Eighth season debuted on the CW network with its first episode on October 1, 2021 .
I thought it got off to a good start, although the P&T trick at the end was pretty obvious.
Jando’s trick with the airplanes was kinda lame. I mean it worked, it tricked us (and presumably P&T) but…I dunno, I think most fans of this show don’t like big tricks like that.
The Australian woman was once again disappointing.
Love love love the guy who did the dice & hat routine. Man, I love sleight of hand. It takes so much skill, it’s never anything that “just anyone” could do.
Piff the Dragon was ok. He’s always funny. But his trick was not very tricky, just involved.
On the Paul Gertner trick, Penn mentioned the cockroaches on Letterman. They had a small box in a hat that they released to get all all the cockroaches on Letterman’s desk. Gertner had something similar to release all the small dice. He had switched the hat before he gave it to Penn. On Penn’s podcast he says, they don’t even look at the props anymore because the magicians always switch them after the trick is done.
On Helen Coghlan’s trick, Teller realized the next day that the technique was in her father’s book. He didn’t remember it on the show.
From Episode 2:
I know it didn’t fool P&T, but Jeki Yoo’s card trick was kind of amazing. Did the “angle” refer to a mirror or something under the table?
Absolutely fantastic! Best performance of the show.
The angle referred to an angle at the edge, where there was a black rim around the table in which to hide the cards. I mean they had to go somewhere! He was absolutely flawless.
I believe Penn & Teller made a reference to the Dope in this episode, during the trick with the spike tape.
Watch when Penn pages through the sample book. On “Page 14”, when Penn points out “Davidfield Copper”, look five down. It’s misspelled, but it says “Staight Taupe”.
What do you think? I could easily believe Penn, and / or Teller have been Straight Dope readers at some point.
(I have a screen shot, but this is my first post in many months and I don’t see how to include it. I tried, but the system said no.)
“The Straight Dope” is a phrase well known outside of this community. The name of the column was presumably due to the existence of the phrase (since 1901 I think?)
It would not be unusual in the least for someone to use the phrase “the straight dope” without ever having laid eyes on the column.
Penn Jillette is something of a skeptic. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was familiar with this forum.
I thought each entry was for a person who had appeared on their show?
It was supposedly a different colored roll of tape for floor markers.
~Max
It was a different color of tape for each person, but the names of the colors were puns.
As others have said, the phrase “the straight dope” is hardly exclusive to this forum.
mmm
There is no chance at all that he was doing a shout out to this site or to Cecil’s column. It’s possible that he is or was at one time aware of the column but not the message board.
Maybe if we had more topics about magic tricks…
~Max
It’s impossible that he was aware of the SDMB?
Maybe that’s an overstatement but I believe that it’s incredibly unlikely.
I just saw Amanda Nepo’s trick on YouTube (I’m going to have to track down all the new season’s tricks - I’m behind!) Definitely a nice change to have a card trick come across more like an illusion rather than like, well…a card trick. If I’m tired of pick a card, just from watching Fool Us, I feel like P&T have to be delighted anytime they get something beyond that.
I’m thinking that the last trick is largely based on her saying something untrue?
I’ve been delighted to find that that The CW is part of my cable package (not something I’d typically get here in Canada, but apparently, I do). I didn’t know that it was, so this was a happy find. When are Penn and Teller’s “Fool Us” on, so I can tune in again?
8 pm Fridays, at least in the Boston area.
Here’s a question about this show: how much of an idea - if any - do P&T have upfront as to what the trick is going to be about? The audience has zero, but I’m wondering if P&T are given some general idea.
Because there’s a huge difference in catching a trick if you know what it’s going to be, since you know what to look for, versus if you have no idea what it’s going to be and have no idea of what you should even be looking for. (For the audience, it’s the difference between watching the show the first time and then watching it again a second time when you know what the trick is.)
From what I can gather, P&T have zero idea who the magician will be or what trick he or she will perform.
I’m a regular listener of Penn Jillette’s podcast, where he often discusses Fool Us. He has made it clear that, not only do they not know beforehand which trick will be performed, they do not know who the magician will be until s/he takes the stage.
(often the performer is someone they know or know of)
mmm