So, I figured they asked Penn to pre-record it just for Boris. Were those all clips that previously existed?
Penn didn’t think they were clips of his voice, he seemed to think it had been done through technology. I don’t think he’s difficult to impersonate though.
Yeah Penn was not involved with the voiceover.
There’s plenty of software that can take recordings of a voice (as I said, audiobooks are an amazing source) and learn how to imitate the voice then spit back out New dialogue in that voice. Deep fakes. That’s why the episode was called “Deep Fake Penn.”
So, also, be afraid. The software is out there and available to random magicians with ease.
I’m skeptical of this. Can you name any specific software packages that are commercially available? If not, then it’s far likelier that the trick was done with a human impersonator.
Here’s an example called Overdub. I’ve seen others advertised. It doesn’t matter though, it wouldn’t be difficult for an impersonator, it could have been done either way.
There was another one called Lyrebird but they seem to have been bought out by Overdub.
Here’s a video of a guy showing how to use Lyrebird. It’s quick and easy, and “old” technology already, from 2018.
But yes, it very much coulda been an impersonator too. Still a very funny idea!
Regardless if it was luck or not that Penn picked the right spot of the card, my question is how did he know where the card was?
It was Teller that shuffled and cut the cards.
A damn good act imo.
I believe this is the best trick of the season. With Kostya Kimalat, I believe we learned a bit about how it was done(Teller and Penn did figure it out) and I think Penn’s podcast or interviews later kind of hinted enough to reveal it to us(it was done by very, very, very intricate/skilled culling of cards).
Does Penn still do his podcast? I’d like to hear if he has at least told us if they figured it out. I think Penn and Teller legit did not know while on set.
Seconded.
Thirded. It seemed flawless.
Well, it was the first trick of the new season so there were only three others, but I agree.
It’s a simple yet astonishing trick. Even if he somehow knew which card Teller picked (and I don’t think he did), I can’t even begin to imagine how he managed to get it to the third position…before Penn even made his selection.
I’d pay money to find out how he did that.
It’s not a new season. It was episode 10 of season 7. There are 2 more episodes scheduled but it’s gonna take one helluva trick to top this one.
I thought I heard Penn say this was a new season. Oh well. I doubt we see a better trick too.
Nope, this was one of the last tricks of the season.
Boris Wild has a website. There is a section for “magic shop”. It contains his marked decks. The comments include, “You can even start your performance by opening a brand new deck of cards in front of the audience and give it for shuffling. Nobody can suspect you will use a marked deck!”. That is how the trick started.
Knowing he used a mark deck, how did he do the trick? I do agree it is super likely he did the trick with his own brand/make of marked deck, then.
The only even remotely fishy move I could spot was when Teller handed the deck back after shuffling for the last time. But there was a weird camera cut right then so maybe it wasn’t even fishy.
Even if it was a marked deck, I have no idea how he did this.
S7E11 (10/12/2020)
Jandro: This guy knows how to be entertaining. As soon as Teller revealed the Lego card, I could see by the look on his face that he fooled them. They didn’t even hazard a guess, which is a great compliment. Jandro barely has any time to mess with the painting, if he’s doing anything with his hands (he does handle the back of it suspiciously for a second while Teller is walking up).
David Parr: I feel like Alyson did a lot of the heavy lifting since it was all done by suggestion. I’m assuming there was a pin cushion (or carrot) involved since Parr made all the initial placements.
Magical Katrina: Her retro look and banter were adorable. By Penn’s code, it seems that all the pictures had Xs on them and she rubbed off the one on the chosen photo (as she’s sliding it to Penn), which had the checkmark underneath.
Daniel Roy: I thought that maybe the cards were forced somehow, but according to Penn, it has something to do with the edges and memorization (and possibly taste and smell?). I’m sure a lot of preparation went into that coming off as simple as it did.
The P&T act with the ball pit troll was fun to watch, mostly for the parents’ reactions.
Brilliant act. I’m surprised they didn’t hazard a guess.
A couple of points:
FIrst, Teller has to pick one suit and a number using just one hand, so there are only 20 cards that can be selected.
Second, when he is prying the ‘card’ loose with a screwdriver he’s holding it down with his thumb at the same time. So it didn’t need prying off, he’s manipulating something there, perhaps several cards stacked up and he’s separating the particular one.
So I think as he turns the ‘canvas’ around he’s manipulating at least one ‘card’ for the reveal into place, and finalizing the selection when he pries it off.
ETA: Also note the noise from stepping on the ‘bricks’ which could be covering up any sounds made in manipulation.
That’s a great point. I just rewatched it and he’s definitely fiddling with something with that screwdriver, but it had to have been so precise. I think it’s one of those cases that they were so impressed with the presentation and originality that they decided to award it regardless (plus it saved them a trip to their seats and back).