# Penn & Teller: Fool Us, US run on CW **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015 "2014-08-07T07:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**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 21, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/461 "2015-08-21T22:29:35Z")
[quote=“Drunky\_Smurf, post:459, topic:695015”] Links people. Here’s the one **Tamerlane** mentioned and I agree, excellent comeback. [/QUOTE] It’s a neat trick for sure. I believe he designed and made it? Edit: Ah, I’d forgotten that he anticipated them guessing about the box. Even better. What a cool guy. And the kind of trick magician’s love. He knew what they would expect. Love it. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Also, we haven’t been spoilering reveals in this thread for quite a while, it seems everybody participating has some good knowledge to work with already, and I assume all of these can be looked up online because of the links already posted. I agree. Shawn Farquhar, by the way, claims to do his “signed, sealed, and delivered” trick in a way no one has done before. He has not yet revealed how, so we will never know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/462 "2015-08-21T23:33:32Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Have you read the thread? You should go back up and click the link where Penn talks about their Today show trick and how this one still fooled them. Been reading this thread religiously (I really can’t get enough of this show). That link you mention (a clip from Penn’s podcast with Jonathon Ross as a guest) is what prompted me to search for the today show video (incidentally afterwards I also listened to the whole podcast episode which I quite enjoyed). I must say after seeing the Today Show clip and knowing that little bit of backstory, Penn and Teller’s reactions during the Kimlat trick are just that much more deliciously hilarious. As to the discussion of the Kimlat vs. Farquhar Fool Us tricks, I’m not sure I could pick which one was better, but I will say those are my 2 favorite clips of the show so far. Not only were they amazing performances but I just love Penn’s reactions in both. ---
**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 22, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/463 "2015-08-22T00:12:47Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Shawn Farquhar, by the way, claims to do his “signed, sealed, and delivered” trick in a way no one has done before. He has not yet revealed how, so we will never know for sure. We’re often stuck with that. The best we can do is find a possible way to do the effect. Even when magicians reveal their techniques we can’t be sure that they’re not still concealing something. But I find that to be part of the beauty of magic. ---
**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 22, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/464 "2015-08-22T01:44:01Z")
Has anyone bought Bich’s trick? He sell’s an explanation of it for $1.99 on his website. He sells the deck for $50, I think. Just curious how it works. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/465 "2015-08-22T02:06:25Z")
I just watched the Matthieu Bich video on Youtube. It's really good. I think that there must be multiple outs of some kind. Maybe different ways of handling and spreading the cards show different results. Fan them in one direction and it's says NINE OF DIAMONDS. Fan them the other way and it says some other card. Flip the deck over and you've got two more possibilities. Notice he did some cuts of the deck. Maybe that somehow changes the message so there are other possibilities. There may also be other ways of displaying the chosen card. Maybe for some cards, instead of what he did he just shows that there is only one printed card in the deck and it’s the chosen card. I can’t really explain 52 different outs, but I’m pretty sure that that is at least part of the answer. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/466 "2015-08-22T02:19:49Z")
This video claims to explain Bich’s trick but IMHO it’s ridiculously wrong. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SGyeXD1lT4) ---
**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 22, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/467 "2015-08-22T02:22:25Z")
I think he inserts the cards that spell out the answer. He only needs the 4 suits and 13 names, Ace, 2-10, Jack, Queen, King. So that’s 17 combinations. I don’t know what’s on the ball, maybe there was only 2-10, so that’s just 13 combinations. He may have cards that have two of the names or suits on them, one on either side, so that would be 7 names and 2 suits, for just nine different sets of cards, or without the face cards and ace just seven different sets. I have to look again, if the letters only cover have the width of the card there could be 2 letters on each side of the card cutting those numbers in half. ---
**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 22, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/468 "2015-08-22T02:29:28Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > This video claims to explain Bich’s trick but IMHO it’s ridiculously wrong. > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SGyeXD1lT4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SGyeXD1lT4) 😃 Right, he’s projecting black characters on white cards, that must be it :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/469 "2015-08-22T02:39:15Z")
I don’t know what you mean by “what’s on the ball”. The ball is only used to choose random audience members to make the choices (which, by the way, were worded so as to rule out equivoque, in case anyone was wondering). I did notice that, as he sat down he reached over to the box (the card box, not the wooden box), then had his hands below the table briefly. And he did manipulate the cards quite a bit. Something else I noticed: It appears that at least some of the letters are spread over more than one card. For example, if you look at the “NE” at the end of nine it looks like the right half of the N and the left half of the E are on one card with the other halves being on the the preceding and following cards respectively. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/470 "2015-08-22T02:41:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 😃 Right, he’s projecting black characters on white cards, that must be it :rolleyes: If you read the comments under that video, everyone is attacking him and he’s repeatedly saying that he posted it as a joke. I think that may actually be the case, since it’s such a silly explanation. ---
**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 22, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/471 "2015-08-22T02:49:24Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I don’t know what you mean by “what’s on the ball”. The ball is only used to choose random audience members to make the choices (which, by the way, were worded so as to rule out equivoque, in case anyone was wondering). > . I’m assuming all four suits were on the ball, but I don’t know if it had all the card names Ace - King, or just the numbers 2 - 10. I saw that some letters were spread across cards. Initially I thought maybe the same set of cards could be used to make different letters and spell all the words, but I think it’s done because there are two letters (or parts of letters) on each card with just one half the card revealed, or just to make the reveal clearer. I don’t normally read YouTube comments. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/472 "2015-08-22T02:56:11Z")
There’s nothing on the ball except what looks like whales. The audience members chose the color, suit, and number at random from their heads. The ball had nothing to do with their choices. It was just a device to prove to us that the people were chosen randomly and were not shills. ---
**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 22, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/473 "2015-08-22T03:15:59Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > There’s nothing on the ball except what looks like whales. The audience members chose the color, suit, and number at random from their heads. The ball had nothing to do with their choices. It was just a device to prove to us that the people were chosen randomly and were not shills. Ok. The audience members were looking at the ball, I thought they were reading off of it. I didn’t hear him specify a range of numbers, so assuming he doesn’t reject any numbers he’ll be ready for 13 cards. So far, inserting the cards with the names and suits seems the most likely explanation to me. ---
**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 22, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/474 "2015-08-22T03:31:58Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok. The audience members were looking at the ball, I thought they were reading off of it. I didn’t hear him specify a range of numbers, so assuming he doesn’t reject any numbers he’ll be ready for 13 cards. > > So far, inserting the cards with the names and suits seems the most likely explanation to me. The trick is called Spreadwave. The first version worked for all cards except the Aces(I don’t know why). Spreadwave 2.0 works for all cards and is the one he did on the show. ---
**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 22, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/475 "2015-08-22T03:47:19Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > The trick is called Spreadwave. The first version worked for all cards except the Aces(I don’t know why). Spreadwave 2.0 works for all cards and is the one he did on the show. Without aces the number of combinations goes down. But they’re in the version we saw so I’m not seeing any help from leaving them out right away. At 1:41 in the video there’s a close-up of the deck. Several substacks of cards can be seen offset in the deck which may help him do the reveal cleanly, and avoid showing too much of the cards that aren’t part of the solution. It’s not clear enough to tell, but the deck may be a bit thicker than it started at that point. I can’t see the card edges so it’s hard to say how many are in the whites spaces between words. He may have found a way to hide all the words inside one deck, using front and back. Taking out the special cards and some odd moves he does with a few cards off to the side may be the way to hold positions and only reveal certain cards when he fans them on the table. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/476 "2015-08-22T03:50:58Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > The trick is called Spreadwave. The first version worked for all cards except the Aces(I don’t know why). Spreadwave 2.0 works for all cards and is the one he did on the show. So P&T were fooled by a commercial trick? That’s disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/477 "2015-08-22T04:05:33Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > So P&T were fooled by a commercial trick? That’s disappointing. It’s a “commercial trick” because the guy who invented it and fooled them with it on the show now sells it - why is that disappointing? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/478 "2015-08-22T04:17:23Z")
From looking around on Google it appears that it’s been around since 2011. I guess I just thought that they would be familiar with something like that, especially when it’s such a good effect. It seems obvious that it’s a gaffed deck. Here’s a discussion about it. (I’m not sure if this link will work if you’re not signed in.) [http://www.somfv3.com/secretforums/index.php?showtopic=12647&hl=spreadwave](http://www.somfv3.com/secretforums/index.php?showtopic=12647&hl=spreadwave) ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/479 "2015-08-22T04:22:40Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > From looking around on Google it appears that it’s been around since 2011. Not surprising since he originally fooled them with it on the show in 2011… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/480 "2015-08-22T04:24:13Z")
Ah. I didn’t realize. I thought it was on a recent show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015.md?page=25)