Penn & Teller - Fool Us

[yairhol]

I've been watching "Fool Us" for a couple of days on youtube
and some of the acts are absolutely amazing.
There was this guy (Daniel Madison) that asked Teller to give him a shuffled deck of card
and then without looking at the cards and while blind folded picked out a diamond royal
flush. I mean he was blind folded, the cards were not his own and they were upside down
in his hand, yet he could pick out any card he wanted. That's amazing. Turns out that Penn knew this trick from other magicians.

 

[JohnnyG]

I've been watching "Fool Us" for a couple of days on youtube
and some of the acts are absolutely amazing.
There was this guy (Daniel Madison) that asked Teller to give him a shuffled deck of card
and then without looking at the cards and while blind folded picked out a diamond royal
flush. I mean he was blind folded, the cards were not his own and they were upside down
in his hand, yet he could pick out any card he wanted. That's amazing. Turns out that Penn knew this trick from other magicians.

Yeah, I thought that was amazing too...until I watched a second time. Pay close attention to when he moves the deck to his left hand - the bottom few cards are a bit out of alignment with the deck until he straightens them. Clearly they were already in his left hand and a bottom deal is all that is required.

 

[rustypouch]

Some amazing stuff on there, and a few that left me flat.

Piff was just hilarious, as was the chicken and the duck.

But the presenter annoys me, because of his lisp and accent. Pronouncing R's as W's, or dropping them entirely. "I pwesent to you, Penn and Tella!" Ugh.

 

[AgeGap]

Some amazing stuff on there, and a few that left me flat.

Piff was just hilarious, as was the chicken and the duck.

But the presenter annoys me, because of his lisp and accent. Pronouncing R's as W's, or dropping them entirely. "I pwesent to you, Penn and Tella!" Ugh.

Fork rice aches! What would you think if he had a serious disibility?

He is Jonathan Ross. A National Treasure (UK only).
Wikipedia link.

 

[Stray Cat]

He is Jonathan Ross. A National Treasure (UK only).
Wikipedia link.

He was a National drain on the TV licence payers money until the BBC sacked him from his £9,000,000 contract.

 

[AdMan]

I'm catching up with the episodes, and last night watched the one in which Mathieu Bich fooled P&T. Amazing effect! (And apparently easy to do.)

Oh, and great use of the box.

 

[Azrael 5]

It's not exposure to say the girl is not in on it at all. I shall say no more

All the spectators-her included-are random.

 

[davidhorman]

It's not exposure to say the girl is not in on it at all. I shall say no more

All the spectators-her included-are random.

Thanks Azrael... but in that case the guy did his act a real dis-service by not making her randomness a lot more explicit.

The presenter has just announced on the latest episode that the show uses no audience plants (not that that probably counts for much).

David

 

[Azrael 5]

Thanks Azrael... but in that case the guy did his act a real dis-service by not making her randomness a lot more explicit.

The presenter has just announced on the latest episode that the show uses no audience plants (not that that probably counts for much).

David

Its doesnt use any plants,peole will always suspect them as a means of explanation due to inability to figure it out.

 

[LandR]

Michael Vincent

I thought Michael Vincent was fantastic and I've watched some of his other stuff on YouTube that is even better (In my knowing not much about magic) opinion.

I loved the Cube stuff.

I didn't like the mentalist stuff, but then i don't like mentalism in general.

 

[yairhol]

There is a magic trick that Teller does in one of the shows while Penn sits in the audience. It involves an audience member (female) and a fish bowl. He puts his hands in a fish aquarium and wets his hands, then puts a coin or multiple coins in the fish bowl that the woman is holding. It's as if the coins came from the aquarium filled with water.
At the end of the act he transforms these coins into actual fish in the aquarium.
Very nice routine.
Since I have no knowledge of how these magic tricks are done I can only guess and ask the more experienced magicians if I am close in guessing that he uses a miror inside the aquarium which hides his right hand and while he transforms the coins into fish he rotates the mirror letting the fish move from the right side of the aquarium and to the left?
Just a hint if I'm in the right direction...

 

[Stray Cat]

In the interests of the non disclosure policy, I can only say that that is a fair reflection of how it's done.

PS: It's not a rotation though.

 

[Lothian]

I think he uses magic dust.

 

[yairhol]

I think he uses magic dust.

fair assumption but I think I'm closer than you.

 

[Alan]

I am watching this show on YouTube and I love it. There isn't enough magic on television here.

 

[elbe]

I think it's a pretty fun show, but I don't know much about magic.
I have wondered a bit about the people who's routines don't look all that innovative - not that they aren't really good, but they just don't look like they're going to fool a professional magician - do they think they'll really win the trip or are they just happy to get the TV exposure and meet P&T? That's what I'm guessing that kid was aiming for.

 

[AdMan]

I think it's a pretty fun show, but I don't know much about magic.
I have wondered a bit about the people who's routines don't look all that innovative - not that they aren't really good, but they just don't look like they're going to fool a professional magician - do they think they'll really win the trip or are they just happy to get the TV exposure and meet P&T? That's what I'm guessing that kid was aiming for.

Well, ultimately it's the show's producers who decide who's getting on the show, and their aim is to keep the audience entertained and looking forward to tuning in again next week. I think they put on the kid because he's an entertaining performer, and also to add variety to the show. I don't think anyone really thought that he would fool P&T. That's the case with a number of other performers who've come on, I think.

 

[elbe]

Well, ultimately it's the show's producers who decide who's getting on the show, and their aim is to keep the audience entertained and looking forward to tuning in again next week. I think they put on the kid because he's an entertaining performer, and also to add variety to the show. I don't think anyone really thought that he would fool P&T. That's the case with a number of other performers who've come on, I think.

Yeah. I just wonder about the performers themselves. Like Michael Vincent, the guy looks like he's amazing at what he's doing but it doesn't look, to me, that he's doing anything particularly new, if you see what I mean. Obviously we can't read his, or anyone else's, mind so who knows.

 

[AdMan]

Yeah. I just wonder about the performers themselves. Like Michael Vincent, the guy looks like he's amazing at what he's doing but it doesn't look, to me, that he's doing anything particularly new, if you see what I mean. Obviously we can't read his, or anyone else's, mind so who knows.

Yup. I don't think Michael Vincent thought that he could fool P&T, and would he really be interested in a trip to Vegas and a slot on their show anyway? Who knows.

I think they put him on the show because he's a very, very good classic sleight-of-hand performer, but it's very difficult to fool someone who is knowledgeable about sleight of hand with that kind of performance. At the very least, even if you don't see the actual move, you would have a fairly good--and probably fairly accurate--idea of how the trick could be accomplished.

Like you said, I think to fool P&T you have to come up with a very new trick and/or method--like what Mathieu Bich did.

Someone else who I think might be able to fool P&T with sleight of hand, because his sleight of hand is so original and done so well, is Lennart Green:

 

[Rrose Selavy]

Tha acts have been variable but the problem is that some have been introducing "false" moves knowing P & T will spot them, (eg appear to do a deck swap or clumsy sleight of hand) and use their limited time for leading questions, so they can deny the trick was done that way preventing P & T from pursuing alternative options - ie they get one shot.



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