# Penn & Teller: Fool Us (season 5) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662 "2018-06-24T12:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/101 "2018-07-28T03:54:46Z")
> [@johnnycab](#): > > After Emily’s incredulous reaction to having fooled them, she couldn’t help but actually show Teller how she did it. Watch as Teller is holding up the sign she moves her left arm behind it and appears to pull back her sleeve and how him the watch. Teller’s professionalism shows through as he just nods a couple of times without giving any other reaction. You are right, she did show him. Yeah, he just kind of nodded and rolled with it. It happens. ---
**Author:** ![johnnycab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@johnnycab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnnycab)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/102 "2018-07-28T04:08:42Z")
“pull back her sleeve and show him the watch” Too late to fix the typo ---
**Author:** ![johnnycab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@johnnycab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnnycab)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/103 "2018-07-28T04:13:14Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Are you sure? I don’t think it was necessary for him to expand the frame since he collapsed one of the pieces to make room. Watch the piece that contains three compartments, one containing scissors and a blue box, one a photograph and a letter and some jewelry, and one a photograph. When he takes it from the board, he puts it on the bottom of his stack and inconspicuously manipulates it during his patter. When he replaces it, one of the compartments (the one containing only the photograph) is missing. You’re right about the photograph compartment, it has a sliding mechanism that compresses the 3 compartments into 2. You can actually see the part that slides pressed up against his body when all the boxes are stacked up. All he has to do is push it into his stomach. So the outer frame does not need to change size. You can prove this to yourself by taking out a tape measure and verifying the length doesn’t change from before he slides it through his hand it to after. Yes, I nerded out and did this. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/104 "2018-07-31T05:57:12Z")
I only caught the last act this week, but the part with the saw was pretty easy to figure out. One of the saws was already bent, but was held straight by the cover that was over it. At the beginning, he only shows the straight saw. Then he asks Alyson to pick a saw. If she picks the straight saw (which she did), he gives it to her and says he’s going to bend the other one. If she picks the bent saw, he says he’s going to bend that one and gives Alyson the other. When he takes the cover off, he holds it as straight as he can with one hand. When he claims he’s bending it, he’s just slowly releasing his hold on it so it will naturally bend. (That was Penn’s comment that he was working hard to do the reverse of what he claimed he was doing.) Then he holds it by the tip and slowly lets the whole saw droop, claiming that it’s bending even more. I think the re-show it on Wednesdays, so I’ll try to catch the other acts then. I saw the debrief of the previous act, something about milk and tennis rackets, which sounds interesting. (I did a search on “Fool Us” and milk and found [this trick](https://youtu.be/LrBBqHg0wuc) on youtube. He fools P&T, and me, the first time, but when I watched it again it was totally obvious.) ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/105 "2018-07-31T13:31:39Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I only caught the last act this week, but the part with the saw was pretty easy to figure out. I think the rest of the bending, like the coins, were simply Nitinol or a similar alloy – they returned to their ‘remembered’ state when warmed up by being held in their closed hands. I remember lots of vids of people playing around with it years ago though not for some time so maybe he hoped P&T wouldn’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Oneilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3e96dc/32.png) [@Oneilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oneilla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/106 "2018-07-31T16:21:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I only caught the last act this week, but the part with the saw was pretty easy to figure out. One of the saws was already bent, but was held straight by the cover that was over it. At the beginning, he only shows the straight saw. Then he asks Alyson to pick a saw. If she picks the straight saw (which she did), he gives it to her and says he’s going to bend the other one. If she picks the bent saw, he says he’s going to bend that one and gives Alyson the other. When he takes the cover off, he holds it as straight as he can with one hand. When he claims he’s bending it, he’s just slowly releasing his hold on it so it will naturally bend. (That was Penn’s comment that he was working hard to do the reverse of what he claimed he was doing.) Then he holds it by the tip and slowly lets the whole saw droop, claiming that it’s bending even more. > > I think the re-show it on Wednesdays, so I’ll try to catch the other acts then. I saw the debrief of the previous act, something about milk and tennis rackets, which sounds interesting. > > (I did a search on “Fool Us” and milk and found [this trick](https://youtu.be/LrBBqHg0wuc) on youtube. He fools P&T, and me, the first time, but when I watched it again it was totally obvious.) All the tricks from this episode were upload to YouTube - [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiu\_k5Lq3GDaLPkhAZKSvXA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiu_k5Lq3GDaLPkhAZKSvXA) Rod through the glass of milk has me stumped. I was thinking maybe it’s not actually milk but some non-Newtonion liquid like oobleck or something. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/107 "2018-07-31T17:55:06Z")
> [@Oneilla](#): > > Rod through the glass of milk has me stumped. I was thinking maybe it’s not actually milk but some non-Newtonion liquid like oobleck or something. The rod could have been coated with something that keeps it dry. But it is interesting that she never drinks the milk so it may not be milk, and it may have changed form after it was poured. ETA: She doesn’t even tilt the glass afterwards so it might not have been liquid anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Oneilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3e96dc/32.png) [@Oneilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oneilla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/108 "2018-07-31T18:30:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The rod could have been coated with something that keeps it dry. But it is interesting that she never drinks the milk so it may not be milk, and it may have changed form after it was poured. > > ETA: She doesn’t even tilt the glass afterwards so it might not have been liquid anymore. Yeah she holds it up as though she’s going to drink it but doesn’t. Also doesn’t pour it back into the jug so that’s why I was thinking it was something other than milk. For a moment when she moves her hand down it looks like the rod is supported by something inside. I’d say the glass is actually plastic too. Beyond that I don’t know. Maybe it’s the rod where the gimmick is… The camera angles this week seemed to be quite favourable to the magicians unlike previous episodes. I think a wide shot covered up Pit Hartling’s handling of the deck after the shuffle. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/109 "2018-07-31T18:56:18Z")
> [@Oneilla](#): > > The camera angles this week seemed to be quite favourable to the magicians unlike previous episodes. I think a wide shot covered up Pit Hartling’s handling of the deck after the shuffle. I noticed the camera shot changed. But it’s clear he had taken back that deck after the guy shuffled so he obviously returned an arranged deck to him. I’m sure they do this to cover up moves picked up by the camera angle, or mistakes made by the magician so the act is still useful on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/110 "2018-07-31T19:40:31Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > You are right, she did show him. > > Yeah, he just kind of nodded and rolled with it. It happens. I think it’s pretty neat that they overlooked her openly using a completely normal off-the-shelf consumer product for the trick. All she had to do was have the watch show what’s playing on the phone, which I think is default behavior, and contrive to look at it at some point in the act. I suspect they’re not real big on phone gadgets, I suspect that will prompt them to look into what you can do with smart watches and the like both for their own tricks and for catching future foolers. ---
**Author:** ![Oneilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3e96dc/32.png) [@Oneilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oneilla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/111 "2018-07-31T19:40:50Z")
> [@Oneilla](#): > > Yeah she holds it up as though she’s going to drink it but doesn’t. Also doesn’t pour it back into the jug so that’s why I was thinking it was something other than milk. For a moment when she moves her hand down it looks like the rod is supported by something inside. I’d say the glass is actually plastic too. Beyond that I don’t know. Maybe it’s the rod where the gimmick is… > > The camera angles this week seemed to be quite favourable to the magicians unlike previous episodes. I think a wide shot covered up Pit Hartling’s handling of the deck after the shuffle. I watched it again and saw that the milk did swirl around a bit when she took the tube off so there goes that idea that it turned into a solid ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/112 "2018-07-31T20:21:01Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I think the re-show it on Wednesdays, so I’ll try to catch the other acts then. The reruns actually run Fridays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And The CW has all the shows, including the most recent, posted at: [http://www.cwtv.com/shows/penn-teller-fool-us/](http://www.cwtv.com/shows/penn-teller-fool-us/) ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/113 "2018-07-31T22:59:59Z")
> [@Oneilla](#): > > I watched it again and saw that the milk did swirl around a bit when she took the tube off so there goes that idea that it turned into a solid I’m baffled by this trick. Could the glass be half rubber somehow? She could bend it enough to slide the rod past? ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/114 "2018-08-01T04:05:45Z")
> [@Oneilla](#): > > Yeah she holds it up as though she’s going to drink it but doesn’t. Also doesn’t pour it back into the jug so that’s why I was thinking it was something other than milk. For a moment when she moves her hand down it looks like the rod is supported by something inside. I’d say the glass is actually plastic too. Beyond that I don’t know. Maybe it’s the rod where the gimmick is… > > The camera angles this week seemed to be quite favourable to the magicians unlike previous episodes. I think a wide shot covered up Pit Hartling’s handling of the deck after the shuffle. The “glass” (agree it is almost surely plastic) is strangely made, with the bottom half decorated to make it relatively opaque while the top half is plain. I think the bottom half conceals a tube the rod fits into. The magician goes to a lot of trouble to hide both ends of the rod while she manipulates the apparatus, but if you go frame-by-frame as she is sliding it through, you can see that the top end of the rod has a cap on it. After she lays the rod down on the table, the cap is gone. I think the tube in the glass initially has a thin membrane at the bottom to hold the milk in. When the magician slides the rod in (which fits very tightly-- the channel may even have o-rings to ensure it) it punctures the membrane, and the cap (or plug) at the top end of the rod stops up the channel again as the rod is pushed through. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/115 "2018-08-01T14:13:58Z")
I can’t help but feel like the Father should get the Fool Us trophy since he invented the milk glass trick. Am I right that tennis raquet just has the strings inside the frame and when she spins it, the spinning of the handle makes the strings come out? ---
**Author:** ![Oneilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3e96dc/32.png) [@Oneilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oneilla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/116 "2018-08-01T14:38:55Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’m baffled by this trick. Could the glass be half rubber somehow? She could bend it enough to slide the rod past? Penn brought up a gasket buy shot it down. His guess could’ve been right and she/her father figured a way to keep the rod dry with no spilling. They could’ve done better figuring this one out but I suppose it’s hard just on first watch with only a few minutes to say enough to know how it was done. Could’ve also been a bit of deference toward the father and not wanting to reveal anything about the trick. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/117 "2018-08-01T15:24:52Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Am I right that tennis raquet just has the strings inside the frame and when she spins it, the spinning of the handle makes the strings come out? Something Penn said makes me think that the one side of the racquet is split in two layers, one layer holding the strings, the other just having empty holes. The stringed half is hinged so it can be folded ‘sideways’ and lie on top of the other side of the frame, which is where it is at the start. (If that’s not clear, imagine the racquet head divided from the attachment point of the handle to the furthest point of it. Then fold the top layer of the right half (say) sideways to lie on top of the left half of the frame.) The ‘strings’ aren’t normal catgut, they’re elastic, and carefully tucked out of sight between the folded over part of the frame and the other side of the frame. There must be some sort of catch that keeps the frame folded over at first, which she triggers as she’s putting the racquet into the cover. The folded over section springs back, pulling the ‘strings’ into place, either as she puts it in or pulls it out, either way hidden by the fact that she spins the racquet as she’s doing it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/118 "2018-08-01T16:39:02Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > The “glass” (agree it is almost surely plastic) is strangely made, with the bottom half decorated to make it relatively opaque while the top half is plain. I think the bottom half conceals a tube the rod fits into. The magician goes to a lot of trouble to hide both ends of the rod while she manipulates the apparatus, but if you go frame-by-frame as she is sliding it through, you can see that the top end of the rod has a cap on it. After she lays the rod down on the table, the cap is gone. I think the tube in the glass initially has a thin membrane at the bottom to hold the milk in. When the magician slides the rod in (which fits very tightly-- the channel may even have o-rings to ensure it) it punctures the membrane, and the cap (or plug) at the top end of the rod stops up the channel again as the rod is pushed through. Good explanation. I’ll go with that one until someone comes up with something better. Unique tricks are the easiest way to fool the guys, they know just about every trick ever sold or published or performed regularly already. ---
**Author:** ![Oneilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3e96dc/32.png) [@Oneilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oneilla)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/119 "2018-08-07T03:10:21Z")
This week’s fooler is a mentalism act who knows what Teller draws on a sheet of paper whilst blindfolded - has to be an earpiece in the blindfold surely? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662/120 "2018-08-07T03:14:16Z")
That was a mighty big pen she was using. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-season-5/816662.md?page=7)