Penn and Teller - Fool Us

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Wow. Not perfect, but in comparison to BBC's attempt at bringing magic back to prime time last week with The Magicians, it was simply leagues ahead.

It was great to see genuine tension in the performances instead of a faked "Ooo! You might get a forfeit!"

P&T also know enough to give winks to those in the audience who may have a background working knowledge of magic without ever stepping in to true exposure.

Also, a very nice touch to show the backstage bit after Benjamin Earl's masterful sleight of hand - admitting that they missed much of it including the brilliant palming misdirection - even though he was being a little deceitful himself in claiming no false shuffles (maybe no blind shuffles, but without doubt some false shuffles - although at the same time, you can say that about any close up card magic - there're always going to be control sleights).

The other close up magician somewhat ruined it with his Christian nonsense.

Good to see the "comedy" magician getting one over on them - he had a well structured routine with great use of the words giving him multiple outs - and a nice touch to have five notes - draws out the ending and makes it look more impossible.

[Danger Man]

You sound like you know a bit about magic.

Was the guy with the five envelopes shuffling the contents around? And were P&T genuinely fooled, or did they just think he'd be a good warm-up act for them back in the US?

[biggytitbo]

There was a time when I really liked Penn and Teller. But then I saw their 'Bullshit' episode on the JFK assasination, where they feebly attempted to ressurect the kind of utter rubbish thst most sensible people on both side of the debate have long since dismissed (ie their attempts to perpetuate the old jet effect hoax, which even the HSCA dismissed). That one program so utterly destroyed their credibilty I've not been able to take them seriously since.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

You sound like you know a bit about magic.

Was the guy with the five envelopes shuffling the contents around? And were P&T genuinely fooled, or did they just think he'd be a good warm-up act for them back in the US?

It's the sort of trick where I could think of about three or four ways off the top of my head as to how he does it. He was clearly not joking when he was nervous about them examining the envelopes - obviously some gaffing was involved as it's the only way to do it and guarantee an out - but they couldn't put their finger on it.

The advantage he had is that clearly it's a method he's created for himself for what is actually a very standard plot - that means P&T's minds would be clouded with methods they already know and so it's easier to slip something under the radar.

The reason Derren Brown's effects are very rarely exposed to any great degree of accuracy on line is he too is often using his own, Andy Nyman's or for a brief period, Luke Jermay's effects and methods - many of which are still unpublished and therefore much harder to crack.

Nyman has a brilliant envelope swindle that DB's clearly used a much improved method off quite a few times on stage, and I half expected it to be that. Perhaps they did too - but they would have spotted it when they examined the envelope.

With only one guess, I genuinely think they were fooled - give them three more guess and they probably would have got it.

As far as the other acts go, anyone doing a cabinet act would not expect to fool them - there's been no new cabinet magic for 100 years or more - so that was the duck guy and the shrinking man out.

Close up magic - it's the same moves over and over. Read "The Royal Road To Card Magic" and then practice for 10 years and you can get good - but you're going to struggle to fool an expert like Teller - I think what really got them with Earl was the mastery of the finish. Seamless.

[Old Thrashbarg]

I loved that, exactly the sort of show I was hoping for.

Both close-up card magicians were great (with the less talented, but slightly more original of the two getting through), as was the guy with the envelopes. With Benjamin Earl, it annoyed me too a little that he was claiming no false shuffles when he was clearly controlling the position of the aces. To claim that it wasn't a false shuffle because the cards where changing position all the time seems a little disingenuous, even if it's possibly strictly true. Brilliant sleight of hand either way though, although I thought that Penn and Teller said that they did pick up on the final bit of palming. Maybe I misheard.

The final trick from P&T was a perfect ending as well. It really shouldn't have thrown me, but I'd somehow managed to forget the twist.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

On another spoddy note - one of the reason Andy Nyman is so well respected is he has the ability to create the most devious methods which are often so ludicrously simple and even blatant that unless you know it or are prepared to rethink every single words and gesture of the performance, it'll just breeze past you and leave you confounded.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

I thought that Penn and Teller said that they did pick up on the final bit of palming. Maybe I misheard.

As I'm a geek and taped it - I'll check and try and spot it myself this time.

[Danger Man]

Thanks for the info.

I don't really want to know how the tricks are done in any great detail but I just thought the 5-envelope guy was a bit quick at one point, as if he knew the envelope was already 'safe', but at other times he was a bit slow, as if he had to do a bit of 'magic' before handing the envelope over.

I assumed the guy in the cabinet knew he didn't have a chance in hell but felt a free advert on ITV wouldn't hurt his career.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

I thought that Penn and Teller said that they did pick up on the final bit of palming. Maybe I misheard.

Yeah - they did. My bad.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

with the less talented, but slightly more original of the two getting through

Interesting. I liked the first guy, but felt he had quite an old school way of handling the deck. You could tell when the moves were coming. Part of Earl's skill is the moves go on when you're not looking. Part of his skill is making everything look rough around the edges. In his Past Midnight DVD of his corporate and gambling repertoire he spends a lot of time talking about how to make a shuffle look rough as misdirection.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

I don't really want to know how the tricks are done in any great detail but I just thought the 5-envelope guy was a bit quick at one point, as if he knew the envelope was already 'safe', but at other times he was a bit slow, as if he had to do a bit of 'magic' before handing the envelope over

I agree. You could tell he was really nervous, but that somehow added to the charm. Comedy Magicians usually do neither well.

[Madison]

Thanks Benjie and others - I loved the show and I'm glad to hear people with a bit of knowledge about magic also liked it. It had a lovely warmth to it, very respectful and the sort of obsessional, years-of-training stuff you never see on tv and penn and teller clearly adore.

[Old Thrashbarg]

Yeah - they did. My bad.

Well at least my ears were working, even if my eyes didn't get close to spotting when it was done, despite knowing it was coming.

Interesting. I liked the first guy, but felt he had quite an old school way of handling the deck. You could tell when the moves were coming. Part of Earl's skill is the moves go on when you're not looking. Part of his skill is making everything look rough around the edges. In his Past Midnight DVD of his corporate and gambling repertoire he spends a lot of time talking about how to make a shuffle look rough as misdirection.

I did like the smoothness of the first guy and whilst you could see where quite a few of his moves were [nb]intentionally, I thought, which is something I like: someone confident enough to be not bothered by people looking intently at the precise time he's doing the 'magic'[/nb], I didn't actually see them happen.

I'd not heard of Earl before though, and thinking about it, the roughness of a few of the shuffles probably did distract me enough to think he was not quite as clean as he could've been.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Well at least my ears were working, even if my eyes didn't get close to spotting when it was done, despite knowing it was coming.

I staggered myself by not knowing it was coming. Careless on my part, but I think what threw me more than anything was a couple of shots of P&T where you could clearly see they knew they were missing things.

[dr beat]

Based on his performance at the meet, I'm looking forward to Ronnie's appearance on this.

[Old Thrashbarg]

I staggered myself by not knowing it was coming. Careless on my part, but I think what threw me more than anything was a couple of shots of P&T where you could clearly see they knew they were missing things.

That was probably the best bit for me. Both with Earl and envelope guy, you could see that Penn and Teller were really struggling to work it out and their private discussions, especially after the envelopes when they examined them, were clearly quite panicky. It's nice to see such experienced and accomplished performers confused as to what they've just watched.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Watching back Benjamin Earl, he's got through fair and square. Although they are right to pick up on his false handling of the deck and he's clearly playing on a technicality of whether he used false shuffles or cuts - they clearly don't know how he did the single most impressive part of the trick, which it doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I can't spot either - which is the crop. The rest is just fancy dressing.

[Dusty Gozongas]

even though he was being a little deceitful himself in claiming no false shuffles (maybe no blind shuffles, but without doubt some false shuffles - although at the same time, you can say that about any close up card magic - there're always going to be control sleights).

False shuffles and forced cards etc. are always a dangerous thing to suggest to an audience unless you're pretty damn good :-)  Which means I'm going to have to watch this[nb]That sounds wrong. I have the odd sleight of card trick worth messing around with but the true professionals are inspiring![/nb]. Ta for the heads up.

[rudi]

Is this to be repeated? I was summoned out at the wrong time, damnit...

[Dusty Gozongas]

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/search/default.html?Filter=Penn%20and%20Teller%20Fool%20Us


Here y'go rudi. ITV player anyway, if that link doesn't take you close....   _{now to watch.. this better be good}

[Famous Mortimer]

I also really enjoyed it. I loved how respectful they were of the other performers, and how annoyed they were at the envelope guy beating them. It made magic seem interesting, by having it be about the skill of the performer or the intricacy of the trick and not about "magic". It's like pro wrestling, in a weird way.

But, it was loads better than I expected. Is it a one-off or will there be more? There's nothing in the Radio Times about it being the first of a series.

[Ja'moke]

Unfortunately, I think it was just a one-off. Like everyone else, I really enjoyed it, and was really impressed by both sleight of hand magicians, especially the last guy.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Unfortunately, I think it was just a one-off. Like everyone else, I really enjoyed it, and was really impressed by both sleight of hand magicians, especially the last guy.

I suspect that if they made this into a series, there really wouldn't be enough accomplished, but at the same time not massively famous magicians doing original tricks that could come close to fooling them. So it could easily end up with a succession middling amateurs pulling off generic standards, the quality could drop off rather quickly because it's just so difficult to do something original in magic.

That said, this was one of the best shows I've seen on ITV for a long time and hopefully they will bring it back for some one off specials.

[jonno]

Very enjoyable show.

John Archer was great, pleased that he got through. He was the warm-up for Tim Vine's Punslinger tour and did some mindreading stuff which went down very well. The envelope routine that fooled P&T was already being marketed on his instructional DVD as 'The Trick that fooled Penn & Teller' before the show aired apparently, so I'm glad I missed that.

Michael Vincent was technically very good but I couldn't stand his presentation & patter. He seems to take himself very seriously. Didn't see him 'ring in the cooler' at all, but the palming and ace-switching was pretty obvious to this very amateur magician's eyes.

The less said about the 10 of hearts guy the better, awful stuff.

Really enjoyed the chicken and duck opener, it was never going to fool them but it was entertaining enough.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Teller has said on Twitter that there may be more depending on viewing figures. Given it was No1 TT in the UK last night, it's a possibility.

PS - loads of people on Twitter last night saying "Is that Teller guy going to say anything? This is weird." Idiots.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

The less said about the 10 of hearts guy the better, awful stuff.

Indeed.

That's a packet trick. You can find it on multiple websites.

Also, they were the most blatant about his method, presumably because anyone who's ever even shown a rough (or smooth) interest in magic would have guessed the method as soon as he got the blank deck out.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Ratings of 4.09m which was around a 16% share - not bad - especially compared to Channel 4's disappointing 1.7m (9%) for Derren Brown: Enigma the night before.

[Lady Beaner]

Wasn't 'Enigma' a repeat though?

[Little Hoover]

I like to imagine there's no trick to what John Archer does, he just gets lucky every time.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Wasn't 'Enigma' a repeat though?

No. Tonight it's a repeat though.