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

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Nappuccino said:
Its been awhile since I saw that one, but even if the dice was weighted there is no guarantee it wouldn't land on that number. I think its more likely that the dice he put in there didn't have the number of the bag with his phone in it at all...
Even if it was a trick die, the numbers were put on the bags by Ross after he shuffled them. How did he force the number onto the right bag?
 

RagnarokX

Member
faceless007 said:
Re: Morgan and West. It's easy to see that they added cards to the top, but that doesn't explain how at 4:15 they have Ross take off a bunch of cards and read them from there. How did they know where he would cut to?
The first time he throws out cards he examines them carefully to make sure he only takes out the shuffled cards. The second time I think is a trick to make you discount that move. They have Ross remove a random amount of cards from the bottom sorted deck to remove suspicion. All they need is a set of signals for each card on the bottom to communicate where to restart the sequence. This could be anything from handsignals to the way he threw the cards down on the stage.
 
faceless007 said:
Even if it was a trick die, the numbers were put on the bags by Ross after he shuffled them. How did he force the number onto the right bag?

Huh, Ross has been in on a few of the tricks... the show is not about Fool Ross so he does help the acts a lot

you know they have to rehearse some of those acts anyway
 

Vestal

Gold Member
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
My guess is it was obviously a set up? The guy was in on it. Easy give away was he was already miked up when Penn picked him. lol


Actually this was mentioned earlier but ill say it again.. It is called the magic of the Editing room... How to take 5-10minutes off a show and make it appear instant.
 

Uncle

Member
faceless007 said:
Even if it was a trick die, the numbers were put on the bags by Ross after he shuffled them. How did he force the number onto the right bag?

The guy touched each of the envelopes before the numbers were put on them and then set the one with the hosts phone slightly separate from the others. After the numbers are put on the envelopes he reaches under the table and puts the die in the box himself. So from the P&T's conclusion and the guys reaction I'd guess he has one die without 1, one without 2 and so on that he actually puts in the box after he knows the number of the envelope.
 
Smiles and Cries said:
why can't Jonathan Ross be in some of these tricks? He is just the host

anyway this is interesting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q_WDAc5GQ

I did not know Peen had a youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veURTJakaNA

As far as I know, Ross is as clueless as Penn and Teller are before the acts hit the stage. Even more so because he has no magic background to follow what the acts are doing.

when they bring him up to do bits with them, he is essentially a random person from the audience who just happens to be picked.
 
Vestal said:
Actually this was mentioned earlier but ill say it again.. It is called the magic of the Editing room... How to take 5-10minutes off a show and make it appear instant.

Well I sort of figured that, but it was also the manner in which Penn picked the audience member. "Oh hey, guy in white shirt and blue hat". I'm probably just reading into it, but this seems like a simple trick since he had the words on a printed sheet already. lol

tumblr_l666yu6N0M1qzez5w.gif
 

FyreWulff

Member
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
Well I sort of figured that, but it was also the manner in which Penn picked the audience member. "Oh hey, guy in white shirt and blue hat". I'm probably just reading into it, but this seems like a simple trick since he had the words on a printed sheet already. lol

tumblr_l666yu6N0M1qzez5w.gif


Penn has prosopagnosia, which is why he picks out people based on their clothes.
 

Rapstah

Member
I watched the guy behind stage one now. He actually gave Penn and Teller the solution to everything he did himself there. I feel sort of bad for not realising that was a mask though. I'm assuming that the "live footage" was pre-recorded though?
 

satriales

Member
Zeliard said:
It feels like that aspect of the show wasn't thought through properly. From the ones I've seen, sometimes Penn will say virtually nothing about how the trick was done even though they know, and he'll just have Teller draw some diagram that the audience doesn't get to see that explains it. Other times Penn will be more explicit in describing how the trick was done.

I guess maybe he picks and chooses based on the rarity and uniqueness of the tricks, but it comes off as inconsistent and occasionally anti-climatic.
Generally the way it worked was that Penn would first give cryptic hints that he knew how the trick was done and if the magician was happy that Penn knew then no more was revealed. If the magician argued his corner though then Penn would be more specific about how the trick was done.
 

Gigglepoo

Member
TheOMan said:
Yeah - there was sort of a deck switch...my guess is that as the host stepped in front of West, he put some cards on top and on the bottom of the cards that what's his face shuffled. So "technically" every card he shuffled was in his hand...along with some others in a particular order.

It looked like he was given signals with his left hand to let his partner know who was pictured on the cards. You can see how his fingers are sometimes tight and straight, sometimes spaced erratically.
 

mclem

Member
Smiles and Cries said:
I will have to watch again I think Penn said something about checking the numbers too but then he went on to roll 6s

But not 1s, which was the number in question.

That said, I'm not quite sure just how he was able to guarantee the 1 would appear on the correct envelope, given the stickers were applied by Jonathan.
 

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
DogWelder said:
Many people, usually one or two per episode. Here's an excellent trick from the latest episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_LXa3dAbj4

When he reached for the pen, he put away the cards, and grabbed a new deck with the top open. He inserted the card strategically through a tiny slit, and was able to apply the seal back on the bottom of the box using adhesive. You can see the box deck lid open when he grabs the pen.
 

FyreWulff

Member
AlphaSnake said:
When he reached for the pen, he put away the cards, and grabbed a new deck with the top open. He inserted the card strategically through a tiny slit, and was able to apply the seal back on the bottom of the box using adhesive. You can see the box deck lid open when he grabs the pen.

The question is: how the fuck did he get the card into the right spot in the deck that smoothly? He barely even looks at the deck. Wonder how much he had to work on that one to get it down.
 

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
FyreWulff said:
The question is: how the fuck did he get the card into the right spot in the deck that smoothly?

I've seen people do that with ease. It's just a lot of practice and knowing the size of the deck down to the micrometer. He made the right cut into the box. Magicians like that will NEVER try this trick using two separate brands of cards. It is all about absolute precision. I know people who can slide their nail into a deck and say "that's 32 cards right there".
 

satriales

Member
AlphaSnake said:
I've seen people do that with ease. It's just a lot of practice and knowing the size of the deck down to the micrometer. He made the right cut into the box. Magicians like that will NEVER try this trick using two separate brands of cards. It is all about absolute precision. I know people who can slide their nail into a deck and say "that's 32 cards right there".
Moe likely he used a force to get Penn to pick the 7 of diamonds and then inserting in the right spot is easy when you know beforehand what card will be picked.
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
AlphaSnake said:
I've seen people do that with ease. It's just a lot of practice and knowing the size of the deck down to the micrometer. He made the right cut into the box. Magicians like that will NEVER try this trick using two separate brands of cards. It is all about absolute precision. I know people who can slide their nail into a deck and say "that's 32 cards right there".

How did he get the unmarked 7 of diamonds out of the box?
 

RagnarokX

Member
John Dunbar said:
How did he get the unmarked 7 of diamonds out of the box?
That's the part that makes the trick so amazing. He apparently uses the unmarked 7 of diamonds to make the box appear to be a stack of cards to Penn and then removes it under the premise of it being a joker, but how the hell did he get it out of the deck and replace it with Penn's card that fast? That's why Penn and Teller gave it to him. They saw the deck switch but how he did THAT is unknown.
 

mclem

Member
Yep, just seven episodes (plus the pilot/special back in January).

There's apparently a Christmas Special on the cards (along the lines of "how they did in Vegas"), but given the ratings, I wouldn't hold out too much hope for a second series. Still, fingers crossed, and hopefully it'll take off virally!
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
mclem said:
Yep, just seven episodes (plus the pilot/special back in January).

There's apparently a Christmas Special on the cards (along the lines of "how they did in Vegas"), but given the ratings, I wouldn't hold out too much hope for a second series. Still, fingers crossed, and hopefully it'll take off virally!

There's also one more episode on August 27th according to Wikipedia.
 

mclem

Member
Ah, that might be the special. Or maybe they just don't want to intrude on Harry Potter time until they've got through all the films they have rights to.
 

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
John Dunbar said:
How did he get the unmarked 7 of diamonds out of the box?

Again, seeing as how there was a slit in the box and that we can actually see it open briefly, I have no doubt that the deck wasn't prepared before hand with the 7 removed.
 

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Linkzg said:
this show is really great

and how did Peter Marvey do this?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YguJ5tMYT0s

I saw that as a kid and it always drives me mad

The glass trick is easy. That's a trick glass and it's not fully round - but rather flat. The drink in there is filled, but won't spill out out of the rounded/closed off edges. The glasses are stacked behind one another - and notice how each glass is smaller than the next? That makes them easier to hide. At 1:43 you can see him simply twist his hand to reveal the green glass drink. Again, because they are flat, they are easy to stack. At 2:30 pay attention to the right hand (his left), you can see him make a gesture - he slides the fake glasses into his jacket. His jacket is the prop responsible for almost all of the tricks. :)

He's also got a great slight of hand technique to hold a deck of cards behind the palm.
 

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Someone said the contestants can lie to make their way in.

This is actually false. They show the trick to a backstage magician who is there for the sole purpose of preventing fraud.
 

mr_nothin

Banned
AlphaSnake said:
Someone said the contestants can lie to make their way in.

This is actually false. They show the trick to a backstage magician who is there for the sole purpose of preventing fraud.
Are you a magician?
You've always seemed magical
 

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
mr_nothin said:
Are you a magician?
You've always seemed magical

I'm not a magician.

But I am magical and you'll never get my pot of gold, asshole!
 
AlphaSnake said:
The glass trick is easy. That's a trick glass and it's not fully round - but rather flat. The drink in there is filled, but won't spill out out of the rounded/closed off edges. The glasses are stacked behind one another - and notice how each glass is smaller than the next? That makes them easier to hide. At 1:43 you can see him simply twist his hand to reveal the green glass drink. Again, because they are flat, they are easy to stack. At 2:30 pay attention to the right hand (his left), you can see him make a gesture - he slides the fake glasses into his jacket. His jacket is the prop responsible for almost all of the tricks. :)

You can see how flat the glasses are at 2:20.
 

NekoFever

Member
I loved the Martin Daniels trick even if it's not hard to tell how it's done. The 14-year-old was an impressive performer too.

The others didn't do much for me. P&T's joke about the entrails was good, though.
 
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