I’m watching the show and trying to figure out his tricks. I admit he’s pretty good.
He supposedly stuck an ice pick through his hand. Ouch!
He chewed a glass that Katy Perry had. That didn’t impress me. I know they make fake glass out of sugar. Sure was crunchy, though.
He spooked the hell out of Harrison Ford by making a card disappear from a from a deck, then having it reappear rolled up in an orange (that he cut open with a knife). Han Solo (looking like a 1970s hausfrau) then told him to get the f*** out of his house. It freaked him out pretty severely.
I normally scoff at shows like this, but there was nothing else on so I watched it. Loved Han Solo’s reaction, loved Ricky Gervais’ reaction, but the Hawking bit made me sad, sad, sad. The bits with people on the street were cool, too.
A card inside the orange is prepared ahead of time. The magician then (a) forces Han Solo to pick the matching card from the deck and (b) palms it or otherwise makes it disappear, neither of which is terribly difficult for a top-rank magician.
Okay, I just finished and that Ricky Gervais bit had me rolling with laughter. I loved his summation of the needle-through-the arm. “Either that’s the greatest close-up illusion I’ve ever seen, or it was real and you’re a maniac. Either way, good job.”
I haven’t seen the show but in the previews they show one (black) lady on there with her man behind her and she looks like she’s about to have an orgasm. Every time I see that, I keep thinking to myself “Damn, what kind of tricks is this dude trying to pull?”
Just a wild guess regarding the ice pick through the hand or arm.
I have not had any piercings, but I think most women (and men) who have had a simple ear pierced, can easily take out and put in stick pins.
So assume for a minute that David Blaine had a “partial” piercing of his hand - in other words, he had a needle put through (but NOT completely through) his hand and let it stay there for several days. Then he took it out and put it back in, over and over again. Eventually, there would be just the tiniest of holes on the FRONT of his hand, but not on the back (thus the gross protrusion as he sticks needle through without breaking skin).
So, when he pulls the needle out, there is no blood (as there is no blood from ear piercings) and nobody exactly has a microscope to check to see that entry wound is, in reality, simply the entry point of the piercing.
Ditto for the arm - which he might have done later after seeing the success of the hand.
Just my 2 cents.
The rest of the tricks? Well, most have been done by other magicians, but Blaine does always seem to find a bunch of people on the street who would also give money to Nigerians on the Internet - and they over-react and mug to the camera.
I think these are the same people you see in TV ads outside of movie theaters saying, “After Earth is the best film ever made! You have to go see it!”
Yeah, he comes off as smug or something. I can’t stand the guy. He has no charm or showmanship. Just kind of blah and odd, and boring. He could perform literal miracles and I wouldn’t care because his presentation just blows.
I’ve seen Penn and Teller (and indeed Harry Anderson of Night Court fame) do the “needle through the arm” trick, and I’m pretty sure neither of them actually skewered themselves. It’s a good trick that takes a talented magician to pull off well, but it’s still a trick. And no, I don’t know how it’s done.
And David Blaine sets my annoyance meter ringing like a smoke alarm at an indoor barbecue. He’s a smug self-important jerk. I know the flash and sizzle is a big part of the act but for close-up magic I much prefer magicians who just do the damn trick and leave you with “I have no freaking idea how he (or she) just did that” to those that attempt to make you think that they’re “special” (mysteeeeeeeeeerious! <waggles fingers>) while doing it, leaving you with “neat trick but that guy is overcompensating for something”.
IIRC, his first TV special claimed not to use camera tricks, but that was only true if you take a really narrow view of what constituted a “camera trick”.
I LOVED the reaction of a bunch of the people off the street. Those four kids who just booked it when he changed the dollar bill to a $100 bill were hilarious.
The one that amazed me was the guy with the cards over his heart. First it was ten, then thirteen, then twenty-two. Really cool.
My guess with most of these is confederates, but I’m sure there’s a mix of techniques.
The mention of audience members freaking out and being over the top and completely incredulous is another reason I hate him. Those people are ridiculous and totally ruin it for me.
I’ve read of tricks where this was exactly the method used. As many magicians say, tricks often work because ordinary people never conceive that anybody would go to such trouble just to fool you.
Google needle through the arm trick explained. It can be done with real flesh.
