03x13 - Can Penn & Teller Fool Penn & Teller

[bunniefuu]

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

- From the Pen & Teller theater
in Las Vegas, Nevada,

here's our host,
Alyson Hannigan.

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome to
"Penn & Teller: Fool Us."

Tonight, you have a choice.

We can watch
an unrated director's cut

of my 1988 movie,
"My Stepmother Is an Alien."

Or we can watch the show where
the world's best magicians

get a chance to win a shot
performing in Penn and Teller's

amazing Las Vegas show.

Okay!
[cheers and applause]

Magic show it is.

And what better way
to start a magic show

than bringing out two of the
greatest magicians of all time--

Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

Take a seat, gentlemen.

- How you doin'?

- Here comes
our first magician.

Teller, you think I'm bluffing?
I'm not.

Take a look.

- My name is Anthony Asimov,

and I'm what they call
a prop magician.

I did magic for corporations,
for private parties for years,

but I just felt another
creative calling coming,

and so I left magic.

It was sort of like
a coming-out to my family.

I'm like, "I'm leaving magic."

Aah!

My second love
is horror movies,

and so I moved to L.A.
and became a producer,

but every couple years,
I'd take out the cards,

and the last time it happened,
I had a lot of fun.

Now after leaving magic
for 12 years

and having a different
perspective, just from age,

I would have to say I'm better.

Now that I have a really nice
balance of magic and horror,

it's kind of, like, my life.

If I'm not doing magic, I'm
doing horror, and vice versa.

[cheers and applause]

- This next magician
is from Jersey,

so if you think he's intimidated
by Penn and Teller,

forget about it.
[laughter]

Here with two randomly selected
members of our studio audience,

please welcome Anthony Asimov.

[cheers and applause]

- I love a packed house!

My name is Anthony Asimov,
and when you see me do

what I'm about to do,

you're gonna say that was crazy,
that was nuts.

I was there, I saw him do it,

and I don't know how he did it.
Shall we begin?

both: Yes.

- That's nuts.
[laughter]

Sir, miss, does that look like
a bowl of walnuts to you?

both: Yes.
- A big round of applause

for our very observant
spectators.

[applause]

I'm trying to get these cards
out of my hands.

The less I do with them,
the better, okay?

But for now, I'd just like
you to confirm

that they are different and
in no particular order, correct?

- Yes.
- Yes, right here, different.

Well-mixed, and
in no particular order, correct?

- Yeah.

- The reason I'm trying to get
these cards out of my hand,

is because when
magicians touch the cards,

they do that thing
called sleight of hand.

You've heard that before, right?
- Yes.

- Right, well, I'm not gonna
do any sleight of hand

with any of these cards.

Mr. Jillette, if you could
please name any number

between 1 and 52,
and I will count to that card.

What number would you like, sir?
- Let's make it 12.

- 12. 12 it is.

Now from the top of the deck,
okay,

and you, please keep me honest.

One, two, three, four five,

six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
eleven, twelve.

Correct?
- Yes.

- And we have the 4 of diamonds.

Now I just have to check.

If you had continued counting,
we would have selected

one of these cards,
and these are--

none of these are
the 4 of diamonds, correct?

Any of these cards, correct?
- Mm-hmm.

- But no, Mr. Jillette,
you selected the 4 of diamonds.

It's time to bring out
my assistant.

All I ask is the audience
do not be afraid.

[ominous music]

[music swells]

[laughter]

This is where
our alien comes in.

See him coming in?

[laughter]

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is Pickle.

Everyone say, "Hello, Pickle!"
all: Hello, Pickle.

- Pickle likes to help,
so Mr. Jillette,

I'll put your card
right here in his little hand,

and he will hold it
the entire time,

so we can remember the card.
Sir, I have

a bit of an embarrassing
question to ask you.

Are you okay with that?
- Yes.

- Do you have an aversion
for tools that crack nuts?

[laughter]
- No.

- Are you a good nut cr*cker,
sir?

- Probably not as good as you.
- The hesitation, yes.

The hesitation is not good.
Here we go.

I will take out some walnuts,
just like this.

Now we need to all envision
the letters.

Can we all do this together
as an audience?

Envision the 4 of diamonds,
right?



Let's see...

F-O-U-R O-F D-I-A-M-O-N-D-S.

Miss, if you could just hold
your hand out just like that,

palm up...put that walnut
right there.

Now what we're gonna do is crack
open some of these walnuts,

just to prove that
they are only walnuts, okay?

I know some of you
are suspicious

because I'm a magician.
[laughter]

I'll do the nut cracking.
- That's fine.

Walnuts, right?

You'd be--you reach across
and pick up one.

Have I convinced you
these are just walnuts?

- Yes.

- Aliens are really good
at duplicating things.

This is where Pickle comes in.

Pickle, do your thing.

Did you feel anything?

- A tap.

- A tap.
That's good.

Here, is there anything
in my hands?

- No.

I told you, you thought
this was gonna be nuts.

[audience gasps and applauds]

Thank you so much!

- Anthony Asimov!
Wow!

Come here, Anthony.
That is nuts!

- Thank you.
- Did you

come up with that yourself?
- I did.

Usually I get inspiration
when I'm seeing

other magicians perform,
and I say, you know,

"That's such a great trick!
What would I do?

What would I do
with that trick?"

And from there, you know,
magicians--good magicians

want to do their own magic
and have their own sensibility

and not copy other magicians
and so...

So that's really where I start.

- All right, well, let's get
these guys' perspective on this.

- All rightie.
- All right.

Boys, time's up.

- You know, a lot of people
would think,

people that have watched
a couple seasons of the show,

had learned a little bit,

learn a little bit
here and there,

they would think that somewhere
on the selection of the card,

you would have manipulated
my card selection,

or you would have had a switch
in your hands with the card,

but no, no,
you didn't do that.

The way you had it selected
was very artistic.

Like Picasso or to be more
honest, like Banksy.

You know, it was just fabulous
how the selection was done.

And then,
although you didn't fool us,

I want to judge you
on a higher--

higher plane than as a magician.

You know, because one of the
things I love about performing,

and what I always push for
very much

is for things
to be crazy and eccentric.

So I don't want to judge you
on the--on the magician index.

I want to judge you
on the nut index.

And your alien misdirection puts
you at the top of the nut index.

You were fabulous,
but didn't fool us.

- [groans]
- All right.

- All right?
- Do you understand

what he's talking about?
- Do you mind?

Well, I don't know
if I'm convinced. [laughing]

Where did I specifically...
- He wants you to talk more

about his nuts.
[laughter]

- Okay, misdirection
of the alien allowed you

to gather your thoughts
and get ready.

Then we saw you cop
under the table

and we saw you add in,
as you laid the nuts out.

- Aah!
- I don't want to say more--

- No, and I appreciate that.
I bow to you, sir.

- So now you're convinced
that they know...

- I'm convinced
that this was so much fun.

Love you guys.
- Well, thank you, Anthony.

Thank you so much.
- All right, bye!

- All right, thank you.

We have more magicians
willing and ready

to fool Penn and Teller.

Will they do it?
Come back and find out.

More "Fool Us" coming up.

♪ ♪

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us,"

where magicians could come at
Penn and Teller from anywhere,

including from
right behind them!

Just kidding.

They'll come out right here
after we watch this.

- My name is Angela Funovits,

and I'm a professional
mentalist.

I grew up as a small town girl.

I had this huge interest
in magic.

My other dream
was to become a doctor,

and I was able to become both.

The nurses
that I work with joke

that the Angela that's onstage
is just my evil twin.

I get to things
that are daring,

that are dangerous,
and I get to lie on purpose

and get away with it.

Medicine can have
some similarities with magic.

Patients come in and they are
very much afraid of the unknown.

One of the most powerful things
that I can do,

is to build and establish
a certain trust with a patient.

It's the same thing
that I have to do onstage.

People have to trust you

before they're gonna let you
fool them.

[cheers and applause]

- This med school graduate
specializes in dermatology,

but can she get underneath
Penn and Teller's skin

with this next trick?

Please welcome Angela Funovits.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you very much.

Throughout the ages, there have
been countless demonstrations

of subliminal
and subconscious influence

that have proven to be
nothing but a hoax.

However, dozens of studies
have shown

that human behavior
can be primed in various ways.

With that idea in mind...

we're going to play a game.

I'm going to use
this here paper ball

to select one random
audience member

to act as a test subject
of sorts.

Please catch.

You, sir.

You'll make a perfect
test subject.

What is your name, sir?
- Jason.

- Jason.

I'm going to be showing you
a series

of several images,
each with a word association.

So, starting off.

Love.

Danger.

Fire.

Chance.

Poison.

Having seen those,

I'd like you now to take a look
at this blank slate,

and form in your mind any word
in the English language.

Do you have one in mind?
- Yes.

- Go ahead and say that word
for us out loud, please.

- Gold.
- Gold.

- G-O-L-D?
- Yes.

- Gold.

And...sir,

before we go any further,

I must say.

Some people might wonder,

is it possible for me to have
influenced his decision?

And to say that I somehow made
you choose the word "gold"

with anything I have just done
is completely ridiculous.

But you haven't seen
what's inside that box.

You still have
that paper ball in hand?

Please bring it on up here
and join me.

Give him a big round
of applause.

[cheers and applause]

Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you again.

- So like I said,

we need to get
to what's inside of this box.

We'll leave that there.

What I brought for you...

as you can see,

is an American English
dictionary.

Now come right on over here.
- Okay.

- You and I are gonna stand
right here

and we're gonna look up
your word: "gold."

That's your responsibility
right now. Go ahead.

- I'll do my best.
- All right.

So let's see...
We're at "gaffe."

"Geometry."

Getting there...
- Mm-hmm.

- "Gossipy," oh.
Wait a second.

What do we have here?

We have page 210 on the left,
page 213 on the right...

You've almost found your word,
correct?

- Almost.

- Go ahead and show that
there...

is that one page

ripped out of the center.

Right about where your word
"gold" should have been.

And the question is,

where's the page?

You'll remember when I came
out here, I started off

with a little paper ball.

I tossed that paper ball out
to randomly select you.

Please hold this open
just like this...

because this right here,

in play the entire time...

Is that your word?

- That's gold.
[cheers and applause]

Wow.
- A perfect match.

Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, Jason.

- Funovits,
ladies and gentlemen!

That was incredible!
- Thank you.

- Wow.

So, med school and magician.

- And magician, yes.
- And you sort of always,

even as a child,
had both in mind?

- Yes, I actually did.

When I was ten years old, I
actually wrote an autobiography.

It was a class assignment
and one of the topics was,

"What do you want to be
when you grow up?"

And I wrote on that page,

"I want to either be
a doctor or a magician."

Turns out,
I ended up becoming both.

I found that book
a couple of years ago,

and it was really
a beautiful thing.

- That is so great.

And do you ever get confused

and do one when you're supposed
to be doing the other?

[laughter]

- Hopefully not at the very
dangerous situations.

- That's true--well, if you
could make a mole disappear,

that'd be pretty good.
- There you go.

- All right, well, let's
check in with Penn and Teller.

Penn, Teller?

- Oh, my goodness!
- Hello.

- Angela, good to see you again.
- Good to see you too.

- We know her.
We've seen her before.

Good to see her.
You know, uh...

this kind of trick,

I want to talk about
how you didn't do it.

A trick like this
is usually done

with what's called
pre-show work.

And pre-show work means
you do something with someone

in the audience
that is a real trick for them,

but that the rest
of the audience doesn't see.

And then you call on that person

and have them,
"Are you thinking of a word?"

And what you mean is,
"You think of the word

that we had you pick before."

None of the rest of the audience
knows that.

That's called pre-show work,

and it's one of
the absolute rules we have

on "Fool Us" that you're not
allowed to do pre-show work.

So you've done a trick
that would be amazing

with pre-show work
and is much more amazing

without pre-show work,
which you did not do.

So the trick you had to do
right here,

one of
the amazing parts of it is,

that everything
that had to be done

was done right here on stage,
right on stage,

crystal clear,
and we just didn't see it.

And what I want to talk about is
women in magic who are--

it's a very, very
rare, rare thing,

and I'm so glad
it's starting to happen more.

But you're really suffering
for your art.

You're wearing those high heels,

and I have worn heels
in a magic trick

that are very, very high,
and I know how much those hurt.

And you're willing to suffer
for your art,

and I appreciate that,
and there's also someone else

who you work closely with,

who's also willing to suffer
for his or her art.

Is that correct?
- That is absolutely correct.

- You know
what I'm talking about?

- I know exactly
what you're talking about.

- You know
what I'm talking about.

- I don't know
what you're talking about.

[laughter]
What are you talking about?

- We're talking about
her great trick.

- Okay, so, wait--
so, you know what he--

Aah! I should have gone
to med school.

[laughter]
All right.

So you're confident they know
how you did the trick?

- Absolutely.
- And that I won't

be able to sleep tonight?
- Absolutely.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
Angela Funovits.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much.
Good-bye!

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

More amazing tricks coming up

including one from
our very own Penn and Teller.

More "Fool Us" after this.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

Don't blink as you try to figure
out our next performers.

- I'm Ivan Amodei.

I'm an illusionist.

My show,
it's called Intimate Illusions.

It's in an elegant setting,
candlelit,

and it has a concert cellist.

So the cello creates
a soundtrack for the show,

and just allows you
to get into the feeling

that I want you to have about
the illusion that is coming.

People are participating
in almost the entire 90 minutes.

My magic is different
because I really want to convey

a message about life,
such as facing your fears,

or finding your destiny.

If I touch somebody
and it affects them,

I have done my job.

[cheers and applause]

- Along with 18 randomly
selected members of our audience

and a cellist,
say hello to Ivan Amodei.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And now, ladies and gentlemen,

for the Cirque du Soleil
part of the show.

[comical cello music]

Hey, look, I'm as tall as Penn!
[laughter]

This is a deck
of educational flashcards.

Each card has a state on it.

One state for every state in our
amazing country we live in.

Okay, but instead of me
shuffling,

I'm gonna give the job
to Penn and Teller.

So I'm gonna take
half the cards,

and Penn, if you don't mind,

could you please take this, and
if you could hand it to Teller,

and you're gonna take this half.

I want you to remove one
for yourself.

One state, Penn,
put it in your pocket,

and begin mixing the rest.

So Penn, I know
that you and I are both parents.

- Yes, we are.
- Isn't it interesting,

ladies and gentlemen,
as a parent,

that if you bring your kids
to the playground,

that you can hear
your kid's voice

from among all
the hundreds of other kids there

as if there's no other sounds.

It's just your kids.

Now to me,
when I saw that happen,

I thought that looked magical.

So I'd like to demonstrate
for you

what that looks like in action
with everybody in this theater,

and we're gonna times that--
listening for one tune,

times a thousand, okay?

Okay, so.

When you're done shuffling,
gentlemen,

may I have those back please?
You're done?

Okay, hold onto these.

Gonna leave these over here.

And we're going to now use all
the guests that are up here.

Can you please all stand?

[cello music swells]
Wonderful.

And Penn,
could I have you stand as well?

- Sure.
- Yeah.

So I'm gonna take--
you have one, yes?

- I do.
- I'm gonna give some

to this group of guests here.
Can you take this group?

Hold on to them.

I'm gonna give, uh,
this gentleman a group.

Can you hold on to them?

And I'm gonna give...
uh, let's see.

I'll give you a group.
Can you hold on to them?

I want you to shuffle your
little stack of cards, please.

I want you to take one
for yourself

and hand the balance
of the cards

to the person to your left.

I want you to do the same thing.

Shuffle them,
hand one to yourself,

and pass the balance
to the person to your left.

Okay, everybody should--
could you hand one to your left?

Yes, does everyone have one?
Yes.

Here's what I'm gonna try to do,

and everybody in this audience
is going to help.

I am going to try to listen for
only what I want to listen to,

which are the people standing,
including Penn.

So when I count to three,
everybody here,

including Penn,
are gonna shout out the state--

Penn, take a look
at your state--

that you are holding.

And then everybody seated is
gonna do the exact same thing,

except you guys are gonna shout
out any state that you want,

and try to confuse me.

So if you guys seated don't know
the states, ask somebody.

[laughter]

The whole theater
is going to erupt...

everyone shouting a state
and I'm just gonna try to focus

only on the guests
that are standing.

Okay, shall we?
On the count of three.

One...
[ominous cello music]

two...
three!

[all shouting]

Oh, God.
[laughter]

This is gonna be harder
than I thought.

Okay, so you guys,

if you hear me say the state
and you happen to be holding it,

I need you to just shout, "Yes!"
and then have a seat.

I'm not gonna be seeing you,
so I need to hear you

in order to know that I got you.

Ready?
- Yes.

- Here we go.

♪ ♪

Maine.

- Yes!
- Sit.

Alabama.
- Yes!

- New Jersey.
- Yes.

- Texas.
- Yes.

- Nevada.
- Yes.

- Florida.
- Yes.

- Illinois.
- Yes.

- [exhales]
This is so hard.

Uh...what did I hear?

Maryland.
- Yes.

- Oregon.
- Yes.

- [exhales] I think I got
a few more and I'm done.

Um...New Mexico.
- Yes.

- Colorado.
- Yes.

- And Michigan!
- Yes!

- We're done.
Thank you very much.

This is awesome.
[confused cello music]

[scattered applause]

What's--

what happened?

- You didn't call my card.
- I didn't call you?

- No.
- It's interesting--

can I hear your name?
- Maria.

- Say your name.
- Tamika.

- Nija.
- Oh, can you say this to me?

How you doin'?
- How you doin'?

- That's interesting.
And then this guy right here...

can you say this to me?
Say, "I love you, Ivan."

[in British accent]
I love you, Ivan.

- Oh, that was weird.
[laughter]

Did you hear his accent?

The lady in the dress, Hawaii.

The lady in the yellow,
California.

- Yes.
[cheers and applause]

- The lady right...behind her,
Alaska.

The gentlemen in the blue with
the accent, you have Arizona.

Dude, you have Connecticut.
You have New York.

- Yes.
[cheers and applause]

[fast-paced cello music]

♪ ♪

Penn, did you shout it out?
- I did.

- You did.

What state do you have?
- I have Rhode Island.

- Rhode Island?
- Yeah.

- You are correct.
I'm done. I'm exhausted.

Come on, give 'em a big hand!
[cheers and applause]

Thank you very much.

Can we give my friends
a great big hand?

Come on, guys,
you can go back to your seats.

[cheers and applause]

- Mwah!
- All right.

- Ivan Amodei!

Hi!
- How are you?

Nice to see you.
- That was so wonderful.

- Thank you.
Thank you.

- So why did you want
to come on to this show?

- I wanted to come on
because these two are,

in my opinion, the best.
- Mm-hmm.

- And, uh, yeah, yeah.
[cheers and applause]

I really admire
both of them tremendously.

I understand what it takes,

because I'm in
the same industry.

I have never met them.

So my little way
of meeting them right now

is good enough for me, and
that's why I wanted to come on.

- All right.

Well, let's find out
what they think.

- Okay.
- All right.

Boys!

- Teller just said
when you came out,

he'd been dying to see you work.

And boy, this is the best first
stage setup we've ever seen.

I like this so much better
than a big box or something.

You filled the whole stage
with people,

and nothing's more interesting
to look at than people.

And the cello was a great touch.

It's just fabulous
all the way through.

It's also important to say, none
of those people were plants,

none of those people were setup.

All that was done completely
the way you said it was done.

- True. Yes.

- That having been said...
- Yes.

- We know a little bit
about statistics.

- Statistics? Okay.
- Yeah, a little bit about it.

And we're not sure,
in the final six standing up,

that there seems
to be a little less clumping

than there should have been,

if that was truly random.
- Okay.

- I don't want to say too much
more, because I'm afraid

that we will give away too much
and it's such a good trick.

Uh, what else
can I say to you...

- Did they seem off?
- Do you remember, Penn,

that I had them shuffle?
- Yes.

- Okay, so I just wanted
to clarify that if you...

- Yes, absolutely,
have them shuffle, yeah.

- Okay, cool.
- And you have them shuffled

too late for you to have done
anything after that...

- Correct.
- But you did--

You did know--
you did hand them out.

- In clumps, yeah.

- And the clumping
that you handed them out in

also was the clumping that
the final six were revealed in,

if you know what I'm saying.
- Okay, yeah.

I understand what you're saying,
yeah.

- I have no idea
what's going on.

So do you understand--
- You remember that I shuffled.

You also remember
that you shuffled.

- Is that something that is
an obstacle for you gentlemen?

- What's that?
- That you both shuffled

and I was able
to just give 'em out?

- Well, but you did have
your back turned

for some of that.

- I did have my back turned
for a moment.

- A little bit--all you needed
to know was 18 divides--

- Whoa, wait, I'm hearing--
I'm hearing judges.

Hold on.
- It's hard for me to tell--

- And the judges hear everything
that Penn and Teller say

when they're discussing.
- Yes, of course.

- And the judges have decided...

- He only has to control
six cards.

- That you fooled them!
[cheers and applause]

Whoo!

It's a fool,
ladies and gentlemen!

[cheers and applause]

It's a fool!

Ah!
- Thank you so much.

- There you go!
Give it up!

[cheers and applause]

All right, thank you!
- Thanks, everybody!

- Ivan Amodei!

One fooler just stumped
Penn and Teller,

but could there be more?

Penn and Teller
take on more magicians

when we come back.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

If you think we ran out
of magicians, you are wrong.

Look, here comes another one!

- Juggling is a metaphor
for my entire life.

I feel like I'm juggling
everything.

I'm coming up on graduation,
and I have to decide

whether I want to go into
electric engineering

or become a full-time magician.

Behind me is
a gigantic whiteboard

with basically the rest
of my life mapped out on it.

No big deal.

I was trying to put
numeric values to each decision

and then try to add them up
mathematically

to see which decision would be
the right one to choose.

I'm a big chess player,
so I like to think ahead.

Who is the opponent?

Probably life.

If I fool Penn and Teller,

that will increase my
confidence in being a magician.

What happens tonight could
change my entire life--

the entire course of my future
hangs in the balance.

[cheers and applause]

- Ladies and gentlemen,

this is his very first
appearance on television.

Please welcome Vince Charming.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.
Thank you.

I think the key to life
is that we are all

just a piece of a puzzle.

Now, of course, many of us are
surrounded by many pieces,

but I'm only 21, so...
here's me.

I'm gonna need a volunteer
to help me out with this,

so I'm gonna need a volunteer
from the audience.

Yes, you, ma'am, would you mind
joining me up on stage?

Give her a huge round
of applause!

Thank you very much.
[cheers and applause]

Good evening. Thanks for joining
us. What's your name?

- Kim.
- Kim, would you mind

stepping on right
behind the puzzle box?

I'm gonna have you reach
in the center

and just grab a handful
of pieces, Kim.

Okay, Kim, now,
thank you very much.

She's very precise
about these pieces.

Now Kim, would you mind laying
them out on the table,

and we're gonna have
to turn 'em all face up.

So yeah, lay them out all
on the table.

Great, now, Kim, we have, uh...
[indistinct counting]

seven pieces
for you to choose from.

Now, but first,
I want you to make sure

that they're all unique, that
they are all different pictures,

and even, hopefully, there's
some variation in the design,

they're not all, like, two holes
and two pegs.

You're really examining them
closely, Kim.

[laughter]
I need to you take

any piece you want.
Grab it, any piece--

You didn't hesitate--you, like,
knew what piece you wanted.

Didn't even
think about it that long.

Well, Kim, I need you
to keep an open hand

and not to close it
and keep the piece right there.

Now would you like
to change your mind, Kim?

- I'm good. Yes.

- Okay, would you mind standing
on right over here?

Perfect, just hold that piece,
open hand.

Great.
Now what I didn't tell you

was that I actually bought two
of these 1,000 piece puzzles

with a sign that says,
"Welcome to Las Vegas."

And I built one the other night.

And unfortunately,
as luck would have it,

it only had 999 pieces.

[sighs] Of course, I didn't find
that out until I built it.

[laughter]
You guys ever been there?

Kim, don't you hate it
when that happens, right?

- So much.
- I know, so much.

Well, you did pick that piece.

Would you mind
coming on over here?

Thank you very much.
[indistinct]

One piece is missing
from the puzzle.

Hopefully it's not
too hard to see.

Kim, would you mind handing me
that piece?

You picked one
from thousands of pieces.

There's one piece missing
from the puzzle.

If I orient it correctly,
hopefully it should match

and complete...the puzzle.
[audience gasps]

Give Kim a huge round
of applause!

Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.

- Vince Charming!

Wow, that was incredible.
- Thank you.

- How do you feel being on TV
for the first time?

- It's a little nerve-wracking,
to say the least.

- Really?
- I'm very nervous, yeah.

As soon as I get in front
of an audience, you know,

I kind of calm down
and I get ready,

but when I'm doing a whole show,
it's easier.

When it's just a small piece,
it's really hard.

- All right, Penn, Teller?

- Yeah, I just want
to tell you, Vince,

that my first time on TV,
I lit my head on fire.

And it wasn't part of the act.
- Not on purpose?

- It was accidental.

I was supposed to be doing
fire breathing.

I spilled the fuel on me.

I lit my whole head on fire.

And then Teller
became hysterical laughing.

[laughter]

And that night, we went out,

and then we had to get
the entirely different haircut.

I had to cover my face
with makeup,

'cause it was all
red and burned,

So my first time out,
I lit my head on fire.

Your first time out, you k*lled,
so you're way ahead of us.

Way ahead of us.
- Yeah.

- I will also say...

and, uh...this is very strange.

But we worked
on this exact trick--

and I gotta tell people at home,

this is not a trick
I've ever seen before.

I've never seen a magician do
a trick with a jigsaw puzzle,

and I don't know which one of us
came up with it,

but one of us became obsessed
with the idea

of a puzzle full of pieces,

and then having one piece
in the finished puzzle

that, uh--that the audience
member selected at random.

We were working
on this very trick,

and we worked on it for, uh,
a long time, a few months,

and never got anything
as good as you got.

So you're a step ahead of us.

Didn't light your head on fire,

finished a trick
that we bailed on.

Very, very good.
[laughter]

And I will also say
we loved this trick.

I will say
that in magic methods,

a lot of people think
you can do anything in magic,

and in truth, there's a very
limited number of choices,

even though to other people,
it can look infinite.

And even though
you worked on the trick

and we worked on the trick,

and usually
those kind of things clash,

in this case, unlike magnets,
positives really did attract.

We loved this act,

but we think we have a pretty
good idea how you did it.

- Does any of that...
make sense to you,

'cause, uh, positive stuff
was said, I'm sure,

but I don't get it.
- It is very positive.

Correct, sir, yes.
- Okay, well,

you didn't fool them, but
you certainly charmed all of us,

so ladies and gentlemen,
Vince Charming!

Thank you!
[cheers and applause]

Don't go anywhere
because when we come back,

we'll see Penn and Teller
in action.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Our next act
has been performing together

for over 40 years,

but they're taking on
their biggest challenge tonight,

trying to fool Penn and Teller.

Here's Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you so much.
Thank you.

Oh, we are--

Penn, Teller, we are such
big fans of you guys.

We just love you, been
an inspiration our whole lives.

We just adore you.
We're gonna do a trick for you.

Hope we fool you.

Alyson, could you come over here
and join us, please?

- Oh! Sure.
- Yeah, come over here.

Sit down here.
We gonna make you the magician.

Hello, just make yourself
comfortable right here, Alyson.

I have here a deck of cards
here, Alyson.

I want you to watch

as I give them a perfectly
normal shuffle there.

There we go.
[laughter]

And I'm just gonna riffle
down the deck, Alyson.

You just say stop.

- Stop!
- Oh, yeah, nicely done.

Take a look at that card,
Alyson.

Take a look at it.
Memorize it.

- Okay.
- If you would, please, Alyson,

just write your name right
across the face of the card.

Near the center.
Right near the center.

Write your name real big
across--we're not gonna look.

You can trust us.
We're not looking here.

You bust us on looking here,
you lose, okay?

Right across there.

And now I'm gonna have
you do something that might--

watch this carefully.

I'm gonna have you put that
anywhere you want in the deck.

Just put it anywhere
you want in the deck.

Anywhere you want in the deck.

And I know you're not
a tremendous shuffler,

but do your best.
Shuffle them up a little bit.

Make sure it's lost there
in the deck.

'Cause you're gonna do
the whole trick here.

- Oh, boy.

- You're gonna do
the whole trick.

Give 'em a good shuffle
so you know it's lost.

You remember your card,
don't you?

- Yes.
- Good, that's important.

- Well, it's signed, yeah.
- You wrote your name on it.

Okay, here's
what you're gonna do.

What you're gonna do
is when we give you the cards,

you're gonna give the cards
a single cut--

you know what a single cut is?
- Yes.

- Single cut,
then you're gonna just, uh...

give them a riffle
towards the muffin.

That's what you're gonna do.
Muffin--

I did touch it, but I didn't
do--see, my hand's empty.

A little riffle like that?
Can you do that?

There's no shuffling
or anything involved.

Okay, give them a single cut.
- Okay, single cut.

- Single cut.

Complete the cut.

And now, riffle them
towards the muffin.

- [laughs]
Okay, riffle. Riffle.

- Nicely done.

And now, you've moved it
over there.

Look through
and see if you find your card.

You can turn 'em over
if you want, or spread 'em out,

whatever you want, but I don't
know what the name--

you have your name on it.
Can you find your card in there?

- Uh...no.

Not--no.
- Nowhere in the deck?

- Oh, no.
- In that case, Alyson,

the trick is working perfectly.

Feed that muffin to Teller.

- Okay.
- Feed the muffin to Teller.

- I gotta take the paper off.
- How kind of you to unwrap it.

- Well, yeah, of course.
- You're kinder to him.

Feed the muffin--
- Hi, buddy. Hi.

There you go.
- There we go.

Now watch carefully, Alyson.

What was the name of your card?

- [stammering]
The 4 of clubs, I believe.

- The 4 of clubs?
- Yeah.

- But on top of that, Alyson,

you also had that signed,
didn't you?

- What?
- Take a look at that--

- Yes!
- The 4 of clubs!

There it is right there.
- Ah!

[cheers and applause]

That was great!
You certainly fooled me.

Now let's see if you can fool
Penn and Teller.

Phew, all right, let's see
what they have to say.

I'll just, uh...

So how old were you
when you started magic?

Five, okay.

Well, you're very good.

Do you think you have a chance
at fooling Penn and Teller?

[groans]
Fingers crossed.

All right, well, let's see
what they have to say.

Okay.
Penn, Teller.

- I gotta tell you one thing.

Out of all three seasons,
every act we've seen,

this is our favorite act so far.

We just love you guys.
- Wow.

- You guys are tremendous.

So good, so good.

It's the--it's the card
in the mouth,

which is a classic trick.

We've all seen
the card in the mouth.

We know how that works,
but you had the card signed,

so we know it's the same card
in the mouth.

Makes it much,
much more difficult.

That was, uh--
that was a beautiful thing.

But I want to say,

as much as we love this act,
and we do love this act,

and I love you guys so much...
[laughter]

I love the fact
that you're silent.

You don't speak during the show.

And there's a few reasons

you don't speak during the show,
isn't there?

I mean, there's kinetic
reasons, of course.

And there's also
character reasons,

but in this particular trick,

the fact that you didn't speak

made the trick work
a little better.

[stammering] I want to tell
you something else.

Not talking
from the top was very important.

But also, it was done...
rather quickly, wasn't it?

You did all your moves
rather quickly.

You were moving fairly fast.

You were moving like
quicksilver.

You were moving like mercury,

like maybe in your left hand,
you were moving so quickly

there was a mercury fold...
maybe?

Do you think you have any idea?

Is there any idea
how you did that?

- Are you understanding?
- I'm speaking code

so I won't break it,
but does that give you a hint

of how we did it?

- Aw. Oh, no!
[laughter]

Oh, are you--do you understand
everything he's saying?

- There have never been
two better minds in magic!

- I know!
- You guys are the best.

We were worried
it wouldn't fool you.

What we need to know,
Penn and Teller,

did we entertain you?

[cheers and applause]
You guys are the best!

We loved you.
Thank you so much.

- Well, Penn and Teller,
you didn't fool Penn and Teller,

but you put on a great show.
- Thanks so much!

Thank you, Penn.
Thank you, Teller.

- Thank you, Penn and Teller!
- So long.

[cheers and applause]

- That's all
we have time for tonight.

See you next time on "Fool Us."

[cheers and applause]