04x03 - Teller Flips a Bird

[bunniefuu]

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- From the Penn and Teller
Theater at the Rio hotel

in Las Vegas,
here's our host,

Alyson Hannigan.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

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

where we're all witnesses

as magicians enter
into evidence their best tricks.

Will they be caught in the act
or be judged amazing?

Only two men bear the burden
of proof tonight,

our barristers of baffling,
Penn and Teller.

[cheers and applause]

- How's it going?

- Okay, here's the deal.

Penn and Teller
are gonna try to bust

every single magician
they see tonight.

If they can't do it,
that magician wins

a trip back to Las Vegas

to perform in Penn
and Teller's magic show.

They also get to brag
for the rest of their lives

that they fooled Penn
and Teller.

Let's meet our first
potential braggart.

- My name is Misty Lee,
and I got into magic

as the girl inside the box,

and that job sucks,
so I took his.

My style of magic just falls
under what I like.

I like creepy stuff.
I like edgy stuff.

When we're putting
together an illusion,

we're trying to be evocative
of something specific,

and that brings depth
and another layer to the magic.

We have to get into
your psychology.

My whole point of magic
is to help you realize

that the universe
still has mystery in it.

What a rad gift you're
able to give somebody.

[cheers and applause]

- Put your hands together
for Misty Lee.

- Thank you very, very much.

Have you ever been
really afraid?

So afraid the parasympathetic
responses kick in?

Your heart starts racing,

your breathing increases,
and your pupils dilate.

You're ready to fight
for your life.

It's sexy, right?
Let's play with it.

What are you guys afraid of?
Yell it out so I can hear it.

- Spiders!
- Spiders.

Knives.
Oh, good.

I was waiting for that one,
'cause I brought some.

I have four knives here,

hand-turned by
a craftsman in England,

and they are a joy to behold.
You guys want to hold them?

'Cause I'm bringing them
down to you.

- Sure.

- Because you are such
experienced magicians,

I would be very grateful
if you would inspect them.

Verify that they are real.

There are no gimmicks
whatsoever on those.

Those blades are solid,
honest, sharp, and authentic.

And now, while they are busy
with their activity,

for you, I have
a wonderful surprise.

Ladies and gentlemen,
please put your hands together

for Louie Anderson.

[cheers and applause]

- Hi. Nice to meet you.

- It's really nice
to meet you too.

- Nice to meet you. Thank you.

- We have never met.
They need to know that.

- Never met. Although I was
gonna wear this outfit.

- So I gave them knives.
For you, I have something else.

Stay right there, please.

- Are we eating?
- No.

I have, for you,
cards numbered one through five,

and your job is to mix them.

But I will tell you,

what you are about to do
is incredibly important.

- Ooh.

- Someone's life
may depend on it.

- Oh, all right.
- Don't mess it up.

- All right.
- Okay?

- I'll try not to.
- There you go.

- And if I do, I'm sorry.

- You will be.

- All right, that's kind of--
- Happy?

- Well, some days.

- Fair enough.

Please take the top card

and the top card only.
Hold it to your chest.

Do not look at it.

And these I'll put here.

Now, if you were
paying attention,

you may have noticed
I gave him five cards

but them only four knives.

There are actually five knives.

I keep one with me...

always,

but this one is
a little bit different.

You see, this one has
a retractable blade.

But they will verify
in just a moment--

I'll be right back--aside
from that one key difference,

when you put all these
knives together,

they look the same.

Yes?

- They do. Let Teller look, too,
'cause I'm the idiot.

- Yes, I'd like you to.
They feel the same.

Here, I'll take them.
They feel the same, yes?

So when we put them all together
on top of this table,

and Louie steps over here
and mixes them up,

nobody in this room,

not even me, is gonna know
which one is where.

- Okay.

- You can put your card
right there for me please.

- You got it. Mix these up?

- Give them a good mix,
absolutely,

however you feel so inclined.

Who knew he had a natural gift?

Satisfied?
- Satisfied.

- Then please stay right there,

because here is where
the game gets fun.

Now...

everyone loves to be scared...

when they think they're safe.

Louie?

- Yes.
- Do you believe you're safe?

- With you? Well, I'm not sure.

- Really?

- I'm excited though.

- Oh, that makes me happy
to hear.

For the first time, will you
please pick up your card

and show them and me
which number it was

that you chose.

What is it?

- It was two.
- That's a two?

- I think it is.

- Oh.
- Hm.

Okay. We'll use two.

- You can use any one.
- No, you picked two.

We'll use two, so I guess
we won't use number one.

Number three is obsolete.

You didn't choose number four.

You chose... number two.

I have another question
for you, Louie.

- What?
- Do you feel lucky?

- Yes, I do.
- Good.

Then please put your hands
behind your back,

take a big, deep breath,

and count with me.

Everybody, ready?

Knife goes down.
Knife stabs Louie.

Guys, this could be
the end of life with Louie.

We may have to take you
out of here in baskets.

- Well, you better
get three people.

[laughter]

- Are you ready?

- Yes.
- Big, deep breath.

Are you ready?
Here we go.

One, two, three.

- Ahhh!

Whew.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.
- Hi. Made it.

- Emmy award-winning actor
and comedian Louie Anderson.

- Thank you so much.
Thank you, guys. Bye. Goodnight.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- It's nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

I'm so glad you didn't k*ll him.

- I'm disappointed, but,
you know, we get on with it.

- And then what inspires you?

Like, how do you come up
with your ideas?

- The first thing I do is,
I start with what I like.

People say,

"Oh, have you really cultivated
this brand of creepy?"

No, it's just what
I dig, you know.

I mean, I collect glass
human eyeballs.

- And then how did you
choose Louie Anderson?

- I didn't.
He was a wonderful surprise.

- Wow.
- When I got here, they said,

"Introduce Louie Anderson.

You're about to meet
Louie Anderson."

And I was like,
"That's awesome,"

'cause I love Louie Anderson.

- All right, let's go
to the boys.

- Oh, boy.
- Boys.

- Yeah. Um...

it is so good
to see women in magic.

That's the first thing,
and not only a woman in magic,

but also a woman taking
an aggressive role in magic,

not playing the gender role
of a victim

but playing the gender role

as the aggressor,
which I just love.

- Thank you.
- I mean, that's just so rare

in magic and so
wonderful to see,

and the whole thing
is tremendously entertaining

from beginning to end.

The dropping of the knives
to show the ones

that aren't and doing
the final drop at the end,

even though you've got
the huge punchline of Louie

being up there and ramming
the knife into his heart,

the audience
is really paying attention

to that other knife
sticking in the bottom.

And handing the knives out,

having us look
at them is wonderful.

The knives are also--
along with your wardrobe,

along with all the props,
the knives are also beautiful,

just perfectly polished.

You can see so much
in those knives

if you know what you're looking
for all the way through.

It's just great the way
you had that.

- Thank you.

- The way the cards--you said
you tailored the front,

the back.

Everything was tailored
exactly the way

you wanted on that and stuff.

I'll bet there's
all sorts of stuff

all over the stage that,

as beautiful as it is to someone
watching the first time,

it's also stuff that you
just enjoy on your own

that other people
can't even see.

- Totally. Appreciate that.
- Fabulous job.

- Thank you.

- All right.

Well, I feel like there
must've been some sort of code

in there that would tell you

that they knew how
you did the trick.

- Yes , they know exactly
how I did the trick.

- Okay.

Well, so you didn't fool them,

but you certainly
entertained us all.

Thank you, Misty Lee.

- Thank you for having me.
Thank you, guys. Thank you.

Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

Penn and Teller still have
a lot of work to do,

more magicians to bust,

and a trick of their own
to perform.

More "Fool Us" when we return.

- This next performer is a
graduate of Fool Us University,

and we are thrilled
to have him back.

Take a look.

- My name is Shin Lim.
I was here on season two.

I didn't expect to fool Penn
and Teller at all.

- You, sir, fooled us.

- And now it's, I think,

the most viewed video
on "Fool Us."

After season two,
I was pretty busy.

I started getting a lot of gigs,

and my career
was taking a huge leap.

Right after that,
unfortunately, I had an accident

while I was rehearsing
an illusion.

I had severed two
of my thumb tendons,

and I had to get the tendons
sewn back together.

Most of my magic
is sleight of hand,

so I had to cancel everything.

It was devastating.
It felt like my career was over.

For me, that wasn't good enough.
I just pushed through,

and I went farther
than I was supposed to.

After just six months,

I was able to hyperextend
my left thumb.

This piece I'm doing right now
is about four times

more difficult than the act
I did on season two.

There's a 40% chance
I could mess up

because my nerves
are not all there yet.

However, if I pull this act off,

I'm gonna feel very,
very accomplished.

With everything
I've gone through,

this will prove that
you shouldn't give up.

[cheers and applause]

- His first appearance
on "Fool Us"

has over 35 million hits
on social media.

Please welcome
the popular Shin Lim.

[cheers and applause]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause]

- Whoa! The incredible Shin Lim.

Wow.

It's so nice to meet you.

That was beautiful.

- Thank you, thank you.
- That was just incredible.

It was like watching
a ballet with cards.

- Perfect.
- Oh, my goodness.

Is this easier to come
on a second time,

or was it harder to come
on the first time?

- I think it's
a little bit easier

to come on the second time.

I'm used to the theater
and everything.

- So you were supposed to come
on again last season,

but then something happened.

- Yeah, I severed two of
my tendons on my thumb.

- That must've been
terrifying for you.

- Yeah, it was a challenge,

'cause this is a really
difficult act.

- And so obviously,
while you were recovering,

you couldn't practice.

- Yeah, I tried to do it
with one hand,

but that didn't
work out so well.

- Were you worried that
your card days were over?

- Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

I mean, the doctor was like,

"You're not gonna be able to
pick up a deck for two years,"

so, for me,
that was pretty bad news.

- Well, lucky for us
that you recovered so well.

- Yeah, I'm really
glad to be back.

- All right.

Well, let's go to the guys
and see what they have to say.

- You know, we like you,
but you're starting to annoy us.

- In a good way?
- I don't think so.

This is our show.

It's called "Penn & Teller:
Fool Us."

When we're in airports
and stuff,

and people recognize us,
they ask us about you.

They say they saw
your show on YouTube.

They say they saw your routine,

and they just
loved you on there,

and we watched you closely
the first time you were on.

We watched you even
closer the second time.

I mean, you're just so wonderful

and so beautiful,
every move you make.

But we've been
watching carefully,

and I think I can demonstrate

a little something about
the routine if you'll allow me.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- And if you'll allow me

to step back over here
if I could,

just right here.

[chanting]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Oh. Yeah. [laughs]

- He fooled us.

- Thank you so much.
- Yay!

Oh, congratulations.

[cheers and applause]

Fooler, we have a fooler.

Fooled them twice, two times.

- Thank you so much. Thank you.

- Aww, congratulations.

- Thank you.
- Shin Lim.

[applause]

Penn and Teller
have been fooled.

Let's see if it can happen again
when we come back.

- I hate him.

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

We've got one fooler
in the books tonight.

Can we make it two?
Let's find out.

Meet our next potential fooler.

- My name is Andi Gladwin.

I grew up in a really
small town in the UK.

I was a computer programmer,

but I decided I needed
to make some changes.

So I put together a list of


Number one,

become a full-time magician,
and that's what I did.

Since we're here in Vegas,

it's time to check
some items off my bucket list.

I always wanted to be
just like Elvis.

[bell dings]

I always wanted to get so drunk

that I got married
to a stripper.

[bell dings]

And I really wanted
to do something crazy,

like zip-line off a building.

[screaming]

I've changed my mind.

[buzzer]

And I'm about to do
my biggest one,

performing onstage in Las Vegas.

[cheers and applause]

- Our next performer
is floating in right now.

Here's Andi Gladwin.

[applause]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[laughter]

[applause]

- Hello. By the way,
is anyone else cold in here?

Just me.

Before the magic,
a few quick impressions.

This first one is
for the iPad generation.

Angry Birds.

[laughter]

Oh, you know,
I'm weirdly orange,

my hair's a mess,

and I'm full of hot air.

Any guesses?

Yeah, I'm Donald Trump.
That was just for you, Penn.

- Thank you.
- So you're probably wondering

what I'm doing inside a balloon.

Well, tonight I will perform
a world first in magic:

a trick using only my head,

but I will need
a safe pair of hands,

so please welcome Alyson.

[cheers and applause]

- Hello.
- Hello.

Thanks for helping, Alyson.
- Sure.

- It's kind of strange,
I realize.

On the table there
is a special deck of cards.

It has 52 different professions
written on it. Fantastic.

I'd like you read out some
of those professions for me.

- Okay. Artist, golfer,
teacher, doctor, dentist...

- That's great.
So you get the idea.

The cards all have
random jobs on them.

I'd like you to turn them
facedown for me,

and then please
go into the audience

and choose somebody at random
to help with our trick.

Fantastic.

Now, go for somebody
you don't think I would pick.

Going straight to
the back there, okay.

Excellent. This man here?

Hello, sir.
What's your name?

- Dario.
- Dario, thanks for helping.

Now, Alyson, I'd like you
to spread the cards facedown,

so that Dario can reach in
and pull out any card.

Dario, once you have that,

please remember the job
written on it,

hold the card
against your chest,

so that nobody,
including Alyson, can see.

And then, Alyson,
please return to the stage.

You can put the cards
on the table,

and I'm sure you will receive
a thunderous round of applause.

[thunderous applause]

You're doing great.
Thank you. Thank you, Alyson.

Don't get too close.
I could explode any minute.

So Dario has picked
a random job

from the deck of cards.

I will now attempt
to divine that job

using yet another of
my amazing impressions.

So, Dario, just look me
in the eyes,

and I will try to get this.

Okay.

[clucking]

Dario, my impression
was of a chicken.

That means I believe
you selected a chicken farmer.

Is that correct, yes or no?

- No, sir.
- No?

- No.
- My mistake.

Just a farmer?

- No.
- No? Just a chicken?

- No.

- Okay, I'm afraid
you've got me, sorry.

What job did you pick?

- It's a scuba diver.
- Scuba diver?

- Yes, sir.

- Alyson, I'm afraid you didn't
fool Penn and Teller.

A scuba diver. Do we have time
for one last impression?

- Sure.

- Okay. This is my impression
of a scuba diver.

- Wow.

[applause]

- Thank you for your help.
- Andi Gladwin, everyone.

Wow. Wow.

How do you even begin to come up
with an idea like that?

- Well, you know, I was sitting
in my office one day

in a giant red balloon thinking,

"I should do something
useful with my life,"

and I did it.
Sorry, these are really heavy.

- Yeah, I would imagine.
- If you think

the balloon's difficult
to get into, though,

you should try
getting into the wet suit.

It's a lot harder.

- Yeah.
Did you do this just for Penn

and Teller,
like, come up with it?

- Well, actually, it's a trick
I've been working on

for almost ten years,

because while it looked
pretty simple,

there's a lot of science
behind it

and a lot of acrobatics
to squeeze into the balloon,

so it's come into fruition
over the last year or so,

but it's really been
a journey to get this

to where I want it to be.

- Okay, it's time to go
to the boys.

- Boy, there's just
so few things

you can do in magic,
especially with,

you know,
that kind of trick to divine

what's going on in the audience.

It's really a wonderfully funny,
terrific presentation

and really good and really
inventive and really great.

And, you know,
when I was a child,

my goal was not
to be a magician,

but rather to be
an oceanographer.

I used to read a lot
about scuba diving,

and I finally became
a scuba diver myself,

and you go underwater.

One thing that amazes me
about being a scuba diver

is all the force that's down
on you from the water.

It's a fabulous thing.

And the other thing
about the whole outfit

is functional, you know.

I always think of scuba diving
as mostly fashion.

Of course, I think
that of beekeeping, too,

but every part of the outfit

that you have
is actually useful.

You know, the fins to help you
go when--and the tank

is not just decorative.

It's also functional for a scuba
diver and also for the magician.

I thought it was a wonderful,
wonderful act.

Did I give you any hint of what
we're talking about there?

- It's been my dream for a long
time to perform on a show

with these guys, and I did.

I got to do that.
I've had a wonderful time.

But they got me,
but we had a great time.

- It's a great act, great act,
and I love scuba divers.

- Okay, thank you, Andi Gladwin.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

Okay, I need a minute to make
our next magician appear.

Just give me
a short commercial break

and I'll figure it out.

Thanks.

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

Take a good look
at our next act.

- I'm Murray Hatfield,
this is Teresa,

and what we specialize in
is a large-scale style of show.

We have people appearing
and vanishing

and floating in the air
and cutting pieces

and just magic with people

as opposed to cards and coins.

My favorite part of the show is

when Teresa makes
her appearance.

Oh, like that.

- Every prop
is a different challenge.

They don't come
with instructions.

They can hurt.

So I have to just figure out how
to not make it look difficult.

- I have to say,
it's an incredible honor

to perform in front
of Penn and Teller.

It's a little daunting,

but hopefully
we'll come together

and make it happen.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome Murray
Hatfield and Teresa.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the laws of physics state

that two bodies can't be
in the same place

at the same time.

Or can they?

[laid-back bass music]

♪ ♪

Ready!

- Hey!

[cheers and applause]

- Yes.

- Murray Hatfield and Teresa.

That was amazing. Wow.
- Thank you.

That's so cool.

I have no idea
how that was done.

Hopefully they don't either.

- I hope not.
- Yeah.

So you guys obviously
are married?

- Yes.
- We are.

We've been married for 18 years.

- So does this ever affect
your marriage, like, you know,

if a magic trick
goes wrong or something?

- If he stabs me, yes.

- Oh, that hasn't happened,
has it?

- Yes, in a prop, yes.
- Oh, no.

- Oh, we've had all kinds
of interesting moments

in our shows.

Teresa broke her thumb
in the middle

of a show and finished the show.

- Oh, wow. That's amazing.

So you sound like
very good partners.

Equal partners, I'd say?

- Absolutely. Sometimes, people
watching our show seem to think

or tend to think that Teresa's
just "the girl in the box."

The truth of the matter is,
she is intimately involved,

as we both are, in every aspect
of the shows that we do.

- All right, well, let's see--

oh, Teller looks--looks excited.

Let's check in with the guys.
Boys?

- Well, you know, this--
this is the best one of these

we've ever seen.

It's Houdini's closer.
It's metamorphosis.

It's the greatest
trick in magic.

A person's one place,
then they're another,

and everybody wants to do it
because it's such a good idea,

and they usually end up
with a box on the stage

that looks very, very fishy,

pull the cloth up,
two people change.

They change quickly.

Even done badly,
it's a good trick.

Done beautifully like this,
it's a wonderful trick.

I haven't seen a better version
of metamorphosis ever.

- Thank you very much.

[cheers and applause]

- We think--we think this is
called suspended animation.

If we're right on this--
ah, how can I best put this?

You know, you're a team.
We're a team.

We do a lot of forehanded magic.

I think you've done
one even better on this.

I think you've done it
better than we do

with our forehanded magic.

That's how we think--
you might get the drift

of what I'm saying here.

But if you like
this kind of thing,

you're not gonna see better
than that kind of thing.

- Thank you.
- Oh, I, I--

it seems like that
made sense to you guys.

- It absolutely made sense,
and you know what, regardless,

it was an honor.

- Well, thank you so much.

- Well, you didn't fool them,
but you certainly wowed them,

so thank you very much.

- Thank you.
- Murray Hatfield and Teresa.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

Coming up next, two magicians

who have been wearing
the same suits for 40 years,

making them either
the original hipsters

or two filthy hobos.

You decide.

Penn and Teller perform
when we come back.

- Penn and Teller's hero
and also the mysterious judge

of our show is Johnny Thompson.

Johnny wowed audiences
for decades

with his epic routine,

The Great Tomsoni and Company.

Johnny retired
the act years ago,

but tonight it lives on.

Here are Penn
and Teller performing

The Great Tomsoni and Company.

[lounge music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause]

- Whoo!

[cheers and applause]

The Great Tomsoni and Company!

Time to put our genies
back in the bottle.

If you wish you could
watch more "Fool Us,"

just close your eyes
until next week,

when "Fool Us" returns.

Good night from Las Vegas.

[cheers and applause]