Penn and Teller

[Jim Gray]

I'm a big fan of Penn and Teller.  They are doing a show in the UK called "Fool Us".  Basically, people come in and do a magic trick and Penn and Teller have to determine how it was done.  The contestants are competing to open for Penn and Teller's show in Vegas.  I've included one here that's pretty cool - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-rDXweytac&amp

This short clip is classic Penn and Teller.......of course there is a "twist" at the end - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WfVXb_y7Xw

[Spider-Dan]

That card trick was one of the most amazing tricks I've ever seen.

[Dave Gray]

That show looks very entertaining.  I love this kind of stuff and can see myself watching it regularly.

[Sunstroke]

That card trick was pretty cool, but it would have been even cooler if the person doing the trick didn't coax the last person into calling the nine of diamonds.

[Brian Fein]

I love this show!  Why isn't it on in the US?!

[Dave Gray]

That card trick was pretty cool, but it would have been even cooler if the person doing the trick didn't coax the last person into calling the nine of diamonds.

I don't think that's it.  I saw someone say something about the cards being marked, so that he can arrange them to say whatever card he wants.

[Jim Gray]

I read that it's a special deck that allows him to identify any card by reordering the cards.  I'm sure there are cards he would "prefer" people choose (making it easier to create the answer) and I bet there is some gentle manipulation taking place (emphasis on words, color of the ball, etc).

[Spider-Dan]

The deck can definitely create multiple outcomes; I'm not positive it can create EVERY outcome, but it sure looks like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWUmk7Yuyqk

[Pappy13]

I'm a big fan of Penn and Teller. 

I am a big fan of their magic. I hate their Bullshit TV show. Stick to magic guys.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

That was pretty cool.

[fyo]

I found Penn & Teller's "guess"as to how the trick worked completely mystifying. If they believed what they said, that the chosen card was indeed random, then it doesn't appear plausible that the little box could have contained enough different decks to cover all the possibilities. Personally, I thought he stuck those black bits on the cards, since he kept fidgeting with them. (Closer, but not correct).

YouTube offered a pretty interesting "related" trick, where some other guy fooled P&T:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYfjCUeCPMM

It's not as flashy, perhaps, and a bit too drawn out, but Penn's reaction is gold. He seems genuinely pissed that they couldn't figure it out.

[Pappy13]

^^I think I actually got this one.

I'm guessing that he actually has 6 envelopes throughout the trick.  The 5 with nothing in them "Something", "Nothing", "Yours", "Mine" and "Sex" and the one with the 100 pounds.  After 4 are taken, he's seemingly left with only 1, the one with the 100 pounds, but I think he actually has 2 envelopes at that point, the one with the 100 pounds and "mine". They are held tightly together so you can't see the extra envelope and when he flips the envelope over, you are actually seeing the one with 100 pounds in it for the first time, you just can't tell that he's actually holding the 2nd envelope with the word "mine" on it under it.

I've dabbled in Magic a bit myself.  I think I have this one nailed or I'm pretty darn close.

Actually the more I think about it, I'm wondering if Penn & Teller aren't "in" on it. This actually seemed like a fairly easy trick to figure out. I'm actually quite surprised they didn't come up with the right answer, which almost makes me think they may be doing a bit of acting to make the trick seem better than it really is.  Do the winners of this competition actually win anything or are they just supposed to "fool" P&T? I'm wondering if the ones being fooled is the audience. I certainly wouldn't put that past P&T. Kind of goes with what FYO said above, that their "guess" was pretty stupid and in fact seemed to be part of the trick when he opens the box to show "No". That seemed pretty staged to me.

Another thing that really bothered me was that wouldn't P&T be giving away the solution to these tricks if they actually "guessed" right? One of the first rules of magic is that you never give away the secret. In essence the very idea of this show is for P&T to violate the 1st rule of magic...unless....you actually don't which is what P&T are very good at. Seems like P&T are just part of the props to the tricks.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Jim Gray]

Actually the more I think about it, I'm wondering if Penn & Teller aren't "in" on it. This actually seemed like a fairly easy trick to figure out. I'm actually quite surprised they didn't come up with the right answer, which almost makes me think they may be doing a bit of acting to make the trick seem better than it really is.  Do the winners of this competition actually win anything or are they just supposed to "fool" P&T? I'm wondering if the ones being fooled is the audience. I certainly wouldn't put that past P&T. Kind of goes with what FYO said above, that their "guess" was pretty stupid and in fact seemed to be part of the trick when he opens the box to show "No". That seemed pretty staged to me.

Another thing that really bothered me was that wouldn't P&T be giving away the solution to these tricks if they actually "guessed" right? One of the first rules of magic is that you never give away the secret. In essence the very idea of this show is for P&T to violate the 1st rule of magic...unless....you actually don't which is what P&T are very good at. Seems like P&T are just part of the props to the tricks.

I think you may be right about P&T being in on the trick.  I suspect they know a lot more than they let on.  The winner of the show gets to open for P&T in Las Vegas, so they are looking for the best showmen, not just a magician that can fool them.  It would be just like Penn and Teller to be punking the audience.

As for never giving away magic tricks, P&T don't follow that rule.  In fact, I saw their show in Vegas, and at least 3 of the tricks were done and then redone with P&T showing how they pulled it off.  The reveal is just as entertaining as the show.  Of coarse, they don't reveal all the tricks, and like the 2nd clip I posted in the original post, sometimes there is a twist to the reveal.

[Spider-Dan]

Whenever I've seen P&T do a reveal, they follow it up with another better trick that they don't reveal.

If you watch the full episode of Fool Us (it's on Youtube), they actually do take pains to avoid giving away the secret.  They use a lot of jargon ("we believe that you 'rang in the cooler'") and at one point, Teller draws a diagram of how he thinks the trick worked and shows it to the performer, who accepts that he did not fool them.

FYI, there is a magician (with the American Society of Magicians) on staff with the show, who apparently has had the trick explained and acts as the "judge" of whether or not P&T were really fooled.

[Brian Fein]

They did a trick with a cell phone and a fish that I defy you to explain.  Its on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRw69htzQnU

FF to 4:35 for the trick.

edit to add - I see how it was done, after some clever youtube searching...