05x04 - Here Comes the Magic

[bunniefuu]

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- From the Penn & Teller theater

at the Rio Hotel
in Las Vegas,

here's our host,
Alyson Hannigan!

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

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

This is a magic show,
so for the next hour,

let your disbelief disappear!

Saw your worries in half!

Pull a snack out of your hat,
and say hello

to the ambassadors
of abracadabra,

Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

[jazzy music]

♪ ♪

- Who's out there?

Remember, if Penn and Teller
get fooled,

the magician
who pulled off that trick

wins a spot performing
in Penn and Teller's

legendary Las Vegas show!

With that in mind, let's meet
our first potential fooler.

- My name is Danny Cole.

I'm from Beverly Hills,
California.

I actually fell in love
with magic

'cause my grandparents took me
to see Siegfried and Roy.

I got accepted
into the junior program

at Magic Castle in Hollywood
when I was 13 years old.

That was a dream.

They would let
the young magicians

perform a regular week
at the Castle.

The tricks
that got the most noticed

were the ones
that I had created.

So I felt encouragement
to continue

doing original stuff.

I try to use objects
that audiences can relate to.

The trick that I'm doing
on "Fool Us"

is an original piece.

So I'm hoping
that it can surprise them

and fool them.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome Danny Cole!

- Yes!

[laughs]

Well, thank you so much!

Thank you, thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.

And it's a real honor
and a thrill to be performing

for two of my magic idols.

So I did get a new jacket
for tonight,

a new necktie
for the special occasion.

Sorry, one second,
one second.

All right, there we go.

[applause]
Now we're ready for magic!

[chuckles]

So I thought I would do
a little magic with these.

You may recognize these,
uh, from when you were kids.

You can take a look;
they're wooden blocks.

Solid wood.

Nothing, uh,
strange about them, right?

Solid wood.
- Nothing I can see, no.

- All right, perfect.

Great!

Now, what I used to love
about playing

with blocks like these
as a kid

was that if I just added
some imagination,

I could really
just about build anything.

[funky hip-hop music]

So today I'm going to try
to build something for you.

Something magical, of course.

I'm gonna get
really comfortable.

♪ ♪

So I need those blocks...

I'll get everything
all set up.

♪ ♪

Now, I should tell you
that I truly believe

in the impossible.

And what I'm hoping
is that tonight,

after I'm done with this
little construction project

that I got going on for you,

if you don't already,

you, too, without a doubt,
will also...

believe in the impossible.

All right, here we go.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

So, uh,
this may seem impossible,

but it's really happening.

And I should tell you

that it's not a trick.

♪ ♪

And it's not an illusion.

♪ ♪

It's actually...

Real magic.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[audience cheering]

♪ ♪

[audience cheering]

[cheers and applause]

- Danny Cole!
- Thank you!

- Wow!

Wow, you must have been
really annoying

to play with as a kid.
- [laughs]

What's amazing is,

I didn't start playing
with these

till I was, like,
already over 30, so--

- [laughs]
Okay.

So where did you get this idea,
at 30, to play with blocks?

- Well, I was, uh,
at home, playing around

with different magic ideas.

And I set up a camera,
and I started playing

with this trick.

And, like, I was like,
"Oh, this is like--

maybe something."
But, uh, I put it up

on YouTube, and, like,
it got some views.

I mean, not, like,
a crazy amount of views,

but people seemed
to respond to it.

And so it kind of
got me thinking, like,

"Oh, maybe I should
develop this

into a actual trick."
So it took three years

for me to take it
from the floor of my apartment

to the stage,
but yeah, here it is.

- So do you think
that these guys

are gonna figure it out?
- Well, they are

obviously very gifted
and smart magicians.

But maybe they haven't
seen anything like this before,

since it's from
my crazy mind, so...

- Yeah.
- You know.

It's uh--
we'll have to see.

- Okay.
All right, well,

let's check in
with these guys, shall we?

Penn? Teller?

- Uh...

One of the rarer things
than fooling us

is showing us something
that we haven't

seen anything like.

This doesn't look like
any magic trick, uh,

we've ever seen before.

Uh, it doesn't look
like you got it

in a magic shop,
and you didn't.

Uh, this really looks
like something different.

Also the effect,
and the whole way

it's laid out
is very different

than anything that we've seen.
It really is--

It really is new, original.

And your presentation
did not have a lot of jive

and garbage.

Just simple, straightforward,
sweet, and beautiful.

And, um, we don't know
if we know how this is done.

We really don't.
We've got--

We know very few ways
to do, uh, levitations.

There are just very few ways
that we know of.

And, uh, the first thing
you might think of

is some sort of, um, uh--
to make 'em float.

You'd think about magnets,
but magnet stuff

has to be spinning,
you know?

We'd also think that maybe
it was attached to you,

but it would be wiggling
in some way, you know?

This was really secured,
really steady.

And, um,
the one kind of, um,

thread of an idea we had
was that, uh--

was that the theater
is so well lit.

You know, it's so well lit;
there's 50,000 watts of power

going faster miles an hour,
and you have

those two little desk lamps.

And that gave us
a little bit of a hint.

And if you have some idea
of what we're talking about,

then you didn't fool us.

And if you don't have some idea
of what we're talking about,

then you did fool us,
and we are thrilled

to little pieces
because we love this act,

whether it fooled us or not.

- Do--
- I believe--

I did try, maybe,
what you're suggesting,

and it didn't work for me.

And so I had to come up
with something else.

So I think it isn't
what they said.

- So you fooled them!
- Is that true?

Is that true?
- It's a fooler!

We have a fooler!

[cheers and applause]
Whoo!

- [laughs]

Yay!
- What?

[laughs]

Thanks so much.
- Wow!

- It's such an honor.

- Danny Cole!

Congratulations!

- All right.
Wow!

- Penn and Teller
have given away

one "Fool Us" trophy already!

Can they keep the rest?

Find out when we come back.

[cheers and applause]

[upbeat jazz music]

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us"!

Our next magician
has been on "Fool Us" before.

So let's meet him again,
for the first time.

[mystical music]

- Hi, I'm Kostya Kimlat.

And I want you to think...

like a magician.

Three years ago,
I fooled Penn and Teller.

Except for one.

Except for two!

I never expected them
to react the way they did.

- I hate you.
[laughter]

Let's get that out of the way.

You fooled the big dumb guy!

And Teller handled the cards,
and he looked at it,

and he thought about it...

and you fooled him!
[audience cheering]

You fooled Teller!
- Look at that!

- It was the most
nerve-racking

and amazing experience

at the same time.
[laughs]

For three years,
I've been thinking,

"What can I possibly perform
for Penn and Teller

a second time?"
In magic,

there's a method
and an effect.

The reason the guys
got so angry

is because
I did an effect they knew

using a method they didn't.

This time,
I'm performing a trick

that I created
when I was 18 years old

and have been practicing
ever since.

So far, only two magicians
have fooled them twice.

I'm hoping
to make it lucky number three.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome back
to the "Fool Us" stage,

Kostya Kimlat!

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you!

Thank you very much!
Thank you, Penn and Teller!

Wow, it's amazing
to be back here in Vegas.

Alyson, I'd love it
if you'd come

join me over here.
- Sure.

- I'm so happy
that you're here.

- Aww, I'm happy you're here!
- I have to tell you

that performing for these guys

is one of the hardest things
that a magician can do.

- Or me. Yeah.
- That's true!

- No, no, if I was
doing magic for you,

or for anyone else
in the theater,

there would be no stress.
- Yeah.

- I'll show you, look.
I'm gonna have you

pick a card.
- Okay.

- Anytime you like,
just say "stop."

- Stop.
- Remember that card, okay?

- Yes.
- You've got it?

- Yes.
- Okay, because I don't know

what it is.
- Okay.

- But the moment
that you say it out loud,

your card will fly
out of the deck,

and I will catch it
at my fingertips.

- Okay.
- It'll happen

in just a blink of an eye.
Are you ready?

- Yes.
- Alyson, name your card.

- Six of clubs.

- Wow!
- The six of clubs.

Pretty cool, right?
- Really cool!

- Yeah!
- Amazing!

- That's what I mean, right?

You're impressed,
you're amazed--

- Yeah.
- I'm having fun.

This is what it's about!
But these guys, look.

They're not fooled, right?
- Aww.

- They know exactly
how my fingers

manipulated the cards.

They know where it was,

they know how it flew
out of the deck.

If I'm gonna fool these guys
with the same trick,

I have to do more
than just sleight of hand.

I have to be clever.
- Oh.

- I have to be sneaky.
- Mm.

- I might even have to lie
just a little.

- [gasps]
- Yeah!

- Shocking.
- I know!

- So I-I'm gonna do
the same trick for them.

But Penn, you remember
what happened last time

I was here?
- I do.

- Yeah, he picked up a chair,
he--he--

- I know, I don't think
I can protect you very well.

- No, I need you here
as my bodyguard, please.

- Uh...
- Teller just sat there

giggling last time.
Did nothing!

- [laughing]
- So how about this?

You're gonna stick with me,
at least

as my emotional support.
- Yes.

- And I'd love it
if the gentlemen

could join us up here.
Everyone, please welcome

Penn and Teller to the stage!
- Whoo!

- Alyson, come on over!

Good to see you, sir.

Wonderful to see you!
- Oh, you rat b*stard.

[laughing]
- Oh, great to see you!

Great to see you!

So, let's get comfortable.

Gentlemen, I'm going to perform
the same trick for you

as I just did for Alyson.

I'm going to have you
pick a card,

and then I will catch it
at my fingertips.

But I have to use
a different method.

And I know that the moment
I tell you that,

your brains start thinking
of all the possible ways

I could do this.

So, right now,
Teller is burning my hands.

That means he's watching
my every move.

He's making sure
that I don't switch

this deck of cards
for a different one,

one with all the same cards.

Penn, meanwhile,
he's burning the cards.

He's looking at the corners
to make sure

that I haven't
cut any of them

to make them easier
to get to.

Or, maybe I filed down
the edges

in order to make one card
stand out from the others.

Maybe--
Maybe I used glue,

on the edges of my fingers
in order to make it easier

to catch that card.

That would be clever.

Or better yet,

I have magnets in my fingertips
that allow me

to capture that card.
- Oh!

- Yeah, maybe I do!
Maybe I do!

Maybe I don't.

That's not for me to say.

So, all of these possibilities
are there for you to consider.

Maybe I'm telling you
the truth,

and maybe I'm not.
[audience laughter]

Now, I know
that doesn't seem fair,

but, hey,
you guys started this game.

- [chuckles]
[audience laughter]

- So here's
what I'm going to do.

I'm going
to shuffle these cards,

but I won't push them in
all the way,

leaving some of these cards
isolated

and out of my control.

I'm also going
to riffle slowly,

so Penn knows I'm not
influencing his choice

with Jedi mind tricks.

Penn, please say "stop."

- Stop.
- Are you happy there?

- One more.
- One more?

How's that?
- Good.

- Teller, you feeling good
about all this?

Sure, why not, right?
Now, very important:

Before we go any further,

I want you to make sure
that your card

is not near the top,
or near the bottom.

That it's somewhere
within the spread.

And Alyson, you can--
I'm sorry,

you didn't see the card.
- No.

- Now you know how I feel.
- Yeah!

- [chuckles]
- Yeah!

- So are--are you satisfied?

It's in the spread, very good.

Now, at this moment in time,
there are multiple realities

happening here onstage.

See, Penn and Teller,

they're focused
on the method of the trick,

and trying to figure out
what I lied to them about.

But you and the audience,
you don't care about method,

so you get
to experience the effect.

- Yeah!
- Look at the joy

on her face, right?
- Yeah, uh-huh.

Now, whereas for you
the card shot out of the deck

and I caught it
at my fingertips,

for you gentlemen,
my fingers are going to sh**t

into the deck,

and I will capture your card.

[sighs]

Penn, what was your card?

- King of spades.

- Your card.

The king of spades.

[cheers and applause]

Thank you very much,
gentlemen!

Thank you very much!

- Kostya Kimlat!

[cheers and applause]

- I can understand
why he wanted to hit you.

- [laughing] Yes!
- Yeah.

That was incredible!
- Thank you so much.

I'm--it's so frustrating
to not, like,

know how you did that.
- Yeah, well,

it's part of the magic,
part of the beauty of it.

Mm-hmm.
- So, am I correct in thinking

you've worked on that trick
for 17 years?

- Yes, I've been practicing it
for 17 years.

- Wow!
- Yes.

- What was it at 17 years
you were like,

"Yep, it's ready."
- You know, I just--

No, I just had no life.
I always played with cards.

I always went with my hand.
I'm always practicing.

I created it to fool magicians.
- Yeah.

- But I showed it
kind of underground,

didn't show it
to too many people.

And for three years now,
I've been thinking

what I can do to come back.

And I thought, "This is it."
- This is it.

- Yeah!
- Oh!

Was it nerve-racking coming
back for the second time?

- I've been really
looking forward to it.

I've been looking forward
to seeing their faces,

and spending time with them
onstage here.

So this has been the moment
that I'm really excited about.

- And how has your life changed

since you were on
the first time?

- You know, the first time
I was on "Fool Us"--

before then, no one knew
who I was,

and didn't know I was coming,
but ever since then,

it's changed my life,
because now people know,

"Oh, you're the guy
that fooled Penn and Teller!

Let's hire you!"
- Um...

Okay, I...
- [nervous sigh]

- I don't know,
I see some surprised looks.

Let's talk to the boys.

- 'Kay.
- Gentlemen.

- I want you to think
about this, because, um...

if we do this bust on you,

and if we're wrong,

and if you fooled us again,

I'm going to hurt you.

[laughter]

So, that kind--you know
that little thing you did

with the glue stick,
and you did

the little scissors,
you did this, you did that.

I'm telling you,
we have a little list.

I'll hit you in the head.
- [laughing]

- I'll kick you in the a*s.

I'll knock you down.
I'll trip you.

Imagine those are laid out
in front of you

as I say this.
[Alyson laughing]

Here's the problem.
- Okay.

- You know,
we've hung out with you.

In hotel rooms, with you
doing this stuff for us.

Amazing stuff.

And there's a--
kind of a shortcut

Teller and I use talking about
juggling and magic.

Because juggling, you say
you're gonna do something

and you do it.

And in magic, you say
you're gonna do something

and you don't.

We think--

we know you can control
a card anywhere.

We know once
I've picked a card,

you can put it
wherever you want.

We know you could put
that card where you want.

We kinda-sorta
watched you do it.

And then, and this is
the weirdest bust we've done,

we think you actually did it.

We don't think
there was a trick.

We think you knew
the location of the card,

and you've been practicing
since you were 18,

'cause you reached in
and grabbed the [bleep] thing.

[laughter]

We think you actually did

what you said
you were going to do,

and therefore,
although you blew our minds

and amazed us,

you did not fool us.

We think you are that
[bleep] good.

[laughter]

So go ahead, tell me
you're not that good.

- So you think
that I've been locked up

for 20 years practicing,
and that I could...

precision dribble
and catch any card that I want

from anywhere in the deck?
- Uh...

Kinda-sorta-ish, yeah.

[laughter]

- You're 100% right.

- Wow!

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you so much.
- You're so good, baby.

You're so good.
- Thank you so much.

Thank you,
you guys are the best.

- Aww!
- So good!

- Thank you, guys.
- That was incredible!

- He's better than you think,
I'm telling you that.

- Kostya Kimlat!

- Thank you very much!

Thank you, guys!
Thank you!

- More magic coming up,
including something

from entertainment's
greatest duo:

Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us"!

We've seen one fooler
so far tonight.

Let's go for two,
as we meet our next magician.

- I am from Sweden.

I am a magician,

comedian, and singer.

When I was a kid,
if they would say go left,

I would go right.

You know we have the phrasing,
"color outside the lines"?

Yeah, I was that kid.

I grew up
in a little small village.

We had only one gas station
and one store.

Nobody knew anything
about magic.

I actually found a magic book
in our bookshelf at home.

I read that book so hard,
it fell apart.

Today, I travel
all around the world

and doing my magic
and comedy and music.

If you are a comedy magician
and your jokes doesn't work,

you really have to have
good magic.

And if I fail in both,
I can sing a song.

[cheers and applause]

- All the way from Sweden,
here is Hakan Berg!

[cheers and applause]

[guitar strums]
- ♪ It's impossible ♪

♪ In our mind ♪

♪ I can't believe it
we are so blind ♪

♪ We gotta believe in magic ♪

♪ Don't get lost
in this confusion ♪

♪ We gotta believe
in magic ♪

♪ It's not an illusion ♪

♪ Here comes the magic ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Whoo-ooh-ooh ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

♪ ♪

Come on!

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]
Thank you!

Rope through the body,
one more time!

Gotta believe in magic.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]
In your face.

[laughter]

♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh ♪

♪ ♪

[laughter]

♪ Yeah, gotta believe
in magic ♪

♪ Whoa-oh ♪

[audience cheering]
♪ Oh, no ♪

♪ Yeah, believe in magic ♪

♪ ♪

Oh, [bleep].
[audience laughter]

♪ ♪

♪ Hello ♪

♪ Can you turn up the music ♪

♪ Believe in magic, yeah ♪

♪ You gotta believe ♪

♪ In magic, oh-oh-oh ♪

[snorts]

[blubbering]

[mumbling]
♪ You gotta believe ♪

♪ In magic ♪
[coughs]

Ugh!

♪ ♪

♪ You gotta believe ♪

♪ In magic ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Wow!
Hakan Berg!

- Thank you!
- Wow!

- Hello.
- Hello!

- Hello, Alyson.
- If magic doesn't work out,

you could just be a singer!
- Exactly!

- But I think magic's
working out.

- Yeah, thank you.
- Yes.

- I came all the way
from Sweden

to do this, you know.
- That's fantastic.

- It's a far, far away--
I went through Norway,

and I took a boat to Denmark.

Then a train to Spain
and, you know, everything.

- Yeah.
- Some--

- I'm pretty sure you could
have just flown direct.

- What?
- Uh...

Nothing, nothing.
[laughter]

Is there a lot of, uh,
magic in Sweden?

- I would say we have a few
good magicians in Sweden.

But where I grew up--
I grew up

in a little, little town.
Uh, not even a town,

it was a village.

And there were no one
in the, uh,

entertainment industry.

My father was a--a sailor.

My mother was a caretaker.

And I like this--
the thing that you--

if you can dream it,
you can do it.

- Mm-hmm, definitely.
- That's my thing.

- And did you dream this?
- I--

No, actually, I did not
dream this big from the start.

But you know,
it goes up and up.

As you reach your dreams,
you put them higher.

- Well, let's see
if Penn and Teller

are ready for you.
- Oh.

I am so pleased with you.

'Cause Teller and I
so rarely agree.

But I turned to Teller
when you finished,

and I said something to Teller,
and he agreed,

instantly, with no hesitation
whatsoever.

I turned to Teller and said,
"That is one weird-a*s act."

[laughter]

And Teller--
- Oh!

- "Yes!"
- And that's

the best compliment I will get.
- And I also love you

because there's something
that was said first

by Mac King, and that is,
"On 'Fool Us,'

if you fool Teller,
you fool Penn and Teller."

I'm considered
to be nothing more

than the chirp,
just the mouthpiece,

just the one that talks.

But I'll tell you, this time,
you fooled Teller.

[stunned silence]

- So I've--
- 'Cause Teller thought

you were using a reel,
and you're not.

And I told him,
"No, you're not."

I said, "He doesn't need
to use a reel.

Not with his personality.
Not with that personality."

He's got
a magnetic personality.

He can sell anything.
You know,

some people come onstage,
they're not really that good.

But you were not
a stiff at all.

You were absolutely right there
all the way through.

I loved every moment
of what you did,

and Teller and I agree
that when it came to the b*llet

hitting the bone,
I beat him.

I whooped him.
I knew, he didn't.

You're great,
but I think--

I think you might not
have fooled me.

- Mm-hmm.
- [stammers]

So did you fool Teller,
but not Penn?

- Uh, I don't really know.

But, uh, I--
- [laughs]

- I don't really know,
so uh--

- Boy, the only way
I can think

of doing this in code
is to make a joke.

Uh, when I know something
that Teller doesn't know,

it makes me stiff.
- Okay.

Yeah, exactly.
[Penn laughing]

Yeah.
- Okay!

So they must have gotten it.
- Keep taking those pills.

- I will!
- All right!

Ladies and gentlemen...
- Thank you!

- Hakan Berg!

[cheers and applause]

Bye!

[cheers and applause]

We have another amazing act
on deck.

Don't go anywhere!

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

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

where it's always magic hour!

Time to meet
our next magician.

- Magic, to me,
is an opportunity

for relationships.

You know,
even how I start my show,

I come out and sing,
"Hey, friends!"

That's what I care about!

With close-up magic,
I can perform

at an upscale dinner party
to a stage with over 10,000.

You know, I love having
the camera onstage,

so that everyone feels like
they're onstage with me.

I get with my friends,

and we call ourselves
"Sleight Club."

The first rule of Sleight Club
is "don't suck."

'Cause we wanna push magic
to be as good as possible.

So this trick
that I'm doing tonight,

we put our heads together
and thought,

"Man, what is something
that has never

been done before?"
And this is

what we came up with.

And I think it's pretty cool.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome
my newest friend,

John Michael Hinton!

[audience cheering]

- [happy sigh]



Seriously, 4.59 seconds

is the current world record
for solving a 3 by 3 cube.

Think about that!

Think about
how fast that is, right?

How fast
you have to turn this thing.

Or rather, how many turns
per second does it take?

So I have been working on
how many turns I can get

in just one second.

Let me show you what I mean.

That's one turn,
two turns,

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




So currently,
we are 20 turns away

from being solved.

All done...

In one second.

[exhales sharply]

[sniffs, sighs]

[audience amazement]

[cheers and applause]

Thank you!

[cheers and applause]

You know,
a lot of people think

that this is one of those
enchanted, tricky, uh,

LED, self-solving,
spring-into-action

digital cubes.

But if that was true,
I wouldn't be able to give them

to my friends.

Teller, will you be my friend?

Yes!
[cheers and applause]

Then this is for you.

[laughter]

So that's how geeks like me

solve a Rubik's cube.

Does anyone know...

what this is?

Yes, it's the easiest way
to solve a cube, right?

You take the stickers off!

How many of you
took the stickers off before?

Yes?
You bunch of cheaters!

[laughter, applause]

It's okay, me too.

In fact, when I was
going to school,

at lunchtime, I was the kid
who always brought cards,

coins,
and yes, even cubes.

Now, if all of the stickers
are right here,

we all know
what's in the bag, right?

Yeah, a naked cube.

An added advantage

whenever you take off
the stickers:

No matter which way
I turn this thing,

it's always solved!

[laughter]

Now, don't take your eyes
off the bag.

And don't blink.

[soft guitar music]

♪ ♪

' Cause now,
all that's required...

Is a little shake.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

Because the easiest way
to solve a cube

is by taking off
all of the stickers.

Thank you guys
so very much!

[cheers and applause]

Penn?
Can we be friends?

- Of course we can!
- Yes!

Then this is for you.
- Thank you so much.

- My name
is John Michael Hinton,

and friends, thank you
so very, very much!

[cheers and applause]

- John Michael Hinton!

Hi!
That was so cool!

- Thank you!
- Yeah!

I never tried
to take the stickers off,

but I took mine apart.

- Yeah.
- [laughs]

So this was awesome.

Tell me about working
under pressure.

- Yeah, you know, um,

I have been working
under pressure all my life.

Actually, I grew up
in Saudi Arabia.

- Wow.
- Uh, my dad worked over there,

and, uh, he's the one
who actually taught me magic.

Uh...
- Is that what made you

fall in love with magic?
- Yeah, it's a--

it's a good ice-breaker,
you know?

- Yeah.
[audience member cheers]

- [laughs, stammers]
Thank you, I like you.

[laughter]
Uh--

Yeah, in Saudi Arabia,
you know,

there weren't too many kids
that looked like me.

[laughter]
So, uh, it was a easy way

to break the ice
and kind of get to know people.

And no matter where I go,
I have a card in my pocket,

a coin in my pocket,
or a cube that I can play with.

- So it's really cool to see
an original trick onstage.

- Yeah, actually,
the trick

you saw tonight,
with the stickers

going back on the cube,

is a completely original effect
in magic.

Uh, 'cause we all
sat down together

and we said, "What is something
that we can do with a cube

that's never been done before?"

And we all
put our brains together,

and you just saw
what we came up with, so...

- That's so cool.
All right.

Well, let's see what the boys
thought of your trick.

- Awesome.

- John Michael, sir.
- Yes, sir.

- You know, you could have
just come out here,

mixed it up,
done the Rubik's cube,

and blown our minds.
We can't do 'em.

These are really hard things.

And those tricks are great.

They use a basic principle
of magic,

which is,
make something look

like it's kind of
the same trick twice,

and then do it
entirely different ways.

- Yep.
- First one, uh,

was like the Rubik's cube.

Mathematical principles.

And one of the things
that's often used in magic

is that the human brain
cannot perceive "random."

They don't know
what random and order is.

You can tell them one thing
and it's actually another.

Both ways, that goes.

It's used a lot in card tricks,
that idea

that something
that appears random--

with Pharaohs and so on--
really isn't.

That was that one,
and the second one

blew our minds so much
we were watching it

all the way through your bows.

You took those bows--
we watched them carefully,

'cause you deserved
every bit of applause

you got on the bows.
It was just wonderful.

And we were watching you
all the way through,

'cause we were watching
so carefully.

Great trick,
we all were scared,

we get cubes,
and, uh, thank you!

- You're welcome.
- [laughs]

So do they know
how you did the trick?

- Oh, these guys
are super smart.

I just wanted to come here
and make some new friends.

- Aww!
- And you did!

- Oh, thank you!
[cheers and applause]

- Thank you so much, Teller.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.

- John Michael Hinton!

[cheers and applause]

It's about time
for Penn and Teller

to do some fooling
of their own.

See them perform
after the break.

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back
to "Fool Us."

Every great show
has a grand finale,

and ours is no different.

Here to take us home,
along with two members

of our studio audience
who looked like

they can handle a screw g*n,
are the legendary...

Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

- You have this couple
of, uh,

do-it-yourselfers
from the audience

who are handy with screw g*ns.

We've had the audience
examine this box and sign it.

We're gonna tell you
a little bit of story

about solitary confinement.

A, uh, horribly cruel
and, sadly,

not unusual punishment.

Here's the way the story goes:

it's a story of a prisoner
who's put

[over speakers]
in the most intense solitary.

He was put in a box.

They didn't have
to throw away the key

because there was no key.

Because there was no door.

The cell, the box, was built
around the villain.

There was not even
a remote hope of escape.

He listened
and counted the screws

as he imagined the guards
putting the finishing touches

on his dungeon,

and made sure it was secure,

and proudly signed their names
all over his vault.

There was no portal
to the outside world

except for a small,
perfectly square hole

in the top
for food and water to go in,

and for filth to come out.

[soft piano music]

They put a metal sheet
under his cell

to stop him
from burrowing out.

♪ ♪

The box was too heavy
for the guards to lift,

and there certainly
was no concern

[strained]
for his comfort.

Screw him!

They rolled the box
onto the solid sheet of metal.

He was a monster,
but he was human,

and one of the guards
felt sorry for him.

Was there anything
the guard could do

to ease the t*rture?

Prisoner 42799
asked for a D-flat,

Hohner Marine Band
harmonica.

42799 wanted
to play the blues.

[bluesy harmonica music]

Sheets of Kevlar
were wrapped all around.

♪ ♪

Even if he broke out
of the box,

he'd never cut through
the bulletproof cloth.

♪ ♪

After a while, another guard
felt some sympathy

and asked
if there was anything else

that could ease the pain.
[harmonica flair]

42799 asked
for a shaving mirror.

♪ ♪

Now he could see
the reflection

of one small corner
of the prison yard.

♪ ♪

The prisoner imagined,
as he played,

he was accompanying
another prisoner's magic act.

♪ ♪

The magic prisoner
would take a bandana,

maybe a red bandana...

♪ ♪

He would stuff
the dirty old red do-rag

into his fist.

♪ ♪

And it burst into blue!

[cheers and applause]

The blue of the sky.
[harmonica flair]

The blue of freedom.

♪ ♪

And the prison do-rag...

Was gone.

♪ ♪

But it was a trick.

The prison flag
was still there.

♪ ♪

And then,
[harmonica flair]

gone again.

♪ ♪

And now...

♪ ♪

The do-rag
was in his pocket.

♪ ♪

Sometimes,

that magic prisoner would look
right into the mirror.

Right into his eyes.

Magic, just for him!

♪ ♪

"Oh, no!

Please leave me
the blue sky!"

♪ ♪

But that's not how it works
in magic.

Or in prison.
[audience gasps]

We're all stuck forever,

between the dirty
red bandana...

♪ ♪

And freedom blue.

♪ ♪

The prisoner's sentence
wasn't long.

It wasn't like he'd k*lled
the busload of children.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

When the magic prisoner left,
he asked the guards

to let him know
if the prisoner in solitary

ever got out.

And, well, times change,

and there were, oh, exposés.

There were, uh...

documentaries,
and there were protests.

Also, the freedom blues
played by prisoner 42799

was recorded
by one of the guards.

It was played on the internet

and became a little bit
of a hit.

So when the laws changed,

and 42799 was finally going
to get out of the box...

a large group of people
had gathered.

There were TV cameras
in the crowd,

and they all gathered around
to finally see...

The most magical prisoner.

[cheers and applause]

- Aww!

Whoo!

Ah!

Well, we used up
all our magic minutes

for tonight,
but we'll be back

with even more
tremendous tricks next time!

Until then,
goodnight from Las Vegas!

[cheers and applause]