11x08 - The Domino Effect

[bunniefuu]

From the Penn & Teller Theater

at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,

here's our host, Brooke Burke.

Welcome to Fool Us.

Magic is for the birds.

It's also for the coins,
the cards,

and sometimes, even a cookie.

You never know what
our contenders will use

to try to fool magic's
most accomplished duo,

Penn & Teller!

Every magician tonight can win
a coveted Fool Us trophy,

and a place in Penn & Teller's
world-famous magic show.

So, let's meet
our first magician.

People are surprised
when they hear I'm a magician

and a system engineer.

To an audience, magic looks
like the opposite of science.

You're violating
the laws of physics,

and the law of probabilities.

But every magician
became a magician

because he wanted
to know how a trick works.

And an engineer
thinks the same way, too.

I grew up on the island
of Newfoundland,

on the east coast of Canada.

Before magic,
I loved playing hockey,

and still play every winter.

And every summer,
I would go to camp.

That was full of card games,
and bad magic.

But one year, I decided
to learn good magic,

and I practiced
the trick for months.

And when I came back to camp,
everyone was blown away,

and I became the card trick guy.

You had the six.

I've been chasing
that reaction ever since.

Until recently, my performances

have just been
for friends and family,

so Fool Us is the biggest
step in my career,

and by far the biggest room
I've ever played.

Because I work hard
and take magic seriously,

I think I got a chance.

Please welcome the creative mind
of Clark Payne.

Penn, Teller,
thank you so much for having me.

When I was trying to decide
what I wanted to share

with you today, I was going
back and forth with

if I do this or if I do that.

And then it hit me.

The perfect trick to share
with you is both

the best parts of this,
and the best parts of that.

I know that sounds
a little confusing

when I say it like that,

but that's because everything
I'm saying, I mean literally.

And as you can see,
here, I have this.

And this.
And this.

And this.

And this, and this.

And this.
And this one.

And this. And this.

And the same for there.

I have that.

And that. And that.

And that one.

That, too.

That.

That. That.

That. And that.

In fact, there's exactly one,
two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine, ten of each.

And I want to make this
really easy to follow.

So...

I'm gonna take this here,

and we'll do the same

for that, there.

This way we know
for absolute certainty

this pile will always be here

and that pile
will always be there.

I say this because it starts
to get a little confusing

when we take the piles,

and switch them, like so.

Because, you see, even though
we just changed the piles,

we still have this pile here,

and that pile there.

But what if we do the exact
same thing but slower?

Well, you see,
just like last time,

that's this pile here,

and that pile there.

Now, some of you guys might be
getting ahead of me

and thinking, he just got those piles

mixed up already, but no.

This really is this.

And this.

This. This.

This. And this.

And the same for over there.

That's that, that, that,
that, that, and that.

But even though you've just seen
all of this and all of that,

we still have this pile here,
and that pile there.

Because it doesn't matter how
many times you switch the piles.

It'll always be this pile here,
and that pile there.

Now, I can go
back and forth forever,

putting that here,
and this there.

But what if...

this also goes here?

Well, obviously,
this is this pile.

But so is this.

And that's that.

And so is that.

But what if we get crazy,

and take the piles,
and change 'em like so?

Obviously, now that...

Obviously,
that's this pile here,

and that pile there,
and that leaves one card to go.

This is this,

and that's that.

Thank you.

Clark Payne!

Hi, Clark.

Do you perform all the time?

No, this is my first time
in front of real people

in probably a year, so.

- A whole year?
- Yeah.

And why is that?

I'm used to just playing
with cards in the basement,

so that's kind of what I do,

pretty much all my free time.

So, how does this compare

to being on your own
in the basement,

and in front of this
live audience in Vegas?

Well...

pretty terrifying, but
I think it went pretty well, so.

Well, that's awesome.
Do you want to do more of this?

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm always down
to do more card tricks, so.

And is this performance
your creation?

Yeah, so I came up with
the basis of this trick

probably six years ago,

and I knew I had
something good on my hands.

So, to show it to Penn & Teller
is like a dream.

All right, Clark.

Let's see if This or That
fooled Penn & Teller.

We ready, boys?

Hey, Clark. That was great.

You know, tricks like this
are usually done

with regular cards,
and, you know,

red and black, and so on.

And making it this clean
is a really, really good idea.

It's really nice.

You know, the whole
audience understood it.

I've never heard a better
reaction on this kind of trick

than you get,
because it's laid out so clear.

And what you can never do
with a magic trick

is confuse the audience.

And this is purely magical.

It took me back to believing
in magic back on the playground,

playing hide-and-seek,
and follow the leader,

and all those games
you used to play

when we were children,

and we had that magical
sense of wonder.

You laid it out there really,
really beautifully.

And first thing I thought
was I couldn't do this trick.

I do not have the skills.

And I want people to know,
this is important,

that you're not using
any gaff cards,

at least we don't think so.

- No gaff cards.
- No.

This is all pure skill.

This is all done
with your hands.

And although I couldn't do it,

I think we have a pretty
good idea how you did.

And I think we slipped in
a few things among the praise

that shows you that
we have a pretty good hunch.

What do you think about this?

Well, Clark, did Penn's code
words mean anything to you?

Do you think they got you?

Unfortunately,
they figured it out, so.

The audience hates us.

- We loved it.
- We thought he was great, too.

- We loved it.
- We thought he was great.

Fantastic job.

You were great, Clark.
Thank you so much.

Come back and see us.

Clark Payne.

See Penn & Teller take on
more magicians,

and also see them perform
a trick of their own

at the end of the show,
so don't go anywhere.

Welcome back.

Performing our next magic trick
is this renowned performer.

Life's a puzzle

where we make every piece.

I wanted to be a musician,
so I founded a band.

I liked movies.
So I became an actor.

Alas, poor Yorick.

I wanted to fool Penn & Teller.

I think we told you how.

Let's skip over that for now.

But none of this has stopped me
from thinking

about the big, big questions.

Big questions.

With answers beyond our grasp.

Sometimes when I look
in the mirror,

I'm not even sure who I see.

But when all the pieces
fit together,

it's called Zabrecky.

A work in progress.

Please welcome Hollywood's
gift to mystery, Zabrecky.

If you are stupid,

what you're about to see here
will scare you.

But if you're smart,
it will make you happy.

An antique cup.

Three mysterious wads of matter.

And a man having
an existential crisis.

Now, two of the wads
simply go into the cup,

while the third goes away.

Yet...

Yes.

Three remain.

I will do this for you
one more time,

so it makes even less sense.

There's one.

And two.

The third is removed.

And yet...

There's three.

For reasons that I cannot
and will not tell you,

when two go in the cup
and one is removed,

there will still
and always be, yes, three.

Now, by now you're probably
both wondering,

"Um, how is he doing this?"

Or, "Why is he doing this?"

Or why do anything?

Why do birds suddenly appear?

Why is abbreviated
such a long word?

Who put the alphabet
in alphabetical order?

All we know is that
when two go in here,

and one goes in the pocket,

there will still
and always be, three.

And is it too late for me to be,
say, a cowboy or an astronaut?

Or is this, and all of you
here tonight, my purpose?

Don't worry,
there will still be three.

Let us do some mathematics.

One, plus one,

minus one.

Equal three.

Let's take a closer look
over here.

One.

Two.

Cha!

Three.

But then, of course, yes.

Of course,
there's the big, big question,

which is, why are we here
on this massive rock,

spinning through infinite space,

floating around a massive
ball of fire in the sky

that's both trying to keep us
alive and k*ll us?

Maybe it's time we put
these questions aside,

and stop trying
to answer questions

that we'll never
find the answers to.

Zabrecky!

- Hello.
- Hello.

How are you?

What advice do you have
for other magicians

experiencing
an existential crisis?

Yes.
Is a hot dog a sandwich?

What came before the beginning?

Are you Penn or are you Teller?

You're here.

Yes.

Would you be disturbed
if I told you I was neither?

Yes. Yes.

Okay. What has magic
done for you?

Well, it's changed my life.

It's given me the opportunity
to roller skate

right here and now,
before all of you.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Yes! Woo!

It's a chance to roller skate!

That's magic. You're magic.
So are you. And you.

And you're here.

And so are you.

Yes.

I'm waiting for the trophy
to come down.

Let's find out, shall we?

- Yes.
- Okay, let's do it.

- Are we ready?
- P and T.

Zabrecky, why, why,

after a perfect,
perfect routine like this,

would we be trying to
figure out how you did it?

Why would a man with two arms
do what a man with one arm did?

Why?

These are the questions
that bother us,

bother us deeply.

Is the moon on your lapel

a reference to the poem
about the moon?

All these
questions bothering us.

But you know, sometimes,
Zabrecky,

when we bust someone
on the show,

the audience boos us with hatred

because the act was so good
and they loved it so much

that they cannot believe

that we have these small,
little, stupid minds

that try to just figure out
how it was done.

So, as we now bust you, can we
also lead the booing against us?

Boo!

Boo! You suck! You suck!

Boo!

Wow. Wow. So negative.

We hate ourselves so much

because we have to say
you didn't fool us

when we loved that routine
more than anything.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, too.
And you, and you, and you.

Zabrecky, you didn't fool them.

I think that's
an accurate assumption.

For all that I don't know
here tonight,

I think I'm abundantly clear

of what's happening
right here and now.

It's abundantly clear
that the audience loved you.

Penn & Teller loved you.

Thank you so much.

Zabrecky.

I predict we'll see more
amazing magic when we come back.

Welcome back. Penn & Teller
haven't been fooled yet.

Let's see if this next act
can stump our stars.

New Zealand is
a strangely wonderful place

and our name proves it.

Yes, the Laser Kiwi

is a beautiful little kiwi bird

with the power
of a military drone.

We met at circus school.

Meg and Deg were like
the worst recreational jugglers.

I got into circus
through the avenue of gymnastics

and dance and then I got
hired for a circus tour.

Which was cool for Imogen.

- Yeah.
- But for me...

That was bad news
because they were in love.

Kissy kiss.

So, Zane auditioned
to join me on my tour

and then Laser Kiwi was born.

Comedy is
a big part of what we do.

In fact, I'm pretty sure Deg was
the first person I made laugh.

We have a wide range
of performing skills,

almost none of which
are we using tonight.

And we've done stage magic
for years,

but we've never soloed
as magicians before.

Hold up, so we're debuting
as full-time magicians

in a competition show
against two magic legends?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Is that what's happening?
- Yeah, it's going to be great.

Why not?

A Fool Us first,

please welcome New Zealand
magic trio, Laser Kiwi.

Olive.

Martini.

Toothpick.

Olive.

Toothpick olive.

Martini toothpick olive.

Hello, Fool Us.

We are Laser Kiwi,

AKA the world's only
surreal sketch circus.

Well, that's me done.

Enjoy the rest of the act.

Now, you might have noticed this
incredibly large jar of olives,

which just happens to be
New Zealand's entire supply.

Now, Penn, if you wouldn't mind,

could you please pick
an olive, any olive?

Sure.

I'll pick that one there.
That one looks good.

Fantastic.
Are you happy with your choice?

You're more
than welcome to change.

- I like this one.
- You like that one?

Fantastic. In which case, you're
more than welcome to eat it.

Nothing to do with the trick,

just thought
you might be hungry.

Thank you.

Now, Penn & Teller,

you've had a chance
to get to know these dominoes.

- Yes.
- Are you happy

to confirm
that they're all different?

I don't know that
they're all different,

but they sure looked it.

Okay. In this jar,
we have 162 dominoes.

Each are a unique combination
of one color and two numbers.

And in order to do our trick,

we're going to need
a little bit of help.

So, can we please
welcome Brooke to the stage?

Thank you.

- Hi.
- Hi. Thank you so much.

My pleasure.
I'm here to help.

Now, Brooke, could you please
pick a domino, any domino?

- Sure.
- Don't show us.

- Okay.
- Show the audience.

Show the audience.

Fantastic.
Are you happy with your domino?

You're more
than welcome to change.

- I am.
- You are? Fantastic.

Okay. Now, we're going to need
you to memorize the color

and the two numbers.

- Can you do that?
- Yes.

Okay. And once you've done that,

just place it face down
in the palm of your hand.

- Okay.
- Okay. Amazing.

And actually, let's pop
your other hand on top.

- Okay.
- Keep it nice and safe.

And you can take that
with you back to your chair.

Okay. Thank you.

We'll bring
you back in a moment.

Okay. It's very important that
we don't see the domino,

and also, it's very important

that Brooke
doesn't show any stone fruit

because one in
one million olives are magic.

Green olive.

Stuffed olive.

I am an olive.

Fantastic.

What an exciting day, we've
officially caught an olive!

Now, Brooke, if we could borrow
you back on stage for a moment.

If you could please
take your domino

and bury it deep
within this jar.

- Feel free to rummage around.
- Okay.

Wherever you want to put it,
that's fine by me.

- Ready?
- Yep.

- You happy?
- Yes.

Fantastic. We're going
to take this jar of dominoes

and pour them in this box.

Olive, find the domino.

All right, we're just
going to shut the box up.

It's a lot harder to
find things in the dark.

Inside this box is 162 dominoes
and one olive,

which we hope is magic because
if it's not, we're screwed.

And now it is time
for some big prop magic.

Ooh!

Olive, have you
selected a domino?

Now, Brooke, at the start of our
act, you selected one domino.

Could you please confirm
with the audience

the two numbers
and one color you chose?

Sure.

One, one, yellow.

One, one, yellow.

If this olive is as magic
as we suspect it could be,

then this is Brooke's domino.

That's my domino.

Laser Kiwi, everyone.

Wow.

Funny.

How long have you been a trio?

We've been a trio
for about 10 years.

Wow.

I think we met when
we were like young teens.

I was going to ask that.

Imogen was dressed as a cat.

These guys were terrible mimes.

- Dressed as a cat.
- Yeah.

What is the role of each of you?

I'm, I think I'm talk guy.

Okay.

Really good.

Because you put words
together so well.

Yeah, it just, like,
rolls off my tongue.

And what is your role?

My specialty as a performer
is being an aerial rope artist.

And what is your role?

- I'm an olive.
- Olive?

Do you remember the first act
that you performed together?

Yeah, no,
I think it was our street show.

What was that like?

- Terrible.
- Yeah.

And is that part
of the fun of it?

You can find joy
in terrible shows.

I think we figured out
a way to like thrive

when things go wrong.

All right, Laser Kiwi.
I loved it.

But let's see if you fooled
Penn & Teller.

Boys, are you ready?

- We're so ready.
- We're ready.

Hey, Kiwis.
How you doing?

- Yeah, good.
- Good.

I got to tell you,

there's one thing I like
more than surrealistic theater,

it's olives.

You know, I just love all of it.

Thought it was so, so funny.

And the olives were so tasty.

And it's so kind of
dingy and goofy.

And then coupling that
with a trick

that is really complex
is a really good idea.

And I will tell you,
I love the act.

And Teller loved the act.

We carried on about it.

And we said a lot of things
to the judges.

We said a lot of things
that had to do

with how you did this trick.

We examined the dominoes,
as you know.

We know that those are legit.

We watched everything you did.

And we made a lot of comments.

And we, at this point,
do not know if you fooled us.

Because we talked to the judges.

Clearly,
some of the stuff we said

must have been the ballpark.

But clearly,
it couldn't have been dead on

or it wouldn't go to the judges.

So, as you sit there wondering
whether you fooled us or not,

we sit here wondering
whether you fooled us or not.

Okay.

So, we are exactly
the same at this point.

And in one moment,
that box will open

and Schrodinger's cat will
either jump out triumphantly

or Schrodinger's cat will lay
dead in a pile of dominoes

and olive oil.

And the judges will decide

what cat jumps out
or stays in the box.

Brooke, ask them.

Okay, well let's hear
what they have to say

because I'm assuming that's
a whole lot of code words.

There was no code words
in that whatsoever. None!

Let me check in with the judges.

I'm so nervous,
I'm going to have another olive.

Judges, talk to me.

Because I don't know.

The word from the judges is...

they heard everything
that Penn & Teller said.

And Laser Kiwi...

you fooled Penn & Teller!

- Congratulations.
- Good job, guys. Well done.

Congratulations.

Laser Kiwi, everyone!

Thank you so much.

Woo!

Penn & Teller were fooled.

Let's take a quick break
and let them recover.

They've got to take on
another amazing magician

right after this.

Welcome back.

Check out
our next act right now.

Magic is universal.

Trust me, I have lived it.

I've performed from big stages
to remote villages.

I've shared magic across
cultures for most of my life.

With all my travels,
it was kind of funny to realize

that there was no place to see
good magic in New York.

This was back in the 90s, before
the magic renaissance in the US.

I helped spark that renaissance.

My friends and I started
a Monday Night Magic show

in various theaters
around New York.

It's been running like
clockwork for 27 years now.

Penn & Teller, you know
the three of us go way back

before you guys owned
an ampersand.

Can an old friend
still fool you?

Let's find out.

Put your hands together

for one of New York's finest
magicians, Peter Samelson.

Wow! Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Well, Penn & Teller,
congratulations

on your golden anniversary.

- Thank you so much.
- You're very welcome.

And I'd like to...
I brought you a gift.

- Thank you.
- Brought you a gift.

One of my favorite vintages,

um, Devils and Details of 2018.

But I should also tell you
that it's non-alcoholic.

- So may I pour you some?
- Please.

Yes.

Two.

Two.

Thank you, gentleman.
Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Peter Samelson.

Pleasure to meet you.

- Pleasure to meet you also.
- Beautiful to watch.

Thank you so very, very much.

How long have you been
performing magic?

A long time, yeah.

Well, I was six years old
and my great aunt gave me

a magic set and I looked at it
and I was very excited

and then I realized it was all
tricks, and I shoved it back

at her, and told her
she got me the wrong set.

I wanted real magic.

Do you think you found
real magic?

I did. I found real magic
in many different ways

in this world.
It's just delightful.

Do you find that magic
is a universal language?

- It is.
- It is, right?

But it's different.

I mean,
in different parts of the world,

where you see different magic.

In Hong Kong,
there were these birds

that were fortune-telling birds.

- Really?
- Yeah.

And a fortune teller sat there
and he had two bird cages

and a series of fortunes
and he would shuffle them up

and spread them in front
of one cage and open it.

A bird would hop out
and pull out one fortune

and he'd put it back in
and shuffle them up

and spread it in front
of the other cage and open that,

and the bird jumped out
and searched among and then

pulled out exactly
the same fortune.

Remarkable.

I've never seen
anything like that.

No, it was incredible.

All right, are we ready?
Let's find out

if your smoke and coins
fooled Penn & Teller.

Gentlemen?

Peter, I got to tell you,
when people think of magician,

this is exactly
what they're looking for.

You know, you look the part.

Also, smoke is just such
an important thing in magic.

When you think of a magician,

you think of smoke wisping
all over the place.

It makes it very like a film.

Magic coming to life
right in front of people.

And this routine is just
the best at that.

That smoke is so sumptuous,
so beautiful,

so magical all the way through.

Everything's perfect, you know?

And the whole routine
is so sparse and so clean

and everything there
has its purpose, and you tell

that whole story all the way
through beautifully.

And we know a little bit

about how people get things
to happen with coins and so on.

So I don't want to say
too much because everything

I think of saying,

I'm afraid it's going to take
away a little bit of the beauty.

But I think
you can kind of trust us

that we followed some stuff.

And even while
we were following it,

we were still completely
under your spell.

It was beautiful.

Well, Peter,
do the boys know your secrets?

Well, I think they do.

And what pleases me most
is they enjoyed it.

- Very much.
- Exactly.

We all enjoyed it.

- I enjoyed it so much.
- Thank you very much.

- Thank you.
- Thank you. My pleasure.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you very much. Thanks.

Peter Samelson, everyone.

Penn & Teller, the time is now.

Well, almost now.

Our boys will perform

one of their world-famous magic
tricks right after this.

Welcome back to Fool Us.

This party is almost over,

but we still have time
for a trick

by two of entertainment's
greatest, Penn & Teller.

You know, we try so hard
to bring you original tricks

that you have never seen.

We try to create
totally brand new stuff.

But this next trick,
you have seen.

Everyone's seen.

Have you ever been
to a backyard party for children

where they have a clown
or a magician doing tricks?

You have seen this trick.

It's called the die box.
And it's pretty simple.

You have a box
and you have a die in it.

And the way the trick works
is the die simply disappears.

Now, this is what magicians
call behind your backs,

"A sucker gag,"
because the audience thinks

they know how the trick is done.

They aren't able to express
how the trick is done.

Then it turns out they're wrong,
and they have failed.

And clowns and magicians
have thought this

is a very good lesson
to teach young children

on their birthdays.

Now, over the past few decades,
this has developed into a ritual

where the children
always heckle the clown

or the magician
exactly the same way.

It's almost like
a church service.

When I was a child
and went to church,

the minister would say things.

We had books we'd read back and
there'd be a call and response.

And it's really turned into that

in backyard parties
all over America.

Now, we know that you people

are too sophisticated
to heckle us.

So we're going to give you
some help.

We're going to give you
all the heckles

you're supposed to yell
written up on the screen.

And please, all of you,
get in touch with

your 12-year-old
at a backyard party,

and heckle the hell out of us
as we do for all of you

really big, a giant die box.

Now, you can read along with us.

Here is our die box.

We have a giant die here.

Well, see, it's not a dice.
Singular is die.

That's a die.

And we're going to put it
right here in the box.

And we can see there's
nothing hidden here.

Here's the back.

Because it's our trick
and we'll do it the way we want.

Now, remember,
the die is right here.

Now, watch carefully
as that die... vanishes.

And now it's completely gone.

It's in the other side.

I see.

You'd like to see
the other side.

Well, we can do that.

We'll show you
the other side right now.

And as you see,
it is totally gone.

No, show us the first side.

Well, you've already
seen that side.

But okay.
We'll show you again.

There it is, gone.

It's in the other side.

Okay.
We'll show you the other side.

We're going to...

No, don't! Jeez!

We'll show you
the other side right there.

As we said...

You want to see
both sides at once?

Well, we can do that for you.

Here you have both sides.

That's weird.
You want us to turn around?

Well, we can do that.

And now we've turned around.

We feel you're deliberately

misunderstanding us,

you are being disingenuous,

and we know where the die is.

We are losing patience
and speeding our brains out

on cheap chocolate.

Just show us already.

Okay. We'll show you already.

And the die is gone.

Boo!

Another amazing show
in the books.

And now it's time to turn
the page and say goodnight.

Join us for a new episode,
when Fool Us returns.