And how would that work? Is there a keyboard in his other pocket? How does he enter “Carlos” into the embosser? How big is a device that can emboss a credit card, anyway?
Assuming that there exists an embossing device small enough to be hidden on his person, the main problem is programming it with the name and birthdate. Unless the performance has been heavily edited, I don’t think there was enough time for him to do this himself. (He does shove his hand into his pocket for a few seconds after obtaining the licence, but this isn’t enough time to type a name and birthdate.)
Here’s how I think he did it: The embossing device is remote-controlled by a confederate offstage. When the volunteer announces his name, the confederate programs it into the embosser. The tricky part is the birthdate, which the magician reads but does not overtly announce, so he needs some way of surreptitiously communicating this information to the confederate. This is done during the part where he tells the story of his “strange dream”. The magician and confederate agreed in advance on an ordered list code words to represent dates. At minimum they’d need a list of ten—one for each possible digit of the birthdate—but possibly they use 22 (one for each month plus one for each possible digit of the day), 31 (one for each day, the first twelve of which can also represent the month), or 43 (one for each month plus one for each day). The magician then communicates the month and day to the confederate by embedding the code words into his patter. The pretext of relating a “strange dream” conveniently justifies the use of words that would otherwise be nonsensical in context. The confederate listens for the code words, further programs the embosser, and then sets it running after the volunteer leaves the stage. The dynamite sketch distracts the audience while the embosser is running, with the patter and sound of the fuse masking any noise from the embosser.
The embosser itself is hidden either under the table, under the chair, or in the magician’s jacket. When Penn and Teller visit the stage, the magician removes the card from the embosser and places the card into the wallet in his jacket pocket. (If the embosser was under the table or chair, he puts it too into his jacket, which leaves nothing on the stage for Penn and Teller to discover.)
I just wanted to alert you people that it seems there’ll be another new episode tonight - 9:00PM, Sept. 2.
Something like this. Before the electronic models that’s what label makers were. A far more stripped down version can be used, and modified to allow a credit card to pass through. And it does emboss. And that doesn’t mean that’s how it was done, just that such a thing is possible. Also, as Carlos is reading the letter (which may have read “Dear state your name”), he is making a lot of motions behind his back as he is putting away the crumbled up envelope. Also, after giving Teller the stick of dynamite, when he turns around it looks like there might be something under his jacket. It might be the wireless mike pack, but that just gives cover to hide something there.
The letter might have instant stooged his name and he just did the date also. But P&T guessed there was a modern printer used, but those old fashioned label makers have been around a lot longer than 30 years.
His hand is behind his back for roughly three seconds. If that’s all the time he needs to blindly dial six letters and three numbers on a wheel, while simultaneously talking to the volunteer and stuffing the envelope into his pocket, then colour me impressed. Personally, I’m sticking with my own theory that the name and birthdate were entered offstage by a third party.
A credit card is much thicker than the plastic tape those label makers emboss. No way the plastic dies are going to emboss a credit card.
So you have that credit card? I have cards that are made of thin material that could be embossed that way. None of this proves how it was done, just that it’s possible for a small embosser in a pocket to be used. If the name is predetermined then just getting in the date is not all that difficult.
What I found suspicious was the way he hurried the volunteer off the stage while keeping the license. I suspect it was to keep him from actually seeing the final card, in case something about his name was misspelled. “Yeah, my name is Carl but I spell it with a K” or “It’s Braun, not Brown.”
Thorougly meh episode. Too many ways to do this trick that aren’t even slightly interesting – P&T called card embosser in the table, it was in his pocket; so they were “fooled”. Also Carlos was instant stooged into reading his name on the paper (though that wasn’t the part of the trick being judged).
He’s a mentalist, so spelling doesn’t count. Or much of anything else: “You’re not Carlos? Do you know someone named Carlos? Have you ever heard of anyone named Carlos? Do you have a car?”
A bit off topic but since this a lot of magic discussion, I think it goes well here.
Yu Ho-Jin’s performance is quite good and I enjoyed it. The stuff with the deck is pretty straight forward: a rigged deck with blanks on one side and a few cards with the red backing. We only ever see the back of one card and you can see him flipping the deck over. Throw in some slight of hand to get rid of the unwanted cards and it’s a nice little trick.
What I can’t quite figure out is the trick with the aces. I assumed initially that the judges were on the back and he is just flipping them over. However he further flips them over to reveal the AGT logo. I am thinking that when he spins the cards around, the back face of the top card somehow becomes attached to the bottom. I dunno how that might work in practice, but it would be one way to do the trick.
New episode already?
S03E09
Xavier Mortimer: The flying jump-roper. Obviously something was hidden by the fact that a video was playing while the stage was completely dark and when the lights came back on, they only illuminated a certain portion of his body. Apparently it had something to do with the rope itself (based on Teller’s observations) but I have no idea what it was.
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Fielding West:** Manhandling Bob the Bird. It was a fun routine but I saw most of the moves and could otherwise guess how he did it. It kind of felt like a trick you’d see at a children’s birthday party.
Caleb Wiles: This was a really cool card trick and I wanted him to win it too. But I guess the key lies in the fact that multiple possibilities were allowed since he wouldn’t allow them to see the deck.
Kevin Hall: The magic word was shell.
The P&T gag this week was pretty amazing as it all involved skill.
This was the first episode in awhile that didn’t feature a fooler. Looks like there’ll be new episodes twice a week now until the end of the season. (September 7, 9, 14 and 16)
What is with the weird air schedule? Why did a new one air just a few days after another new one?
Seems like they’re blowing through the end of their summer programming to make room for the new fall TV schedule. Hope it doesn’t spell bad news for the ratings.
I was mildly surprised the network aired the sequence where Teller duct-taped a plastic bag around that woman’s head. I winced imagining the kids at home who might attempt to duplicate that escape.
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.
Wires at the hips is how Copperfield did it, right?
Actually, I remember a David Copperfield trick I saw on TV where he was flying all around the stage. And a couple assistants came out with two hoops and passed them ‘around’ him at the same time, but the hoops never went directly over him. He was just hanging from wires.
I was kind of horrified at that too. Not even a quick disclaimer. It’s a very visceral image.
That must be it. I thought it was odd that his hands were enshrouded in complete darkness.