# 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:** 52
**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:** [September 4, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1021 "2016-09-04T03:53:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The jump rope had handles on the ends; as he twirled the rope around his body Xavier could have just passed the handles around the wires. I think you’re right about the wires running across the stage from side to side, but I think there were also some sort of gadget to connect the jump rope handles around the wire, with a wheel or something, so he could spin that wheel to make the rope turn without risking having to let go of the rope at any point and potentially drop it. ---
**Author:** ![TheHYPO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@TheHYPO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHYPO)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1022 "2016-09-04T06:01:12Z")
> [@Raked](#): > > Excellent catch how her hip lowers down. It is a good 6 inches, after watching it again it is very obvious. If anyone can tell me how the mirror plays into this effect I am so curious. I watched the other videos online of the same trick being performed it has me baffled. Why is it needed? Just to show the back of the box? Why use it at all? Just spin the table. > I don’t post on here much but I enjoyed reading all your explanations and enjoy Penn and Teller show a lot. I did some lengthy reading on this trick and it appears it is not, in fact, necessary to have a mirror. Many suggest they omit the mirror or (more often) replace it with a rack to hold the swords. Others swear by the mirror and insist that the trick is ruined without it. The mirror serves a few purposes as I understand it. The large back wall gives the audience an assumption of where the girl is hiding (behind the mirror), and when the assumption is proven false, a greater sense of awe. It also allows you to view from behind and avoids an assumption of foul play from the rear. It is for “Showmanship” though, and has nothing to do with the function of the trick itself. As I said, some have omitted the mirror and back wall entirely. ---
**Author:** ![TheHYPO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@TheHYPO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHYPO)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1023 "2016-09-04T06:57:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > He really is a great magician. Guys like Amazing Johnathan and The Great Ballentine were 90% comedian, even more at times, and very entertaining. Mac is in a league of his own. The quality of his move with the guinea pig last year proves his mettle as a magician, but the rope trick is fantastic. The fact that he’s a comedy magician allows him to do the trick so non-nonchalantly that it can go by faster than you can think and not seen like he’s speeding through it. Most people try to amaze or explain. He just bushes it off and that adds to the comedy. I will always remember him for this bit he did at Just For Laughs probably 20 years ago. Comedy Genius: So hilarious. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2016, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1024 "2016-09-04T09:45:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Penn said that everyone expects a levitation trick to be done with wires that lift the performer from above. I think this one was done with wires that attached to Xavier’s belt at the hips. The way it was lit, you couldn’t really see his hands, but they’d have been right where the wires were. The jump rope had handles on the ends; as he twirled the rope around his body Xavier could have just passed the handles around the wires. Yes. I think this is the magic handkerchief reference, where a thread runs across the stage from side to side. I think here the wire runs through the handles and is pulled through at the end so he can release the rope. ---
**Author:** ![TheHYPO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@TheHYPO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHYPO)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1025 "2016-09-04T13:48:59Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes. I think this is the magic handkerchief reference, where a thread runs across the stage from side to side. I think here the wire runs through the handles and is pulled through at the end so he can release the rope. I assume it’s something like this. If the handles don’t pivot on the wire itself (like a , he wouldn’t be able to just move the rope around the wire. The rope (or the performer’s arms) would wind around the wire unless the wire goes through the handle (or the rope). Edit: the fact that his hands are not lit give a bit clue that something is going on with or around his hands. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1026 "2016-09-04T15:01:21Z")
He could even do it if he was able to turn the handles around the wire. Just some eyelets sticking out from the handles that the wire passed through to make it easier, or maybe just enough dexterity to do it without those. I have to watch again, but at the end he seemed to keep one hand behind his back all the time, I assume that’s where the wire attached to his body, perhaps the attachment device was coming loose or some wardrobe malfunction, or a maybe a problem with a wireless mike pack, i’m don’t know if they’re using those. There are a lot of unknown details to the specifics and the careful lighting and camera cuts leave a lot of detail out, but with the magic handkerchief reference and what we can see I think it’s basically a horizontal wire and the handles rotating on or around the wire. ETA: and even though he didn’t fool them it’s a much more impressive trick than some of the ones that have. ETA:ETA: I don’t know that the obscuring of his hands during the jump roping and levitation was any more than the result of the high contrast lighting intended to make the wire invisible. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1027 "2016-09-04T15:49:16Z")
The odd lighting makes me wonder if the rope itself is an illusion that only looks like a jump rope going around him. His hands are doing something entirely separate from swinging the rope, most likely operating the levitation apparatus, what ever that might be. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1028 "2016-09-04T16:27:44Z")
He certainly could have a remotely operated mechanism for the wire, it’s much simpler than the magic handkerchief which needed a skilled backstage handler. In that case they were the actual magicians, rarely given credit for their skills like many of the assistants and technical crew in stage magic. I do think the rope was actually swinging around him though. ---
**Author:** ![Flack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c67d28/32.png) [@Flack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flack)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1029 "2016-09-04T17:55:55Z")
I found a video on YouTube of Xavier Mortimer performing the jump rope trick in broad daylight. If you watch his hands during the slow-motion portion, you will see him doing something odd with the handles of the jump rope. I suspect this is what he/they were trying to hide with the lighting on last night’s show. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eW5In_JJIxQ/maxresdefault.jpg "WORLD'S MOST MAGICAL JUMP ROPE! | NO CAMERA TRICKS!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW5In_JJIxQ) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1030 "2016-09-04T20:40:07Z")
[I never saw this guy first time around](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoD4Zsus_tI) – [Jay Sankey breaks down his own trick, and it is superb in its elegance and simplicity!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIeimQKrCAI) ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1031 "2016-09-04T22:58:18Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > ETA:ETA: I don’t know that the obscuring of his hands during the jump roping and levitation was any more than the result of the high contrast lighting intended to make the wire invisible. Except if you look closely, you can see that he briefly lets go of the rope handle and lets it pivot around his hand on every revolution. That is the move which he needs to obscure. ---
**Author:** ![cluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cluck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1032 "2016-09-05T05:14:16Z")
[quote=“Flack, post:1029, topic:695015”] I found a video on YouTube of Xavier Mortimer performing the jump rope trick in broad daylight. If you watch his hands during the slow-motion portion, you will see him doing something odd with the handles of the jump rope. I suspect this is what he/they were trying to hide with the lighting on last night’s show. [/QUOTE] This version is a lot more impressive. It happens so quick you can’t even tell. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1033 "2016-09-05T05:25:01Z")
> [@TheHYPO](#): > > The quality of his move with the guinea pig last year proves his mettle as a magician, but the rope trick is fantastic. The fact that he’s a comedy magician allows him to do the trick so non-nonchalantly that it can go by faster than you can think and not seen like he’s speeding through it. Most people try to amaze or explain. He just bushes it off and that adds to the comedy. > > I will always remember him for this bit he did at Just For Laughs probably 20 years ago. Comedy Genius: > > > So hilarious. I watched the vid and if you have the modern convenience of YouTube you can _easily go back_ and see exactly how he did the trick, identifying when and where the 10 card stacks turned in to 7 and 13 card stacks. But he puts so much inbetween the switch and telling the audience what is even supposed to happen, and then more time before the reveal, that there’s no way a live audience member could remember by the end what was going on at the time of the switch. You have no choice but to be amazed and amused! Hilarious stuff! ---
**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:** [September 5, 2016, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1034 "2016-09-05T11:51:36Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > Except if you look closely, you can see that he briefly lets go of the rope handle and lets it pivot around his hand on every revolution. That is the move which he needs to obscure. I can see that in **Flack** ’s link but not my recording of the show. Ok, so first, it’s the Dancing Handkerchief not the Magic Handkerchief, as usual I’m really bad with norman cloture. But part of that has the hanky making twist and turns around objects as it it’s handled. I haven’t figured out a way that leads to the rope turning itself, but there may be something to that. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1035 "2016-09-05T13:52:50Z")
> [@TheHYPO](#): > > I will always remember him for this bit he did at Just For Laughs probably 20 years ago. Comedy Genius: Is that clip really 20 years ago? He looks identical and to me, those people don’t look like 1996. I may be wrong, but man, Mac King looks great! ---
**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:** [September 5, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1036 "2016-09-05T13:53:53Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I watched the vid and if you have the modern convenience of YouTube you can _easily go back_ and see exactly how he did the trick, identifying when and where the 10 card stacks turned in to 7 and 13 card stacks. I know, it’s super easy to see the trick with replay. He does a great job, though, and it is all about the huge amounts of misdirection. Fun routine. ---
**Author:** ![TheHYPO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@TheHYPO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHYPO)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1037 "2016-09-06T05:24:11Z")
> [@cluck](#): > > S03E08 > > **Matthew Laslo:** I found the kid way too cocky and ingratiating (and over-rehearsed). Also, the card piece at the end didn’t quite fit the card on his shirt. “Perfect match” my ass. 😛 (Yeah, he’s 15, I’ll cut him some slack.) I thought he was ok. He will learn as he gets older. Impressive what he has going at his age. His flare on the “t-shirt gun” sting was funny, but he always smirked at the end of it. He needs to polish up his performance a bit. The card forces were pretty obvious (“touch any card” and I will pull it out for you). Any extra step that serves no purpose other than to make clear there’s a force, particularly when the audience members move to pull it out and he pulls it back first. His performance/misdirection on the shirt change could use a bit of work, and as you say - unlike the usual trick where the card corner is palmed and swapped with a prepared card corner, it seems he did just hand her the ripped corner of the card; the key was that he had to do the rip so it would be the same size and shape as the shirt cut (looks like he aimed right for the base on the spade. Again, would be more impressive (but impossible) if the audience member did the ripping. > [@cluck](#): > > S03E08 **Crispin Glover** – I mean, **Zabrecky:** I always get a kick out of mentalism. Is this technique similar to the trick a couple of episodes ago with the underwear guessing? (Some sort of marked cards or markers?) I think the dude was more entertaining than the routine. What bothers me about this one is that we literally had a guy guessing who wrote or drew on four pieces of paper a couple of weeks ago. This is essentially the same trick (same method or not). I assume Penn was suggesting that he peaked at the drawings - not sure if he meant at the time they were drawing or just peaking at the last girl’s fish while he was showing the other drawings. He didn’t look to be in position to see as they were drawing. > [@cluck](#): > > S03E08 **David Garrard:** I don’t have much to say about the minister. Moxie is a little cutie, though. I anticipated the box being empty, but I wasn’t thinking of there being someone else in it. Nice twist, but I don’t think it changes much about method. If the one assistant could sneak out, someone else could sneak in. But I assume what’s going on here is that the red box has no bottom, Moxie is always in the blue box the whole time, the red box drops atop her at the end, while the original assistant slips through a trap door to lie in the floor of the platform. When the magician returns to hook the red box, the table jiggles a bit, I think before he touches it, which I assume is the assistant wiggling into the under-chamber. > [@cluck](#): > > S03E08 **Wayne Hoffman:** The featured fooler of the week. Any idea how he “embossed” the info onto the card? Or got the name Carlos in the letter, for that matter? I agree with the masses that he has a form of pocket embosser. P&T just underestimated the size of the technology. I think it’s remotely triggered by an assistant. I don’t see Wayne having enough time and hands busy enough to have secretly typed info in. He also stalls twice - with a story about a dream, and with the dynamite. I suspect this is time needed to produce the card, and the sound of the sizzling fuse may mask the printer as well. I also think the letter and dream are signals. The letter allows the person typing the info in to know the guy’s name (wonder if he usually uses a full name if it wasn’t on TV) and perhaps the reference to certain numbers or words in the dream (he mentions 7) are codes for what date to use on the ID. He is quick to turn the letter away from the camera and say “hold it this way”. I suspect it might be one of those instant stooge moments where the guy is told to say his name? From what I could see on the letter when it faced the audience, it didn’t seem to have two words in the salutation. ---
**Author:** ![TheHYPO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@TheHYPO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHYPO)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1038 "2016-09-06T16:41:42Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I watched the vid and if you have the modern convenience of YouTube you can _easily go back_ and see exactly how he did the trick, identifying when and where the 10 card stacks turned in to 7 and 13 card stacks. > > But he puts so much inbetween the switch and telling the audience what is even supposed to happen, and then more time before the reveal, that there’s no way a live audience member could remember by the end what was going on at the time of the switch. You have no choice but to be amazed and amused! > > Hilarious stuff! As his magic skills go, again, that was 20 years ago and I’m sure he’s improved, but as you point out, that bit is about comedy, not so much about magic (it is a comedy festival after all). You’re right that his move is not highly disguised (particularly the adding 3) but it was the days before youtube and it was primarily for the live audience who doesn’t know what’s going to happen. I’m not in the industry or anything, but my observation is that I think there’s been a huge change in the past decade or two. I feel like when I watch relatively old video, there’s far less focus on obscuring moves that occur before the audience knows the premise (because they don’t know what to look for before they know what will happen). It’s the old “never do the same trick twice” premise. But now that people record and post online and analyze way more, magicians are spending more effort on obscuring all the moves throughout. As for Mac King’s age, I think he does show his age (especially in HD) but he certainly has aged well. Mainly, he hasn’t gained or lost much weight, especially in the face. ---
**Author:** ![TheHYPO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@TheHYPO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheHYPO)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1039 "2016-09-06T17:14:43Z")
Edit: for the record, it looks like the Mac King just for laughs episode is from 2001, so 15 years ago. I was pretty sure it was from one of the early 90s half hour episodes, but I guess it was later than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![cluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cluck)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015/1040 "2016-09-08T08:19:23Z")
S03E10 **Timon:** I feel like he guessed which hand Alyson was holding the coin in based on how her small hand looked when fisting the largish coin. Then at the end, he reached into a specific pocket with the right “preordained” combination. I don’t know what Penn was referring to about his ring. **Kyle Marlett:** Teabagging the King of Hearts. I feel like the card was a force from the very beginning when Penn chose it, and the tear that Kyle made was very precise to match it with the card in the end. Therefore, every teabag must have contained the same card in it. Am I right? I didn’t understand Penn’s psuedo-talk in the end, other than it being “a lot of work.” **The Evasons:** Cheesy mentalism trick. I think they researched the audience and agreed on which items would be pulled beforehand, and then the guy stated the gender of the audience member in order to tip her off (lots of verbal cues). As for the serial numbers at the end, how did Teller produce the $100 bill so quickly? And why did he give it to the woman at the end? I feel like that too was a plant. Or maybe the guy was feeding her the numbers somehow (hand signs?). How see-through was that blindfold? It seems like she very carefully stretched it over her eyes. Considering that the guy clearly holds up each of the items towards the stage, she could have been peeking. **C.H.E.F. Anton:** The Pool Ball Wizard. Lots of skill in this trick, but I _clearly_ saw him put the card on the end of the pool cue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penn-teller-fool-us-us-run-on-cw/695015.md?page=53)