Amarsir

What I liked about Jay's performance was that it flowed from one trick into another very nicely. It made for an entertaining act. And yes, even though we can figure out what was done I was not looking at all in advance because there were so many tricks I wasn't inclined to memorize each step and what might come of it. I think that's a great way to build up a trick; to put it as part of a set. I picked it too. I think it stood out in that hand the way Jonathan held it, but certainly not enough to be relied upon. Penn gave us a lot of info but it's not an easy trick. I'll say that. I saw them on Broadway just last night and the patter was a bit different, at least at the front. No fake "everyone's seen the rabbit trick, right?" (My favorite difference: they did the trick right after Cell Fish and if you remember that trick from earlier in the season you'll recall that Penn mocks the guy with the fish under his seat a little for being slow. He did a call back in this trick, saying "The hat folded up so you could store it under your seat. So THAT guy would never be able to find it." Huge laugh; best part of the bit IMHO. Anyway, I assure you the load was just as obvious live if not more so. But the volunteer doesn't see it, and both then and here they picked someone who gave a good reaction. So it was still plenty enjoyable. I don't recall that, but possibly.

Not dumb at all. Just maybe a bit too trusting. (Which is exactly what magicians rely on.) Does it help if I tell you there are 3 versions of the Queen of Spades? One starts whole and we see Jonathan tear it up. The second one has a corner torn off. The third one is printed with a backwards corner. If you figure out where he switches them (steps 3 and 6 in my list above) then you can figure out that the second card is signed by the magician during the show (step 9) and the third card was pre-signed by the magician. So the only remaining trickery is A) handing Jonathan a non-random card in step 1 and B) getting Jonathan to sign the third version in step 8 when he thinks he's really signing a ripped card.

I also didn't like this set as much as last week's. I thought maybe it was just my mood, but it sounds like that's not an unpopular opinion. In particular, I felt like some of the pacing was too slow. For example, Sheng Wang closed with a funny joke ("hacked by a philanthropist") but I got to the punchline a minute before he did and by the time it came around I wasn't ready to laugh anymore. (Just an example, not just him.) Maybe it's a style choice but to me it felt like less material being stretched. I'm pretty sure it was an endurance joke.

A nice bit of detective work yourself! :)

It should be stated how awesome Jonathan Ross is. His ability to improvise when interacting with the performers is just great. I think that every week but was really struck by it tonight. Penn said once that the host of "Fool Us" has to play 3 roles: 1) He's part of the production, working with Penn & Teller to keep the flow and preserve the rules. 2) He's playing along with the magician, helping them do the best trick they can and hoping they win. 3) He's playing the part of the audience, a volunteer who's amazed and delighted by the tricks performed. And Penn said that he couldn't imagine anyone pulling off all 3 roles as well as Jonathan Ross does. So I thought that deserved repeating. As for the tricks this show, I felt they were slightly below par. Not bad, but you could tell none of the guys were really doing their best stuff. And I know it doesn't really matter if the performer fools them or not, but it's always more fun if it feels like they're bringing their best stuff. (And Cups & Balls we've all seen a hundred times since it's something they can easily take on the road. It's a fine performance I still enjoy seeing, but it's definitely no Bullet Catch.)

You caught that too, huh? I loved that. It felt like I was a kid reading an Encyclopedia Brown mystery story and spotting the clue to the crime. (Heck, it probably was used in one.) That said ... I'm not 100% sure it's impossible for a phone book. They often have weird pages for government numbers or a full-page ad or something. It's not completely inconceivable that they went i, ii, iii, and then started 1 on a left-hand page. Unusual, certainly. But I wouldn't say with certainty that no phonebook ever made would ever have an odd number on a left page. I can however say that his didn't, because that description is completely correct. And as cute as the Luke Skywalker reference was, I'm surprised Penn made a force guess as well.

I don't know if they use canned laughter, but I'm 100% sure they mix and match audience reactions to different jokes. That's fairly standard practice, but for LCS in particular past seasons have gotten complaints from some performers who thought the reactions shown had misrepresented how their sets went.

I noticed that as well. The 4th chair doesn't necessarily do that much anyway - they can sing with Wayne but don't have to. All they have to do is one character as the news co-anchor and take a brief turn in the Questions Only game. So even if their top 10 wish list for female performers was busy, 11-20 would do fine. Reportedly Heather Anne Campbell is appearing in the 8/17 episode so there's one (and probably two given how they tape). But I think that leads me to the answer: they haven't added new players at all since 2013. It's cowardice. They use the same people for the same reason they use the same games. There's only one spot to rotate and the men are more known than the women. (Which of course is self-fulfilling.) After all, if you're going to bring in someone from Key & Peele, Keegan-Michael Key is a better get than Nyima Funk. Nothing against her at all, it's just that when people are requested by name you'll find more Jeff comments than Heather ones. (Plus I'm sure some suit is going "We've got Aisha, Laura, and Linda in every episode. That's plenty of representation.") If I were running the CW, what I'd do is look to create another half hour (filling the block) that's exactly the same sort of improv, with or without the Whose Line name. I'd keep Colin, Ryan and Wayne in the existing show, and then "others" would rotate between the 4th chair here and all 4 spots in the after-show. (I'd also put all the guests in the after-show, if that must continue.) This way you get a lot more seats to play with and can give Jeff/Greg/Gary/Brad the airtime their fans want while still having time for lesser-known performers of BOTH genders. Of course that's just wishful thinking. But it can't be worse than "Significant Mother", can it?

I noticed a lot of chat about the torn & restored card. As P&T said, it is a "commercial" trick - not just a purchased method. I also don't see any reason not to give the prop away since (as SomethingClever said) it looks about as good as a magically restored card should look. For anyone still wondering, let me walk you through the routine and see if you can't catch it for yourself: The magician (Austin) riffle's the deck in front of Jonathan, cuts the deck, then hands Jonathan the "selected" card - Queen of Spades. Jonathan tears up the card into pieces. Then hands all the pieces back to Austin. Austin hands a corner of a Queen of Spades to Jonathan. The stack of pieces Jonathan tore disappears. Austin pulls out a card with a corner torn off, which matches the piece he handed Jonathan in #3. Jonathan confirms then gives it back. Austin puts the ripped card somewhere in the vicinity of the deck, using both hands, while directing Jonathan to look at the corner he's holding. Austin presents the deck with a Queen of Spades on top with the corner farthest from Jonathan appearing to be missing a corner - since we see blue as we would with the back of another card under it. Jonathan signs that card that was presented to him on top of the deck. Austin signs the corner that Jonathan has been holding. Austin takes that piece and then presents the card from the top of the deck, where the face which had been up had been signed by Jonathan, and the "restored" corner that was "restored" to facing down was signed by the magician. At this point my eye hurts from all the winking I'm doing while typing, but I think I've given enough for most curious minds. To anyone still in the dark on it, may I instead suggest that you would benefit from investing in some valuable real estate in Florida on which I could give you a great deal? :)

--Wrong thread, please ignore--

You could play it either way, and Norm was suggesting a slightly different sell. Either: In Japanese the verb comes at the end so the "Ohhh" is the listener recontextualising what he/she already heard.or In English the verb is in the middle so the listener's "Ohhh" comes earlier than they're used to and they have to keep doing it because the sentence isn't over yet. And I think it works either way, it's just a matter of the setup. By memory I thought the comic (KT Tatara) was going for explanation 1 and Norm suggested explanation 2, but I don't remember well enough to parse the language precisely. I laughed at "the theme was trailer", but thought the best line from her set came from Anthony: "Did Andy make her hometown proud? Or is she a waste of a perfectly good boys' name?"

Same. I'm not particularly a fan of Maria Bamford, but definitely did see the similarity. It was nice to see Norm being more constructive with his feedback. Even if I didn't agree, it's more interesting than finding a way to compliment everyone. Most comics had at least one joke I liked, but I thought Dominique and Francisco Ramos were the weakest. Naturally both made it through. Maybe they'll impress me next round.

When you look at Mac King compared to, say, a David Blaine, it's hard to say they're even in the same profession. I don't mean that as a slight, but this was clearly a guy who's been entertaining audiences night after night for decades, knows all about it, and doesn't really care about "amazing" anyone. It's also nice to hear about Harry Anderson as a source. As a kid I knew him from Night Court and Cheers, but always got the sense there was more to him that a dumb viewer like me didn't appreciate. That he goes down in history as a magic inventor makes me happy. The knife trick at the end was enjoyable, if old and silly. This might have been a trick where you want a slightly more reluctant volunteer because Briana was very easy-going. And while that's normally a positive, it made fooling her a little less fun.

According to an interview just last week, it's still in the works. Rod Man referred to a "second pitch" so apparently the first one wasn't accepted but NBC's still trying.http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/2015/07/rod-man-last-comic-standing-season-8-winner-talks-art-comedy-exclusive-interview#

For what it's worth, she and Jeselnik dated for many years. Not that it likely weighs in to anything on the show, but just an interesting connection.Andof course they played Schumer up. Did we expect the show to brag about the 3 that beat her? (Jon Reep, Lavell Crawford, and Gerry Dee)

I thought the parking sign hit just the right level of physicality, since it was unexpected and helped sell that one joke. It wasn't a "schtick" like Kellan's. But that just goes to show everyone has different preferences.

Anthony did a good job as host. He was clever and had good repartee with the judges, with enough of his signature edge but still network-appropriate. It reminded me of Jimmy Carr, who is well established as a host on British shows. Norm was trying too hard to be positive on too many comics. So I liked his attempts to be constructive, even if I didn't agree with the specifics. I agree that it does feel like they were trying to fill "types". Ms. Pat did have some jokes, but I can't say the same for Mehran. I've seen gay comics and I've seen Iranian ones. Being both may be good for NBC checkboxes but doesn't automatically grant material. Still, they do need people to eliminate in the next round so I guess there's wiggle room.

Silencers aren't "silent", despite what Hollywood implies. It sounds like a car door being slammed. I suppose you could do it in a sound-proof room (it is their theatre) but there just isn't that much time to actually do that. Plus the issue with getting the casing back to the shooter and into the gun. I doubt they use plants. They do the show every night, people see it repeatedly, and occasionally volunteers have social media'd about their experience. It is a more plausible idea for this trick than for most, since the choice isn't random. But I don't think so.

That's true. Piff was the biggest success of Season 1 and he didn't fool them at all.

JB Smoove is fine; he's doing ads for rent.com. Normally from TV host to commercials is a step down, but coming from Last Comic Standing it seems like a lateral move.

Not really.If you knew that the laser sights were aimed well to the side of the barrel, and the glass was positioned off to the side as well, it's possible to line up precisely so the laser points at your partner and the gun shoots in a different direction, through the glass. But that's legitimately dangerous so I doubt P&T would do that. And it still would require duplicate bullets. Here are the components that need to be answered: 1. How do they get the bullet out of the casing? 2. How does the signed bullet leave the "shooter"? 3. How does the bullet get scoring as if fired? 4. How does the gun (with signed shell) fire? 5. How does the bullet get to the "catcher"? 6. How does the glass break? #5 is the easiest, since the carts come on stage with safety gear. The rest I don't know. Maybe the bullet slides out of the casing in a way the volunteers don't notice? But still leaves the shell to fire blank? I know it was their show's final trick for many years and they conferenced a bunch of experts to devise the method, so I'm not surprised I can't figure it out. It's just that good.

I think it's simpler than that. They were all attached in the back on a single bolt. Pick two rings toward the middle. Rotate one clockwise, so the side audience-left is high. Rotate the one below it counterclockwise. Now the right sides of those two rings are touching or crossing, but the left side has a wide gap equivalent to three of the spacings we saw. That's enough for her to get through quickly without major contortions. Go through then move them back and you're done. It wouldn't even need any mechanical rigging, since Jonathan was rushing through the bolting and magician Kyle was positioning them so we'd never question that they could rotate. But it wouldn't be that hard anyway to put stoppers or something that ensured it would rotate easily.

Handsome Jack had me going back and forth between loving him and hating him. The persona was funny, but then it went on too long, but then he tied it into the act, but then the act was a simple trick, but then he revealed it, but then the reveal was fake, but then he did it again, but the method on the second one was good enough to fool them. I think that was a magician's act for magicians: most audiences might not think about where the pieces go, but that's exactly the impressive part. I really like P&T's bullet catch. It's a simple idea excuted with such difficulty that I can barely guess at a method and not even with confidence.

What impressed me about Shin Lim's card magic - and this isn't so much a spoiler for him as about Magic in general - is that he was performing against an animated red background. And a red vest too (although black shirt under it). A black, poorly-lit background is just so helpful for making things vanish that I expect it to be standard, and to not use that is just added difficulty. Now once you know in advance what's coming, and realize that the second signed card had to have been duplicated*, a lot of it can be detected. He's very good with angles, but you can see when hands aren't quite turning - or in one case between his fingers. Although my first suspicion - that he was ditching to the wide, rolled-up sleeves, was not correct. And really anything I could point out would feel like nit-picking, since the whole act was really beautiful. * The main trick was the second signed card moving around, and while there were plenty of great slights the jump from back to front hand could only have been done via duplicate. And pausing to compare the two, I think the signatures are very slightly different. Which would be an easy mechanic to get away with if you only ask her to verify on the original and flash the duplicate to the audience. Now I don't really know how he did that, but one possible way would be a skilled assistant under the table. That would also help with some ditches and with initiating the smoke effect from the table. But again, just a guess.

I thought the same thing. And technically, Doo Wop would work fine with 4 people. You just have each do one verse instead of going back to Wayne for the final. They could even (optionally) call it "Barbershop" for a different spin. I remember you saying that a few weeks ago, so when Ryan went over to the instruments again I thought "Well, that solidifies @The Luvly Junkie's theory. I also thought of @needschocolate during that game when Ryan made no mention of weather whatsoever.