Penn and Teller: Fool Us - Series 2: Episode 3

In the third episode of the new series of Penn and Teller: Fool Us, four more magic acts competed to fool Penn and Teller and win the opportunity to open for them at their Las Vegas show. They Were:

Brian Brushwood – Noted for his work on the YouTube series Scam School, Brian Brushwood provided a very memorable routine with “a guy from the audience who’s willing to do absolutely anything” as his volunteer. He got the volunteer to pick a stack of dollar bills from a case containing several of them, before taking the bill at the top of his chosen stack. Brian then instructed the volunteer to sign his name on the dollar bill and read the serial number on it to the audience. From this point, what seemed like a conventional trick became far more shocking and interesting. Brian burnt the dollar bill with a blowtorch and mixed the ashes with Chocolate Sauce, before telling the volunteer to eat it. When the volunteer had done this, Brian made him lie down on a table and expose his chest. He then appeared to reach into the volunteer’s chest in a very gory fashion, removing a deflated, transparent, latex balloon from it. The balloon contained the signed dollar bill inside. This was a very shocking but enjoyable routine, and I liked Brian’s energetic and amusing presentation and use of his volunteer. Penn and Teller enjoyed the performance, but Brian did not fool them, as Penn noticed he was using techniques associated with “Physic Surgery” to carry out his trick, although he added that Brian’s spin on the routine was better than a version he and Teller had performed in the past.

Simon Pierro – “Technical Magician” Simon Pierro did a number of tricks involving an iPad, most of which featured him pulling images off the screen and into real life. He began by turning the home screen into a paper image, then producing a cord and pulling down on it to create a new home screen. Following this, Simon printed pictures by magic, made a tennis ball appear from the screen, blew wind at a video of a weather lady, and produced real beer from the screen through the use of a specially created tap attachment. He finished by teleporting a “Selfie” of himself and the audience taken on the iPad into a picture frame, then removing a physical copy. Tricks involving bringing virtual items to life are nothing new, but are fun to watch. Magicians need to be incredibly precise in order to perform virtual routines properly, and Simon succeeded in matching his movements with the action on the screen. Unfortunately, Simon did not fool Penn and Teller, but Penn did say that his climactic trick “fooled us three weeks ago, but not today”.

Handsome Jack – “Male Model” Handsome Jack (real name John Lovick) aimed to beat Penn and Teller at their own game by performing a routine in which he appeared to expose his secrets.  After claiming that he could perform only one trick in his time slot, he chose to do a routine with his specially-created “Handsome Jack Experience” handbills. Handsome Jack begun his routine by tearing up one of the handbills into pieces, before restoring it to its original state. He then revealed the method behind this simple trick by showing a “Grappler” hidden up his sleeve. Handsome Jack demonstrated the device, claiming that he had used it to switch the torn pieces of the handbill with a folded duplicate, then removed the torn pieces and showed that they were completely separate. In spite of this, he managed to rejoin the pieces, returning this second handbill to its original state. Handsome Jack started by emphasising comedy, and his routine was amusing throughout. The trick appeared to be too conventional at first, but the final twist was very impressive. When giving the verdict, Penn stated that if the pieces of paper had been shown as clearly separate during the final restoration, then Handsome Jack had fooled both him and Teller. Handsome Jack was able to confirm that he had clearly shown that the pieces were separate, so Penn and Teller announced that he had fooled them, and thus won the opportunity to open their show at Vegas.

Kyle Knight and Mistie – Husband-and-wife illusionists Kyle Knight and Mistie performed a routine involving several metal hoops, all of which had been examined by the audience. Kyle then got Mistie to stand in front of a post, and restrained her with the rings, which covered Mistie from her feet to the top of her head. Kyle then brought host Johnathan Ross on stage as a volunteer. The two covered Mistie with a sheet for a few seconds, and moved away from the rings to reveal that Mistie was no longer trapped by them. Instead, she appeared underneath the sheet, having even performed a magical costume change whilst underneath it. It was hardly an original trick, but it was performed well. Although Penn praised the decision to present an escape-themed illusion as a “Topological Mystery” instead of making it seem dangerous, Kyle and Mistie did not fool Penn and Teller. It seems to me that a stage illusionist relying on big boxes and unusual props will never fool the duo, as most Grand Illusions rely on the same key elements, and this ensures that their secrets are too widely known and visible. However, this does not make any illusionist who performs on Penn and Teller: Fool Us less enjoyable to watch.

Penn and Teller finished the show by performing their spin on the Bullet Catch, a trick that was declared the greatest magic trick of all time on Channel 5’s show 50 Greatest Magic Tricks in 2011. They got two gun experts from the audience to join them on stage, and choose a bullet each from two different rifle purses. The volunteers were instructed to sign the tip of their bullets and draw a picture of their choice on the casing. The two signed bullets were loaded into two rifles (which had laser sight), with Penn taking one rifle and Teller using the other. Penn and Teller stood behind a pane of glass each, pointed their guns at each other and fired. They managed to catch the signed bullets in their mouths, suffering no injuries whatsoever, and finished the routine by demonstrating that the bullets had been fired for real and shattered the protective panes of glass. The Bullet Catch routine is famous for its high levels of risk, which means that successful versions are nearly always impressive, but what makes Penn and Teller’s version special, in addition to the use of two guns instead of one, is their showmanship, as they manage to make the trick seem as genuine and dangerous as possible without losing their signature comedic style. Penn and Teller’s performances on this show always seem to provide lessons for the magicians who watch, and their ability to balance both the dangerous and humorous aspects of their act should be an inspiration to any magician trying to find a distinctive approach.

Penn and Teller: Fool Us - Series 2: Episode 2

After a season première full of impressive tricks, the second season of Penn and Teller: Fool Us is in full swing, with Johnathan Ross still hosting and Penn and Teller still trying to figure out the secrets behind the performances they see. This week, another four magicians competed to fool Penn and Teller and thus win the opportunity to be the opening act at one of their Las Vegas shows. They were:

Leon & Romy - Leon & Romy were previously on America's Got Talent in 2013, where they reached the Semifinals. Whilst they were energetic and enjoyable to watch, they relied too heavily on traditional illusions that were easy to figure out (their most unique performance was a version of Lance Burton’s Backstage illusion) and I wrote in my countdown of Americas Got Talent magicians that “I would have liked to see them take a few more risks, even if those risks didn't pay off.” Fortunately, the trick they performed for Penn and Teller was definitely risky in more ways than one. Leon & Romy got Johnathan to choose one of 20 different decks of cards (with Teller’s help), pick a chosen card from his chosen deck, and sign it. They then promised to find the cards in a unique and dangerous way. After a joke about getting Johnathan to wear a Vegas-style showgirl headdress as a safety helmet, Leon & Romy lay underneath a ramp and got a local skateboarder to jump over them. They threw the chosen deck into the air whilst the skateboarder was directly above them, claiming he would catch the signed card in midair, but he wasn’t able to do this. Instead, the signed card was found attached to the bottom of the skateboard. It goes without saying that if they had performed a trick like this on Americas Got Talent, Leon & Romy would have fared much better on that show. Penn initially believed that Romy’s skills at misdirection were key to the trick, but when Leon stated that this was incorrect, Penn and Teller admitted that Leon & Romy had fooled them.

Mike Hammer – Mike Hammer promised a trick that was “brand new, unless you’ve seen me before”. He showed a volunteer a line drawing of a woman, then told him to choose five markers to colour it in. After blindfolding himself with duct tape, he told the volunteer to pick one of his markers and colour in the woman’s shirt, before discarding it and using up the other four markers on the belt, hair, skirt and socks. After the volunteer had done this, Mike had removed the tape from his eyes and then unveiled his blind date, a blow-up doll. He inflated it with a bicycle pump to reveal that its clothing and hair were in the exact colours chosen by the volunteer. Mike had some good lines, but I wasn’t a fan of his “Pick-up Artist” persona, and I’ve seen a version of this trick on America’s Got Talent in the past, where it was performed by Eric Dittelman. Due to the fact that he was doing a relatively conventional mentalism routine, and the only twists he put on it were based on presentation, Mike did not fool Penn and Teller.

Shin Lim – A former concert pianist with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Shin Lim performed a dazzling array of card tricks without speaking once during the entire routine. Using two random audience members as volunteers, Shin got one of them to pick a card and sign it before vanishing the pen and making the face of the chosen card disappear in a puff of smoke. He then made the chosen card appear in his mouth before putting it in a clear plastic bag. The second volunteer was then instructed to pick and sign another card (it is worth mentioning again that he did not speak AT ALL when doing this, and instead used miming and visual indicators to aid his volunteers). Shin then made the deck vanish from his hands and reappear inside the pack, and swapped the deck and card between his hands before making the card appear in his pocket, then behind his back. Shin then switched the signed card with a blank one, and made it vanish and reappear in his mouth again. After switching the second signed card with the one in the plastic bag, he finished by making both cards vanish from the plastic bag, then vanishing the deck in a puff of smoke (if you find it hard to follow my outline of the routine, you can watch it here).  The only problem with this routine was that it was a little too long. If it was a few seconds shorter, it would probably be the greatest card routine I have ever seen. As it was, Shin’s performance was brilliant, and Penn hit the nail on the head when he said it was “sincerely beautiful”. Although they were able to figure out certain parts of the routine, Penn and Teller had no idea how other tricks were done, so they decided that overall, Shin had fooled them.

Peter Boie – Peter Boie performed a spiritualist-themed routine with two volunteers, one female and one male. He begun by getting the female volunteer to sit down whilst holding two slate boards sandwiched together in her hands, with a piece of chalk between them. Peter then told the volunteer to close her eyes and remember any sensations she would experience over the next minute. He then tapped the male volunteer, who was sitting on the other side of the stage, twice on the right shoulder, before telling the female volunteer to reveal what she had felt. She stated that she had felt two taps on her right shoulder, in spite of the fact that Peter had not touched her. Peter finished his routine by separating the slate boards to reveal that a message (“I’m Here”) had appeared on them. It was hard to figure out and interesting to watch, but I prefer more spectacular types of paranormal magic. Although Penn and Teller enjoyed the routine, Penn noted that Peter was performing an effect they referred to the “Invisible Touch”, also done by the mentalist Steve Shaw. Though he was praised for not using a gimmick in the method, Peter did not fool Penn and Teller.

For Penn and Teller’s performance, we went from “Invisible Touch” to “Invisible Thread” as Penn introduced their routine by openly revealing the secret behind it, saying “The next trick is done with a piece of thread”. The ensuing performance was conducted almost entirely by Teller, as he performed a number of tricks centred on a beach ball which appeared to have a life of its own. During the routine, it appeared to move up and down a table of its own accord, fly through the air, get stuck to Teller’s fingers, and leap through a hoop twice. The performance concluded with Penn appearing to cut off the thread used throughout the trick, returning the beach ball to normal. This trick epitomises the way in which Penn and Teller are able to expose tricks without ruining them for a second, because most levitation effects (and other tricks involving inanimate objects appearing to move by magic) rely on similar methods, and if you know the secrets behind them, the emphasis is not on how the trick was done, but how skilfully the magician is able to conceal the method, how creative the performance is, and how entertaining it is to watch.  When Penn and Teller reveal secrets during a routine, they shift the focus from the trick itself to how well it is performed, and this demonstrates just how talented and innovative they are.

Penn and Teller: Fool Us – Series 2: Episode 1

(P.S – Sorry I’ve put this overview up late, but overviews of the remaining episodes will arrive far closer to the initial broadcast)

Four years after the original series finished airing in Britain, Penn and Teller: Fool Us has returned on the American cable network The CW. The series is now filmed in America instead of Britain, with the participating magicians being mostly American as a result. However, iconic illusionists Penn and Teller and original host Johnathan Ross are still on the show, and, most importantly, the format remains unchanged. Every week, four magicians perform for Penn and Teller, and the two will try and figure out the secrets behind the magical routines they see. If Penn and Teller are “Fooled” by their performance, the lucky magician wins the opportunity to open for them in Vegas.

The four magicians who performed in this episode were:

Jon Armstrong – A magician inspired by his love of comic books, Jon Armstrong did a routine involving a small toy plunger that could allegedly read minds. It was supposed to pick up one card at a time, but Jon used it to pick up the entire deck, then to pick up a randomly chosen number of cards. He then did a trick in which he used the plunger to cut to a card chosen by Penn, then to one chosen by Teller. Although there was a minor (possibly intentional) misstep when Jon had to instruct Teller to change his selection because he hadn’t covered up the plunger when Teller was showing his initial selection to the audience, Jon was fun to watch and his routine was very clever. Penn loved Jon’s trick, calling it “the only original card trick I’ve ever seen”, but he acknowledged that Teller had performed a similar routine in the past, and this meant that Jon did not fool the two magicians.

Xavier Mortimer – Also seen on Americas Got Talent the day after this episode aired, French magician Xavier Mortimer provided an enjoyable routine in which he took on his own reflection. It was made up of several smaller tricks, including the reflection appearing to touch and rip sheets from a newspaper held by Xavier and stealing his phone, hat and wallet. Xavier responded by putting his hand in the reflection and taking the items back, and the routine climaxed with Xavier and the reflection switching heads, with Xavier trapping the reflection in the mirror and making him vanish. The routine was inspired by the silent movies of iconic French director and magician George Meliés, and managed to update their style without losing sight of the charm and precise timing that made them so memorable. However, whilst Penn and Teller admired the performance, they were able to recognize the equipment Xavier used in the trick, and therefore he did not fool them.

Greg Dow AKA “The Shocker” – Greg Dow performed under the alter-ego of The Shocker, with a look and performance style combining magic and wrestling. After producing streamers in his hands and making a low-brow joke about Spider-Man, The Shocker performed a mentalism trick in which he made not one, but three predictions. He began his routine by throwing a wrestler’s mask to an audience member, and asked him to think of a female friend (Donna), before writing down a prediction of the chosen name and placing it in a sealed envelope. The Shocker then instructed the first volunteer to hand the mask to the woman behind him, told her to think of an activity she enjoyed doing with a man (Wrestling) and wrote down his prediction of this in the same way. Finally, he got Teller to pick a card (which resulted in an enjoyable piece of comedy as Teller was instructed to name his card in spite of his signature mute persona, so Penn had to reveal the relevant information instead) and put his prediction in the third and final envelope. The first two envelopes were then opened, revealing that The Shocker had correctly predicted the woman chosen by the first volunteer and the activity chosen by the second. He then opened the third prediction to reveal that it was incorrect. Instead of showing the name of Teller’s chosen card (the Three of Clubs), it actually showed the name of a different one (the Eight of Diamonds). The Shocker responded to this by first revealing that all the cards in the deck were the Eight of Diamonds except for the chosen one, before changing the initial prediction, in full view of the audience, into a correct prediction of the initial chosen card. I wasn’t really into The Shocker at first, but he grew on me – I liked some of his jokes and enjoyed the climax of the routine. However, his tricks were relatively easy to figure out compared to the other magicians in this episode. As a result, The Shocker did not fool Penn and Teller, and his attempts to get them to choose him as an opening act anyway were in vain.

Steve Brundage – Steve Brundage performed a routine centred on two Rubik’s Cubes. He began by mixing up one and getting Penn to mix up the other. Teller chose one of the two cubes, and after a failed attempt to solve it in Teller’s hand, Steve did a series of tricks involving solving his Rubik’s Cube in a number of magical ways. First, he gradually solved a thoroughly mixed Cube by returning it to increasingly early states before fully restoring it to its original state. He then reshuffled it before making it transform into a solved cube inside an empty bag. Steve followed these tricks with one where he shuffled the cube and changed it into a solved cube in plain sight- three times in a row. Finally, he changed his cube to perfectly match Teller’s on all six sides. It was a baffling routine, and Penn and Teller wasted no time in saying that Steve had fooled them. As a result, he won the Fool Us trophy and the chance to open for Penn and Teller in their Vegas Show.

As was the case in the previous series, Penn and Teller end every episode by performing one of their signature routines. For this episode, they did their classic Phone in Fish trick. Penn and Teller got a volunteer to hand them their phone, put it into a paper cup, and made it vanish. They then revealed that a sealed polystyrene box had been hidden underneath a random seat the entire evening, and a large fish was inside it. Penn and Teller then cut open the fish, and found the missing phone inside it. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Penn and Teller perform this trick live, and though the presentation was mostly unchanged, there were a couple of new touches, such as testing the phone’s video camera by taking a video of the volunteer next to a life-sized cardboard cutout of fellow Vegas mainstay Criss Angel. Penn and Teller were as brilliant as ever, and I can’t wait to see if they will show off any new or unfamiliar routines on this show.

Penn and Teller: fool us-episode 8

After two months and 31 magicians, Penn and Teller: Fool us has finished airing. Hopefully (Although  I can't say for certain due to the meh ratings) It will return for a christmas special. In today's episode, we had some gory magic, Some modern magic,some youthful magic, some slick magic, and even a "Death". But did anyone fool Penn and Teller?

Lee Hathaway-Close-up Magician

In a trick that certainly can't be packaged in a magic set, Hathaway had a volunteer choose a card from a randomly-chosen deck and place the whole deck in a box in his back. He then appeared to cut himelf open (WIth the resulting entrails looking less convincing as the trick wore on) and pulled the chosen card out of his stomach. The trick fooled Penn and Teller.

Jack Trapnell- 14 year old card trickster.

Trapnell's trick was far better than the last teenage trickster we saw on the show, Daniel Kraemer. In it, he had Penn choose a card at random, and Teller deal down in a different pack to a random card. He then predicted Penn's card, and revealed it matched the one chosen by Teller. The trick didn't quite fool Penn and Teller, but they noted that most viewers at home would be fooled. I think I was.

Laura London- Magicienne

After Romany, Laura London was the second female performer during the whole series. She did a "bill-in-lemon" trick that was more like a "Bill-in-walnut-in-egg-in-randomly-chosen-lemon" trick.  Many viewers, including me and Penn and Teller themselves, hoped that she could win the trip to vegas, but she diidn't manage to fool Penn and Teller. The two noted that they'd done the trick themselves, but praised Laura's spin on it.

Martin Daniels-illusionist and son of Paul Daniels

This trick ranks up with Chris Dugdale's video trick in the last show as one of the most memorable, if least impregnable, tricks seen on the series. In it, Martin performed the "asrah levitation" in phantom of the opera garb. It appeared to be performed totally straight, as a traditional "Levitation and Vanish" trick. However, when the assistant vanished, both Her and Martin appeared in the audience. The man in the mask was revealed as Paul Daniels himself! They adnmitted themselves that they weren't out to fool Penn and Teller, and they didn't, but it was still a trick that everyone will be talking about.

Penn and Teller finished the show with the world's first underwater card trick. In it, Teller was locked in a water tank, and had to hold his breath for a whole, long-drawn-out card trick. After several failed attempts from Penn at finding a chosen, signed, card, Teller appeared to drown underwater (he didn't really. Watch closely and you'll see he's using breathing apparatus). Penn turned teller's body around to reveal the signed card on Teller's gogggles.

Penn and Teller: Fool Us

Three weeks after the previous episode aired, Penn and Teller: fool us is back on Sunday with a special episode. This means that, for the first time ever, I will cover the episode live as it happens.4 magicians will compete to fool the magic duo. Who are they?

Lee Hathaway

An award winning British professional who has created the Magic Masters and Wow! Street magic sets.

Laura London

Similar to burlesque magician Romany from warier this series, but can she do what Romany didn't?

Jack trapnell

A 15 year old magician. Like David Kraemer, expect him to be great for his age

Martin

I'm not revealling his surname, because you should watch on sunday to find out which famous magician is Martin's father. You'll like him, though. Not a lot, but you'll like him

To find out which, if any of these, fool Penn and Teller, tune in on Sunday at 9:00 to find out

Penn and Teller: Fool us -Episodes 6 and 7

Having been on holiday the last couple of weeks, I was unable to access ITV player to watch it. I'm back now, and I've watched the two episodes I missed on ITV player. what happened in them?

EPISODE 6

This episode featured an street magician with a habit of insulting the audience, a physcologist, a Quick-Change act and a pair of Sweden's Got Talent finalists. But which of them manage to fool Penn and Teller?

Gazzo - Street Magician

Despite being a former pupil of the famous cardsharp Walter Irving Scott (He didn't mention this but you can find out about it in his wikipedia article), Gazzo didn't do any card tricks. Instead he did a version of the cups and balls, with a patter involving him being mean to the audience (He established pre-performance that it was fake, but it's still an overused device among comedy magicians). So far, so banal, but Gazzo finished on a high by making several oranges appear from the cup, and a melon appear from his hat. The trick didn't fool Penn and Teller, but they noted that Gazzo did it better than them

Colin Mcleod - Psychological mentalist

Like Gazzo, Colin did an inventive spin on a trick as old as time. He did a version of the book test in which he predicted the invisible word chosen from an invisible book by a volunteer. He finished by making a brick appear from his hat. The trick didn't quite fool Penn and Teller, but was very interesting

Keelan and Charlotte Marie - Quick Change performers and Dancers

Keelan and Charlotte Marie changed clothes at rapid speeds whilst dancing to a diverse medly of songs.The best quick change acts are the ones with the most varied routines, therefore I liked these two a lot. Penn and Teller  weren't fooled, but noted quick change acts were not desingned to "Mistify, but instead Amaze"

Brynholf and Ljung - Swedish Illusionists

These two Swedens got Talent finallists called themselves Joanas and Peter throughout, so I will refer to them as that. They were like a Swedish Penn and Teller (Or, thinking outside the show, Barry and Stuart). For their performance, Joanas covered Peter's whole head in duct tape. He had Teller choose and sign a card, then had Peter try to pick it. After a few failed attempts, one of which utilized a staple gun, Joanas removed the duct tape, and revealed the tape in Peter's mouth.. The trick fooled Penn and Teller.

Penn and Teller finshed the episode with a trick (How many do they have in their repetoire?) In which they did a cut and restored rope trick with a sheet of polyester and a young volunteer, then passed the polyester through his neck. The tricks were nothing new, but I liked the religious patter

EPISODE 7

This episode featured a Canadian Card champion, a "Cuban" magician living in Margate, a French magician, and a performer known to thousands in Britain for lending his face to the Britain's got Talent magic set. Which of these fooled Penn and Teller?

Shawn Farquar-Canadian Cardsharp

A world champion at card magic, Shawn had Penn choose and sign a card from a brand new deck. He put the deck in Penn's hands, and made it appear in another, brand-new, opened box, with the chosen card reversed.Wow. Needless to say, he fooled  Penn and Teller

Manuel Martinez- Not Cuban illusionist

Just like those psuedo-Chinese magicians of the 1920s, "Manuel" was a brit named Gary pretending to be Cuban. But the trick he did, whilst a bit overdone (|Penn and Teller themselves did a version a few weeks ago) was solid. It was a version of Russian Roulette involving "Manuel" choosing four out of five staple guns. Of the five staple guns, one had staples in it, but Manuel managed to avoid choosing it.Amusing, but meh. It didn't fool Penn and Teller, natch

Ettienne Pradier - French Cardsharp

Ettienne had Telle sign a card. He made Teller's teleport from his pocket to his purse, his watch, and finally into a bottle, then made a card predicted by Penn appear on the reverse of the deck. This  isn't a  particularly memorable trick, but it dd fool Penn and Teller.

Chris Dugdale - British Illusionist

If there was one trick that really stood out in this show, it was Dugdale's. This was a world away from the thumbtips and linking rings of the Britain's got Talent magic kit his face is on. Giving every direction and reveal on video (Not weblink), he had Penn pick a volunteer at random, and made him take the person next to him as a second volunteer. Dugdale predicted on his shirt the location chosen at random by the second volunteer, then predicted the cost of the trip via the envelope. Then came the most mind-blowing part. The second volunteer came to the cenre of stage and revealed himself as Dugdale! Though the effect is fairly easy to figure out when you consider that Dugdale had the location and cost on him throughout the effect, and therefore, he didn't fool Penn and Teller, it was still an impressive and memorable piece of magic. Penn even said that he would love to perform it himself.

Penn and Teller showed us yet another trick to finish things off. This involved Teller eating several needles, then a thread, and removing the thread with all the needles attached. I've seen this trick many times before, but it's still impressive.

Penn and Teller Fool Us: Episode 5

Yesterday's episode of Penn and Teller: Fool us included a returnee from the pilot, A pair of  Victorian magicians who I saw at the Edinburgh Festival last year, A French illusionist duo,  and a restaurant magician. Which of these acts were the two in this episode that fooled Penn and Teller and won a trip to Vegas?

CUBIC ACT- French Illusionist duo

Cubic act did a trick involving a floating canvas box with a girl inside. It was a cute trick, but I've seen that type of trick too often for me to be fooled by it, and Penn and Teller weren't (Although, just as with Alan Rorrison last week, Penn claimed that he himself had been fooled). However, Penn said it was "The best stage illusion I have ever seen". Will an illusionist ever fool the pair?

NICK EINHORN -Mentalist

Einhorn wowed everyone with an elaborate trick. He asked a volunteer to put a dish on each of three tables. The volunteer then assigned three male volunteers an envelope and a seat each at random. The volunteers then opened the envelopes, which correctly predicted the volunteer, where they sat, and what they served. The trick fooled Penn and Teller

MICHAEL VINCENT-Cardsharp

Like Richard Bellars last week, Vincent had previously been seen on the pilot. This time, he had Johnathan Ross, Penn and Teller each select and sign a card. He then made their cards appear in another deck. He didn't fool Penn and Teller, but Penn called him "My favourite performer"

MORGAN AND WEST- Victorian illusionists

I saw Morgan and West at Edinburgh last year and liked them, so I was keenly anticipating their  performance on this show. They did a trick which I haven't seen before. In it, West gave Johnathan Silhouette cards to memorize, and Morgan Predicted the names of the silhouetted people from the other side of the stage. The pair fooled Penn and Teller, and won a trip to Vegas

The show finished with Penn and Teller's most shocking trick yet. It involved Penn playing Russian Roulette with a nail gun. He loaded it with a partially empty clip of nails, and fired it into a board if he though there was a nail in the chamber, and fired it at his hand (Or, on a couple of occasions, Teller) if he thought it was empty. Thankfully, his intuition was correct each time, and no one was hurt.

N.B For the next couple of weeks, I will be on holiday, and I will catch up on, and analyze, the episodes I have missed when I return

Penn And Teller: Fool Us- Episode 4

Today's episode featured the series' youngest magician,its first solo female magician, and a performer previously seen in January's pilot. But did any of these manage to fool Penn and Teller?

DANIEL KRAMER- Comedy Magician


Daniel is only 15, but had excellent stage presence and a strong patter. He did the Six-card repeat, which doesn't fool many magicians (Some magic books teach you how to do it), and a twisted arm trick, both of which were funny and well presented. He didn't fool Penn and Teller, but the two noted that he did the magic better than they did at his age

ROMANY- "Burlesque" Illusionist


Romany did a trick that I have seen before, but did it well. She had Johnathan Ross (Still the perfect patsy!) Tie up her hands, and the two climbed into a sack. It was lifted over them both, and Johnathan's suit passed through Romany's restraints onto her body. She didn't fool Penn and Teller, who noted the similarity of the restraints to those seen in a spirit cabinet trick, but they praised the presentation

ALAN ROMSON- Close up Magician


Alan had Johnathan and a female volunteer stand face to face with their hands wide open. He put a coin on each hand, then a card on top of the coins, then made them teleport to a single hand. The trick didn't fool Penn AND Teller, but Penn told Alan that he himself had been fooled by it

RICHARD BELLARS- Mentalist Magician


Having failed to fool Penn and Teller in the pilot, Bellars returned with a considerably more elaborate trick. He invited Penn and Teller to play three games: Darts, Countdown and Paper-Scissors-Rock. He then revealed that he had predictions of every result in these games, correct to the details, in his foot, where they had been since the beginning. With this trick, Richard became only the third magician in the regular series to fool Penn and Teller and win a trip to Vegas

Penn and Teller then finished the show with another trick of their own. Teller's head was encased in concrete above a board on his shoulders. Penn made a volunteer's glasses vanish, then cracked the cement block to reveal the glasses on the board on Teller's board. It was another impressive trick to conclude another impressive episode

Penn And Teller: Fool Us- Episode 3

Yesterdays episode of Penn and Teller: Fool Us had plenty of good magic, but none of the four acts competing managed to fool Penn and Teller. That didn't matter though, as all four managed to impress not just the duo, but Johnathan Ross and the whole audience as well. These acts were...

Piff The Magic Dragon - Comedy Magician

Piff changed a spectators signed card into a predicted one, quarter by quarter. It was a cute and funny effect, but didn't quite fool Penn and Teller. I think it may have been done with a gimmicked card, but it was a nice effect all the same

Soma - Hungarian Close-Up Magician

Soma did a number of phone manipulations, which impressed everyone watching. Even Penn and Teller, who weren't fooled by this, said it was "delightful". It was entertaining and slickly presented too.

Alan Hudson- Comedy Mentalist

Alan did a cheerfully old fashioned routine involving guessing the song playing in each of four CD players. These songs were rather retro ones, not surprising given the nature of the trick. For the climax, he revealed Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" as the song on the final CD player, through a set of cards held up by the crowd to reveal his name, and a picture of Elvis on Alan's shirt. However, Penn and Teller weren't fooled, guessing that modern technology had been used to "Force" the song  choices

Damien O'Brian - Street Magician

Damien performed a trick involving Johnathan choosing a card at random from a pack, which not only matched the card chosen randomly from another pack by a second volunteer, but also matched a prediction made by Damien. The trick didn't fool Penn and Teller, who noted that the card had been forced and that Johnathan was the "Perfect Patsy"

The show ended, as usual, with Penn and Teller performing a trick of their own. Teller made coins appear out of nowhere in an empty fish tank. He put them in another, full, fish tank, and made a large number of fish appear, before turning some of them back into coins for the volunteer. That trick fooled us most of all.

P.S: I'm sorry I haven't yet posted any new magic tricks, but you can be promised several all at once when I get back to posting them next week, hopefully (But don't hold your breath, just in case I miss my deadline again!)

Penn and Teller: Fool Us - Episode 2

Yesterday's episode of Penn and Teller: Fool Us, featured more magicians and better magic than last week's. The magicians trying to win a trip to Vegas by fooling Penn and Teller today were...


Mark Shortland - Comedy Mentalist

Mark did a trick involving luck. He had Jonathan Ross (as irritating a host as ever) put his phone into an envelope, which were mixed up with five other envelopes, each with prop phones in. Jonathan rolled a dice, and Mark destroyed the phone in the corresponding envelope with a hammer. The surviving phone was Jonathans's.

The trick was amusing and well presented, but it did not fool Penn and Teller, who theorised that the dice was rigged, though that still doesn't explain how the dice avoided landing at the random number Jonathan had given his envelopes


Mathieu Bich- Close-up magician

Mathieu did a pick-a-card trick, but one with two novel aspects. First of all, the details of the card (colour, suit, value, etc) were each randomly chosen by different members of the audience. Secondly, Mathieu revealed the chosen card by fanning the deck out in such a way the cards details showed in the fan. Due to these two aspects, Mathieu fooled Penn and Teller and won the trip to Vegas


Young and Strange- Comedy Illusionist Duo

Young and Strange performed a novel version of the Metamorphosis illusion. One of the members was locked in a trunk, and the other went behind a screen. However, from there, the trick differed from convention. The member in the trunk walked out of the other side of the screen, timing this perfectly, then opened the trunk to reveal a female assistant in the trunk. The first member who was supposed to now be in the trunk emerged at the back of the studio. They didn't fool Penn and Teller, but, in terms of entertainment value, presentation, and fooling ME, it was probably one of my favourite performances of the evening


Daniel Madison- Card-Counting Magician

Daniel delivered a technically excellent, but slightly boring card-counting trick as he counted a Royal Flush of Diamonds from the deck whilst blindfolded. I thought that he would fool Penn and Teller like so many cardsharps before him, but he didn't.


As ever, Penn and Teller finished the show with a performance of their own, involving A blindfolded Teller finding a chosen card by stabbing at the deck with a knife, and accidentally embedding both into Penn's hand. The trick was not wow, but it was clever and funny. All in all, it was an excellent episode with some excellent magic.

Penn and Teller: Fool Us. Episode 1

Yesterday saw the first proper episode of Penn And Teller: Fool Us after January's pilot. Three magicians competed to fool The American duo and win a trip to Vegas. How did they fare?

High Jinx-Illusionist Duo

Trick: High Jinx did a trick involving dividing the female member into fifths. It was well presented for that shopworn type of illusion, but it didn't fool Penn and Teller.

John Allen-Danger Magician

Jon performed a very dangerous trick, but one it have seen a thousand times before. 4 bags, which one has the nail in? It was fairly well presented, but unsurprisingly, did not fool Penn and Teller

Graham P.Jolley-Comedy Mentalist

Graham performed two tricks. First, he guessed where host Jonathan Ross had hidden five billiard balls around his person, then did a set of card tricks for Penn and Teller.Just like Benjamin Earl's card sleights in the pilot, Graham's were hard to figure out, and he fooled Penn and Teller to win the trip to Vegas

The episode finished with Penn and Teller performing a trick involving Teller getting out of a Bin liner filled with helium. It was probably the best trick of the day.

Come to this blog next week for more coverage on Penn and Teller: Fool Us