07x22 - P&T Get the Finger

[bunniefuu]

From the Penn & Teller Theater

at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,

here's our host, Alyson Hannigan!

Welcome to "Fool Us,"

where we give Penn and Teller double duty.

Not only do they have to close each show

with a world-class magic trick.

They also have to take on magicians

from around the world and figure out their tricks.

Are they up for the job? Let's find out.

It's clock-in time for our wizardly worker bees,

Penn and Teller!

Any magician who fools Penn and Teller walks away

with a "Fool Us" trophy and a ticket to perform

in their Las Vegas Magic Spectacular.

So let's meet tonight's first potential fooler.

Hi, I'm Sanjeev Vinodh, and I'm 19 years old.

I was born in Illinois, but my family's moved a lot.

We even lived in India for five years,

where I learned to speak five different languages.

I even speak Dothraki.

I have a real love for language.

I have an unusual creative space.

My parents banned me from doing magic for a bit,

so I hid magic props in the bathroom

and practiced for hours without them knowing.

And it's just stuck.

The bathroom is my safe space

where I develop my magic tricks,

still to this day.

Now, my parents are very supportive of my magic.

Ever since I was 12, I told my mom,

if I accept any award whatsoever, I thank her.

So Mom, I hope I fool Penn and Teller for you.

Give it up for the smooth magic

of Sanjeev Vinodh.

As a student of linguistics, I study language,

and something that's always intrigued me is silent letters.

English has tons of them.

For example, "island" has a silent S.

We spell it, but...

We don't pronounce it.

Why?

As if English isn't weird enough already.

My personal favorite is the word "queue."

It's spelled Q-U-E-U-E.

One letter pronounced and all the others are silent.

They just disappear.

These letters deserve better. They deserve a voice.

So today I want to share my ode to silent letters,

and specifically to...

"Quh-way-way"... -

Using the only thing more mysterious

than the English language-- magic.

First, let's create a playing card.

Teller, you get to pick the suit.

Would you like clubs, hearts, spades, or diamonds?

Spades. Perfect.

And Penn, there's 13 different spades.

From ace through king, which one would you like?

- Jack.
- The jack.

- Yeah.
- That's J-A-C-K?

- Yeah.
- That's appropriate.

But we have the jack of spades.

As part of my homage to silent letters,

I brought a special deck of cards with me.

You'll notice that the back of each card

has a word with silent letters.

For example, "is-land."

"Num-b." Let's see.

"Thoge." That's a classic.

You'll also see that the silent letter in each word

is underlined and capitalized,

so that they know that they matter.

But this is an ode to "quh-way-way,"

so there's exactly one card in here

that has the word...

"Quh-way-way" written on the back.

And before any of this began, you two created a random card.

It was the jack-- J-A-C-K--of spades?

- Yes.
- One card created.

One card "quh-way-way."

The jack of spades.

"Quh-way-way."

Well, queue, you know, one letter pronounced,

and all the others are silent. They just disappear.

And just like queue, the card you created

is the only one that's pronounced.

Every other card in this deck is silent.

They've just disappeared.

And that is my ode to queue.

Sanjeev Vinodh.

Wow, that's very impressive.

Thank you, Alyson. Thank you.

You're very comfortable up here.

Where did that come from?

I used to compete in public speaking

all through high school.

So I had just moved from India to Illinois.

- Yes.
- Wow.

It was a dramatic move.

And I think all the other club deadlines had passed,

so speech and debate was the only that was open.

Then I tried it,

and I think I fell in love most with the people there.

And it became a community in an area

that was completely new to me.

So what's the best magic advice you ever got?

It's to polarize,

where it is better to be loved by some and hated by some,

rather than to be kind of liked by everyone.

Ooh, so do you feel there's a lot on the line tonight?

I definitely think that this show has been unique

as a platform in showcasing the best magic to the world

and really creating the public perception of magic,

and at that point, it's not about fooling anymore.

So I think there's a lot on the line about me

being here in the first place.

But you did come here to fool them.

Yes. It would be nice.

- Yeah.
- It would be quite nice.

- It would be quite nice.
- Yes.

All right, Sanjeev, let's see if Penn and Teller

can spell out how you did your trick.

Oh, Sanjeev, what a great routine.

What a nice routine,

and what a great style you have.

You're so professorial instead of a slimy magician.

It's just really-- takes one to know one,

but I do know them.

And now let's get down to your trick.

No doubt, it's a fabulous presentation,

but let's get down to what the game's all about.

I've got a list of a lot of questions,

and there's a lot of basic principles

that I'm going to skirt around that a lot of magicians use,

so stay with me.

First of all, we're not gonna walk up there now.

I'm just gonna take you at your word.

But we could not examine that deck.

Is that right?

Oh, the cards that are out on the table there?

Yeah, they're gimmicked in some way.

Then we're gonna go into what way they're gimmicked.

You can-- yeah, these are yours.

They can be examined, yes. -

- The cards can be examined?
- Yes, yes.

I'm gonna take you at your word, but--

well, cross that out.

Okay, I've got-- you fooled us.

Oh, I wish I could hug you!

Congratulations!

Yay!

- Congrats!
- Thank you.

Oh! Sanjeev Vinodh!

Yay. Congratulations.

Ah!

We have our first fooler in the house.

Will Penn and Teller get fooled again?

Come back and find out when "Fool Us" returns.

Yes!

Welcome back.

Our next performer is back

trying to fool Penn and Teller for a second time,

and here he is now.

Hi, I'm Doc Dixon.

I invent and perform custom magic tricks.

I have learned to do magic with just about anything.

Last time I was on the show,

I did a classic magic trick with my own little twist,

and did not expect to fool them.

- You fooled us.
- I was thrilled when I did.

The moment that I walked offstage,

I said to myself, "I want to do that again."

That performance has become an oasis for me,

a mental vacation.

It cuts through the stress

and puts a big smile on my face.

I fooled Penn and Teller with the shell game,

a trick I've performed over 1,000 times.

My act tonight, I created especially for "Fool Us."

This will be the first time I've performed it

for an audience.

I really hope this works.

This guy shelled the boys last time,

and now he's back.

Give it up for Doc Dixon!

In an attempt to win my second "Fool Us" trophy,

I'm gonna combine two classics of magic--

simulated dismemberment with something vanishes

and goes someplace else.

Okay, here we go.

Simulated dismemberment. A wooden finger.

Alyson, if you would come over please

and just initial the wooden finger.

A big A on it would be great.

- Ew.
- It's a wooden finger.

Okay, that's a weird "A," but there you go.

- Perfect.
- Okay.

Alyson's wooden finger right there.

Watch.

Simulated dismemberment now vanishes

and goes someplace else.

Gone.

* Da-na-na-na-na *

Okay, needs work.

Here's the problem. This is "Fool Us."

We don't do no stinking simulated dismemberment.

We do the real deal.

So in a moment, I'm gonna have Alyson sign my actual finger.

I'm gonna rip that sucker off and make it vanish.

- Alyson, if you would join us.
- For--

Nice round of applause for Alyson.

She's about to dismember me here.

But you're gonna need your finger.

- It's okay.
- Oh.

But it's your finger. Okay, bye, finger.

- Bye, finger.
- Oh.

Alyson's writing, right there.

Watch.

Gone.

Since before Alyson signed that finger,

this box has been on this stage.

I don't even want to touch it.

Please notice how far away my right hand is from the box,

which, by association, means my left hand

isn't even close by.

By the way, I can do this trick in both English and Spanish.

Here we go.

There is a finger inside the box.

I will take it out and show it to the rest of the audience.

I will now put it back inside.

But is it the signed finger?

Alyson, please confirm. Is that your writing?

- That is.
- Yes.

You heard her! The signed finger.

Teller, did that fool you?

"Yes it did."

Lower the trophy.

Now, Penn, it's your shot. Give me a guess.

What do you think? Go ahead, sunshine.

- Come on, something.
- Um--

Wrong!

I know where you're gonna go with this already, Penn.

You're thinking there's a hole in the yellow box.

Please.

Everybody knows there's never holes in yellow boxes.

Everybody knows that.

You can go up to any yellow box in the world,

and you won't find a hole.

Am I right, Teller?

"So right." Thank you, Teller.

There is no hole in the yellow box.

I'll select another one at random.

This yellow box. Take a look. There's no hole in it.

There's no hole in this blue question mark box.

There's no hole in this delightful red ceramic number.

What I'm saying is, guys, there's no holes.

Okay, I suppose it's come to this.

To move on, I actually have to explain how the trick is done.

All right, let's be that way.

First, Alyson, you really didn't sign my finger.

You signed one of these magician-y fingers.

Why didn't she notice that? I'll tell you why.

Magic, that's why!

Then I made it disappear.

"Phone home." Watch.

Gone.

Then I threw the finger to an offstage assistant,

who threw it back to me.

Now, got it, dropped it in the box,

and the illusion was complete.

You know, I--I get the feeling half of you think I'm crazy.

Half of you are right.

Let's--let's go back to the wooden finger.

Um...

the wooden finger seems to have vanished.

Since before she signed that wooden finger,

this box was on this stage,

and inside that box was this box,

and inside that box was this box,

but this is not a box.

This is a solid brick of oven-hardened,

kiln-dried clay.

Solid from side to side,

top to bottom, and end to end,

but yet, I baked something inside of it.

Let's see. I'll need some tools.

Here we go.

Inside...

There's a finger.

The wooden finger with her writing on it.

- Thank you.
- Doc Dixon!

Wow.

Are your kids proud of you

for fooling Penn and Teller the first time?

Yeah, they were thrilled. They were thrilled.

I have seven kids, a grown daughter and six boys,

and they were very happy to see Daddy do that, yeah.

You're a very funny magician.

Is it harder to be a funny magician

or a good magician?

Both take a lot of work,

and to do both at the same time is extra hard.

Yeah.

The disappearing finger has gotten me my whole life.

- Well...
- I've always loved that one.

I started with the "got your nose."

Yeah.

And then worked my way up to the disappearing finger.

I mean, just, like--this trick

was custom created for "Fool Us."

Well that's what most of my magic is--

custom created for whatever my clients do.

You know, I've done tricks with shoes.

Client had a kangaroo as a mascot.

You name it, I've done all kinds of custom magic.

What's the most creative trick you've ever come up with?

- A floating watermelon.
- Whoa.

The end of that was kind of a crazy trick.

It spat water over the audience.

Wow. Why'd you only do it once?

Watermelons are hard to carry around.

Hmm.

- Okay, Doc.
- All right. All right.

Let's see if Penn and Teller can dismember your trick.

Doc, you know we love you.

It takes a lot of gumption to come out, to come out twice.

You know, you fooled us.

You could have just walked away,

but you came back to try to fool us again,

and the finger in the box thing--so funny.

So wonderful. Just great all the way through.

Every moment is entertaining, energetic.

You have a unique presence, you have a whole style,

and as far as the trick and fooling us,

I've just really got one question to ask you,

and that is, Doc,

how [bleep] stupid do you think we are?

Coming on our show and doing

the same [bleep] method again?

To fool us again with the same [bleep] method?

I mean, yes, Doc, yes,

ba*ls the size of Ethiopia.

Just huge. What?

It's the same trick!

It was the same load! It was the same method!

And we love you just as much as we did last time.

We love you completely, absolutely,

to the ends of the Earth,

but you're not gonna fool us again

with the same [bleep] method.

- That's what I got to say.
- Hmm.

Did you get the hint

that they were trying to give you?

Well, here's how I look at it.

I think it's half and half.

They got the wooden finger part,

but you notice they're still baffled

by how my signed, actual finger got in the box.

- That's true.
- They didn't address that.

No idea. No idea.

So I'm gonna consider it a tie,

or as we say in Vegas, a push,

and no trophy will exchange hands.

You're so good, Doc.

Alyson, great to work with you.

- Thank you.
- Great to see you guys again.

- Doc Dixon!
- Thank you guys.

Stay right where you are.

You don't want to miss a moment of tonight's show.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back to "Fool Us."

Penn and Teller are ready to take on our next act.

Let's meet him now.

I'm just an ordinary southern guy

from Sylacauga, Alabama,

the only place on Earth that a person

has actually been struck by a meteorite.

Pretty cool, huh?

I've had no schooling in drafting or engineering,

but I began designing and building everything

that you see in my show.

That's just the way my mind works.

I consider myself more of a paranormalist

because my act is definitely not normal.

Some people say I have a bit of a split personality,

but I have no idea what they're talking about.

Penn and Teller, you think you're the bad boys of magic,

wait till you get a load of me.

Joining us remotely from somewhere far, far away

is Psycho Jack.

Most of my friends

or the people that know me the best

say that I'm a very different person

when I step onto a stage.

Sort of a split personality, if you will.

Oh, well, we're about to take that to an all new level.

So ladies and gentlemen, Penn and Teller,

what you're all about to witness is not an illusion.

This is real.

It's showtime.

Houston, we have a problem. I think my legs fell asleep.

Well...we're all right.

This seems like a great time to take a selfie.

Come on in.

Boo!

Now you're about to meet my biggest fan.

Lots of wind. Lots of wind.

Oh.

Oh, something's happening.

Something--what the?

Oh, oh.

Oh, thank you.

Put that away there.

What? A little help over here.

Oh, set me there.

Abracadabra.

Ah.

Hey, Penn and Teller, did I fool you?

David Merlin!

Ah, whew. Oh, good.

I'm really glad to interview you

and not that guy. -

So where do you normally perform?

Well, normally, I do a paranormal-type show,

and I perform worldwide.

So do you talk to the dead? What kind of things do you do?

My show involves telekinesis. It involves ghosts.

It involves mind-reading.

You know, the ability to hear

and see things that others can't.

In some rare cases, the ability to move things with their minds

or transmit thoughts from one person to another.

And will Psycho Jack be part of that?

It is quite possible he may show up from time to time.

Okay, let's go to Penn and Teller

and see if you fooled them.

So, you prefer--

you prefer David or Jack Psycho?

Well, right now, I'm my own self.

That only happens when I touch that meteorite on occasions.

I see, I see, I see.

Well, it's a wonderful character

and based on stuff that goes way back in magic.

Omar Pasha did a lot of that stuff.

And--but I'm not interested as much in the magic

as in the character of Psycho Jack

'cause you see him as a psycho.

I see him as a superhero

with his incredible core strength

and the mastery of all the black arts.

He's just wonderful in all that power.

I guess I maybe root for the supervillain

as much as others root for the superhero,

but I just love the character and bouncing around

and think it's great,

and I overheard a little bit of the interview,

but you do that character fairly often?

I did it on television shows around the world,

and--because the kids, for some reason,

just seem to love that Jekyll and Hyde type thing.

And they also love slicing people in half.

That's what children love.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

So we love the act, but we think we gave you

a few little hints there,

I hope, that let you know that we don't think you fooled us.

And being that you're the masters of illusion,

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.

Okay, well, thank you. Give our best to Jack.

Well, David, you didn't fool them,

but you sure creeped us all out,

especially me. Thank you.

- Oh, great, thank you.
- David Merlin!

You want to see Penn and Teller perform?

Hold your horses until the end of the show.

More triple crown magic after the break.

Welcome back.

We search the globe to find

the best magicians like this next act.

Every art form makes us see

the world with a different set of eyes.

If magic has taught me anything,

it's that the world is not what it seems to be.

The reality we live in is actually a big illusion.

There's something I want to show you.

I carry it in my wallet wherever I go.

It's a bill signed by the man who invented the trick

that I'm about to show you.

He's been a huge inspiration for me all my life.

Now, since that time, I've been fascinated

of doing magic with money.

Penn and Teller,

I'm sure you know the origin of what you're about to see,

but I hope to surprise you

with the way that I've made it my own.

Let's take this show overseas

for Deutschland deceiver Jorg Alexander!

There are two important rules when learning

how to pull money out of thin air.

Rule number one-- practice first,

and only then quit your current job.

And rule number two--

be careful when actually spending the money,

which brings us to Magdalena and Eric.

Welcome.

Thank you for helping me with this illusion.

Eric, you are actually from the States.

I am from the States.

So you probably know the feeling--

you are in a foreign country, like Germany in the streets.

You want to buy something, but maybe

you don't have the proper change with you.

Then suddenly, there is this stranger,

extremely helpful, that says to you,

"I can change that for you.

- And I'll give you a good rate."
- Okay.

Maybe this has happened to you?

Yeah.

Life experience-- let me tell you,

life experience tells us that you should not

- entirely trust these people.
- That's right.

Rather, you shouldn't trust them at all.

And why that is,

well, this is precisely why we are here.

But to make things as fair as possible

and to literally take them out of my hands, Magdalena,

would you please count these bills,

one by one onto my hand in a loud voice?

- Everyone can see.
- One, two.

- This is two.
- Three, four.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Wonderful. Eric, there's this envelope.

Could you please have a look inside?

Check it.

Make sure there's nothing inside.

Keep the envelope open for a moment.

And just to be sure, Magdalena,

you checked these are single bills.

You've counted them yourself.

These are one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine, and ten.

And these ten bills go inside the envelope.

Just keep it closed for a moment.

And Eric, usually you would say 100 for 100 is a fair deal.

It's fair.

But if this was actually happening in real life,

you would have just lost ten Euros.

I mean, this is "Fool Us" after all.

- So let's--
- Yeah, yeah.

Please open the envelope.

Let me take out whatever's inside.

And make sure the envelope is empty now.

- It's empty.
- Keep it as a souvenir.

And yet these are now just one, two, three,

four, five, six,

seven, eight, and only nine.

But I--Eric, to be honest,

I can feel a certain suspicion in the audience.

Magdalena, of course, you can check

because maybe somebody thinks, "Oh, it's still ten.

He only makes it look like it's nine."

No, no. You can check.

- It's really just nine bills.
- Okay.

- On to my hand once again.
- One.

This is one.

Two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

- That's not good.
- No?

I'm sorry, Eric. It's not my fault.

- Uh-huh.
- But it's okay.

Let's not--let's not argue over ten euros.

- No, it's fine.
- Because I have more.

So it's no problem.

Eric, let me take one of these--just a single one,

and add them to these-- you said how many?

- Eight.
- Eight.

So plus one is nine.

- Uh-huh.
- Yeah.

- Plus, Eric, one more is ten.
- That's ten.

- But let's make sure.
- Hopefully.

Maybe you--maybe it's better you count them.

Eric, maybe onto the wallet.

- Okay.
- So I don't even touch them.

- One by one on to the wallet
- One, two.

This is two.

Three, four, five, six,

seven, and eight.

What?

So you know each other, right?

- We do.
- Is that the problem?

- No.
- No?

But of course, this is just a game.

There never was the question

if you've taken any money from me.

The real question-- just to be safe,

let's put this aside.

The real question, Eric, is how sure

can we all be here in the audience,

Penn and Teller, the viewers at home,

that these eight bills that Eric just counted

actually are eight bills?

Let's make sure.

Just hold the wallet for a moment.

And we count, so this is one, two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,



which, honestly, for 100,

is a really good rate.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Eric. Thank you, Magdalena.

Jorg Alexander!

Hello. Welcome to Vegas.

Well, hello, Alyson. How are you?

I'm well. How are you?

Good, good.

Happy to finally be in the studio.

What a wonderful and useful trick

you've got here.

You're like a walking ATM really.

Yeah, yeah, a lot of people

want to marry me right after.

Or at least go shopping with you.

That too, yeah.

I understand you're an engineer.

Well, originally, yes, yes.

And when I finished my studies,

it was a time when, in Germany,

engineers were-- didn't get any work,

so I could say to my parents,

"It's a good thing I learned something useful,"

and I became a magician.

And do you find that working with money

makes people pay attention more?

Well, it's a good attention-grabber, yes, yes.

Okay, Jorg, let's go to Penn and Teller.

Boys, do you know how he did his trick?

Hey, Jorg, nice routine. Nice routine.

And I know you know all this,

but I want to tell the people at home

that this starts out as a card trick.

Edward Victor did the 11-card trick,

and then Fred Kaps, of course, changed it to money,

and you've taken it to a whole other level.

You've taken Kaps' bills,

and you just have everything completely motivated.

Nothing seems arbitrary.

Card tricks always mean nothing.

You bring it into the real world

with money and changing-- people care about money.

They don't care about cards.

And your moves are all beautiful.

You know, I'm so bad with accents

that when I hear someone with any accent

that's not America, I immediately think Dracula.

But you're not Dracula.

If you were to say you were Dracula,

I would say you're a false count,

but that's not true.

I just got confused there for a moment.

You do a beautiful job.

All the moves are just beautiful and clean,

and even though you had us in the palm of your hand

for the whole trick, I don't think you fooled us.

I totally agree to that, yes.

All right.

Well, you didn't fool them,

but you certainly entertained us.

Thank you so much. Jorg Alexander!

A pleasure.

We have one more magic act for you,

and lucky for us, it's our two Hall of Famers.

Penn and Teller perform right after this.

When people think of Penn and Teller,

beauty and poetry don't necessarily come to mind.

Yet tonight, they're here with something

a little different and delightful.

Penn and Teller!

The hundreds of magicians we've had on the show

have certainly shown that magic is an art form,

but it's also a craft.

Once you get the idea,

then you got to put on your dungarees,

go in the workshop, and build it.

Make it work.

And sometimes you do that

with just paper and cardboard to start out.

Well, Teller's friend Nate Dendy,

who's a wonderful magician-- he's been on this show--

and they put together a magic routine

of all paper and cardboard

that tells the story of the seasons.

Now, Teller's gonna do the magic,

and I'm just gonna play a little bit of percussion.

So here's Teller with the seasons.

Here's a snowflake for winter.

I'll take part of that. You didn't give me much.

I'll take a little-- not even even there.

There we go.

We promised and delivered an amazing night of magic.

Can we do it again?

Come back next week

and find out when "Fool Us" returns.