I've loved Penn & Teller for maybe 15 years now. I'd watch anytime they went on Letterman, including videotaping so that I could play it back in slow motion and try to figure out whatever trick they were doing. I've seen all of their prime-time TV specials, their 1989 movie "Penn and Teller Get Killed," their three BBC specials about magic in India, China, and Egypt, and I have two of their books. I've watched all of their Showtime series, "Bullshit!" I've listened to Penn's famous "This I Believe" essay about atheism on NPR (their most-searched-for piece). I think I've seen all of the YouTube videos that feature them. I saw their show at the Rio four or five years ago. I even got to participate on stage for the famous "Magic Bullets" trick. I got to speak to them briefly after the show and tell them how much I appreciate all they do for skepticism and libertarian values. (I'm not sure why those two things seem to go hand-in-hand for so many people, but they do.)
And Saturday, I got to see the show again--for free! They do a very cool thing every January, which is offer free tickets to locals who donate blood. A friend of mine gave a pint, and took me to the show for my birthday.
It was as great as I had hoped. About half of the acts were different from what had been in the show the last time I saw it. In the very first one, pictured above, Teller walks onto the stage with his head encased in a concrete block. An audience member is invited onstage. Penn takes her glasses and slips them into his pocket. He has her confirm that an object he produces is a genuine billiard ball, and raps it against Teller's concrete for further verification. After a while, Penn takes a hammer and smashes open the concrete block, and under it we see that Teller is wearing the woman's glasses! The whole time, Teller's hands never move from where you see them in the photo. This is one of those tricks that I would love to see a second time in order to solve the mystery of how it's done. (Actually, I think I have it, and I'll reveal my guess below after the spoiler alert, so you can choose whether to read it or not.)
I loved a bit in which a blindfolded audience member first has knives thrown at her (but not really), then ends up throwing them at Penn (but, again, not really). It's not magic in the traditional sense, because everybody in the joint sees exactly what is happening except for the poor woman up on the stage--but it's still wonderfully entertaining.
I've spent many hours thinking about the "Magic Bullets" trick--easily their most famous illusion. I've Googled it and read just about every description of it people have posted. They specifically ask for audience members with handgun experience, so, predictably, lots of shooting enthusiasts end up talking about their on-stage observations in firearms-related forums. Between my two live viewings of it, having seen it once on television, as well as a YouTube video of an earlier incarnation of the same trick, I'm quite confident now that I have worked out how it is done.
I've debated whether to explain the details. On the one hand, when I first saw the Rio show, Penn had a long monologue in which he talked about the phenomenon of stage magic, and I was impressed by one thing in particular that he said. Paraphasing, it was that you could figure out everything we do if you put your mind to it. You generally don't put in the effort because you enjoy being baffled. It struck me as essentially an open invitation to dissect their performance. On the other hand, I so respect and admire their work both on and off stage that I would feel kind of cheap and sleazy to divulge what I've figured out--particularly when the final confirmation of my ideas came from them so generously giving away free tickets to blood donors.
The latter considerations are outweighing the former in my mind, so for now I'm going to keep it to myself. I'll just say that it's very, very clever and sophisticated, and I would never have even begun to crack it without having had lots of experience with handguns, including making my own ammunition in my basement for practice and competitions. The solution is, I think, highly technical.
It's a great show--the only Vegas act I've seen twice (well, unless you count the "Game Show Spectacular," about which see this post). Read more about the P&T show and its Vegas history here. Then go see it.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Here's what I think happens in the show-opening eyeglasses trick. When Penn stands next to Teller to rap the billiard ball on the concrete, he slips the glasses to Teller. (I didn't catch him doing this, of course, but in retrospect, it seems like the only possibility. That's why I'd like to see it again, to pay attention during those crucial few seconds, and see if I can verify this hunch.) But then how do they get on Teller's face, when his hands never leave the front corners of the concrete block? Well, I couldn't figure that out until I saw the photo posted above as I was preparing to write this. I think those aren't really Teller's hands. I think they're props, and his arms are free to move around under his suit. You can sort of see a strange bulge right above the big support belt he's wearing. (During the show it occurred to me that his arms must get very tired, being held in that position for so long. Now I think not!) He can therefore put the glasses on once Penn slips them to him. If I'm right about this, it's remarkably simple--yet extremely effective and surprising.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Penn and Teller (no poker content)
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3 comments:
I first saw Teller back in the early 80's, before Penn and Teller started their act. I'm not sure if he knew Penn yet, but Teller was doing a magic act in travelling Renaissance festivals. I had no idea who he was, of course, but I enjoyed his act and took some pictures. Much later, I saw Penn and Teller perform (and knew who they were from TV). At some point, I was going through old photos and found the one of Teller. I was struck by the resemblance to Teller (and recalled that the performer never spoke a word), so I did some research. Sure enough, the festival stuff is in his bio.
One trick in particular was impressive. He would start with an apple that had a bunch of pins stuck in it. He would pull out some of the pins, group them together, show them to the audience, then very clearly swallow them. He would repeat this until the pins were all gone. Then he would produce some thread, wad it up, and swallow it. He would then eat the apple (or most of it). An audience member would examine his mouth very thoroughly. He would then go through a lot of motions like he was trying to bring something back up from his stomach, until finally he would reach into his mouth, grab a thread, and pull out a long thread with needles attached to the length of it.
I saw this trick up close twice, and actually figured it out (I think!)
I saw him do that trick on one of the BBC DVDs (the one in China, I think). I had no idea how it was done. Tell, tell!
When he's removing the pins from the apple, he groups them together in a bunch (about 5-10 pins, I would guess). At that point, he shows them to the audience, places them on his tongue for all to see, etc. They very clearly stay together during all of this - he has some way of binding them in a bunch.
I believe he actually swallows the groups of pins. I don't know what happens to them after that - either they are "special" and dissolve in his stomach, or they are real and eventually pass on through. But he goes to great lengths to show they go into his mouth and don't come out.
Some of this is pretty fuzzy - I saw this over 25 years ago. But he has the "pins on a thread" palmed towards the end, and there is a point where he is able to put it in his mouth undetected. This may be when he is contorting his stomach and pretending to dry-heave (and covering his mouth with his hand when he does it). At the end of this part, he is working his mouth around - presumably bringing up the thread from his stomach, but in reality staging the threaded needles that are now in his mouth (unbinding them if they are bound, loosening up the bunch, finding the end of the thread, whatever).
All that is left is to reach in and pull out the threaded needles. And deal with the other needles in his stomach later...
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