04x11 - Penn Does the Heavy Lifting"

[bunniefuu]

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

[audience cheers]

male announcer:
From the Penn & Teller Theater

at Rio Hotel
in Las Vegas,

here's our host,
Alyson Hannigan.

[cheers and applause]

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

where magicians from
all over the world

choose one trick
from their arsenal

and take a shot at fooling
Penn and Teller.

If they have the silver b*llet,
they win a slot performing

in Penn and Teller's hit show.

Now, let's bring out
our big g*ns, Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

You ready, guys?
- Sure am.

- Let's meet our first
potential fooler.

- The kind of magic I do
is called stage manipulation,

with cards and ba*ls and coins
and everything.

And you make them appear
without any...

fakery or whatever.

It's my hand against the speed
of your eyes.

My dad was a coach,

and so I have
this champion spirit

that came from him.

So when I got the word
from Penn and Teller,

then it became battle mode.

I invented the illusion that
I'm preparing for this event.

It's completely original.

I'm in it to win it.
That's it.

Penn and Teller,
I'm coming after you.

I'm going to fool you.

[applause]

- Prepare to be amazed

by the classic magic
of Stuart MacDonald.

[sound effect
of thunder rumbling]

[lullaby music]

♪ ♪

[laughter]

[audience laughs]

[applause]

[Grieg's "In the Hall
of the Mountain King" playing]

♪ ♪

[applause]

[laughter]

[applause]

[applause]

[applause]

- Stuart MacDonald!

[sighs]
- Whoo!

- Do you think you
could pull a "Fool Us" trophy

behind the mirror?

- I don't know.
That's pretty difficult.

But I've been working hard on it
for quite a while.

- I heard that you
set up a camera

and you recorded yourself
doing this.

- Yes.
- For, like, hours and hours.

- Yeah. So I filmed the act


from every
conceivable angle...

- Oh, my goodness.

- In the hopes of doing it


I wanted to improve
one thing.

And so I'm not quite
at 100%, you know,

because I want to do--
one change equaled 1%.

- So I'm only...
- 92, that's--

- 92%'s pretty good.
- That's still an A.

- Yeah, right.
- That's amazing.

So what's more important
when you do magic?

Is it the trick
or the tale?

- It's the theater.
All I do

is I just chase down
the story.

And chasing down this character
has been a transition over time.

And it's so fun when you're
developing something

and telling a story,

because telling a story
silently

is the hardest thing
in the world to do,

especially with magic.

- Well, let's see if Penn
and Teller liked your story.

- It's just like
the Oscars.

[both laugh]

- Penn, Teller.
- Hi, guys.

- It's so nice to see the plot
of a show

where greediness
is rewarded.

- Right, yeah.
- So often...

so often we have the miser

who's trying to get
more and more and more,

and somehow he's horribly
punished

with a monkey's paw-type thing.

This, you just--your character
in this wants more money.

Gets more money.
- Yeah.

- That's the kind of plot
I like to see.

- [laughs]

- Yeah, we were following
right along.

You know, we saw...we saw a few
moves here and there.

Figured out a few things.

And as we were talking,
we were trying to figure out

this and that.

Where did the first hat
come from?

Where do you load
the skull from,

and where did it go there,

and what could be compressible,
what could be hidden,

what could be done
here and there?

And then Teller just turned
to me and gave me, I think,

the crux of the whole thing
when he turned to me and said,

"Boy, I should have
watched closer."

We got so carried away
by the plot

that we missed a really
important element of this

that would have given
the whole thing away.

I don't know what that
element is, so you fooled us.

- [gasps]
- Oh!

[cheers and applause]

Wow!

- That's so good!
- Nicely done.

- Thank you so much.

- Stuart MacDonald!

- Oh, this is amazing.

Thank you so much.

[cheers and applause]

- That's one fooler already,

and we have more magicians
on the way.

Can lightning
strike twice tonight?

Come back and find out.

[applause]

[jazz music]

[applause]

- Abracadabra,
and we're back.

If you think that was magical,
you should meet this next guy.

- I'm Kyle Littleton,

and I'm from Charleston,
South Carolina.

I used to weigh 350 pounds,

so I've since lost
150 pounds.

Losing weight has definitely
been a major confidence booster.

Feeling way more comfortable
to get up onstage.

It's been tremendous.

Growing up, people
would compare me

to Paul Blart, mall cop.

We both have online
dating accounts

that might as well
be inactive,

and we both believe
peanut butter fills the cracks

to a broken heart.

Movies and movie theaters
were a great way

for me to escape the pressures
of just growing up.

You know, you're filled
with so many questions,

and movies were a great way
to escape.

The trick I have prepared
shows my love of movies,

so I'm very excited
about that.

[cheers and applause]

- Our next magician just turned


What could possibly go wrong?

Give it up
for Kyle Littleton.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you all so much.
Thank you.

You know, they say it takes
a lot of confidence

to get out here
on this stage,

but I was sheltered
and homeschooled,

raised by my overly Baptist
mother.

Those are not the ingredients
of a man of great confidence,

but instead the next
Norman Bates.

- [laughs]

- See, being homeschooled,

one of the few ways I knew
how to relate to people

was through movies.

In fact, I believe you can tell
a lot about a person

by the kind of movies they do
and do not enjoy.

So with that being said,
there's someone here

who I am very excited to meet
and get to know.

Please welcome to the stage
Ralphie May.

[cheers and applause]

- Hi, everybody.

Hey, buddy.

Hey, pal.

- This is going
to be exciting.

- Hi, guys.
- How are you doing, guy?

- The biggest magic trick
they've pulled all night--

the only way they fooled you
is having me show up

without y'all seeing me
the whole day.

[laughter]

It's incredible.
Ta-da.

- Ta-da. Well, great.

Ralphie, I think it's important
to note for everyone here

that we haven't
set anything up.

We haven't even met before,
correct?

- No.
- Great. Very exciting.

So with that being said,
let's get into this, okay?

- Do it.

- Great. So I brought
with me some movie titles here.

And what we're going to do
is I'm going to go through them

and just kind of
read them off to you.

And as I do that,
I just want you to give me

a yes or no answer as to whether
or not it's a movie you enjoy.

- Okay.
- Now, if you haven't seen it,

that's just fine--
we'll just count it as a no.

That way, you're not
being judged

on anything
you haven't seen.

- Okay.
- If you say yes to a movie,

we're going to set it here.

If you say no to a movie, we're
going to set it here, all right?

- Okay.
- Now, the first film

we're going to use
as an example.

So it's "Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Now, maybe this is a movie Penn
and Teller would say yes to

because it's a film
all about magic.

But maybe it's a movie
I would say no to

because I was raised Baptist.

Therefore, I could go to hell
just for thinking

of watching this movie.

Anyways, "Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone."

- Yes or no, Ralphie?
- Yes.

- Yes. So it'll go right over
here in the yes section, okay?

- Okay.
- Now, next is "American Pie."

Maybe this a movie
Alyson would say yes to

because it's one of the movies
that started her career.

Maybe it's a movie I would
say no to, due to the fact

the themes of this movie have
nothing to do with my life,

especially after having
to promise my parents

I'd stay pure
till marriage,

a promise I have kept
with very minimal effort.

[laughter]

- Yeah!
- Yeah. So with that being said,

Ralphie, we're interested
in you.

"American Pie,"
yes or no?

- Man, anything with pie,
I'm all-in.

- Yeah!
[laughter and applause]

- Anything with pie.

Word up.
- Definitely.

That is a great movie, yes.

- Great. We're in agreement.

Plus, she's standing right
there, so it works out great.

- She's amazing.
- Yes.

So we're going to put this here.
All right.

Next we have
"Fast and Furious 7." Yes or no?

- No.
- No. Great.

You know what?
This is so much fun,

why don't we bring
Alyson over?

Give Alyson a big
round of applause.

[cheers and applause]
- Hi.

- Hi, honey, how are you?

- Hi.

- Thank you so much
for helping, Alyson.

So next we have "La La Land."
Yes or no?

- I didn't see it.

- Oh, so we'll count it
as a no. That's okay.

- All right.
- All right?

Next, we have "Star Wars."

- Yes.
- Yes. Definitely.

Appropriately,
following "Star Wars,"

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin."

- Oh, well, it was a really good
movie, but, yeah,

but I wouldn't watch it
with my kids,

and I only watch kid movies,

so I have to say no.

- Okay, that was really
long-winded, but we're with you.

Great. Next, "A Few Good Men."
Yes or no, Ralphie?

- Truth. You can't handle
the truth.

I love it. I love it.
- Yeah, exactly. Great.

Moving on. Yes, all right.
"Deadpool," Alyson?

- I only watch kid movies.
- Oh, well,

this is going to be very fun.
Great.

[sucks air through teeth]

"Silence of the Lambs."

- Uh, if I say no,
do I get the hose again?

Okay, uh, then I'm going
to go yes.

- Great. "Jaws."

- I actually
have never seen "Jaws."

- Wow, there's a lot of--
Okay, great, no "Jaws."

Remember, Ralphie,
unlike my mother,

the audience is not judging you
by your answers.

"Fifty Shades of Grey."

- I'm not into that.
I just like chicks.

I don't want to hit them
or nothing.

- "The Martian," a movie where
Matt Damon's character

could definitely relate to the
loneliness of a homeschooler.

- Well, I love Matt Damon,
so sure.

- Sure. Definite yes.

"The Wolf of Wall Street,"
Ralphie?

- Oh, that was--
that was fantastic.

It's where we learned
all about quaaludes.

Okay, yeah, we're going
with that one.

- Great. Yeah.
"Sausage Party," Alyson?

I feel like I know
where you're going with this,

but your choice.

- I haven't seen it.
- Okay, great, it's a no.

That's fine.
We're all with you.

"Frozen," Ralphie?

- No!

[laughter]

I got kids. I've seen that movie
a thousand times.

- No, no, no! No!
- No, no, no! Okay.

Last but not least,
we have "Psycho,"

a film which, whether or not
you enjoyed,

you have to admit it was great
to see Hollywood

finally recognize
guys with mommy issues.

- Ugh.
- Alyson, yes or no?

- I mean, it's Hitchcock.
You've got to say yes.

- Yes, yes.
Oh, this is so exciting.

I'm ecstatic right now.
I'll prove to you why.

See, this is the pile of all
the movies you said yes to.

This is the pile of
all the movies you said no to.

In fact, if we look, Alyson,
I'll show you.

This a movie you said no to.
"Frozen."

See, the big difference,
"Frozen,"

we have "Sausage Party,"
"Fifty Shades of Gray," "Jaws."

Even "Deadpool" is a movie
you said no to.

But if we look, not only did you
say no to this movie, Alyson,

but I also said no.

See, not only did you say no

to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin,"
Alyson,

but I also said no.

In fact, "La La Land,"
which you said no--

even "Fast and the Furious,"
which you said no, I said no to.

Now, if we look over here,
these are all the movies

you said yes to.

And just like with the no's,
you can see every movie.

"The Wolf of Wall Street,"
you said yes.

"The Martian," you said yes.
"The Silence of the Lambs."

In fact, if we were
to speed this up,

you can see every movie
you said yes to, I said yes.

Every movie you said no to,
I said no,

proving we were meant
for each other.

Ralphie.

[cheers and applause]

- Kyle Littleton!

And thanks to Ralphie May.

You can see him appearing
nightly at Harrah's.

- Thank you very much.

- Thank you, Ralphie.

- Thank you. Such a pleasure.
- Thank you.

- Good luck, buddy.

- Aww.

Kyle!

So, did you invent this trick?

- Yes, yes, I came up
with this trick

after I was driving
with my cousin.

And I kind of had the idea
for the trick.

And I said,
"You got to take me home."

So we canceled all plans,
and she drove me home.

And I realized that if I ever
get a wife,

I should never
do that to her.

But then I also remembered
I lived in South Carolina,

so dating your cousin really
isn't out of the question.

[laughter]

What I'm basically saying
is I find, like love,

you can find
inspiration anywhere.

- And do you have a girlfriend?
- Uh, do--no.

Do I have a--
I do not have a girlfriend.

And when you're my age,
everyone kind of pressures you

into, "When are you
getting married?"

And to me, marriage is a lot
like "The Hunger Games."

You know, like, people--

When you say you're going
in the hunger games,

everyone's rooting for you.

But deep down, they know you're
not going to make it.

So...
[laughter]

- All right, well,
this might be

a lot like talking
to your mother.

Let's talk to Penn and Teller.
All right.

- Well, you've just done
everything to please us,

haven't you?

A little bit of blasphemy
made us so, so happy.

You've also done something,
which is to take a card trick,

a wonderful card trick,
d turn it into something else.

Turned it into something that
ties in with your homeschooling,

love of movies,
all of that.

Also, it was pretty
wonderful to see.

I mean, Ralphie May is as much
of a pro as you're going to get.

And it was wonderful to see you
out there really comfortable

at 21 years old,

kind of your first time out,

doing wonderful interplay
with Ralphie.

I thought that was really good.
And with Alyson, too.

But, I mean, it was just--
it was just wonderful to see.

We think we have a slight idea

how you might have done
the card trick.

We thought that the whole act
was out of this world.

Just fabulous. Wonderful.
- Oh, fantastic. Thank you.

- And what does that mean?
- [laughs]

- That means, much like my mom,
I can't fool them.

[laughter]

- All right.
Well, thank you so much.

It was a pleasure.
- Thank you so much, Alyson.

- All right.
Kyle Littleton.

[cheers and applause]

We are just getting
warmed up.

More magicians on deck,

including Penn and Teller
themselves,

when we come back.

[jazzy music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

Our next magician
is not to be messed with,

not only because
of his magic skills,

but he is also
a former Marine.

Check him out.

- My name is Lion Fludd.

I grew up a little country boy.

People think I'm kidding
when I say this--

I did not know about magic.

I was more worried
about having food on the table.

It's simple.
Three-shell game.

I learned how to street-hustle
to get money.

You only had a few options
to get out of town.

You either got a scholarship
to some school,

or military was pretty much
the other option.

Uncle Sam, sign me up,
and let's go.

The Marines gave me
a purpose in life.

It really kind of refined
who I was as a man.

I got injured doing training
exercises.

I was very depressed,
bedridden.

I had to learn to re-walk.

And it was one day
I saw a magic video online.

It changed everything for me.

It was like the first time
I smiled in months.

From that point forth, I just
started dedicating myself

to learning a little bit more
of this craft.

I would love to have my own
show with my marquee one day,

so people could say,
"Hey, where are you going?"

"Hey, we're going
to go see Lion."

"What? They have a zoo here?"

"No, no, no,
Lion the magician."

[cheers and applause]

- Put your hands together
for Lion Fludd.

- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

Thank you.

Before I begin, I want to take
just a quick moment

and give a heartfelt thank-you
to both of you

for allowing a young kid
from the hood an opportunity

to live out his dreams.

- Thank you.
- So I wanted

to take a chance to invite
both of you to come along

on this journey with me.

So, Penn, Teller, come.

Thank you.

Teller.
- Very nice to see you.

- Thank you. You as well.
Thank you. Thank you.

Gentlemen, let's make a memory,
shall we?

I wanted to use something
that I'm very familiar with--

a deck of cards.

To most people,
it just is what it is.

To me, it's 52 opportunities
to make a memory.

What I'm going to do is start
off with you, Teller.

I'm going to ask you
to find us a starting point

just by cutting the cards
and completing that cut.

Fair enough, Penn?
- Seems fair to me.

- Fair enough.

Perfect. Now, what I'm going
to do in a second

is ask you to deal down
the cards into one pile,

and stop whenever
you choose to.

Go ahead and do so now.

While he's doing that, Penn,

you and I, we're going
to communicate more verbally.

- Okay.
- And then, Teller,

we're going to communicate
more "Teller-pathically."

[laughter]

[chuckles]

Okay, perfect.

Now, I'm going
to give you a choice.

And I normally
don't do this,

but since I like
the both of you...

- Well, thank you.
- I'm gonna give you a choice.

You can either
take some cards back,

add some more cards down,

or stay right
where you're at.

Okay, perfect, perfect.

Okay, so, now, this will be
our discard pile.

In a second,
what I'm going to do

is ask you to show yourself
that card, and only Penn.

Don't let anyone else
see what that is.

Wait till I turn around, and
then just slide it over to him.

Penn, once you get that card
into your memory,

go ahead and let me know.

- Okay.
- You've got it memorized?

- Yes, I do.
- Okay.

Teller, what I'd like you to do
is put that card

back inside the deck,
anyplace that you choose.

Once you've done that,
gather all of the cards back up

and place them inside
of the box.

Let me know once it's safe
to turn around,

so I will not see
what the card is.

- I shall.

- Okay?

- The deck is back in the box.
- Perfect. I can turn around?

Thank you. Now, gentlemen,
I want to do something

that I probably won't
get a chance to do later.

So I figured just go ahead
and do it right now.

- Okay.

- I want to take
a picture of you,

because my mom would absolutely
k*ll me

if I didn't come home
with a souvenir.

So, Teller, chest out.
Perfect, chest out.

[laughs] Okay.
[laughter]

[applause]

Penn, please come over
and join him as well.

And, Alyson,
please come over as well.

You're part of this family
as well.

All right,
now, on the count of three,

I want you guys to say,
"Fool us."

One, two, three.

all:
Fool us.

- Perfect, perfect.
Thank you so very much.

Alyson, thank you
so very much now.

Penn, you can have a seat
back down there.

Thank you.
Now, gentlemen,

I want to recap what's happened
from my memory so far.

- Okay.
- I invited you both up.

- Mm-hmm.
- We started on a journey.

Teller, I gave you
an opportunity to choose

where we started at
by cutting the cards.

You did so.

You started dealing
cards down into one pile.

I did something I normally
didn't do.

I gave him a choice.

Keep going, stop,
or add a few more cards.

And I think you added
one more card.

- He added one more card.
- Added one more card.

So at this point,
the two of you are the only ones

who know
what that card is, yes?

- That's what we're led
to believe.

- [laughing]
Okay. So inside of here

is my surprise.

I know that because I have
a bad memory.

So I try to write it down
a few times.

And I've written it down
right here.

"Surprise!"

Kind of helps me
remember things.

Penn, would you
hold on to that?

And make sure that the envelope
is completely sealed.

- Yes, it is.
- Yes.

I'll tell you what.

For the first time, Penn,
why don't you go ahead

and tell everyone
the card that you two

are merely thinking of
at this moment.

- 6 of clubs.
- The 6 of clubs.

- That's correct.
- Do me a favor, sir.

Would you rip that envelope
open, reach inside there,

and share with everyone
our memory?

Ladies, and gentlemen,

it is a picture of Penn,
Teller, Alyson,

and their 6 of clubs.

[cheers and applause]

Thank you so much.

- Lion Fludd, everyone!

Wow!

That was so cool.

It's so nice to meet you.
- You as well.

- How did you get started?

- Oh, well, it was this one time
at magic camp...

[laughs]

No...

Actually, when I started
learning about magic,

I learned that one of the first
American magicians

was actually
an African-American magician.

Not a lot of people
know about that.

And it really just, like,
drove me to study more

and keep it going.

- Oh, that's fantastic.

And where do you like
performing the most?

- Well, when I first
came to Vegas,

I started out
in the streets.

I was out on the street,
busking and doing card tricks

and working for tips
and things like that.

And I've just progressed

and gotten further along
in my career.

So every once in a while, I like
to go back to the streets,

just so I can remember,
you know, where I came from.

- Yeah, well,
look at you now.

- Hey!

[applause]

- Oh, it looks like
they're ready.

- Okay.
- Let's see what they say.

Or at least the big guy says.

- Boy!

There's a lot to this trick,
and it's a good trick.

It's a really,
really good trick.

And we don't know
that we got it. We don't know.

We're up in the air
a little bit.

We think...

Teller did...

have a free choice
on that card.

If you found a way
that Teller didn't

have a free choice
on that card,

and only you know
in your heart, then...

Then you got us.

But we think that there's
a little bit of mentalism

involved in this act

and that you're able to see
things that mere mortals can't.

That simple Phoenix
deck of cards,

you can see things
in and on that deck of cards

that others can't see and know.

And your camera, which looks
like a regular old camera,

is also all sorts of magical.

Do you know what
I'm talking about here?

Do you have some sort of idea?

- I do have an idea, and...

- Maybe it's time
for Teller to...

Do you want to whisper this
to him?

- Okay.

- And by the way, by the way,
if we're wrong,

if Teller did not have a free
choice of those first cards

and this isn't right,

the thing's going to come down
behind you.

Don't let it hit you
in the bald head, okay?

- All right.
- Okay.

Because that trophy's
coming down.

- Can I whisper
something to you?

- Watch Teller's face.

This will tell you
everything.

Right now,
Teller's reaction.

Uh-oh. Bad sign for Lion.

- Hmm.

- Okay, after all
the chitter-chatter

with a guy who supposedly
doesn't talk,

the suspense is k*lling me.

It all comes down to you.

Only one person knows, Lion.
You got to tell us.

Did you fool us?

- No, I didn't
fool you guys.

- But it was a great--

- Oh, thank you.

Lion Fludd!

Thank you so much.

[cheers and applause]

Penn and Teller still have
a lot of work to do,

more magicians to bust,

and a trick of their own
to perform.

More "Fool Us"
when we return.

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

We've had one fooler so far,

and we may have
another right now.

Take a look.

- Hi, I'm Fred.

- And I'm Bobbie.

- I started working
on cruise ships.

So I travel the world.

- One day I just decided,

I'm going to go sing
on a cruise ship,

where I ended up
meeting Fred.

- She was reluctant to be
what she calls

the girl in the box.
- Yeah.

I said, "I'll do it
for a short period of time."

- Mm-hmm.
- Eight years ago.

- How's that working out?
- Yeah.

- It turns out I do not
actually have an assistant.

It's more like
a hostile witness.

- I said, if I'm going
to be in the show,

I want it to reflect back
that I don't really want

to be in the show
to come out.

- To be part of the show.
- And it can be funny.

And so that's what we've done.
We want to put on a good act.

We want to do something that
people can relate to, you know?

All of the married people
out there.

- So it's sort of like
live onstage marriage therapy.

- Yes, there's that.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome
the Lone Star State's very own

Fred Becker and Bobbie.

[cheers and applause]

- Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Bobbie.

- I'm Fred.

- And together, we are...

- Bobbie and Fred.

I knew that one.

- Together, we're the Beckers.

- Together,
we're the Beckers.

Yeah. And tonight we want
to perform some magic for you.

An illusion, actually,
in the classic--

- Can you hang on
just a second?

Yeah, you know, all too often
you see a magician,

and they put their assistant
in a box of some sort.

Perhaps spin it around
a little bit.

And then they make
these magical gestures.

You know, what is that?

- It's just
what we do.

- Well, the assistant
does all the hard work

behind the scenes,
and in the end,

the magician
gets all the credit.

- Still not seeing
a problem here.

[laughter]

- I think tonight's the night
all that needs to change.

- Penn, I actually now
understand the wisdom

of having a silent partner.

[laughter]

- All right, fine.

Tell them about our trick.

- I'll pay for that.

Okay, look, when I was a kid
learning magic,

I became fascinated with
the stories of Houdini,

who could apparently pass one
solid right through another.

And I thought at the time,
what would that be like?

What would it look like

to actually have
that kind of power?

So tonight
I'll give it a try.

We will try and pass
one solid object

right through another
solid object.

- And while
he's doing that,

I'll be performing
random magical gestures.

- I bet she will.

Let me call your attention
to this piece of metal.

It is roughly


Made of solid steel.



- And I also have
this magical handkerchief,

which Fred will attempt to pass
through the steel plate.

And in order to ensure that
it is the same handkerchief

that we're using
in our presentation,

I'm going to ask Penn and Teller
to autograph it, please.

And I'll come back and get that
for you in just a moment.

This way, if Fred fails,

then I have something
I can sell on eBay.

[laughter]

- Young lady, here,
would you do me the honors?

Take that hammer there,
that mallet,

and just give that a good smack
there on the--

whoa, easy there.

[laughs]

It's like the mighty Thor.

Just make sure it's solid.
You don't have to hit it hard.

Thank you so much.

Solid? Yeah?

All right, now would be
a good time for some

very dramatic music.

Yeah.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[applause]

[audience murmurs]

[cheers and applause]

- Fred Becker and Bobbie!

- Hi.
- Hi, nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- How long have you been
working together?

- We've been together
for ten years.

We've been married
for eight.

- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.

- And if you're ever
in a fight,

do you just leave him
in the box?

- Oh, well, th'd be great,

except it's always me
that's in the box.

[laughter]

- Well, I like that this
was the reverse.

- Switch it up a little bit.
Yeah.

But we figured, you know,

if we're going
to do this together,

then let's add a little bit
of my personality

and make it really
a joint effort.

- Yeah. That's nice.

All right, well,
speaking of great pairs,

let's go to this pair.

- All right.

- Penn, Teller.

- Yeah. Well, we're thinking
about this.

I got to tell you,
automatically,

you wormed your way
into our black little hearts

when you have the magician
in the box doing the work.

When there's that gender
reversal in magic,

we're always, always happy.
About time for that.

We like you making the gestures
outside of the--

outside the box
while he did the work.

And he did do
a lot of work.

[laughs]

You know, the long rectangle
looks great.

You know, a long rectangle
is deceptive to human beings.

That's very,
very helpful for us.

But you got to look
at the whole routine,

not just the trick,
you know?

You got--you had your beginning
and your ending.

And the end pieces on this
are very, very important.

The opening bubbly patter
you did at the top,

those end pieces were really,
ly important to the trick.

We love the whole routine.
It's really beautiful.

It's also an illusion
that's not seen often at all.

And that's really nice,
because we see a lot of them.

And it's nice to see one
that's very, very different.

We don't think you fooled us,
but we loved the routine.

- I appreciate it.
- Thank you guys so much.

It's been an honor
to be here.

- Did we sneak in enough there?

- I think...
- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah, we definitely
had enough, yeah.

- It wasn't even sneaky.
I got it right away.

[laughter]

- Okay, so you're clear that
they know how you did the trick?

- Yes.
- Yeah.

- Well, thank you so much
for entertaining us.

Fred Becker and Bobbie!

- Thank you guys.
- Thank you.

[applause]

- For our next trick,
we'll keep turning ordinary TV

into extraordinary TV,
with more "Fool Us."

Stick around.

[jazz music]

- Long before Penn and Teller

began inviting magicians
to fool them,

they made a name for themselves
fooling audiences

around the world.

Here to entertain and
befuddle us, Penn and Teller.

[cheers and applause]

- I'm going to tell you--

I'm going to tell yohow
every magician tonight

and every magician ever
fooled you.

That was by lying, cheating,
swindling, and stealing.

Those are the techniques
that are used.

And those techniques
are all immoral...

unless they are done
with consent.

And as soon as you turned on
your TV

to see a show
called "Fool Us,"

full of magic tricks,
you gave us your consent.

But the moment anyone
does those tricks

out in the real world,

even in a press conference,
even on TV,

where you're not claiming
to do magic tricks,

then it is immoral.

And magicians are not
the only ones that do this.

These same techniques are used
by criminals and the government.

[laughter]

Probably the greatest magician
of all time

is a man by the name
of Robert-Houdin.

He was a French magician
in the 19th century.

He worked at the magic theater
in Paris,

and he was completely moral
for his entire career.

But then he retired.

And in 1856,
Napoleon came to him

and asked him to be immoral.

Asked him to do
his magic tricks

for people without their
consent.

At that time,
France had colonized Algeria,

and the Algerians were starting
an uprising,

being led by the medicine men.

And Napoleon asked him
if he could go down to Algeria

and use tricks to show
that French magic

was more powerful
than Algerian magic.

Here's kind of the trick
he did.

And a couple of Algerian
warriors--

Second row, sir.
How about you? Right up here.

And how about you
in third row, sir?

Glasses, right up here..

Either side, right here.

Robert-Houdin did a thing
from his theater show,

called "the light heavy box."

Just stand on that side there.
Stand on this side right here.

Now, it was
a very simple trick.

Robert-Houdin just said,

"Well, I can lift this box
easily by myself."

Just like this.

Then he said to the Algerian
warriors,

"You guys are strong,
and there's two of you.

You can lift that box
real easy."

Don't lift too high.
Lift you right about there.

Right about there.
Right about there.

Yeah, and put it
right back down.

It's a pretty light box,
isn't it?

- Yes.
- Pretty easy to lift.

When he did this
in his magic act,

he did it
as a comedy routine.

But Algeria,
at this point, he said...

[shouting in French]

Which means,
"You are now weak as women."

Which was insulting to Algerians
in 1856,

as offensive to everybody
in 2017.

Now that they're
weak as women,

he told them to try
to lift the box again.

Try to lift it again.

No, guys, don't play along
with me.

Really lift it
to about here.

No, no, lift it.
You're two guys, man.

Lift it to about here.
Right about here.

Right about here
is all you got to do.

Just about here.
And then he said,

"But I am a French magician.
I'm strong.

I can lift it just like this."

And then he said, "You guys
are no longer weak as women.

You can lift it easily
right about to here."

Put it right back down.

That's nice and light and easy,
isn't it?

Then he said...

[speaking French]

"You're now weak as women."
Try to lift it again.

No, guys, lift it.

Lift it, guys. Lift it.

But you're no longer
weak as women.

Lift it now,
right about to here.

Really easy.
And then he said...

[speaking French]

"You're weak as women."
Try to lift it right about here.

No, really try to lift it.
Work together.

Work together, gentlemen.
Work together.

And then he said, "You're no
longer weak as women."

Lift it right about here.
Right about here. Very easy.

And then he said...

[speaking French]

Lift it again.
Really try this time, guys.

Really try.
Give it one last go.

There you go. Thank you so much.
You can go back to your seats.

And by the way,
you're no longer weak as women.

You're now weak
as Frenchmen.

[applause]

Now, uh, some will look
at history and tell you

that Robert-Houdin
helped stop a w*r.

Others will tell you
that he continued colonialism.

But no matter what he did,
he did it immorally.

He did magic
without consent.

I'm going to tell you
how he did it, too.

He did it with a smaller box
and just one Algerian warrior.

And he used electromagnets.

Electromagnets
and a steel stage.

But if we were asked
to do this in the 21st century,

with your consent,

we would do it for France
like this.

[cheers and applause]

- Well, we promised
amazing magic,

and these guys
delivered.

That's all we have tonight,

but we'll have plenty more
for you next week

on "Penn & Teller:
Fool Us."

Good night,
from Las Vegas.

[cheers and applause]