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The Carbonaro Effect - General Discussion


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Airing on TruTv.  New episodes on Thursday at 10 pm.

 

One of my favorite shows now airing on television.  Full Disclosure: Michael Carbonaro is a magician with a team of helpers who help him pull off his tricks.  How he "does it" is not shown.  What is shown is him usually working as a clerk or cashier in a store where unsuspecting customers are victims of his pranks.  Chicks hatching out of supermarket eggs, clothing quick changes, crabs appearing in Chinese food delivery, shipping boxes full of children, etc.  Best of all are his ludicrous explanations to the customer about what just happened. 

 

Last episode had a baby dinosaur hatching from a fossilized eggs. 

 

Love this show.

After watching a bunch of these I feel like Michael is a tad bit obnoxious. I like to figure out how he is doing the tricks. Sometimes it is obvious. I read he has help with the tricks too. My favortie was in the REI when he came out wearing the mannequin clothing and they switched the ladder. She only turned around for a second so Im not sure how they switched the ladder that fast!

I like the guy. The way he bullshits people when they ask him questions is hilarious. I am, however, surprised that PeTA hasn't gotten on his case about all the animals he uses. I think they are largely supplied by Staples Animal Safari, a traveling zoo company. As far as such outfits go, they seem reputable (I've seen them at our county fair and was actually pretty impressed), but there's a large contingent out there that I think are against all zoos and animal use on principle. So I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I just watched him restoring an old church. He fooled his helper into believing that an old chalice found in the wall turned items to cement when touched by it. The best part was the man who touched it and turned into a statue. I don't know how they switched out the man and statue so quickly and quietly. He was standing right next to the helper and she only turned her head for a moment.

  • Love 1

What gets me is so much of this is left up to chance. The episode I just watched had a lady come into the store with a box she ordered online. The box was of a doll and the the woman wanted to trade it for something else. The gag was Carbonaro laid the doll down next to a real baby and the clothes were switched when they checked back to the baby. How does Carbonaro know that this certain lady who ordered this certain doll is going to come into his store on this certain day to return the doll? Everything had to go perfectly for this to happen. Too much is left to chance. That is leaving me wondering if this is really a magic show or a scripted show.

  • Love 2
On 11/18/2017 at 6:41 AM, cooksdelight said:

I’ve wondered how many people they film and then pull the best one from the bunch. There have to be people who recognize him and try to play along. I would! :)

I think that about Impractical Jokers also, which is on the same channel.  That is a more popular show than this one, so I would think they would get recognized more often than Carbonaro, who often wears some sort of disguise at least.

What gets me is how he always say "It's a hidden camera......magic.....TV show" with pauses in place, every time.  I suppose he says it that way to make it clear exactly what is going on.

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