One of the most amazing tricks I’ve ever seen.
My only guess:
The black guy is actually a small skinny flexible guy who spends the first 3/4 of the trick with his legs drawn up next to his chest. He starts out balanced on top of fake legs. Then everything is easy until the very last minute when he slides his actual legs into the pants and replaces the fake ones.
Thoughts?
No idea- Unfuckingbeliveable!
Maybe something similar to the Criss Angel trick that used a person with no legs?
The black guy jumping at then end looked a teensy bit irregular, but that could be me.
There’s a key part when they move the legs from the standing to the sideways position that the video omits, so it’s difficult to say. You also don’t get to see the assistants set-up on stage, (does the black Dr. walk out, or is he already standing there waiting?) so it also is tough to guess. My original guess would be that there are 2 guys (one half-guy, other full one with the top half hiding in the stand), but those video omissions make it difficult to assess the trick in its entirety.
Also, at the beginning, when the black guy is right next to the box, it looks like he is trying to stay as close to the box as possible, either out of necessity or to hide something.
Here’s another version of the same trick.
I’m not sure, but it looks to be an adaptation of this trick he did back in the 80s, I think he’s using the same short person!
– IG
Initially, it appears there is an amputee resting on top of the lower back of another person who is bent over, hiding the upper part of his body inside the box. Due to editing, we don’t see how the legs get from the box to the cart for “re-assembly.”
One of the videos that pops up at the end is labeled “Kevin James revealed” which suggests the same solution in the OP. It highlights that when the upper half is dragged to the side, you can see what may or may not be a considerable bulge.
A skinny person wearing a padded suit makes sense, and might explain why the jumping looks ‘weird’. It also looks to me that when he lifts himself off the table, the arm strain suggests a person lifting their entire weight instead of someone with no legs.
Interestingly, the other version (linked by Pashnish Ewing) looks more like an actual little person in there - possibly even the same one who ducks the chainsaw in the AGT version.
I live in Las Vegas and my neighbors are professional magicians. I have met Kevin James at their parties several times, and just went to see their show, The World’s Great Magic Show last week.
Kevin has an assistant, whose name escapes me at the moment, but the guy is a dwarf - that should give you a good hint as to how many of the tricks are created.
BTW, if anyone is coming to Las Vegas and would like to see those tricks, I strongly recommend seeing The World’s Greatest Magic Show at the Greek Isles (the old Debbie Reynolds casino near the Convention Center). The casino itself is a dump, but the theater is quite nice and the show is great (I list it on my Shows section on my website). Kids get into the show for free and adults pay about $50 or so or tickets. Nice variety of about 6-7 magicians, each performing their best tricks, so the show never gets stale and every so often, new magicians appear.
I’m just glad to see a Kevin James with actual talent…