Penn & Teller: Fool Us (2011–…): Season 6, Episode 10 - Magical Moxie - full transcript

- From the Penn & Teller Theater

at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,

here's our host,
Alyson Hannigan!

- Welcome to "Fool Us,"
where we offer intergalactic

bragging rights to any magician
in the galaxy

who can leave Penn and Teller
scratching their heads.

And now, taking one
small step for Teller

and one giant step for Penn,

the rulers of our magic
universe, Penn and Teller!

Remember, anyone who fools
Penn and Teller

wins an all-expenses-paid trip
to Las Vegas



to perform in their
legendary magic show.

Don't get too comfortable, boys,

because here comes
our first potential fooler.

- My name is Wolfgang Moser.
I am from Vienna, Austria.

When I was 12 years old,

my parents took me
to a shopping mall.

There was a beautiful young
girl performing magic tricks.

I had to buy this magic trick.

I gave her all the money I had,

and when I opened it up,

all I got was
a little piece of thread.

That's when I fell
in love with magic.

Even if you just have
a piece of thread,

what you can do with it
can be a real miracle.



I do a couple of tricks
with liquids,

and they seem
particularly magical

because it seems more impossible

to manipulate liquid.

Tonight I will perform

one of the oldest
magic tricks in the book.

This has been performed
in Greece and in Roman times.

I found a new version
how to perform this trick,

and I'll try to fool
Penn and Teller with it.

- Give it up for Wolfgang Moser.

- I want to show you a trick
that I found

in an almost
2,000-year-old magic book,

and the name of this trick
is Water into Wine,

true miracle.

All we need is a teapot.

Would you like to help me?
Please stand up.

I want you to check out
this teapot,

so please open it up
and look inside.

Make sure that it's empty and
just an ordinary teapot, okay.

Furthermore, we need some water.

Would you like
to help me as well?

Please stand up.
I want you to taste this water,

and please confirm for everybody

that this is, in fact, just...

- Water.
- Water.

You seem disappointed.

What about the teapot,
it's empty?

- Yes, sir.

- Just an ordinary teapot, okay.

So we have the teapot.
We have the water.

Now all I need is someone

who likes to enjoy
a good glass of wine.

How about you, sir?

- Yes, sir.
- Yes, wonderful.

I also have a glass for you.

And could you please
check out the glasses as well?

Make sure they are empty, there
are no powders, no chemicals.

Look at the glasses.
Yes. Wonderful.

So for the first time
in 2,000 years,

water...

into wine.

Now, it looks like wine.
It smells like wine.

Please, go ahead and taste this.

And not only does
it look like wine,

not only does it smell
like wine, it is...

- Wine.
- Hallelujah!

You can sit down. Thank you.

Now, in this old magic book,
the trick ended at this point,

but maybe you prefer
some white wine.

It's no problem.
Let's do another miracle:

water into white wine.

And could you please taste this?

And if this is a real,
genuine white wine,

just say "Hallelujah."

- Hallelujah!
- Hallelujah!

- Thank you very much.

Now, I think it's time
for a toast,

and I think this moment calls
for a cold, sparkling beer.

Cheers, everybody.

I brought some books because I
want someone to choose a drink.

Would you like to help me?
Could you please stand up?

Hold onto the teapot here.

First, I want you to choose
one of these books.

Which one do you like?
This one in this middle?

- Sure.
- Yes.

This one is great because

there are over
100 different cocktails

and party drinks in here.

You can choose one of these,
so I'll just flip through,

and you just say stop
whenever you want.

- Stop.

- Okay, so that's
Sex on the Beach.

Good choice. I like this.

This is vodka, cranberry juice,
orange juice,

and peach schnapps.

All right,
I also have a glass for you.

Please check out the glass.

So we have vodka, orange juice,

cranberry juice, schnapps.
So let's see.

For the first time
in 2,000 years,

water into Sex on the Beach.

Please, go ahead and taste this.

If this is a real
Sex on the Beach,

just say "Hallelujah."

- Hallelujah.
- Hallelujah.

- Hallelujah.
- Thank you very much.

Now, we have enough water left
for one last miracle.

Would you like to help me?
What's your name?

- Camry.
- Camry, would you like

to join me?
You know, I'm from Vienna,

and Vienna is famous
for its coffee,

so I'd like to make some real
Viennese coffee for you,

and you have to help me.
Could you open up your hand?

Put this on your hand,

because, actually, you will
do this all by yourself.

- Okay.

- And I will tell you
how this teapot works.

You just have to imagine
this coffee:

first the color,
getting darker and darker,

and next the smell
and the flavor.

Try to feel it in your nose.
Do you have it?

Very important
is also the temperature.

Could you please imagine
the teapot

getting warmer and warmer?
Feel the teapot.

It's getting hot?
It's getting hot?

- Can you smell?
What does it look like?

- It looks like coffee.
- It looks like coffee.

It smells like coffee, right?
And it's real hot.

Coffee!

Please, go ahead. Have a sip.

- It's coffee.
- Coffee. Thank you very much.

I think,
for real Viennese coffee,

there is now only
one last thing missing.

- Wolfgang Moser!

Wow, hi. - Hi.

All right, can you do a latte?

- Uh, no.
- Oh.

All right, well, work on it.

- You're very picky.

- So do you prefer old tricks
to new tricks?

- Yes, I love old tricks.

I love reading old magic books
and find old tricks

that nobody does anymore
and recreate them for today.

- That's so cool.

And so how long does this
take to work on?

- Oh, this trick took me about
three years to finish,

and I also did a lot of research

into the history of this trick,
which is fascinating,

and I'm performing this
for six years now, seven years.

- Wow. Okay, they're ready.
P and T, what do you think?

- Wolfgang, boy, we loved
the Biblical allusions.

That's the way to our heart.

But you're also going back
to... the plot

not only goes to Water to Wine
but also to a trick

called Think-a-Drink,
and that's very misleading

'cause Think-a-Drink
is kind of a lousy trick.

The teapot can't be examined
at the top.

There's compartments.
You fixed all that.

You took all the stuff
we don't like about

Think-a-Drink
and made it better,

and the teapot
is very, very magical.

We don't think
it's the only really

magical container onstage.

There's a lot of magical stuff
going on here, and like many,

many people, you got very lucky
with Sex on the Beach,

as many people
do in both senses.

What we're trying
to say here is,

not only did you get lucky
with Sex on the Beach,

you always get lucky
with Sex on the Beach,

and most of the time,
when you want to make coffee,

you have to do
some sort of switch

to make that coffee go on,

and we didn't see you hit
a switch on the side of it,

but we still think
there was a switch there.

It's just something
that maybe the audience

doesn't understand
as much as we do,

but you've taken a really
shabby, obvious trick

and turned it
into a real puzzler

but I don't think
completely fooled us.

- Okay.

- Aw, what do you think?

- Boy, they're turning on us.

- So are you convinced

they know how you did the trick?

- I'm afraid yes.
- Aww.

- Wonderful, man.
- Well, thank you so much.

Wolfgang Moser!

We've got to take a break,
and, like clockwork,

we'll be back in a minute.
Stay tuned.

- We said we'd be back,
and we weren't fooling,

but maybe this
next magician will be.

- I grew up
in Batesville, Indiana,

caskets and hospital beds.

I was the oldest of six kids,
and we were all homeschooled,

so my mom is a saint.
We didn't have a lot of money,

so we made up for that
in creativity and imagination.

You have to have a lot
of self-discipline

as a homeschooled kid,

and so I took that drive
to learning about magic.

When I was with people
one-on-one,

that was a little bit awkward,

so magic presented
that way of breaking the ice

and connecting with people.

If I fool Penn and Teller,

one of two things
is gonna happen:

either I'm going to jump
for joy or I'm going to cry.

- Joined by a randomly selected
member of our audience,

take a deep breath and open
your mind to Johnny Magic.

- Good evening.
Like Alyson said,

my name is Johnny Magic.

Of course that's
just a stage name.

My real name is Jonathon Magic.

Hi there. What's your name?

- Genevieve.
- Genevieve.

That's a nice name.
How do you feel?

- I feel scared.
- Scared, nervous.

Don't worry. My goal is that
you sit in this chair

and just feel as relaxed
and as comfortable

as you can be in front of
all these lights and cameras.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, which brings up
an interesting point.

You know, you would think
on this stage,

in front of the Penn and Teller,

that I would be filled
with anxiety, but I'm not,

and that's simply because
I've learned how to relax

and clear my mind
through meditation.

Tonight, I'm going
to be guiding you

through a magical meditation,

and when we're done... see
that gift right there?

That's for you. It's a gift
that's gonna help you

remember this experience
forever.

- Okay.
- Now, during the meditation,

I am going to ask you
very simple questions,

and all I ask is that when you
answer, just give us a simple,

one-word answer based
on your experience. Sound good?

- Sounds good.
- Great.

Go ahead and close your eyes.
Good. All right, here we go.

Picture this in your mind's eye:

you're standing in
a large green, lush forest.

It's your happy place,

and as you look to your right,
you notice a path,

and you start pushing through
the trees and leaves,

and you're moving through,

a large red door.

As you approach the door,
you start to open it.

You're very curious, Genevieve,

and as you reach for the
handle, I want you to look

and I want you to notice
in your mind's eye

that there's a little log

and on that log
is a little animal,

Genevieve,
and it's sipping a cup of tea.

It's got a little monocle too.
It's so cute.

Genevieve, my question
to you is, what is the animal?

- A pig.

- Okay, a pig, very good.

You're doing great.

I want you to think
about what's next.

I want you to walk
through this door,

and as you get
to the other side,

Genevieve, you're
completely weightless!

You're completely free
because you're standing

on the moon, and as you look up,

you see millions of stars
all around you,

and then you notice
the weather, Genevieve.

I want you to notice
the weather.

Kind of a strange question.
We are on the moon, after all.

But what's the weather?

- Very rainy.
- Rainy.

Okay. You're doing great.
You really are doing great.

We got to get you
out of this rain,

Genevieve, but picture this
in your mind's eye:

something's coming
from far away.

It's coming towards you,
and here's why it's coming.

It's coming to pick you up
and take you home.

What is it?

- A train.

- Genevieve,
I want you to notice

that driving the train,
it's a spider.

It's a big purple spider.

Now, Genevieve,
you're gonna notice that

it's playing with something.
Well, as you get closer,

you know exactly
what it's playing with.

This is the most important
question of all, Genevieve.

What's the spider playing with?

- A piano.
- A piano. Okay.

Let's give Genevieve
a round of applause.

I don't know. I don't know.

Let's review.

You said you saw
a pig sipping a cup of tea.

You said when you were
on the moon, it was raining.

When something
was coming towards you,

it was... you said a train,
a bit old-fashioned.

And then when you were
getting on the train,

you said a spider
was playing a piano?

- Yeah.

- I don't think this will come
to any surprise to anyone,

but just to be fair,
to be completely honest,

did anyone at any time tell you
to say those specific answers?

- No.
- Obviously.

I did say this was
a magical meditation,

and that's because
it always gets the same result.

Stand up.
You did such a good job.

This gift is for you.

It's something I made
a little bit ahead of time.

What you'll see here is,

we have a pig drinking
a cup of tea.

He's on a train, you can notice
he's in the rain,

and there's that spider
playing the piano.

That's the magic of meditation!
Give her a round of applause!

- Wow, Johnny Magic!

Whoo!

You're very comfortable onstage.

- Yeah, I grew up on the stage.

I've always felt comfortable
on the stage.

- So you've been performing
your whole life?

- I have been performing magic
my whole life,

but only in
the last couple years

did I make the leap
to do this full-time.

My wife and I,
we sold our house...

- Whoa.

- I quit my job,
and we just went for it,

because I'm all about
helping people

get to know themselves
and connect with others,

and I love traveling
the world doing that.

- Wow.

What's your favorite
thing about magic?

- My favorite thing about magic

is the unexpected, and so I love

taking people down a journey
where they think,

"This is either gonna go
horribly wrong

or we have no idea
where this is going,"

and then going ka-pow

and just kind of hitting them
with some awesome.

- All right. Well, I think
you accomplished that.

- I think so.
- All right, it's time to see

if the guys figured out
how you did your trick.

- Okay, here we go.

- Penn, Teller?
- Very nice, Johnny.

You know, there's always that
magician-in-trouble thing,

when you have
to always act like,

"Whoa, I didn't expect that,"

so you've got the surrealistic
picture at the end

that plays off that.

It makes it really nice,
makes it really funny,

makes the audience worry
but also cheer for you more

when you get it
right at the end.

You know, it's interesting
you talk about meditation

because both Teller
and I do meditation.

Our buddy Sam Harris
does a thing called waking up,

and we both do it every day.

A lot of people think
that meditation means

closing out stuff
and going within yourself,

but it's not that.
One of the things

Sam always talks about
is listening to his words,

listening to what he's saying,
but also listening

to all the other sounds
in your environment,

let everything in and let that
just go and kind of watch

that as a whole panorama
in your consciousness,

and that's one of the things
that Sam Harris taught us,

and who would've thought

that Sam Harris
would bust you on this,

but we think that's
the way you did it.

- These guys are brilliant.
I had an awesome time.

Thank you guys so much.
Thank you.

- All right.
- You guys were amazing.

- You didn't fool them,
but you were entertaining.

Johnny Magic!

- Thank you, guys.
You rock. Thank you.

Thanks.

- Don't go anywhere.

We have more can't-miss magic
when we come back.

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

No one has walked off
with the "Fool Us" trophy yet,

but that could change when this
next act struts their stuff.

Let's meet our next magician.

- With a randomly
selected member

of our studio audience,

please welcome the outlandish
magic of Pere Rafart.

- Thank you very much.
Alyson, come here, please.

Yes, big applause for Alyson.
Hello, my name is Pere.

Nice to meet you.
I will do a card trick, Alyson.

I shuffle the deck,
and you say stop whenever you...

- Hmm.

- Wait, wait.

Now... okay, Alyson,
I shuffle the deck,

and you say stop when...

Thanks for the support. Ah...

Maybe...

OK, now, Alyson, I...

- Okay, yes, yes. Now, yes.

Okay, yeah...

Oh, yes.

Alyson, can you take
and very strong, one, two?

Okay, fine. Okay, Alyson,
I shuffle the deck,

and you say stop
whenever you want, okay?

- Okay.

- Stop.
- Stop, okay.

Take a card
and show to the audience.

Okay. Yes.
Everybody see the card.

- Yes.
- Okay. Please.

I put the card in the middle,

and I mix it,
and now look at this,

because I try and throw
the card into the air.

All the cards are flying
at the same time.

You say the name of your card,
okay, and in exactly moment,

I will listen, I will search,
I will find, and I will take.

- Okay.
- Are you ready?

- Yeah.
- One, two.

Oh, sorry. Uh, wait a second.

So...

- Oh, no.
- Little problem.

Yes, the pips just go down.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.
I will try it different.

Can you blow? Okay.

Blow, blow, blow, blow.

No, you don't blow.
Wrong direction. You suck.

You do...

Okay?

Let's go. Are you ready?

Suck!

Blow! Now!

I don't like this deck.
I will try something different.

- Oh, jeez. Oh, boy.

Oh.

Uh-oh.

- This is... this is drama.

- Oh.

- Okay, okay, okay, wait.

Uh, is one of these three cards
your card, Alyson?

- No.
- No. Okay, isn't problem.

Try something different.
You remember the card?

- Yes.
- Take the pips of your card

and put inside your hand.

Okay, I don't look.
I don't look.

- Okay.
- Okay, you have all?

- Yeah.
- Perfect.

And now look at this.

I draw... a button here.

Can you push?

Now which way? Now which way?

And now the pips
come back to the deck!

Last one, last one.

Alyson, put the pips
on the table.

Yes, one, two,
and three of hearts, okay.

I only need to do this.
I found your card, Alyson.

Thank you very much!
Thank you very much! Thank you!

And, remember, Penn and Teller,
I found the three of hearts.

One, two, and three...

- Oh, dear.

- Three of hearts!

And six and ace and four!

Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen!

My name is Pere!
I'm from Barcelona!

- Pere Rafart!
- Thank you, Alyson.

- Oh!
- Thank you very much.

- That was so entertaining.
- Yes.

- I love that you add comedy
to all your magic...

Or I assume.

- All of my tricks is funny.

- Okay, good.

- I can show another one.

Look at this:

the flying glasses!

No, I do it with my fingers.

Is not magic.
Is a optical illusion.

- So you invented this trick?

- Yes, I invented all of these
tricks... all of my tricks.

- You invent all your tricks?
- Yes.

- Do you have other
color glasses?

- Yes, I have another
styles and color.

I like another trick
with glasses.

- I like the yellow.

- Whoa. All right,

do you want to ask the guys
in Spanish if you fooled them?

- Yes. Yes, yes.
I prefer in Catalan, okay?

I ask in... - Okay.

- You fooled the hell out of me.

I have no idea
what you're saying.

I'll tell you, we were
absolutely in love with you

just from the closed
deck repeat at the top.

What a great idea. - Thank you.

- It was just so many ideas
we'd never seen before,

just beautiful and nutty
and exciting and entertaining

and just terrific, and also,

you did every single trick in
the book and many that aren't.

What were there,
50 effects in this, 75 effects?

- Yes, probably.
- It goes on and on and on.

We're not gonna go
through them bit by bit.

You used fabulous
sleight of hand.

You used gaff cards.

You used the table.
You used magnets.

You used everything
going through there.

Now, other magicians
use the table,

but I've never seen
jumping up on the table

as cover for a move.

It's a routine that we just
loved from beginning to end.

How do you say "I don't think
you fooled us" in Spanish?

- That's what I meant
to say, yeah.

- Probably. Probably right.

- Was that enough for you?
- Yes.

- Yes.
- Great act, great act.

- Well, thank you so much.
Pere Rafart!

After the break,
we serve up another slice

of TV's best magic.
Stick around.

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

Penn and Teller are ready
to meet their next challenger,

so let's not keep them waiting.

- Hi, I'm Giacomo Bertini
from Florence, Italy.

- Here with
two randomly selected hosts,

the coin magic
of Giacomo Bertini!

- Giacomo Bertini!

That was beautiful. - Thank you.

- And I was torn between
watching what you were doing

and watching Teller's face.

He was in awe.

- It's a pleasure for me
to be here with you guys...

- Penn and Teller.

- With Penn and Teller.
It's an honor.

- You must work so hard
to be that good at coins.

- I use only my hands
to do these tricks.

- There's no other thing
but my hands.

- I recently wrote a book about
my technique, my own system.

- Are you afraid that Penn and
Teller may have read that book?

- The book was written,
like, a month ago,

so I don't think they read that.

- All right, well, let's see
if Penn and Teller can spot

your special techniques.
Penn, Teller?

- Boy, coins are hard to do,

and there is amazing,
just, handling,

and there are innovations there
that we've never seen before,

just stuff that you made up.

Most people do coin routines
sitting at a table.

You did it standing at a table,
which makes it

much, much harder,
and the strength in your hands,

or especially certain muscles
in your hands,

is something like
we've never seen before,

just a beautiful routine
and just beautifully done.

Now, you had us sitting
at the table,

and having us that close to you
at those angles

was just one of the bravest
things we've ever seen.

I don't think anyone in
the audience caught anything.

We caught a few things,
and except

for your innovations...
And forgive me for this.

I don't want to get
all stereotypical on you,

but I'm guessing you're Italian

somewhere in your ancestry...

- And in the United States,

that sometimes brings to mind
"The Godfather II,"

and of course,
in "The Godfather II,"

one of the major characters
was Hyman Roth,

but I think in your Godfather
that a lot of the credit

would go to David Roth
as opposed to Hyman Roth.

It was a beautiful routine,
gorgeously done.

We saw a few things
from the angles we were at.

We think we have a pretty good
idea of what you do, but, boy,

I haven't seen anyone do
the stuff you're doing better.

- Grazie.

- So it looks like
they figured it out.

- Yes.

- Yes. All right,
well, thank you.

Giacomo Bertini!

Penn and Teller
know thousands of tricks,

and they've selected
a special one to show us

right after the break.
You don't want to miss it.

- Penn and Teller were born

with magic running
through their veins,

and now we find out
if it runs in the family.

Here's Penn's daughter Moxie
with Penn and Teller.

- Friends, the girl you see
onstage with us

is what we in the sideshow
business refer to

as the Vegas Voltara.

Her name is Moxie,
and as a young child,

this poor girl
was struck upon the head

by a bolt of lightning!

The shock rendered
her temporarily unconscious

and gave her strange powers,

a power over electricity
and magnetism!

- Whatever, Dad.

- We have since discovered,

by humane and legal experiments,

that her body can withstand

many thousands
of volts of electricity.

She is immune to the effects
of electrical current

and guaranteed to shock
the shellac out of you.

To demonstrate
this strange ability,

we have an electric chair
such as the kind that is used

for the execution
of prisoners around the world.

I think it's actually only
in Texas and the Middle East,

but that's the idea.

Through that chair flows
50,000 volts of electricity

capable of killing
a normal human being

in a matter of seconds.

As you can see,

an ordinary electric light tube
glows from the current

going through
this high-voltage generator.

It's so powerful
that a gasoline torch

just touched lightly
to the seat bursts into flame.

We are now gonna have the young
lady demonstrate a miracle.

- It's a miracle
if it works, Dad.

- It'll work.

For your amazement, the lady

will now take her place
in the chair.

We throw the switch.

The 50,000 volts
will flow through her body.

An ordinary neon light glows

when touched
to any part of her body.

You've heard of footlights.

Well, Moxie will show you
her footlight.

You've heard of headlights.

Moxie will show you
her headlight.

You've heard of taillights.

- They get the idea.

- The moisture in her system
acts as a conductor,

passing the electricity
through her entire body,

through her arms
and through her fingers

and through this key
she holds lighting this torch

with just the electricity
in her body.

Moxie's powers have
a practical use as well.

We'll show you why
she's often called

the human microwave oven.

We have here America's favorite
theater nuisance, popcorn,

putting about a cup
of unpopped kernels in the pan.

In just three seconds' time,

the 50,000 volts does the trick.

And, voila, a healthy
and nutritious snack

for TV time tonight.

As she stands none
the worse for wear,

she bows to her amazed public
as they give her

a well-deserved round
of applause.

Thank you, Miss Moxie Voltara.

Immunity to deadly doses
of electricity

was only one of her powers
this freak accident gave her.

She also has this strange power
over water.

Some call it magnetism,
but it's not that.

It's a force previously
unknown to science.

- It's a trick.
- It's a trick.

Now take this pitcher of water.

The glass is filled with water.

She then takes this normal
piece of magazine paper,

place it in the bowl,

where it is moistened
on both sides.

The paper makes a hydrostatic
bond to the water,

and she can turn
the glass upside down

and the water stays in.

Now, maybe others can do that,

but Moxie, the Vegas Voltara,
can go a step further.

Turn on your power, Moxie.

And now she can peel
the paper off

and the water still stays in
as long as she wants.

How long do you want,
Vegas Voltara?

- Three, two, one.

- And the water falls.

Amazing Vegas Voltara.

For Moxie the Vegas Voltara's
next trick,

we will need a very strong man
from the audience,

the stronger the better.

Our Vegas Voltara
tips the scales

at just over 50 pounds.
Light as a feather.

- I'm 75 pounds.
- That's over 50. Shut up.

Now, take the Vegas Voltara

right around the waist
like this.

Don't crush her,
but hold her right there

and lift her up light
as a 50-pound feather

right up, right up
over your head.

Just like that,
no problem at all.

But now, when the Vegas Voltara
turns on her powers,

you will no longer
be able to lift her.

Don't turn it on enough
to hurt him,

just enough to stop him
from lifting.

Hold her right there
and give her a lift right now.

No, no, really do lift her.
No, no, really do try.

That's the Vegas Voltara
right there.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Oh!

That's the Vegas Voltara!

- From our family here
to every family out there,

good night from Las Vegas!