03x09 - The Great Escape

[bunniefuu]

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- From the Penn & Teller
Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada,

here's our host,
Alyson Hannigan.

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome to
"Penn & Teller: Fool Us."

We're here
in the Penn & Teller Theater

on a show named after
Penn and Teller

where the acts try
to stump Penn and Teller

for a chance to perform
with Penn and Teller.

Let's get the show started

and bring out
the amazing duo themselves.

sh**t.
I'm blanking on their names.

Oh, right.
Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

Oh! [giggles]
Sorry!

Whoo!

Saved you seats.

Let the games begin.

Let's meet our first
potential fooler.

- My name is Xavier Mortimer.

I'm originally from France.

Since I was a kid,
I was fascinated

by the early era of cinema.

People like Charlie Chaplin
and Buster Keaton.

When I do a trick,

I want to touch people
by a story,

or I want to be silly, goofy,

or just beautiful.

I was on "Fool Us" last year,

but my last performance,
I didn't fool them.

The trick that I'm bringing,
I've created it.

There's something in this trick

that has fooled everyone
that I've seen.

This time on "Fool Us,"

I'm hoping to fool
Penn and Teller.

That would be cool.

- This next brave performer
is ready

to take the "Fool Us" challenge
for a second time.

Either that, or he's a glutton
for punishment.

Here's Xavier!

[cheers and applause]

- Hi.
Thank you for having me again.

I'm glad to be back on the show.

When I do magic
I like to tell stories,

and today I want to tell you
a story from my childhood.

This is me when
I was eight years old.

There was this one girl.

I was completely
in love with her.

One day I saw her jumping rope
by herself.

I took a deep breath,
walked over,

and I said...

- Hello.

- I'm practicing
because I want to jump higher

than anyone else in the world.

- That's cool.

- Try.

[school bell rings]

- I really wanted
to impress her,

so I've been practicing a lot.

Let me show you.

[mellow instrumental music]

♪ ♪

[techno music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause]

- Ladies and gentlemen, Xavier!

[cheers and applause]

Where did this story come from?

- So it's funny,
'cause I dreamt of it,

and when I woke up I was like,

"Oh, there's this cool picture
of flying with a jump rope,"

and I was like, "Okay.
Now let's do it."

I really thought
it was impossible,

but I've been working on it,
and now here it is.

- Wow, so then you had
to sort of

make that dream come to be.

- Yeah.
- So how long does that take?

- It took me two years
to work on the project.

It's a long process.

I had to figure the concept,
how it can be done,

and then work on
how to present it,

and have a story of it,

and make it enjoyable
and entertaining.

- All right, well,
I think the guys are ready,

so let's see
what Penn and Teller think.

Guys?
- Oh, man.

You can come back
as much as you want.

That's such beautiful stuff
you do.

- Thank you.
Thank you so much.

- Everybody that does
a levitation--

the first thing they need to do
is to bring out the stupid hoop

and show the hoop
to show there's no wires.

And your idea of bringing in
a jump rope,

which goes all
the way around you,

the same way as a hoop,

and demonstrates that there are
no wires going above you

or around you
is a terrific thing.

Also, you know,

there's such good thinking
behind this,

because we always think
for a levitation

that something comes from above
and picks you up.

Whenever they're doing
a levitation on Broadway,

they throw a wire in
up above here,

and a guy pulling from the back,

and up you go,
and it doesn't fool anybody.

This I think fooled
an awful lot of people,

but we know
that you are a little more like

a dancing handkerchief

than you are like a "Peter Pan"
levitation on Broadway,

and that that's
what makes this so clever,

and what will fool
I think almost everybody.

- Do you find yourself
relating to a handkerchief?

Does that make sense to you?

- Yeah, but...

I think that the idea is...

how come the jump rope
goes around--

- Oh, I see.

Do you want to maybe whisper
to him a little bit

or something,
to talk about that?

Because I'm afraid if I say more
I'm going to say too much.

- All right.
I think Teller might--

- I really don't want
to blow this guy.

- He might give you a drawing.

I'm going to pretend that Penn's
distracting me so I don't look.

- Can I show you something?
Please.

- Oh.
Oh, wait.

Wait a second.

- Well, I guess I better
get my a*s up here.

- Wait.
Wait. Yeah.

- It might get serious.

- This might be
something different.

- If it's going to be serious,
I want to be here.

- I want you here.

I need you.
Oh, wait.

- Okay.

- I think Teller just said
the magic words

that you guys
aren't going to hear.

- Xavier, what do you think?

Were you--
Did you fool them?

- No.
He's right.

- Okay! All right.
- Okay, good.

Beautiful job.

Beautiful job.
Beautiful job.

[applause]

- Thank you.

Xavier, thank you very much.

That was beautiful.

Thank you.
All right.

We've got more magic coming up,

including a trick
by Penn and Teller!

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

- Welcome back
to "Fool Us"

where magicians bring
all the magic with them,

and we don't help them at all.

It keeps our show
honest and cheap.

Let's meet our next
cost-efficient fooler.

- When I first started--
early '70s--

I was a little edgier.

I was the "Rocky Horror"
magician,

because I wore
women's clothes in my act,

and in 1977 or '78,
I started opening

for some of the top rock
and roll people in the country.

And that lifestyle was
just as you might imagine.

The first time Penn and Teller
and I were together,

we were on a show,
and they were the hosts.

This is 1994 or '95,

and we worked with
all the comedy magicians

that they felt significant,

and I was very honored
to be on that show with them.

There's one thing
that I'm doing in this show

that I don't think
Penn and Teller are aware of.

Watch me, fellas.
Watch me fool you.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome the comedy
magic of Fielding West.

- Thank you all so much.

Thank you.
It gives me great pleasure

to be here to fool
Penn and Teller tonight.

I'm going to get somebody
from the audience

to help me for just a moment.

I got a young lady right here.
Hi.

Would you examine
this magical scarf

for just a second, please?

Thank you. Okay.

No, no, no.

I'm not going to tease you.

I just want you to give me--
hit my hand like that.

You know, they call that
"give me five."

Is that what that expression--
give me five?

Okay, if you do that like that,
then you get this right here.

Give her a nice round
of applause.

Thank you.

That's it.

Isn't that a great trick?
That's what I like to see.

I like to see a crowd
that really--hey, hey, hey.

[laughter]

I said, "Sit."

[laughter]

Give me five again will you,
for the--

it happens,
ladies and gentlemen.

I think we just have to be
prepared for the worst in life.

For those of you
in the audience that have kids,

you might appreciate
this little roll of toilet paper

I have to carry around.

Don't laugh.
[whistles]

Thank you.
Hey.

[laughter]

Hey.

Hey.
Whoa!

There's a souvenir for later.

Well, when I got kids
in the crowd,

I like to do tricks like this.

I say, "Hey, kids."

For 25¢,
what hand's he in?

[laughter]

It's magic.
Thank you.

Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

The bird's okay.

Let me check.

Yeah, he's fine.

[laughter]

Thank goodness that little guy's
into yoga, man,

'cause when I cram him
into that one hand,

it sure is tight.

Speaking of tight, I think
this crowd's taking this stuff

a little too seriously.

You better come
out of there alive.

Oh, this has never
happened before again.

Okay.
Come on out.

Ladies and gentlemen,
let's hear it.

My buddy.
Mr. Bob the Bird.

Take a bow, Bob.
[applause]

Cuckoo.

Cuckoo.

Cuckoo.

[laughter]

Cuckoo.

That's me.
He doesn't have a microphone.

You know, some people--I can see
the looks on your faces.

You don't really feel this is
a real, live, breathing animal.

Would you like
to pet him on the head?

The lady that slapped my hand,
you want to pet him on the head?

If you want to pet
the bird on the head,

you got to get a good grip
on that little sucker.

You got to reach right on down.

You got to grab
that little head.

You got to pull it.

"I really love it in Las Vegas."

Oh, well let me
put this back over here.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Bob the Bird.

[cheers and applause]

- Fielding West, everybody.

And Bob the Bird.

- Go ahead.
- Hi, Bob.

- Watch this.
Give her five, Bob.

- Aw.
- There you go.

Watch this.
See? No, no.

You are so nervous.

- Well, I'm scared you're going
to take his head off again.

- Now watch, watch, watch.

k*ll!
- [exclaims]

- Oh, no, no, no.

I just do this little thing
for--sometimes I--

[laughter]

Are you okay?

'Cause I've still got
the toilet paper.

- I do.
I love your toilet paper.

I love Bob.
- There you go.

- I love Bob,
and I'm glad he's okay.

- I want to tell you something,
if you'll notice,

because I'm a real
big animal aficionado,

there is no--
I don't clip the wings.

This bird can take off
and fly out there,

and do it anytime.

- And does he like that I'm
petting him, or I should stop?

- No, no, no.
This is--

You are going home with her.

- Yes. Yay.

- There you go.
Watch this. See that?

- Oh, my little sweet friend.
Hi.

- [whispers]
Alyson.

[cheers and applause]

- Hi, Bob.

Oh, they're ready--
let's find out

if you've fooled
Penn and Teller.

- It's really fabulous.
- Thank you.

- You've put together
a wonderful, wonderful thing,

and you do it with one bird,

and even though
you rip its head off,

smash it, put it in your hand,
and shove it in your pocket,

you show so much more respect
than other magicians.

- Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.

- And you know
what I'm talking about.

The bird has a personality,

and the bird
is kind of the star,

and you make it a real--
you know,

one thing we've said before
on this show is comedy magic

usually lacks comedy and magic,

and you have both,
and it's wonderful.

And what people may not know
is the ripping the head

off the dove
goes back to the 18th century.

Bosco, right?
- Yes, yes.

- But more important than that,
the ripping the head

off an animal
and moving it around

is described--
magicians in Biblical times.

It goes all the way back.

It's been around
for thousands of years,

and yet Fielding West
improved it,

because when you pull the head
off, you have the tendons

and the little stretch thing,

which is so much better
than Jesus did it.

So much better.

- Did you hear that?
- Is the award coming down yet?

[laughter]

- You know, the production

would have fooled
the hell out of us

if we didn't share
the same teacher as you.

[laughs]

- Listen, just to be compared--

to be put in the same dove act
as Jesus--

I think
this is fantastic for me.

Thank you.
Thank you very much.

- Well, thank you,
Fielding West.

Thank you for my new pet.

- And how about
for Bob the Bird?

- And Bob the Bird!

Bye, Bob.
Bye, Fielding.

Thank you.

More "Fool Us" on the way,

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

- Welcome back
to "Penn & Teller: Fool Us."

Let's meet our next trickster.

- Hi,
I'm Caleb Wiles,

and I'm the puzzle master
magician.

I'm a little bit obsessed with
wrestling and Rubik's Cubes.

I've been a wrestling fan

since as long
as I can remember.

I think that's where
I learned to have energy

when I'm performing
magic on stage.

Within the magic world,

I'm known more
as a creator and a theorist

more than I am an actual
performing magician.

Magic is about
figuring out the puzzle.

On a Rubik's Cube you only
have a certain number of colors

to work with,

a certain number of pixels.

It's almost a magical object
in itself,

the way it stays together
even though it moves about.

Magic sometimes can be created
from very simple ideas

and it can create
something extraordinary.

- From Indianapolis,
please welcome Caleb Wiles.

- Thank you.

heers and applause]

Tonight I want to try
something different,

something that's never been
done before on this show.

You see, normally the idea
is for a magician

to come out here
and show you all a trick

that will hopefully
fool Penn and Teller,

but I want to take things
to the next level

and do something
perhaps even more incredible.

You see, I've created a trick

that has been specially designed

to be performed by somebody
who is not a magician.

Somebody who doesn't
practice sleight of hand,

Who doesn't read magic books--

in fact, it's somebody
who doesn't even know

I'm about to call her
up here on stage.

Alyson...
- What?

- I have created
this trick specifically for you.

Would you mind coming up here
to give me a hand?

- Okay.

- And, Penn and Teller,
you can join me up onstage

and get a front row seat
as well.

Let's give a big round
of applause.

Alyson, you can step
right back here.

- Oh, wow.

- Thank you so much.
- Sure.

- So, Alyson,
if everything goes right,

tonight,
in your first-ever magic trick,

you are going to fool
Penn and Teller.

- Ha ha!
- If something goes wrong,

you are going
to take all the blame.

- Aw.
- So no pressure.

- Okay.
- But don't worry.

I'm going to walk you through it
every step of the way.

- Please do.
- In fact, we will start

with the most basic step
for any card trick,

and that is to take out
the jokers.

So I'm going to spread
through the cards here,

and I'm going
to take out the jokers.

And as I do that,
Penn and Teller, you may notice

that there are
some special cards in the deck.

Those I prepared
for Alyson earlier.

Those are some instruction cards
that are going to help her--

kind of lead her
through the trick.

In fact, the first one
is right here on top.

So from here on out, Alyson,
you're going to do everything.

You're going to be the magician.
I'll be your lovely assistant.

- Okay.
- Okay? Are you ready?

- Sure.
- All right.

Ladies and gentlemen,
making her magic debut,

the amazing Alyson Hannigan!

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.

- So, Alyson, you're going
to hold onto the cards,

and I'm going to hold up
the instructions

so everybody can see.

Step number one says
to have a card selected,

so that's a pretty typical step
for a card trick,

and we're going to do that
in a very fair manner,

'cause this is Penn and Teller,

so I have an idea for this,
Alyson.

I want you to deal the top card
face down onto the table.

- Okay.

- And then I want you
to deal the next card

face down on top of that,

and you're going to continue
dealing through the cards,

but I want you to do it at a
very slow, deliberate pace.

And the reason is, Penn,
in just a moment,

you're going to call out "stop."

You can keep dealing, Alyson,
but whenever you get the urge,

you're just going to call out
"stop."

- How do I--
- Stop!

- Oh, my God.

- Did you mean for this card,

or did you want the card
she was about to deal?

- I want the card
she was about to deal.

- About to deal.
Now you are the magician here,

so you don't get
to see the card, okay?

But I am going to show it
to the audience.

And we'll make sure
Penn and Teller get a chance

to take a peek as well, okay?

And we'll put the card here.

And we'll move on
to step number two.

You're doing good so far.

Step number two says
to bury the card in the deck,

so I have an idea
for that as well.

Spread through until you get
to the next instruction card.

Ah, it's almost right
near the--near the top.

Take these cards
and put them on top.

And actually, since it's so
near the top there,

take the whole deck,
and put it on top as well.

That way we know Penn's card

is really buried down
in the deck.

And you can pick up the cards
in your hand again,

and I'll read off the next
instruction.

So the next instruction--

step number three
says to do the cut shuffle.

Now, that's
a magician's term, Alyson.

I'll explain what that means.

Basically, you're going to cut
off about half the deck.

- Okay.

- And I want you to put
those cards on the table,

and then the cards
that are left,

I want you to give them
a quick little shuffle.

- Okay.
- Awesome.

- Not so good at that.

- No, you're doing perfect.

You're doing perfect, okay?
- Okay.

- And then I want you to take
about half--you good, yeah?

- Oh, yeah.
- So you're ready.

Okay, then take about half
of those cards.

Cut those down to the table.

Perfect, and I want you
to shuffle those cards again.

Just give them
a quick little mix.

Perfect,
and take all of those cards,

and put them right here.

And now we'll move on
to step number four.

Step number four says
to assemble the deck.

Now, this is where things
get interesting.

You get to stack them up
in any order that you want.

Just make a nice, neat pile
on the table of all the cards.

- Okay.

- Perfect.

So pick up those cards...
- Okay.

- And I want you
to spread through them

until you come
to the next instruction card,

and we'll just hope
it's the right one.

So keep going.
Keep going.

I can see one
coming up here soon.

Keep going down the deck.

A-ha. Okay.
There it is.

So cut these cards
down to the bottom.

We'll put these ones on top.
- Okay.

- And we need step number five,
and we have step number five,

so that's a good sign.

We'll look at
step number five next.

It says, "Ask your participant
to shuffle."

So that would be me, Alyson,
and I want you guys

to watch this really
carefully, okay?

I'm going to give
the cards a mix,

but, Alyson,
and Penn and Teller,

I want you to make sure
that this is not

one of those fancy
magician kind of mixes.

Those cards
really are being mixed

all the way through the deck,

and you can even see there are
other instruction cards

that are now kind of moving
to new positions, okay?

And I'll square them together
as fair as I know how.

We'll square the cards up
just like this.

And, Alyson, you can take these.
Now, here it is.

We've had a card
selected in a fair way.

You've shuffled the cards.
I've shuffled the cards.

The card is thoroughly lost.

Now we have to find it,

so we'll move on
to step number six.

Step number six says to deal
a pile of cards,

so this is the exciting part.

Now we're actually looking
for Penn's card,

so I want you to deal
a card down there,

and just keep dealing a pile.

Deal quickly, so we can look
for the next instruction card.

- Wait, wait, wait.
- That's all right.

- I messed that up.
- Okay. You're good.

Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going. There's the next--

- Oh, thank you.
- Yeah.

"You're doing great, Alyson."
Keep the cards.

Deal a new pile of cards,
so keep dealing.

Keep dealing.
Keep dealing.

Keep dealing. Oh, it says,
"Keep it up, Alyson."

You're almost there.
I'm getting excited.

Keep going.
Keep going. Keep going.

This is going
to be the next one.

It says,
"You're k*lling it, Alyson."

Hang on. Hang on.
- Oh, dear.

- Penn's card is
only three cards away.

So look, that's card number one.
That's card number two.

Don't show this,
but hold onto that card.

Now, I want you
to think about this.

Look, you shuffled these cards.
- Mm-hmm.

- There's no way any of us
could know the order, yes?

- Right.

I'm going to spread them
onto the table.

Those instruction cards could
have ended up with any card

in the deck.
- Right.

- They led us to the card
that you're holding.

For the first time, Penn,
what card did you choose?

- Three of spades.

- Alyson,
if that is a three of spades,

we are all going to freak out.

- Yeah.
- Show it to him.

Did we get it?
Yes!

[cheers and applause]

- I'm so good!
- You're amazing.

It's Amazing Alyson!

- All right.
- But wait, wait, wait.

There's more. There's more.
There's more, 'cause look.

Penn, you stopped
on the three of spades.

- I did.

- You could have stopped
at any card.

- I could have.
- But Alyson and I,

we knew you would stop exactly
on the three of spades.

Didn't we, Alyson?
- Oh, totally.

- Yeah. We want proof.
We want proof.

Look, you stopped on
the three of spades, and look.

I have some other
instruction cards here,

and on the back
of the instruction cards

we have a perfect match.

Look, there's
the three of diamonds.

There's the three of clubs.
There's a three of hearts.

A perfect prediction, but wait.

There's more, because look.

Alyson, had even one card
been displaced

this pile could have been
in a completely different order.

This pile could have had
more cards or less cards.

This pile could have
ended up over here,

instead of where it's at,

so I guess there's
only one last question to ask.

Penn and Teller,

did...

we...

fool...

you?

[cheers and applause]

- Wow.
- Wow.

- Did you see their faces?

- I did.
- We were really good.

- They were impressed
by your card handling abilities.

- I think we might get
a Vegas show.

- We're the new duo.
- I think so.

- I think so.

- I think
I'll be the silent one.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

So is this a trick
you invented for the show?

- It is, so this is a trick
that's many years in the making.

The original version--

maybe it was six or seven years
ago I created--

and I've just been refining
the method more and more

and more until you see the final
product you saw tonight.

- Yeah.
I like this though.

I think we might get a trophy.

Now, if you do fool them,
do I get to keep the trophy?

- I think that would be fair.
- All right.

I think they've had enough time.
Let's check in with them.

- I think so.
I think so.

- Alyson.
- Yes?

- You did a wonderful job.
- Why, thank you.

- It was really, really great.

- Aw, thanks.

I think it's a fool.

I just--give us trophies.

- That is such a beautiful trick

that I'm tempted

to cheat a little bit
in your favor,

because I really want you
on our show.

- I'm good with that.
I'm good with that.

- But I also--
- No. We can just stop there.

That's fine.

- It's really,
really complicated,

and Teller came up
with one question.

And I've got
to tell you honestly

I don't know the answer
to this question,

and neither does Teller.

And we're willing to gamble
everything on this one question.

- Oh, gosh.
- Oh, dear.

- Okay?
- Okay.

- The hard part of this is

how clean my selection was.

I said stop
whenever I wanted to,

so that selection
was either really,

really real,
or it was really, really good.

And if that selection
was really, really real,

we should be able
to go up right now

and look at the faces
of all those cards.

If you want us to look
at those faces of those cards,

that trophy's going to go down.

So now, sir...
- Yes?

- As great as you were,
did you fool us?

- I did not fool you.

- Aw.

- But I'm very happy to be here.

- And I tell you when you said
that, it broke my heart too.

- Me too.

- I did not want
to win this one,

'cause you are so [bleep] good.

- Well, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.

- Caleb Wiles, that was amazing.

- Thank you so much.

- Aw, thank you, Caleb.

[cheers and applause]

More fantastic magic on the way.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

We'll be back.

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

- Welcome back
to "Penn & Teller: Fool Us"

I've got a good feeling
about our next magician.

Of course, I always
have good feelings.

I'm a happy person.
Take a look.

- Hi, I'm Kevin Hall,
the Magic Maniac.

I came from a showbiz family,

and I was kind of the black
sheep going into engineering.

I design computer circuits.

Did that for almost 20 years.

I finally had a midlife crisis

and wanted to explore
some new avenues.

I became a professional dancer,

but the costumes and the music--

kind of a little embarrassing.

Eventually, I went
to a magic shop,

bought one trick, came home,

and told my wife,
"I'm so excited.

We're going to be magicians."

And she goes, "We are?"

I don't think
I'll ever leave magic behind.

I think I've found
my place in the world at last.

[cheers and applause]

- Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome

the Maniac of Magic,
Kevin Hall!

[cheers and applause]

- Greetings.
Greetings.

Yes, I really am a maniac,
so how about letting me hear

a nice, "Hi, Maniac!"

all: Hi, Maniac.

- Well, that was nice.

I was trying to be nice,

and you're already
calling me names.

Thanks.

Actually, you know,
I think I know what you need.

You guys need
some entertaining anagrams.

Yes. That's when you rearrange
the letters inside of words

to find the hidden words within.

Now, I'm thinking,

"Why use normal words
like 'duck toaster'

when you could use
people's names instead?"

For example, Penn Jillette.

If you rearrange the
individual letters in his name,

it turns into the somewhat
grotesque

"teen jell pint."

You should be proud of that.
- I am.

- But what's most amazing
is Penn's full name.

Penn Fraser Jillette.

It turns into this.

Penn Teller fair jest.

Now, that is truly amazing,

and I think Penn's parents
deserve a round of applause.

How did they know?

Yes.
- Is that true?

[laughs]

- Now, we can have even more fun
by rearranging these letters

to spell the name
of a very famous magician,

and I think you all know
who I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the one...

the only...

Rellet.

That's right.
Harry Rellet.

King of the truck stop
magicians.

Star of stage, screen,
and restrooms.

Oh, yeah.

I could rearrange
these letters by hand too,

but why should I
when I have this?

That's right.
My magic tube.

Oh, it may look empty.

Oh, no.
It's not.

It's a device that can warp
both time and space.

Watch.

No matter what order
these blocks go into,

I can create the name
of another famous magician

with a simple clap.

Everyone? Bam!
[all clap]

Yes, and we get
the incredible Rellet!

[laughter]
No. I mean it's--no.

It's not Harry Rellet.

No. This is his
even more famous brother

Larry Rellet,
you know.

You know, the casino headliner
from the Motel 6

down the--okay.
It doesn't matter.

The important part is is
that we created a perfect match,

and the letters are
only on one side.

Ooh.

Give it a round of applause
for Harry and Larry Rellet.

The Rellet brothers.

Very nice.

Now, you probably already
realized

that these blocks can also spell
another magician's name.

Whoa. Even more famous
than Rellet.

Yes, but can
the magic tube match this

when we throw blocks
in at random?

Okay, how about two Ls,

and two Es,

and maybe an R, and a T?

Yes, can I actually get
these two stacks to match?

I don't know.

Everybody, let's get ready
and do it! Boom!

And we have--whoa!

The towers of Teller.
Whoa.

That's a double shot of awesome.

Give it up.
Yes.

Man.

What is this?
They're over there.

They're saying,
"Oh, that's not enough."

I cannot believe
that whole side of the audience

is saying, "No, Kevin.
We want more."

Say, "More."
all: More!

- This side is saying,
"Kevin, we want control."

Say, "Control."
all: Control!

- And all of you are saying,

"Kevin, we want to pick
the letters."

Don't say that, no,

because there's over 700
possible combinations.

You think I should just let you
pick letters at random? Do you?

all: Yes!
- Fine. All right.

Teller, would you mind just
picking the first letter?

Any one you want.
A-ha.

T is a good choice.

There we go.

All right.
Let's see here.

How about this gentleman
right there?

Sir, what letter'd you like?

- R.
- R. A very good letter.

We'll go like that.
You know, this is too easy.

Audience, we can have
this face up or face down.

Which way?
all: Face down.

- Face down.
Very good.

Penn, would you mind
picking a letter?

We got L, L, and an E.

- E.
- E.

Would you like that face
forward, face back, or sideways?

- Sideways.
- Sideways.

Good choice.
There we go.

How about this lady over here?
Would you like to pick a letter?

We've got L and L left.
You want an L?

- I want an L.
- Very good.

Audience, all together now.

Would you like this upside down,

right side up, front,
back, left, right,

top, bottom, sideways,
or inverted?

all: Inverted!

- Inverted, I think.
Okay. All right.

We'll toss this one
in the air like that.

Yes. Here we go,
and we'll put it like that,

and what do we have?

We have a mess.
That's right.

If we can actually fix this
with the magic tube,

I think it deserves
a nice big round of applause,

'cause think about it.

No one could have
predicted this pattern,

so can I use the magic tube
to make this mixed-up mess

spell "Teller"?
Can I?

all: Yes!
- Why should I?

It's not "Teller and Teller."

It's Penn and Teller.

Yes.
I want you to get up,

and give it up for the powers
of Penn and Teller.

Yes.
- Wow.

Kevin Hall,
ladies and gentlemen.

That is so cool.

You don't seem like a maniac
at all.

- No. Really.

- So when did you become
a magician?

- When I was,
like, 30-something.

I had kind of a midlife crisis,

and I decided that, "Hey, it's
time to become a magician."

- Wow.

All right. I'm going to check in
with the boys.

- All right.
- Boys?

Hello.
- Oh, my goodness.

You know, this is usually done
with numbers,

and you went to all the trouble
to do it with our names,

and I thought
it was really great.

I love the anagrams.
- Well, thank you so much.

- And I love the way
the whole thing

is laid out like this.

I love how energetic it is.

I loved you calling yourself
The Maniac,

and I love duck toaster.

- Of course.

- It's so hard
to bring up words

that really are just funny
just standing on their own.

Are you good at anagrams?

- Not that good.
It takes me a while to do 'em.

- If I just gave you
a few letters,

would you be able
to do a few anagrams?

You don't have to do it aloud.

You can do it in your head,
for instance.

- All right.
- If I gave you, like, H.

And I gave you, like, L,

and then another L,
and then S...

- Can I buy a vowel?

- And then E,
could you anagram that?

- It could be "shells."
- It could be that, yeah.

- Could be, but probably
"hells."

- Probably "hells."

- Yeah, that's what
I would think.

- You got an idea
of what I'm talking about?

- I think I might.
- 'Cause this is--

- You're saying,
"Boy, it's a hell of a--" yeah.

- Yeah, I'm just saying
it's a hell of a trick

is all I'm saying,
in my own little way.

- Is he saying that,
or is he like,

"Oh, hell.
He fooled me."

- I think he's saying
I slightly puzzled him.

That's what I think he's saying,
you know?

I don't think I fooled them.

- All right,
but the slightly puzzled award

does go to Kevin Hall!

[cheers and applause]

Thank you, Kevin.
Thank you.

- Bye now!

- Performing next, my two
favorite magicians and yours:

Penn and Teller.

Back in a few.

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

- Three years ago,
dance ensemble Pilobolus

teamed up with Penn and Teller

to produce
a one-of-a-kind performance

of movement and magic.

Ladies and gentlemen, for
the first time on television,

Penn, Teller, and Pilobolus.

[cheers and applause]

- I'm Penn Jillette,
and these are my partners,

Teller and Pilobolus.

Harry Houdini is the most
famous magician who ever lived.

He was known more in his time
as an escape artist,

and he used not only magic,
but also incredible strength

and flexibility
to accomplish these escapes.

These dancers will attempt to do

what we consider to be
some modern-day Houdini escapes.

Many of Houdini's escapes were
against the police and in jail.

In modern day America,
we deal with TSA.

[laughter]

Derion is about to go through
TSA in his own way.

He's ready to travel.

Please remove your shoes
and jacket. No belts.

Make sure there's nothing
in your pockets.

[laughter]

Oh, no.

He's got his P&T special-edition
Bill of Rights printed on metal.

Take his rights
away from him, please.

[laughter]

Bag check.

I believe all of those
are under 3 ounces.

He's okay.

All except for the switchblade.

Yeah, put that
in the TSA bin

with the rest
of the confiscated items.

To be sure he doesn't get
into more trouble on his trip,

he'll be tied in place.

Both arms and both ankles
are tied and secured.

This is a regulation duffel bag

carrying Derion's pajamas.

Probably should have
put them on before,

but Derion'll be happy
to fly in his business suit.

Overbooked?

Looks like he'll have to go
into the overhead bin.

Yeah, tie him up.

Take him nice and comfortable,
would you please?

Boy, it's a shame
he didn't get a chance

to put on those pajamas,
because it's a red-eye.

Yeah. Take him over there.
Make him comfortable.

Make him nice
and comfortable there.

There you go.

And zip that up
nice and tight there would you?

Get him in there,
and zip it up.

And let's put
a cable tie on that

and lock it into place.

Wouldn't want that bag
to come open during turbulence.

Make it nice and secure.

Bon voyage, Derion.

We'll see you in New York City.

You know, Houdini was
about the first celebrity

to pose almost completely nude
with just chains and locks.

Houdini was overtly sexual.

[crowd cheers]

Houdini did many escapes
from chains and locks,

but Houdini never did an escape

when he was chained
to another human being.

That pole between them is
secured to the platform,

and it's 13' high.

They'll be tied to each other

and around each other.

All of this bondage gear

is from our local home
improvement store here in Vegas.

None of it is gimmicked
in any way at all.

There you go, Teller.
There you go, Jordan.

Chain 'em up good.

Here it is.

The Gordian's stripper pole.

Houdini dealt with safes,
water tanks, straitjackets,

heights, ice, rivers,

but Houdini never dealt
with duct tape.

This is duct tape which you
would buy at any hardware store

and duct tape that would be used
in any abduction.

Teller is taping Jordan securely
to a solid chair.

Both arms.
Both legs.

And to make sure
that she can't get any leverage,

he will also tape her chest
in place.

Teller, make it
so she can't move.

Jordan, sit tight.

We'll get right back to you.

Derion, we're just about
to take off.

Matt and Shawn, here we go.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

[applause]

♪ ♪

[clattering]

♪ ♪

Yeah!

[applause]

♪ ♪

[laughter]

♪ ♪

[applause]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

Nice job, boys.

And now, back to the duct tape.

There's no beginning.

There's no end.
It's sticky.

It's strong, and there is no way
to cheat with duct tape.

If you have duct tape at home,

see if you can break out
of even one wraparound,

and she has dozens
around her arms

and dozens around her legs.

Often Houdini's escapes
were timed.

Jordan will also do
her escape with a timer,

and her timer looks like this.

[dramatic music]

You can hold your breath safely
right there in your seat.

Hold your breath at home,

and think about how much harder
it'd be with this much exertion.

Do not try this
or any other escapes at home.

This is not faked.

♪ ♪

You ready, Jordan?

Ready?

Go!

♪ ♪

That's Jordan!

Better than Houdini,
and in high heels.

Ladies and gentlemen,
they defy

the jails of the world
that hold them.

Pilobolus.

Matt, Derion, Jordan,
and Shawn.

[cheers and applause]

- Oh, my gosh.

Wow!

Thanks for watching
"Penn and Teller: Fool Us."

We've got more amazing magic
lined up for next week.

Good night!