• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Penn & Teller: Fool Us....how did the guy do this trick?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Synth_floyd

Banned
Penn and Teller Fool us is a British show where magicians go and do an act and if Penn and Teller can't figure out how they did the trick, then they get to perform as the opening act to their Vegas show.

This is a mind reading trick that the guy did, Penn and Teller said they figured it out but didn't exactly explain how. Anyone know?

Obv the guy made him say the word somehow and you can see his left hand is strangely "cramped" during much of the trick, but other than that how exactly did he do it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPK_lGZr1lM&feature=related
 
J

jaxword

Member
Apparently being a "mentalist" means using youtube camera tricks and oversaturation in your opening spiel.
 
Biff

Biff

Member
He had a card in his hands with the words HOUSE and BRICK on it.

He told the guy to look into the 'book' (his hand) and pick a word; the guy did exactly what he said. The mentalist isn't technically lying.

Notice how both have 5 letters :p If he picked 'house' the trick would have ended without unfolding the paper.
 
S

Synth_floyd

Banned
DogWelder said:
There seems to be a clunker of a "trick" every episode. The one in the OP is probably the second worst on the show thus far. This is by far the worst:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDmau0mRoWk
Click to expand...

Penn and Teller have a trick that uses the same technique in their live show. Penn takes someone from the audience and does some tricks and then at the end it's revealed that the "audience member" is actually Teller in a mask. They also use a pre-recorded video that is purported to be live, same as in this trick. It's entertaining but at the end you realize exactly how it works and so it seems kind of lame.
 
D

DogWelder

Member
Synth_floyd said:
Penn and Teller have a trick that uses the same technique in their live show. Penn takes someone from the audience and does some tricks and then at the end it's revealed that the "audience member" is actually Teller in a mask. It's entertaining but at the end you realize exactly how it works and so it seems kind of lame.
Click to expand...
It would probably be much better if it wasn't for the fact that he's trying to fool two renowned magicians using something so amateur.
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
ChefRamsay said:
He had a card in his hands with the words HOUSE and BRICK on it.

He told the guy to look into the 'book' (his hand) and pick a word; the guy did exactly what he said. The mentalist isn't technically lying.

Notice how both have 5 letters :p If he picked 'house' the trick would have ended without unfolding the paper.
Click to expand...

That's what Penn and Teller were getting at when they were talking about "pantomiming the book."
 
T

Trurl

Banned
ChefRamsay said:
He had a card in his hands with the words HOUSE and BRICK on it.

He told the guy to look into the 'book' (his hand) and pick a word; the guy did exactly what he said. The mentalist isn't technically lying.

Notice how both have 5 letters :p If he picked 'house' the trick would have ended without unfolding the paper.
Click to expand...
The audience member's reaction to the reveal seems to consistent with your explanation.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
The explanations here would indicate the volunteer was an "instant stooge" (being in on the deception in the middle of the trick), which the magician expressly claimed was not the case.

Penn accepted that and still seemed to understand how he did the trick.
 
N

nomis

Member
mac said:
Hmm, had to be something in his hand.
Click to expand...

Yes. I think the holding his hand like he is simply stooging the guy with words written on it is misdirection. I think it's the words he used in leading up to the question (house, book, etc.). At least I hope so, otherwise it's a letdown.
 
O

outunderthestars

Banned
Notice that the participant seems to clearly look into his hand and read both a number and a word. His eyes follow from left to right. He looks up when he actually has to think of something (the number of letters in the word) as opposed to when he was "thinking" of the word.

The mentalist shows him a list of words on a sheet paper, then narrows it down by the number of letters in the word. Only two words on the list are five letters, which tells the magician which card to pull to reveal to the audience.

The volunteer is then told that the audience will read his mind, which never happens. This is done solely to make the volunteer go along with the trick.
 
W

W Hudson

Member
ConfusingJazz said:
I really liked Michael Vincent myself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGs4NsApzr4
Click to expand...

This show basically has me hooked after the French cube guys and this one. His sleight of hand abilities are outstanding. I think I can tell that he is doing something important right as he transitions decks (right at the 3:03 mark), but it happens so smoothly and quickly I have no idea how he is doing it. Penn mentions it and how good Vincent did it at the end, I think.
 
S

saunderez

Member
Joe Shlabotnik said:
Penn accepted that and still seemed to understand how he did the trick.
Click to expand...
It wasn't mind reading, but it was suggestion. Penn indicated that the the magician's "pantomime" made the word jump into the marks mind. This was done through phrasing and the hand gestures. We couldn't see the gestures from the marks point of view so the word didn't jump into our mind.

Derren Brown uses a similar technique to make you think of a card in this video. This is overly obvious but it is an example of how it's done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0soGZpODgPY

He's the master at this type of magic, love his work.
 
A

Aquavelvaman

Banned
outunderthestars said:
Notice that the participant seems to clearly look into his hand and read both a number and a word. His eyes follow from left to right. He looks up when he actually has to think of something (the number of letters in the word) as opposed to when he was "thinking" of the word.

The mentalist shows him a list of words on a sheet paper, then narrows it down by the number of letters in the word. Only two words on the list are five letters, which tells the magician which card to pull to reveal to the audience.

The volunteer is then told that the audience will read his mind, which never happens. This is done solely to make the volunteer go along with the trick.
Click to expand...
Why a list of words? His hand probably just says "brick." Asking how many letters in the word is just to be sure that the participant is playing along. If Kenny said "6 letters" then he would have to do something else since the trick would fail. I don't think his hand even has "house" written on it at all, just "brick". House is an obvious red herring, and since "brick house" is an obvious association it makes it doubly confusing to scrutiny.
 
T

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
SeigO said:
I'm not really impressed or even curious about that trick. The "forced" ones are always lame because it's just a matter of how they forced someone to give them that answer.

My favorite act was probably the french illusionists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtNeykCeUHI
Click to expand...


Uhhh - that was amazing. Teller must be some kind of magical genius leprechaun. Part of me really wants to know how that was done, the other part is still amazed and doesn't want to know. Incroyable.
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
I've seen some Japanese and Korean magicians do crazy shit that I can't figure out.
 
U

UltimaPooh

Member
TheOMan said:
Uhhh - that was amazing. Teller must be some kind of magical genius leprechaun. Part of me really wants to know how that was done, the other part is still amazed and doesn't want to know. Incroyable.
Click to expand...

One thing I thought of was that the back side is completely cut out... I don't think they ever flip it around to show you, they just turn the sides facing you.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
W Hudson said:
Holy shit that was mind blowing. I couldn't even begin to guess how that was done.
Click to expand...

Eh what? That was impressive? That one seemed easy to figure out. Anyone ever watch Cirque du Solei?
 
shaowebb

shaowebb

Member
Simply put the guy had a card in his palm that told the guy what his word was and to play along. Penn and Teller knew this from how he kept thrusting his palms at the guy and it is especially clear they figured the trick out by when Teller taps his palm and by how Pen kept doing the hand gesture to imply that he used that to hide his instructions to the man.

Props to Penn and Teller for trying not to debunk the illusion on stage which would cripple the man's rep, but it was a bit of a shit palming of a card to begin with given how he kept his hand cupped at all times and even glanced at it before putting the card back away in his pocket before shaking hands to get offstage.

Nice try, but no.

SeigO said:
I'm not really impressed or even curious about that trick. The "forced" ones are always lame because it's just a matter of how they forced someone to give them that answer.

My favorite act was probably the french illusionists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtNeykCeUHI
Click to expand...

Seems to me that the lady in the box was using a pair of mirrors under the table to give the illusion of no ones feet being present so she couldn't be seen maneuvering the box. She would occasionally lift up the mirror step in front of the first mirror when one of the men would walk behind it so it looked as though they were back there and no one else was. In reality the feet were hers and she was torso deep in the box moving it with the second mirror held up in front of her thighs to seem like the air was empty.

Its good but its been done before.
 
S

saunderez

Member
shaowebb said:
Simply put the guy had a card in his palm that told the guy what his word was and to play along.
Click to expand...
That would imply the magician created an "instant stooge" which is what he specifically told Penn and Teller he didn't do. The mark wasn't complicit in the trick. He had the illusion of free choice when there was none.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Report: Sexual Misconduct Investigation Conducted at EA, Suspects Named and What They Did Revealed
2
88
5K
FunkMiller replied
LTTP : The Walking dead (all seasons/spoilers)
Spoilers
19
2K
Badlucktroll replied
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - Do any real people like this movie?
2
87
7K
DeafTourette replied
Fallout - Series Reviews
15 16 17 18 19
930
53K
BadBurger replied
Aria: Story Untold Releases in Fall 2024 | Xbox Direct 2024
News
3
752
Laptop1991 replied
Top Bottom