blaine, 39, has been buried, trapped in ice, trapped in a glass box, and spent ridiculously long periods submerged underwater or hanging upside down. He says his latest feat will take him to new limits of endurance.

"I don't think I'll ever, ever top this," he told journalists Tuesday.

For this "mini lightening storm in New York City," he said, "I decided the longest I could possibly go without killing myself was three days and three nights."

One already grueling element of the "Electrified" challenge, staged on Pier 54 in the Hudson River, will be simply staying upright.

"No food. Standing no sitting. No rest," he said.