Cool! Thanks
So it appears they’ve extended this season of Fool Us by at least 4 episodes (according to Wikipedia), which will continue to air throughout this month. (I’m not sure why they decided to classify this as the second half of season 7 rather than the start of season 8, other than the timing; ie. airing in winter instead of the summer.) S7E15 premiered January 8 with a virtual audience and some socially distant performers. There’s something a bit depressing about the new format (Penn also seems visibly aged), but the show must go on, I guess.
Noah Sonie: Book burning/word prediction. Not sure how this was done, unless it’s the typical force by only having one unique word on every page. That seems a bit old hat for such “new” talent though.
Malin Nilsson: I have to assume this is being performed live via satellite for P&T. While it’s an entertaining routine, it’s somehow less impressive when not being performed in the studio. However, at the end, it cuts to Malin via Zoom in a completely different location, so I’m wondering whether this was edited down or the whole act was actually pre-recorded. Regardless, I’m not sure why this “fooled” them, especially the last move where she has her hand behind her back for a good 2-3 seconds while she’s making the switch.
Peter Samelson: Some clever card magic accompanied by a compelling story. Nothing too surprising here.
Michael Karl: Mentalism prediction series with a voicemail delivery system. I’m guessing this is one of those scenarios where every single option was recorded and then compiled into a final message.
The P&T act was nice and clean and I enjoyed it. I think all the fruits are pre-loaded with a card (depending on which way you cut it) and then there’s sleight of hand to produce the actual chosen card.
I suppose they were fooled by how the ball appeared to turn to nothing but water with no remnants of a container left. Doesn’t seem that amazing to me, I assumed a clear balloon of some sort that burst when hit with the wand.
Based on Penn’s comments it sounds like he had someone else do the recording after the choices were made.
Thought the same thing.
I guess the amazing part of that is that it remained intact in her pocket throughout the entire act.
Haha, yeah, that would be the even simpler way to do it. Sounds even less impressive that way.
I really enjoyed Malin Nilsson’s act. Very nice sleight and misdirection. She was always 2 or three steps ahead; I stopped trying to figure any of it out and just enjoyed.
Penn seemed to imply that Noah Sonie’s trick was a force, and I guess it would have to be. But how? Did he print an entire book in which the only words were “the,” “and,” “of,” and “brainstormed”? I suppose it’s possible? The act itself was a bit plodding.
Peter Samelson’s bit was really fun. I guessed that several of the cards he laid face down were not kings. Totally no idea on the rest of it. Very cool narrative.
Michael Karl’s bit was by far the least impressive. Plenty enough time passed between the last choice and the phone call for an assistant to do the recording offstage. A six-year-old could have figured that one out.
I assume Sonie’s force was the same as many other ‘book trick’ mentalism tricks (though you don’t usually have to destroy the book in those tricks - wonder if he does that every time or just for Fool Us - could get expensive). My assumption is that every page in that book has a bunch of mundane boring words in each of four corners, and only one really long complicated word like Brainstormed - so once torn, every slip will have only one viable option. That’s commonly how that type of trick is done - the torn pages look different, but on closer inspection, brainstormed is the only long word on all of them.
S07E16 (1/15/21)
Jonathan Burns: Escaping from a pull-out couch. It was an amusing act, but all those boxes behind the set were really distracting. It was funny that Alyson got spooked when he popped up behind her. I also like the idea of a magician’s assistant being an EMT, in case anything goes “wrong.”
Eric Chien: Cards to coin illusionary (fooler). This guy’s act reminded me of Shin Lim, especially with the black canvas. Following it all the way through honestly broke my brain. The long-distance aspect makes it feel less impressive (especially the limited camera angles), but it’s a fantastic routine. Sometimes I think they declare “foolers” just because they want the winner to perform in their show.
Jeremiah Zuo: More coin magic. Unfortunately, coming off the last fooler, this feels somewhat familiar, but I liked the story that linked all the tricks. Very simple and clean illusions. I always think if I could do sleight of hand that well, I would steal so much shit.
Sabine van Diemen: I’m always impressed by levitation acts, especially when you realize how much core strength it takes to suspend your lower body like that. Even the idea of balancing on three sword points is impressive enough. I also like that she performed it outdoors; it makes it feel much less claustrophobic.
Teller: I got so distracted by Penn reading the teleprompter that I wasn’t really paying attention to anything else. It just made me realize what a good actor he is, by the way he reads his lines and makes it sound spontaneous and natural. I never really think about this stuff while I’m watching TV.
OMG Eric Chien!! So friggin good! He blew my mind. I love when this show blows my mind. Him sort of pounding on the table top at the end really helped sell the trick like hey it’s really a solid table. Just amazing all around.
Jeremiah Zuo was great. I love that simple sleight of hand sfuff as much as I love the complicated stuff like Chien. I love Teller’s simple “coins in a coffee can” trick. Zuo’s banter made me think “I bet Teller wished he could do banter while he did the coins in the coffee can!” (Actually I think he does? Look it up on YouTube) Anyway I love language just like Zuo so this act delighted me. Also I like how Penn pointed out that he even did magic on the coins that didn’t exist.
Sabine’s trick was pretty standard fare but I like how P&T liked that she had men doing the assistant work. Also I totally respect her monster core muscles. And it was nice to see her do the trick in public.
The first guy eh, he was ok. Funny reveal. Kinda funny banter. I like goofy sometimes.
Really great episode!
S07E17 (1/22/21)
My favorite act of the week was the lovely Yan Yan Ma. I feel like she was more deserving of the win than Chris Capehart. I’m finding that I prefer to enjoy a well constructed performance rather than try to figure out the intricacies of a balloon popping (a laser pointer, possibly). Maybe it’s just because the acts have felt a bit lackluster lately with the new format.
Although it was amusing to watch P&T perform a variation of the cups and balls trick without the cups.
This thread’s been pretty slow lately, so I guess I’ll let it die out if there’s nothing worth discussing.
This has nothing to do with Fool Us, but I just saw Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself on Hulu, and I recommend it to everyone here. There is an element of magic in it, although it’s mostly a philosophical, existential one-man show about self-reflection and how we see others. I thought it was just fantastic.
I still enjoy this thread FWIW.
Me too. I don’t usually get a chance to see the new episodes until several days after they’ve aired, and so by then any questions/explanations I wanted to post have usually already been raised by others. But I’m still avidly reading along.
I have only quickly scanned the last two episodes. I plan to watch them carefully and add to the thread soon. No need for it to fade away. No need to limit it strictly to P&T either, I’m sure we’re all interested in the field of magic in general.
I think the fact that new episodes seem to be aired randomly (at least where I am) means fewer Dopers are seeing them.
Yan Yan Ma was really great. I knew P&T would love her act because the ballet definitely added a new aspect they hadn’t seen before and they really like to see something new. Anyone can tell that she was “merely” hiding all that stuff in her tutu but there is SO much more to it and her act required so much skill! I think her act brought in a lot of “bian lian” (face changing) techniques with the silk and I LOVE it.
Chris Capehart called Teller “Ray”! 
The husband and wife’s routine was too goofy for me. Didn’t like their presentation. Apparently they’re from Cleveland but I’ve never heard of them (but to be honest I don’t see much magic here).
I liked P&T’s ball act. Simple yet still 100% magical.
Hey, I rely on this thread to tell me there’s a new episode to go find on the CW Roku channel!
Penn & Teller tattoo trick on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Kinda lame, to be honest.
FYI: looks like a new episode is airing tonight, 1/29.
I actually really liked their delivery except for the fact that it went on way too long. They had, what, three or four tricks in five minutes of patter? That’s too little signal to noise to sustain my interest. If they had magicked more or spoken less, it would have been a great act, even if they weren’t able to fool Penn and Teller.
By the way, how was Chris Capeheart able to pop the internal balloon?