I don’t know if anyone is still watching this show (and I didn’t want to revive a years-old thread) but Javi Rufo, the first performer on tonight’s show, had an act that was simply astonishing. He received a rare standing ovation from the P&T audience.
If anyone saw it, do have a guess for how he did it?
I’d post a link but I can’t seem to find one.
I haven’t found this episode available online yet either. In the mean time, here’s a brief clip of Teller talking: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZRyUBLbmehc?t=4&feature=share
For a guy who plays silent when onstage and in character, Teller actually speaks a lot. Here he is on The Moth with a very sweet story about his origins in magic. He begins by saying, “I get way too much credit when I talk.” 
Teller is back working after his heart surgery?
That would be great news if he’s back filming.
I recorded Harpo Marx’s first movie appearance where he has lines and speaks. Can’t hear him though, it was a silent movie.
Anyway, I’m sure this act will show up on YouTube before long. It might even have recorded on the cable box VCR, I’d have to move a lot of junk to get to it, but my curiosity is peaking.
The episode is now streaming on the CW channel. Very impressive act. Very well done. I’m sure not all that complicated, I’ve seen magicians perform excellent ball in hand manipulations before. He bounces the balls to show they’re not just made of foam or shells nested together. There’s also no question that he tossed them in the hat, but that gives him a chance to pick up a ball from behind the hat. There’s also plenty of room in the hat to hide the balls he tossed in. He didn’t give away a thing that I can see, or more importantly that Teller could see.
Unless there were some tricky camera edits, I didn’t see his hand once disappear from view.
I figured he was using shells until, as Penn pointed out, about his third move. And then I gave up trying to figure it out.
I just watched this act, very smooth and polished! My only thought was the same as @TriPolar 's: that he was picking up balls behind the hat. Maybe held with magnets?
Could he have been using shells until then, at which point he switched to another method?
I think that is the case. I’ll look at it again some time, when it’s on YouTube so I can slow it down. The balls he visibly tosses into the hat could have been shells, leaving an entire bounceable ball in his hand. He’s still doing a remarkable job hiding a second ball in his hand.
I’m watched “Fool Us” long enough to know that innocent and meaningful gestures on a magician’s part can often disguise something very important.
So even though I have no idea how it could be possible, I’m now wondering if the arm behind the back could somehow be critical to how the trick is done.
*meaningless
Stunning trick. I get fooled all the time, and this one did, too.
The trick is on Youtube now and wow, that’s some smooth stuff. Do you think Penn or Teller did know exactly what he was doing, but were so impressed they gave him a trophy?
It was extremely smooth.
I also credit him for memorizing his act in English if that is what he did.
He must have, because his English after the trick was not good.
I’m think shells. The first white ball he tosses in the hat is a half shell and he retains the white ball in his hand. The second white ball he tosses in is the real ball. Then I not too sure what he does. Possibly the next white ball that appears in his hand has been contained inside the red ball, which might be two half shells. That white ball looks a little smaller than the red ball, but there isn’t a good angle to judge that. He does bounce it so it’s not a foam ball. The red ball he tosses in next could be a half shell, so he then shows the other half from his hand. The camera cuts away at that point so there’s no telling if he does anything to show the red ball is whole. The next thing we see is him tossing both balls in the hat. He only shows a whole red ball and bounces it after handling the hat so there’s no real mystery there.
Even if I have it right, that act would require incredible digital dexterity to keep from revealing anything.
The production team of this show would never use camera tricks that would fool the home audience but not the studio audience or P&T.
I have not seen this episode. I will try to get to it soon.
How did David Blaine do this with Lebron and Anthony Davis? He made the cards, uh, disappear? Or the deck shrink?
The second trick in that clip is a little easier to guess, but the first trick was very smooth. I’m stumped too.
With enough time and money, could a sleight-of-hand expert rig up some kind of accordion-like card that collapses down from ‘about three-quarters of a deck’ to, say, ‘roughly as flat as a card’ with a quick and smooth motion, and then make a big show of displaying the ‘actual-card’ cards?