The best guess is that Capeheart used an infrared laser, which passes through the outer balloon and heats up and pops the inner one. This is something I saw done as a physics demonstration about 45 years ago, so I am suspecious that maybe Penn might have said it was a pin so that by guessing wrong his old buddy could get a trophy.
I think they went with the simplest and most likely explanation, which is something sharp in the outer balloon, not a laser. They’ve had plenty of chances to give old friends a pass by guessing wrong and I don’t think they’ve done that. Perhaps on onw occasion they were as blind as WWE referees, but that another matter. I’m sure Capeheart picked something off the beaten path for the method, perhaps it was a laser, but I don’t think they gave him a free pass.
I’m absolutely sure that whenever Penn has an inkling of how a trick is done, he never expresses this in a guess using plain language. This is because, if he ends up being right, he’s spoiled the trick for the contestant. The only time you’ll hear him making a broadly understandable guess is when he already knows the guess is wrong but needs it for some rhetorical effect, such as to create a (false) sense of suspense.
Penn is careful with his language so the magician knows what he’s saying, but most people don’t. Last night, for instance, I guessed how one of the tricks played out and noted that Penn used a technical magician’s terms that described the trick in a context that had nothing to do with magic.
Yes, that’s the usual way he lets on to the contestant that he understands how a trick is done. So if, on the contrary, he blurts out a mechanism in a way that the audience is sure to understand, you can be absolutely certain that he knows the trick isn’t done that way and so is only pretending to guess.
From the 1/29 show: Jeki Yoo’s trick was really the only one worth discussing (even I could figure out the other three) and I thought it was interesting that Penn and Teller didn’t even try to guess how he did it.
I think I caught a few moves but nothing that would explain how he switched the three cards. Any guesss?
Let’s see if we can jump start this thread and catch up. I have shows recorded back a ways so I’ll try to revisit some good acts.
In the mean time tonight started with an excellent effect by Tyler Twombly. The guys figured it out but you could see their astonishment in how well the gimmick worked. The eyes in the photos are clearly changing as he rotates pictures but I don’t know how he does that without any obvious lines where cut-outs are.
The next act was interesting, Josephine Lee did a floating ball trick that mixed in elements that looked similar to Metamorphoses. The backdrop was dangling reflective streamers traditionally used to make it difficult to make out wires. Wire were clearly used, and even apparent in the later parts of the act. Penn mentioned the well known trick Things That Go Bump in the Night which uses the effect that ended the act. He called it a ‘sucker version’ of that trick, not sure what he meant by that, but she clearly employed a double for the ending.
Up third, Lionel, a Swiss magician. He poured milk, lemon-lime soda, cola, orange juice, and white wine from the same one liter milk carton (I assume the liter part). To finish the trick he tears apart the milk carton to show it isn’t gimmicked with multiple chambers. The camera kept cutting away though, so there could have been moves unseen. Penn suspected the carton was gimmicked but Lionel said it wasn’t and he was awarded an FU trophy. Beats me how he did it. One thing I noticed, as he poured the different liquids he didn’t seem to be emptying whatever held each one, and the inside of the ungimmicked carton seemed to be dry. So I don’t think the liquids were ever inside the carton.
Getting a bit tired now. I’ll follow up on the rest tomorrow.
RE: the Josephine Lee act. Penn’s comments about her beautiful hair and turning a “double into a home run” pretty much gave away the trick. But it was still impressive.
BTW, I know Teller basically speaks through Penn but I’d really like to hear his direct thoughts on some of these acts, especially the ones where Penn says Teller “knows more about than anyone else in the world.”
Also, was this the first time we’ve actually seen one of Teller’s notepad sketches?
The young magician was good. Just plain and simple magic.
Was Penn’s trick just one of those math tricks where no matter what numbers you pick it always ends up the same way?
I didn’t care for the fancy stage illusion with the balloons. I mean I wouldn’t boo her off stage and I’d genuinely ooh and aah but I don’t like that sort of stuff on Fool Us.
Yup. It always adds up to 3, the third letter is C, and the first real word starting with C will be CAB.
I really liked the first guy, with the ‘mental perception’ trick. I get that basically he swapped the photos, but the illusion is still neat for what it shows about how your mind works.
The act was good, but there was no way that was going to fool P&T. It was pretty clear how he did it.
Yeah, pretty obvious, and he fumbled while doing it. He was only 17 right? Still good stage presence for that age.
Agreed. Not bad for his age.
Yeah even I wasn’t fooled. Didn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable to watch!
Not from the show, but it is Shawn Farquhar and he has a pretty neat trick he just uploaded. It’s only 45 seconds long. How did he do it?
That’s an old one. The can wasn’t opened, there was a bit of black tape over the hole and just slightly dented. When he shook it the pressure popped out the dents, and then he pulled off that black tape and it looked like an unopened can, because it was.
There can also be a small hole in the side to let some liquid out and make the dents bigger. He can just put his finger over the hole when shaking it to get the expansion.
I can believe it’s something like this, but around second 12-13, he shows the top of the can, and the “hole” is black, with a tiny bit of light reflecting from the inside of the can. That light could just be a white spot on the black tape, except it looks to me like it moves as he moves the can, in the way that a reflection would move.
Edit: and again, around 22-23, he shows the inside.
The can is really big for the amount of beer he gets out of it, which makes me wonder if it’s a gimmick can. Maybe the top of it twists to show a new pop-top; maybe there’s a smaller can inside that contains the beer.
I suppose it’s possibly something else, but what I describe is so easy to do there’s no reason to do anything else. If there was any other gimmick there he would have stopped to show clearly that the can was open. He couldn’t do that because it wasn’t.
No, the eyes don’t change as the pictures rotate. He’s got a pair of photos for each of the three faces (himself, Penn, and Teller). One photo in each pair is a normal portrait, and the other photo just has the eyes and mouth turned upside down. For each pair, he shows one photo to the audience, then pulls it back behind his book to swap it, and then takes it out its counterpart, which is the one that stays on the table for the rest of the trick.