Season 2: Back in Vegas

[SomethingClever]

I still really enjoy the show, but I feel like the overall quality of the acts is definitely down from the first season. 

 

Sankey was solid, but it felt a little disjointed to me, and I know he's got better material than that.

 

Greg Wilson was the best act of the night. I'm not much for stage illusions, but this one was well-conceived, direct, and the multiple kicker endings were both entertaining and impossible. It was fun seeing Mark Wilson too, since I've got his book on magic.

 

 Didn't like Trigg all that much. I've seen much better versions of McCombical deck. Honestly, I thought his first trick, the production with the tablet, was his strongest trick.

 

Jen's trick has a clever method, but the presentation itself was severely lacking. If all you're doing is finding a card, it's not enough to just make it seem impossible, it also has to be entertaining, and this wasn't. Also, her handling of the cards, as Penn said, was kinda sloppy.

[Taeolas]

I realized after I went to bed how Jen's trick was done. Still fun, but a basic card trick none the less.

Jonathan told her the card before she picked it; that's the key.

. I was just surprised that he picked the same card as I did and didn't finish thinking the trick through. :)

[The Crazed Spruce]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Penn and Teller themselves show how to do Trigg's trick on one of their specials, only with a regular deck?

[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.

 

Jen's card trick has me stumped, mainly because it's the card I picked too. Is the Eight of Diamonds that noticable in general? (I paused on her half of the fan, but didn't see the 8 of diamonds there).

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.

 

 

Even P&T's trick was pretty straight forward; I noticed Teller loading the hat I think for the final reveal, mainly because I was expecting it (and could paws and rewind a little. ;) )

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.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Penn and Teller themselves show how to do Trigg's trick on one of their specials, only with a regular deck?

I don't recall that, but possibly.

[Kromm]

I get the feeling that the Greg Wilson Fool Us reward was out of respect for his parents. I get the feeling Penn knew exactly how everything was done, but like last season, they were so impressed to meet the parents, they let it go. I'm a little disappointed they didn't talk more about the history of the magicians. 

Frankly I was rolling my eyes a hair at the fact that everyone (us included) was expected to go ape for a pair of old people that honestly most of us have never heard of. This show was apparently on in the very early 60s, and while that doesn't make it irrelevant, I think it means that perhaps the only people in that room who knew who they were had to be Penn and Teller.  It felt like cheap applause, because as important as he might be in the annals of 20th century magic history, that applause was being milked out of people that wasn't earned from.

 

Teller looked thrilled though. He's just the right age for this to be a first hand thing for him, I think. He'd have been around 12 or 13 when this show was on. That's right, Teller is in his late 60s. Him hardly looking half of that age is his own brand of magic, I guess.  EDIT - And I just listened to Penn's talk after the trick.  He does mention Teller's first hand viewing of that show.  Penn is like 7 or 8 years younger than Teller, so he wouldn't likely have seen it as a precocious 5 year old.

 

That said, looking the senior Wilson up, what I DID recognize was his book--even if the name and his TV history was not really in my head. The cover is iconic, and that's what I recall.

 

 

I've seen it in book stores over the years. I may have even briefly had a copy as a kid, although since I sucked at sleight of hand I gave up magic fairly quickly.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Kromm

[mansonlamps]

I still really enjoy the show, but I feel like the overall quality of the acts is definitely down from the first season. 

 

Sankey was solid, but it felt a little disjointed to me, and I know he's got better material than that.

 

Greg Wilson was the best act of the night. I'm not much for stage illusions, but this one was well-conceived, direct, and the multiple kicker endings were both entertaining and impossible. It was fun seeing Mark Wilson too, since I've got his book on magic.

 

 Didn't like Trigg all that much. I've seen much better versions of McCombical deck. Honestly, I thought his first trick, the production with the tablet, was his strongest trick.

 

Jen's trick has a clever method, but the presentation itself was severely lacking. If all you're doing is finding a card, it's not enough to just make it seem impossible, it also has to be entertaining, and this wasn't. Also, her handling of the cards, as Penn said, was kinda sloppy.

Wow now I have to go back and rewatch the entire episode with these pointers. I didn't realize how transparent all the tricks were!

[Monty]

I actually liked that Jen didn't handle the cards like a seasoned magician. When somebody starts throwing flourishes all over the place, that just tells me that they're great at sleight of hand. Act like an amateur, and I'm much less on my guard.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Featured magicians performing their best tricks include Kostya Kimlat, Frederick Falk, Chris Funk and Nate Dendy.

[ennui]

I can't begin to imagine how much P&T know about magic.

[SomethingClever]

Loved this ep. Three very strong performances. 

 

I knew Kostya Kimlat was going to be good, but that was fantastic, and I loved seeing Penn react so strongly. To give you an idea of how impressive that was, P&T knew exactly where that trick was going to end up from the moment he mixed the cards face up and face down, there's no surprising them on that. And he accomplishes that with pure, hard core sleight of hand, no gimmicks. To do that with them sitting right at each of his shoulders and have them not see what he's doing is simply magnificent. It's a great trick, and done beautifully, but it's one that magicians can probably enjoy even more than laymen because of the skill required to pull it off.

 

Frederick Falk was the weakest trick of the night, which makes it a shame that they pulled Pegg up on the stage for this one. It's a little unfair, since I think Pegg's presence clearly rattled him, but I also think it wasn't a very good choice of trick for the venue. He struggled with the looking away part (you know there are going to be screens there, you should have something ready for that), and the real kicker of the trick, the watch hands being gone, we didn't even get to see. It's a fine trick, but the execution was poor.

 

Loved the presentation for Chris Funk's trick. He took a classic piece of magic, the rising cards, and gave it a really nice framework. It was elegant, magical, and flowed nicely.

 

I'm a real sucker for a mime act if it's done well, and Nate Dendy did it really well. Humorous, energetic and fun, and the orange at the end is a perfect little moment. I loved, loved, loved it. I could watch that 10 more times and still be entertained.

[Taeolas]

I agree; lots of fun tonight. 

 

Falk's trick was the weakest I agree, and it felt like he was trying to get a win on a technicality.  Still, it was a good way to clear up the rules a bit for people who might suspect more shinanigans going on.

 

Kimlat was fantastic, and watching Penn's reaction to it made it even more fun. It's one thing to pull off a trick and fool them. But to pull off a trick that they know HOW it's going to end, and STILL pull off a switch right under their eyes is even more impressive. At least that's the only way I can think of how it was done, but I have no clue one way or another. 

 

Funk's trick was fun, and his act was good. I'm pretty sure we've seen his style of tricks before, so there was no real chance of fooling them; but his patter was nice and his act was fun to watch.

 

Dendy's act was fun too. Predictable for how it was done, (especially when Penn explained the mistake's purpose) but fun to watch. Speaking of explaining, I liked the intro where Penn explained how they explain the tricks and why they are cryptic like that. I appreciate how they do that. 

 

Penn and Teller's trick was just pure fun. Not really much of a trick (beyond a standard body swap), but entertaining to watch and really highlights the comedy aspect of their act.

[SomethingClever]

Falk's trick was the weakest I agree, and it felt like he was trying to get a win on a technicality.  Still, it was a good way to clear up the rules a bit for people who might suspect more shinanigans going on.

 

I kind of get why he was hemming and hawing, since there's a little bit of ambiguity there as to what, exactly, constitutes a "gimmick". He's gotta know that P&T know the general idea of what he's doing though, it's not like it's a particularly original act. 

 

 

Kimlat was fantastic, and watching Penn's reaction to it made it even more fun. It's one thing to pull off a trick and fool them. But to pull off a trick that they know HOW it's going to end, and STILL pull off a switch right under their eyes is even more impressive. At least that's the only way I can think of how it was done, but I have no clue one way or another.

 

It's not a switch. It's a normal deck of cards and it's the same deck of cards all the way through.

[Taeolas]

A normal deck with no switch at all? Then I am completely stumped and even more impressed. Then again, a lot of these card manipulators leave me stumped as to how they can make those 52 cards do whatever they want.

[Amarsir]

Kimlat was fantastic. I love the precision required to pull it off that trick at all, let alone with the guys sitting right there.

 

I kind of get why he was hemming and hawing, since there's a little bit of ambiguity there as to what, exactly, constitutes a "gimmick". He's gotta know that P&T know the general idea of what he's doing though, it's not like it's a particularly original act. 

There must have been more to that conversation that we didn't get to see. Because I thought the method was obvious and was thoroughly unsatisfied by P&T's answer. So either I'm way off base (which is certainly possible) or the magic words were somewhere in the cut footage.

 

Funk did have a nice performance. Broken down into mechanics it's nothing new, and Penn told us where to learn it. But disregarding that it's the kind of trick I'll happily watch anytime.

 

I also really enjoy a trick that's only accompanied by music, especially if they can still portray comedy that way.  When Penn said to Dendy "I may be the only magician in the country who likes X", that's not out of nowhere. I heard him mention once (either in an interview or his podcast) that he wants to use a version of that trick in their act and Teller is really opposed to it.  And there's something else Teller wanted that Penn didn't like, so they were considering a compromise. (Which I don't think ended up happening.)

[carruth00]

A normal deck? Not quite... Think more along the lines of a half normal deck. Note Teller got to shuffle his half..  and Penn never got to actually shuffle HIS half.. Kostya did it for him.. for a reason.   

[SomethingClever]

A normal deck? Not quite... Think more along the lines of a half normal deck. Note Teller got to shuffle his half..  and Penn never got to actually shuffle HIS half.. Kostya did it for him.. for a reason.   

 

Nope. I know what you're thinking, but I'm 100% sure it's a normal deck.

[Rowsdower]

Frederick Falk's performance was my least favorite of the entire series (UK and US) so far.  He used an off-the-shelf gimmick, to which he added nothing but his nervous, clumsy delivery (which, nonetheless, he managed to combine with an off-putting air of arrogance).  Had the initial trick been accomplished with a thumper, it would have been a vastly inferior variant of Mike Hammer's piece from S02E02 (made entertaining through its clever, comedic execution).

 

Of course, the actual method was even less impressive than that, as established through the subsequent reveals.  The vanishing hands blew the illusion that an ordinary wristwatch was used.  For good measure, the $4.50 in coins (whose presence he awkwardly explained via the flimsiest pretext imaginable) confirmed that the time was predetermined and entirely outside the volunteer's control.  He took an exceedingly dull trick and made it worse by stripping away any semblance of mystique.

 

And then he had the audacity to challenge Penn & Teller, thereby insulting their credibility as magicians by suggesting that there was even a remote possibility that his amateurish routine was beyond their understanding.  The only astonishing part is that he actually does this as a profession.

[carruth00]

There are some off-the-shelf watches that will do what Falk wants if they are pulled out far enough. As such, they are not gaffed. I think that's what Falk was getting at.. But, this effect is generally performed with the gaffed watch, as you can allow the spec to see the time at the beginning, which Falk didn't do, then, put it under a scarf, set the time, and the time will still be pre-determined by the watch. One of the more expensive props would have been more impressive. P&T still understood the method.

As for Kostya, -if- the deck wasn't gaffed, and I still believe it was, it was a wonderful cull....  The only thing that makes me think it wasn't was Teller picking up some of the cards after the effect was over and having a hard look at them back at his chair..     

[SomethingClever]

As for Kostya, -if- the deck wasn't gaffed, and I still believe it was, it was a wonderful cull....  The only thing that makes me think it wasn't was Teller picking up some of the cards after the effect was over and having a hard look at them back at his chair..     

 

I'll move any further discussion to the spoiler thread, but there are several reasons why it had to be a normal deck.

[Charlesman]

I don't even get the point of Falk's watch trick. It was just bad showmanship... he never even established the watch hands could move by showing them before starting the trick. The first we saw of the watch, the dial was set at 4:50. For all we know, the watch was broken, the stem doesn't move anything, and the watch started in that position.

 

He could have used a clear watch face with two hands painted on it, stuck it to the face of a watch with no hands, then pulled it off before giving it to Simon Pegg.

 

It's akin to pulling out a deck of cards in the box, fanning them face down, having the spectator pick one, then announcing "I bet it's the eight of diamonds!", without first establishing you don't have a pack of 52 eight of diamonds.

 

It was just poorly presented, and the thing with the $4.50 in coins was just sloppy. It didn't make any sense in the flow of the trick.

[Jimmy McNulty]

Does Jonathan have a speech impediment or is he playing it up?  He sounds like a gradeschooler at times.  He's worse than Tom Brokaw.

[Monty]

He does have a speech impediment (his Twitter handle is @wossy) but that hasn't stopped him from being really huge in England.

[Amarsir]

It's called "rhotacism" and it's an interesting impediment in that it's accent-related.  People from regions that don't pronounce "R" at the end of the word sometimes have the tendency to drop it from the front as well. So for example in the US it's more likely to occur in someone from Boston than from Dallas.

 

Anyway it's certainly part of his identity and I'm sure he could have taken speech therapy if he'd wanted to drop it, but having it hasn't hurt his career at all.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Please stick to talking about the show itself in the episode threads. You can reconvene the discussion about Jonathan Ross in his own thread.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Featured magicians performing their best tricks include Blake Vogt, Joshua Jay, Levent and Ben Seidman.

[SomethingClever]

Great, great show, maybe the best of the season.

 

Blake Vogt's trick was fantastic. I have a small sense of what's going on, but the thinking that has to go into that trick to make it work is more than I can wrap my head around right now. His presentation was a little stiff, but the routining was very good.

 

Vogt's trick was a head scratcher, but Joshua Jay's destroyed me. I've seen him do this trick before. I've stood 5 feet away and watched him do it, and it totally fooled me. I could think of ways it could be done though, so I was excited to see it again on video. I watched closely and...still no idea. I know part of it, but if there's no deck and he can truly hand that deck out at the end, I'm stumped. Outside of how fooling it is though, it's a great trick. It's direct, motivated, and super magical. I loved it.

 

Really enjoyed Levent. It is an old-fashioned trick, but he kept it moving and humorous, and the productions at the end were great.

 

Ben Seidman might have been the weakest act for me, but that's just because I know the trick already. It's a great trick, and I really enjoyed his sense of humor.

 

Not my favorite P&T trick. Honestly, the best part was maybe Teller pretending to talk as Penn talked for him. 

[Amarsir]

I was a little disappointed two weeks ago when I saw then on Broadway and they didn't do Athiest Deck of Cards. So I was happy to see it for the first time here. Not the most deceptive of tricks, but enjoyably timed and with educational patter.

 

Ben Seidman drifted a little too far into standup for me.  We all know comedy works great with magic, and he was definitely funny. But it took so long for him to get to the actual trick that it felt like a lot of buildup without enough payoff.  (For the curious, here is the Tommy Wonder performing the original.)

 

By contrast, Levent did an amazing job of weaving a classic trick through the whole act.  Lots of actions, several provers, and good workhorse comedy.  I liked it.

 

Joshua Jay certainly fooled me as well.  I was sure it was a deck switch too. Maybe watching again will give me an idea, but it was well done. My only objection was using a pre-selected random audience member.  It screams "plant" when I'm sure it wasn't.  If you don't want to devote the air time to random selection, then just use Jonathan.

 

And Blake Vogt already had a good trick without letting P&T keep the paper rings.  I suppose he knew he wouldn't fool them anyway, but the confidence was just amazing.  Not that he shouldn't be.  He's amazed them before on Wizard Wars. (His partner there is Chris Funk who you'll remember from the violin trick last week.)

 

So overall I'm with you @SomethingClever.  Surely a contender for best episode of the season.

[mansonlamps]

I really liked Ben Seidman's act.  Maybe it veered into a bit much stand-up, but he was hilarious so that was okay with me.

[barbedwire]

I liked Ben's trick but I do agree it took him too long to get to it.  I didn't care for P & T's trick this week.  I like it better where they are both involved.

[Amarsir]

I didn't care for P & T's trick this week.  I like it better where they are both involved.

Related trivia: the name they originally wanted for their act was "Penn Jillette and/or Teller".  A theater owner informed them that this was stupid and she wouldn't put it on her sign, and so they became "Penn & Teller".

Edited August 27, 2015 by Amarsir

[ae2]

I love comedy magic acts, and I would have loved Ben Seidman... if I had gone to see him at a show. My expectations with this show are very different, and it was driving me nuts to watch him drag out not performing a trick for soooo long.

 

The other acts were great. I groaned a bit when Vogt brought out the rings, because that's one of my least favorite acts. (It's just underwhelming - it isn't visually impressive, it doesn't have the benefit of using everyday objects, it's always the same.) But he put a really great twist on it, and the fact that P&T knew how it worked but couldn't find the evidence was wonderful.

 

The knot-not trick is the perfect example of how to take a classic trick that everyone has seen before and really own it. 

[SVNBob]

I get the feeling that the Greg Wilson Fool Us reward was out of respect for his parents. I get the feeling Penn knew exactly how everything was done, but like last season, they were so impressed to meet the parents, they let it go. I'm a little disappointed they didn't talk more about the history of the magicians.

 

Even P&T's trick was pretty straight forward; I noticed Teller loading the hat I think for the final reveal, mainly because I was expecting it (and could paws and rewind a little. ;) )

 

Absolutely Greg Wilson got the pass because of the final reveal of his parents.  Penn basically said so.  Still, having a second-generation performer and the son of two legends of the magic community do a one-time opening act...that's a great draw for P&T

 

And Teller loading the rabbit was obvious.  The tricky part is the steal.  Where the hell was that rabbit before the load?

 

Didn't like Trigg all that much. I've seen much better versions of McCombical deck. Honestly, I thought his first trick, the production with the tablet, was his strongest trick.

Thing is, he very nearly screwed that up.  At the beginning of the trick, after he first picks up the tablet, you can see the flower stick up from behind the tablet for just a moment.  It's brief flash of yellow, but it is there.  He does recover well though.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Featured magicians include Riley Siegler, Jade, Ran'D Shine and David Roth.

[SomethingClever]

Riley did well for a kid his age on national television, even if he was a little rushed in his presentation. That's a great trick, one I do all the time. Blows people away in person.

 

Jade's act was a lot of fun, and very fooling. Lots of fun interplay, and flawlessly executed.

 

The trick Ran'D Shine (heck of a name) did looks like an absolute miracle the way it played out. I'd be interested to see what is other out was if he'd had to resort to it. I can think of a few ways to do it.

 

Watching David Roth was a real treat, even if it's obvious on camera that age has caught up to him a bit, and his hands are a little shaky. The spellbound routine with the Chinese coin was great. The complete vanishes were even better. That one made me sit up straight and watch closer.

 

Best P&T trick in a while. It's not the most fooling thing, but it's the kind of premise that they do so well. 

[Amarsir]

The greatest trick Penn & Teller ever pulled off was getting David Roth to open for them in Vegas and act like they're giving him a prize.

 

I haven't seen them do Bill of Rights in ages. It's very much a P&T trick: a classic, updated and given meaning, with reveals built in. But I understand why they rotated it out of the show, given that they now have "Rabbit from a Hat" for the simple slight and TSA for the Bill of Rights talk.

[Kromm]

Watching David Roth was a real treat, even if it's obvious on camera that age has caught up to him a bit, and his hands are a little shaky. The spellbound routine with the Chinese coin was great. The complete vanishes were even better. That one made me sit up straight and watch closer.

I know nothing about those coin tricks, but I kept asking myself why (with the first one) we were ever supposed to believe that the hand he brought up to his mouth had the coins in it in the first place.

 

The Chinese Coin trick though was a lot more impressive.  The final vanish didn't LOOK as impressive, but I gather from his comments it was the new trick of the bunch.

 

The greatest trick Penn & Teller ever pulled off was getting David Roth to open for them in Vegas and act like they're giving him a prize.

I can see that. But notice that Penn basically dodged contradicting Roth's statement that he thought they wouldn't know how he did the final bit. The "he fooled us" was couched in terms of all those qualifiers to allow Penn to avoid saying that Teller probably had a pretty good idea.

[theatremouse]

Which, as on previous occasions when Penn's done that sort of thing, made it annoying and disappointing.

Edited September 6, 2015 by theatremouse

[The Crazed Spruce]

Featured magicians performing their best trick include Joel and Spidey, Rick Lax, Marcus Eddie and Bruce Gold.

[SomethingClever]

Spidey and Joel - This was like the first draft of what could be a really good trick. There are elements that I like, but the effect ended up being so muddled. All the "making fun of typical magicians" stuff was okay, but it just wasn't given sufficient thought and came off kind of like a bad P&T impersonation to me. It's not a bad trick, but the presentation was lacking. 

 

Rick Lax - Loved this routine. The "Casey at the Bat" stuff and his interplay with P&T kept the trick interesting and entertaining at all the parts it could have been really boring. I've always liked Rick's material, and it's great to see him do really well on the show. I have some thoughts on how he did it, but I'm not 100% sure. I was pretty sure the "deck switch" was a fake-out, since it seemed way too obvious.

 

Marcus Eddie - It was fine, but I didn't love it. The illusion is good, but (at least to my eyes) the set up to get there is a little finicky. Also, I think he needed to give his script another once over, cause it felt pretty stilted.

 

Bruce Gold - Eeks. Didn't think the comedy was good (or original), nor was the trick particularly impressive (or original). Not as bad as Fredrick Falk from a few weeks ago, but pretty weak.

 

One of the P&T classics. Always love watching that routine. 

[Amarsir]

Bruce Gold had some decent jokes, but I think they were surrounded by "trying too hard".  That kind of delivery seems like the hack comedians that flooded neighborhood comedy clubs in the late 80s. You can be cynical like a lot of modern comics. Or you can be cliche but earnest like Mac King. Gold felt like he was going to go "these are the jokes, folks!" or try to sell us a used car.

 

That said, I didn't think it was that bad of a routine. He had fun with the audience and "select a card from the bag" will, if nothing else, feel different to an audience that's seen a lot of card selection methods.

 

I also get a "trying too hard" vibe from Marcus Eddie, but that might be unfair of me. I think he genuinely enjoys what he does but the smile is a little too forced, especially on a trick that doesn't have a lot of motion to it.

[mansonlamps]

I thoroughly enjoyed Bruce Gold's act, call me old fashioned I guess. I felt Marcus Eddie was the weak link this week, his magic is okay he just needs to work on his delivery.

I'm really enjoying this show overall, does anyone know how many episodes are left?

[Amarsir]

I'm really enjoying this show overall, does anyone know how many episodes are left?

The Season 2 order was for 13 new episodes. We've seen 10 so far, so probably 3 more. Next week's is "Teller Deflowers a Shadow" and we don't know names for the 2 after.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Amarsir

[SomethingClever]

Next week's is "Teller Deflowers a Shadow" 

 

YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!! I'm so excited. I've always wanted to see that trick.

[ae2]

Not much to say about the rest, but Spidey and Joel drove me crazy. They started with this fun routine where the one was doing a typical mentalist trick and the other deconstructed it. That was good, well done. Especially loved when the mentalist 'froze' so the other guy could explain it.

 

Then suddenly that charade was over, the two performers were in perfect agreement and were going to do... another typical mentalist trick. It was jarring. I guess this one was supposed to be different somehow? I mean, maybe there was some new or unique element to the behind the scenes stuff that made it work. I didn't follow P&T's outing. But to the viewer it was just another trick like the one they had just made fun of.

 

Did I miss something?

[Amarsir]

Not much to say about the rest, but Spidey and Joel drove me crazy. They started with this fun routine where the one was doing a typical mentalist trick and the other deconstructed it. That was good, well done. Especially loved when the mentalist 'froze' so the other guy could explain it.

 

Then suddenly that charade was over, the two performers were in perfect agreement and were going to do... another typical mentalist trick. It was jarring. I guess this one was supposed to be different somehow? I mean, maybe there was some new or unique element to the behind the scenes stuff that made it work. I didn't follow P&T's outing. But to the viewer it was just another trick like the one they had just made fun of.

 

Did I miss something?

You're right. They should re-write the patter so that Spidey is trying to do a simple trick, Joel is trying to make it harder, and Spidey is fighting like he can't do it.  They lost those characters for a bit when they were too clearly working together, and it muddled what they were trying to accomplish.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Magicians performing their best tricks include Scott and Puck, Eric Jones, Mark Calabrese, and Paul Vigil.

[SomethingClever]

Scott and Puck - It's a really good trick, and I don't have any idea how it's done. I've seen some of Scott Alexander's work before, and he does good routines, but I'm not really a fan of his comedy style.

 

Eric Jones - Damn, I love Eric Jones. He's a real master of coin work. I love how much he slowed everything down and made the moments of magic crystal clear. He's got such a calm, assured presence. Man, just a damn good coin routine.

 

Mark Calabrese - Again, I'm not a big fan of Calabrese's style. The trick is fine, but there are so many issues with the presentation. He tried to take a "pick a card" trick and make it more difficult, but I kind of think he just made it more boring.

 

Paul Vigil - Really strong trick. I have some guesses, but I'm really not sure how he did it. I don't love mentalism, but this was a lot more direct than most of it is.

 

SHADOWS!!! I'm so excited to see that trick. Just absolutely beautiful. Simple, direct, powerful and affecting magic. 

[mansonlamps]

This was not my favorite episode.  I liked Eric Jones, both presentation and trick, and I liked Mark Calabrese's personality, trick not so much.  Vigil's trick was good, but I thought he seemed very odd.  And Scott and Puck were just okay, both trick and presentation.

 

Still love the show, though.  Am sorry it's almost over.

[Amarsir]

Like Penn, I also thought Eric Jones was brave to do the coin tricks so slowly and in the volunteers' hands. (Braver still would have been using P&T, but that's OK.)

The "You Fooled Us" moment was underwhelming because they had to go to Thompson for it, but I understand both points of view. On the one hand you don't want to lose credit on something truly deceptive just because an easier part was guesses. On the other, the last trick is usually the "Fool Us" part and no one benefits from them having to go "and then you palmed a 5th coin in your left hand which you ditched below the table only to retrieve after revealing the empty hand for the third time..." So I trust Johnny Thompson and am happy with the result.

Scott & Puck's bars trick is the one I've been thinking about too. I have an idea but didn't rewatch to vet it.

Calabrese's trick was boring in my eyes as well. Putting 51 decks through a shredder just isn't that interesting to me for the time involved. And I would have liked it better if he'd let Jonathan select his deck from the bin instead of having it pre-selected. The effect is fine, but dress it up differently imho.

Vigil's trick is really nice, although personally the NLP type of patter on a mentalism bit is getting really tiresome to me. Not that "The spirit world told me what you'd say" is any better, but the fact that people might believe "blank blind mice" means anything seems to violate the spirit of P&T honesty.

Overall a decent show, neither the best or worst. Lots of fun code speaking by Penn and Jonathan playing along and playing more befuddled than he probably was.

[Xantar]

It's too bad Penn & Teller had read Vigil's book because that was a pretty good trick. It was simple and direct and to the point. I was actually prepared to hate him based on his intro video, but he didn't bring any of that nonsense to his performance. He was at least as worthy of winning as anybody else who successfully fooled them.