Penn & Teller: Fool Us (2011–…): Season 7, Episode 4 - Teller Talks!!! - full transcript

[jazz music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- From the Penn & Teller Theater

at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,

here's our host,

Alyson Hannigan!

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- Welcome to "Fool Us."

Tonight, you're not only gonna
see some amazing magic.



You're also gonna learn
to perform some amazing magic.

Get yourself a small ball,

ping pong ball, a golf ball,

or even make your own ball
out of tinfoil,

because Penn and Teller
are gonna teach us all

how to do a trick.

But before magic class starts,

they'll be put to the test

by some of the world's
best magicians.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the incredible Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

[bombastic big band music]

♪ ♪



Take a minute
to catch your breath, boys.

It's time
for our first magician.

[fireworks boom]

- I come from
a classical theater background.

I came out of theater school,
and I needed a job.

I saw an audition posting

for this giant puppetry company,

and they taught me
to stilt walk.

I found myself at events

that had these big street shows,

and I was fascinated
by these people

that could create
theater anywhere.

So I decided to become
a street performer.

I learned
my first straitjacket escape.

When I saw the visceral reaction

that audiences had to it,

I decided I wanted to go
further with escape.

An escape is like a puzzle.

Like any problem in
life, step by step,

we can find our way through.

I wanted to do something that
would really make a splash.

I wanted to do something big

and dangerous for "Fool Us."

This is the most dangerous
escape I've ever done.

[dramatic music]

[cheers and applause]

- Fasten your seatbelts,

and get ready for Miranda Allen.

[cheers and applause]

- Many people come to Las Vegas
with their friends

in search of a crazy experience.

Well, after tonight,

we might have everybody beat.

With Sarah's help,

I will be attempting
an unusual escape

from a dangerous substance.

[chains clanking]

- Red wine.

[laughter]

- Restrained with
handcuffs and chains,

I will be submerged
inside this barrel,

locked beneath the lid

with a maximum security padlock.

There will be no air.

And if there were light,
I couldn't see it.

My eyes will be clenched shut

against the burn of the wine.

- And no,
she can't drink her way out.

[laughter]

- Alyson, will you
please hold this key?

- Sure.

- Do nothing unless Sarah holds
her hand out like this.

If she does so,
place the key in her hand.

And then get out of the way
of the rescue attempt.

- Oh, great.

- Understood?
- Yes.

- For now, we'll just ask you
to stand over here

next to our
beautiful assistants.

- Ah, hello. Hi.

- Ready?
- Ready.

[dramatic drum music]

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- You got me?

- I got you.

♪ ♪

I just locked my best friend
in a barrel full of wine.

Just a really
normal thing to do.

You know?

[laughter]

[knocks]

- [knocks from inside barrel]

- I do these knocks
every fifteen seconds

so that I know she's not dead.

And that she knows
she's not dead.

[laughter]

She says it helps her focus
through the panic.

♪ ♪

[knocks]

- [knocks from inside barrel]

[thumping inside barrel]

- An adult can drown
in about sixty seconds.

So if something goes wrong,

I have a minute

minus the time it takes me

to figure out she's in trouble

to get her out.

[knocks]

[knocks more intently]

[bleep].

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[chains falling]

♪ ♪

- [gasping for air]

[cheers and applause]

[triumphant music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause continue]

- Miranda Allen!

Here's your key.

Aww.

Wow, that was so intense.

- It's a bit intense. [laughs]

- I mean, probably more so
for you than for me...

[laughter] But, you know,

I was pretty stressed out.

- I'm sorry for making
you feel that way.

- You must really trust Sarah.

- Honestly, that is

one of the things to me
that this act is about

is about trust. Absolutely.

And I'm so grateful
to have her here

with me to make this happen.

- Ah, how intense is it for you?

- Oh, it's like having
a heart attack in real time.

[laughter]

- Okay.

- But I've told her
from the beginning that

as long as I don't have
to get in the barrel,

I'll do everything else.

[laughter]

- All right.

Well let's see if you can
escape with the trophy.

- Well, all right.

- Boys...

- Miranda, Sarah,

the... the first thing we said
when the applause died down...

Which was quite a while before
we could hear each other...

Was that that's just perfect.

It's beautiful. It's sexy.

It's heroic.

And this is laid out

what an escape should be,

what Houdini always did,
which is

the escape artist is the hero.

Full stop.

And adding friendship in, well,

needless to say, that... that...
That touches us.

You're also not the same height,

so of course,
we're very moved by that.

[laughter]

And using the phrase
"best friend"

is just so powerful,

and I've never seen that
in an escape act.

We've done
a zillion escape acts,

and we've never thought
of throwing that in.

And you could hear
the whole audience turn

when that happened.

It was just beautiful.

But still you have
all the excitement.

When you put those handcuffs on,

we got all jumpy.

And I'll also say that
I just can't find

enough good to say about this

except you're a hero

and you celebrated friendship.

And I'll also say
that Teller and I

have done
an awful lot with locks

and with escapes

and with being under liquid.

But this is such
a hard sentence to say.

'Cause I don't think
you fooled us.

But you inspired us,

and it was such beautiful,

heroic, safe, and moral act

that I just loved
every second of.

- Aww.
- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

- So does it sound like

the boys know the secrets
of your trick?

- Of course they do.

But it was such a joy

to come here
and share this with you.

- Aww.
- Thank you.

- Just fabulous.

- Thank you. Miranda Allen!

[cheers and applause]

We're gonna throw to commercial,

and fingers crossed,

they throw it back.

Hopefully more "Fool Us"
in a moment.

[cheers and applause]

[upbeat mysterious music]

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back.

Let's open the oven,

and see what
this next magician has cooking.

[fireworks boom]

- My name is Inaki Zabaletta.

I am from Argentina.

Magicians... we're like
the phoenix, the bird.

We put all our energy
in our show.

But when the show finishes,

it doesn't matter if it's
a good show or bad show,

you're always going to burn,

and be reborn at the next show.

Thinking this way takes
a lot of pressure off me.

Magicians
should not be very worried

about failing in magic.

The bullfighter should be
very worried about failing.

But magician?

What could happen, you know?

Nobody dies.

I don't like an easy audience.

I prefer an audience who's
questioning what I'm doing.

Keep you sharp.

Penn and Teller are
the most challenging audience

in the world.

So, like a phoenix,

I will burn to ash... later.

[applause]

- Please welcome
the magical mind

of Inaki Zabaletta.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Welcome.
My name is Inaki Zabaletta.

I am from Argentina.

It's a pleasure to be here
with all of you.

And please, Penn and Teller,
can you join me?

Please, Alyson, join us also.

- Whoo.
- Thank you very much.

[applause]

Thank you for coming.

For this experience, we're
going to use a deck of cards.

But, um, I have a plan.

I'm not going
to try to fool you.

- Good.

- Alyson is going to do it.
- Oh, good.

- So, if she does...
If she does fool you,

it's our success. - Yes.

- If she doesn't,
it's her fault.

[laughter] Yes, okay.

It's okay.

So we are going to do
an intuition test.

In this way.

We are going through
an elimination process.

So we are going
to eliminate cards

until we only
have four cards, okay?

So take a big bunch of cards,

like half of the cards.

Yes, take a big bunch
like that one.

And face up. Put it there.

There, yes.

We are going
to eliminate those cards.

Just put them there.
Yes, that's it.

You are going to make all
the decisions here, Alyson.

You're going to make
all the decisions.

So from where do you want
to eliminate cards?

From top, from bottom,
or from the middle?

- Um, middle.
- Middle, okay.

Take a bunch of cards
from the middle.

Yes. Take, take, take, take.

It's up to you.
You make all the decisions.

- Okay.
- So face up and put it there.

Yeah, right there. From where?

From top, bottom, middle?
It's up to you.

- Bottom.
- Bottom, okay.

Bottom okay.
Take the cards, put it there.

From where?
Now we have less cards.

So only two or three cards.
From where?

From middle, from bottom?
- Mm, top.

- From, top, okay.
Okay, okay, okay.

Those... okay, yes.
It's okay, it's okay.

So, now how many? Five.

One more card. Only one.

Only one. Which one?

That one? Okay.

This is an intuition test.

Let's see Alyson's intuition.

Look. We have here...

It's the four aces. - Oh!

[applause]

All right.

- You are amazing!
- I'm amazing.

- I have another plan.
- Okay.

- What if instead
Alyson tried to fool you,

you try to fool yourself?

- Okay.

- So, if you... if you
do fool yourself,

it's our success. - Uh-huh.

If you don't, it's your fault.

- Yes, yes. [laughter]

- That's the same, yes.

Eh, let's do it like this.

First I am going to... to shuffle

a little... little bit.

And please, Teller,
you say stop whenever you want.

Say stop.

Before I finish it. - [laughs]

- Eh! Okay.

Take a look at this card.

It's not important,
the number of the card.

The important thing
is the suit of the card, okay?

The same for you. - Okay.

- You say stop
whenever you want.

- Stop.
- Okay.

You have this card? The suit?

Okay.
Keep that suit in your mind.

Alyson, which one
do you want to use?

Penn or Teller's? Which one?

- Well, he talks more.
So that one.

- So now you are going to take
out from the pack 12 cards,

but in order to take this...
This 12 cards

from different part of the pack,

let me... I am going
to take out the aces.

Won't use these four.

In order to take the cards

from different part of the pack,

we are going to do three piles.

- Okay.
- So, look.

This is going
to be the first pile.

This is going to be
the second one.

And the third one.

So, starting with you
please take your packet.

Shuffle the cards.

And put here
any four cards you like.

Any four. It's up to you.

Any four. Face down, face down.

So we keep the mystery there.

We'll do a pile there.

And we have any four. Okay.

This packet, leave it there.

The same... the same
for you please.

Did you shuffle the cards?

And the same. Four cards.

Any four cards you like.

It's up to you. Put it there.

- All together. All together.

- On top of them?
- Yeah, on top of them, yes.

[intriguing music]

Good. [mumbling]

The last packet,
who... who wants to do it?

You or?

Okay.
You shuffle the cards same.

[imitating shuffling]
And put four cards there.

Any four you like.

There.

♪ ♪

Mm, he choose well.
- Oh, and he made them flip.

- Don't worry.

So this one,
we don't need anymore.

So, we have the 12 cards
you have chosen,

and also we have the four aces.

Each Ace represents a suit.

And you have a suit
in your mind, right?

- I do.

- We agreed to do...
To use yours.

- We did.
- Right.

- Which was?
- Spades.

- Spades. Okay.

So I want to put
the ace of spades here.

And now, let's see
your intuition this time.

- Look, here we have a spade.

We have a spade.

This is a spade.
This is a spade.

And there you go.

You have chosen
the complete suit...

[crowd oohing]
[cheers and applause]

Of spades.

[applause]

Amazing! - Amazing.

- Intuition, guys. Amazing.

So we have the 12 cards
of spades.

The complete suit of spades.
Yes?

So sometimes people ask me,

"What happens
if instead of spades,

they choose another suit?"

Well, I have to tell you.
This never happens.

So you have
the same suit, right?

Spades in your mind. Spades.

No? This means no?

He don't have the same one.
He don't have.

- Wow.

- We have to do
different this way.

Which is your... your suit?

- Aww.
- Hearts?

I have to put
the ace of hearts here.

And now I have to do some
Argentinean magic moment.

Just like this.

Before we have here
only suit of spades.

But now we have
the suit of hearts.

The two of hearts,
the three, the four,

the five, the six, the seven,
the eight, the nine,

the ten, the jack,
the queen, and the king.

The complete suit of hearts.

[cheers and applause]

- Inaki Zabaletta!

That's fantastic.
We were awesome.

- What do you think?

Do you think
you fooled them or what?

- I think we did.
- Do you think?

[laughter]

- So tell me about your
very first professional show.

- My very first professional
show was a kid's show.

Um, I was maybe 14 years old.
Something.

And when I finished my show,

and all the kids stand up,

and I thought
they were coming here

to say hello to me or something?

No. They steal all my props.

- [gasps]
- So they, like...

Like little piranhas, they go...

[imitating animal] And run away.

So I said... - Man.

- One time, a kid bite me.
- What?

[laughter]

He bit you? - Yes.

Because the little kid on stage

sometimes get afraid,

so when he stands...
Stands with you,

normally, he hugs
your leg like this.

- Oh.
- Poor kid.

He's afraid.

And then he... [chomps]

Bite... bite my leg. [laughter]

I was like, "Oh, whose...
Hannibal Lecter's mother here?"

I see the kid... [laughter]

- All right.
Well let's find out...

- We're done? Okay.

- Let's find out if you fooled
Penn and Teller.

- Let's find out.

- Yeah, let's find out
how we did.

Boy. That's a great routine.

It's a really beautiful,
really smart routine.

And your handling of cards
is just gorgeous

all the way through.

And, um...

the... the techniques
we think you're using

are incredibly inventive.

I mean, they're really
brand new, cutting edge stuff.

None of this
is the standard stuff

in any magic book
anyone's gonna find.

Really new, really good stuff.

You also did
the very, very brave thing

of bringing us up to the table.

A lot of times,

more cowardly magicians

will leave us back here.

You put us right there.

And you also put the tall guy,

the really tall guy
right closest to you.

And those are kind
of the breaks.

'Cause when the tall guy's
right there,

I can see stuff, you know?

So I'll just tell you we loved
it all the way through.

And as you made very, very clear

in all of your patter,

if something goes wrong,

and you don't fool us,

it's our fault.

It was so much our fault.

In every way. - Okay.

Thank you very much. - Aww.

- It was a pleasure
to stay here.

Thank you. Thank you, Alyson.

- Thank you.
- See you next time.

Thank you. My pleasure.

- Inaki Zabaletta!

- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

- They figured that one out,

but Penn and Teller still
have a lot of work to do.

They'll take on more magicians,

and also perform
an amazing trick of their own.

Stay close.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us,"

home of TV's best magic.

Here's our next
potential fooler.

[fireworks boom]

- With mentalism, there's two
types of audience members.

There's skeptics, and then
there's believers.

Some of the believers
can be really intense.

I get phone calls
in the middle of the night

from fans who say they hear
voices in their heads,

and they know I'll understand.

I like to let people
decide for themselves.

A few years ago, I did
a corporate gig in India,

and the hotel staff found out
that I do metal bending.

When I did three quick
metal bending effects,

people started calling me
"jadugar,"

which I later found out
means "sorcerer."

I feel great about coming
in front of Penn and Teller

because even though
they're really skeptical

when it comes to mentalism,

I believe that Penn and Teller
want to be fooled.

There's an old phrase
in mentalism.

I'd like to get it
tattooed on my arm.

"The world wants to be deceived"

Everyone wants
that sense of wonder,

and Penn and Teller
are no different.

[cheers and applause]

- Give it up for Keith Kong!

[cheers and applause]

- I brought a gift tonight

because I've been a fan
of Penn and Teller

for a very long time.

Actually that's not true.

I'm really just
a big fan of Penn.

[crowd awws] - [laughs]

I like that.

- I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Nothing against you, Teller.

But tonight, this gift
really is just for Penn.

But that's because
he's going to earn it

by singing a song.

Are you ready
to sing for us, Penn?

- I certainly am.
- That's fantastic.

And to help you out with that,

I've brought
a list full of songs

that most people
know the words to.

- Okay.

- Can we grab
a close-up of this list,

and put it up on the monitor

for everyone to see?

Perfect.

And Alyson, will you
join me over here please?

Because you are going to decide

which song Penn
is going to sing.

- Good, I thought you
were gonna make me sing,

and that was not gonna be fun.

[laughter]

- Alyson.
- Yes.

- I want you to take a moment
to look over the list,

and circle any song,

but make sure it's a song

that you think Penn would
know all of the words to.

- [laughs]

- "Desolation Row."

[laughter]

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.

- Wow.

Alyson chose "Old MacDonald."

And Alyson, you could've
chosen any song on this list.

You could've chosen "Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star,"

couldn't you have? - Could've.

- And I'm sure you know
the words to that.

Right, Penn? - I do, I do.

- I'm sure you know the words
to a lot of songs on this list.

Songs like...

"Happy Birthday." - Ah, yes.

- "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
- Yes.

- Or, uh...

"The Star-Spangled Banner."
- Yes.

- But of all the songs you
could've picked, Alyson,

you picked "Old MacDonald."

- Mm-hmm.

- Do you know what's
crazy about that?

- Hm?

- Penn's already sang
that song on the show.

Isn't that right, Penn?

- Not that I remember.
- Wait.

You're telling me
that you don't remember

singing "Old MacDonald"
on this show?

- I don't remember that. No.

But the third season was a blur.

[laughter]

- Well, I've watched every
single episode of this show.

And I brought a clip
to share with everyone tonight.

And it's of you, Penn. - Really?

- Watch this.

["Old MacDonald" plays]

- ♪ Old MacDonald had a farm ♪

♪ E i e i o ♪

♪ And on that farm,
he had a chicken ♪

♪ E i e i o ♪

♪ With a cluck, cluck here ♪

♪ And a cluck, cluck there ♪

♪ Here a cluck, there a cluck ♪

♪ Everywhere a cluck, cluck ♪

♪ Old MacDonald had a farm ♪

♪ E i e i o ♪

[laughs]

[cheers and applause]

- Great.
- Thank you.

Wow, Penn.

With all of that hard work,

I think you've earned this gift.

But it's not just any gift.

It's a very special gift
to remind you

that of all the songs
Alyson could've chosen,

she chose a very specific song.

You see, Penn, I made you

your very own platinum record,

and engraved on the plaque
are the words,

"Penn Jillette's Old MacDonald."

[cheers and applause]

That is a gift for you.
- Thank you so much.

- Keith Kong!
- Look at this.

With a cluck, cluck here.

- Hi.

So, what made you
come up with that idea?

- Well, you know, I've been
a fan of the show for so long,

and I've seen
these videos online

of... of people singing
and stuff like that.

My first choice was Teller,

but I didn't think
that would work out.

[laughter]

- You definitely
would've gotten it right

if you picked, like,
"Silent Night."

- Yeah... [laughter]

- Could we... could we
see the list?

- This list?
- The list of songs.

- I think we can allow that,
yeah.

- Okay. Thank you.

- This is interesting.

Oh.

[laughter]

Does that make you more nervous?

- It does not. [laughs]

- Ooh, that's good.

Makes me nervous,
and it's not my trick.

[laughter] All right, well good.

Maybe they wanna see what other
songs they could've picked.

- Yeah.

- So what did you do

before you became
a professional magician?

- I started performing
on my 11th birthday,

so it's been pretty much
this the whole time.

Most kids have an entertainer
come to their party.

I was the kid entertaining
at the party.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

- All right, well let's see
if you hit the right notes

and fooled the boys.

- All right.
- Boys.

- Keith, Keith, uh...

I liked me singing.
That was good.

I liked me singing when
I don't have to work at all.

I'll tell you.

There's one way
you could've gotten

that trophy instantly.

And that is

if you would've gotten rights
to all the Dylan catalog.

So that I could've sung
any Bob Dylan song.

That trophy would've
come down right away.

But as it is...

We're look... looking at this,
and we're going,

you know, uh...

we, uh...

we kind of know

a lot of what
the audience knows.

We kinda know

that although Alyson

thinks and acted

like she had
a completely free choice,

we don't think that
that could be possible.

We think that there must be

what magicians call a "force."

Some sort of force.

We don't know
what that force is.

You fooled us.

- [gasps] [cheers and applause]

You fooled them!

Whoo!

- Thank you.

- We have a fooler!

Keith Kong!

Congratulations.
- Thank you, guys.

- Keith Kong!

[cheers and applause]

Cocka-doodle-fool.

Penn and Teller
just got woken up

by one clever rooster.

Give them a moment
to catch their breath.

We'll be right back.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back.

Penn and Teller
were just fooled,

but they've recouped
and recovered.

Now they're ready
for this next magician.

[fireworks boom]

- When I was a child,

I realized I was
really good at math,

and everybody else realized

I was really bad at soccer.

But I'm from Brazil,

and nobody wanted
to hang out with me.

I ran a company
with 200 employees.

But I couldn't even shuffle
a deck of cards properly.

But then I watched
every episode of "Fool Us."

Every single one.

I could feel it
giving me this power.

- You fooled
our asses backwards.

- So "Fool Us"
was my magic school.

My brother turns 40,

and I wanted to do a special
trick for his birthday.

And he couldn't figure it out.

My brother is a genius.

He's even smarter than me.

[chimes]

Penn, Teller,

if he couldn't figure it out,

maybe nobody can,

not even you.

[cheers and applause]

- Here to mess with your mind

is Guilherme Silveira.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.
- Hi.

- Hello. My name is Guilherme,

and I am from Brazil.

Brazil is a country very famous

for its beautiful beaches,

Bossa nova,

and time travelers.

[all chuckle]

Now I know some of you

don't believe
I'm a time traveler myself.

But I'm here to prove it.

Before we started,
I went to the future.

I saw tonight's results,
and came back.

Then I sent an email

with my predictions to Penn.

Penn, can you confirm that you
have an unread email from me?

- It's unprofessional
to have a phone on the set,

but I'll do it anyway.

[laughter]

Under mail...

Oh, yes! I do.

I do have an email
from you right there.

It's the most recent one I got.
- Great.

Let's get started.

First, Alyson.

I have something for you.
- Oh, thank you.

- Here I have a bunch
of finger animals.

- Aww.

- Would you please take three,

and put them
on your left fingers?

- Okay.

[whispering] I'll take a tiger.

Neat.

Um...

- So many choices for each one.

- I'll take the little fish.

Oh, it's kind of like...
He's gonna eat my finger.

No, I... no. Huh-huh.

Gonna get personal with him.

[laughter]

Sorry, fish. Oops.

And I'll do the little elephant.

- Great.

Now would you please
remove two of them?

- Hm.

Well, I feel bad
for that one, so.

Um, and two?

Uh, it'll be harder
to hold that finger up, so.

- Great.

So I see you chose the tiger.

And the tiger
is a very good choice,

because I knew you were
going to select it tonight.

- Hm.

- Right.
- I didn't.

- Now, Teller, let's play.

[whimsical music]

Here I have a bunch of dice.

♪ ♪

You can pick any quantity,

any amount from one to seven.

Please.

So you chose the quantity
of five dice.

And the amount
of five dice is very good.

It gives us
around 26 possibilities.

Please roll them.

♪ ♪

Okay.

One, one,

three, three, four.

So I see that your total was 12.

And 12 is a very good number,

because I knew you were going
to get it tonight.

[laughter]

Now, Penn. - Yeah.

- I have something for you.
- Oh, boy.

- Please, here.

Take one.

[mysterious music]

- Having more trouble
than I should.

Here we go.

- So you chose the pink color.
- I did.

- And the pink color
is a very good choice.

- It sure is.

- And I have
another thing for you.

- Okay... Oh, no.

Oh.

- Here is a map
of the United States.

Please choose one state,

and paint it.

- I'm trying to pink out
Massachusetts.

Which must mean something
in Dorchester.

[laughter] There we go.

I have pinked out Massachusetts.

- Let me take a look.

That's great.

And if you think about it,
you just turned

the state of Massachusetts
into a pink state.

- I did.
- That's great.

Thank you very much.

Now let's remember.

One hour ago, I was backstage.

I time traveled into the future.

I saw tonight's results.

And came back.

Then I sent an email to Penn.

Now, Penn, emails are
a very dangerous thing.

Once you have sent an email,

there's nothing
you can do about it.

Now please open the email,

and read out loud what I wrote

before we started.

- I sure will.

I'm opening it right now.

It says...

"My prediction for today..."

Alyson will pick the tiger!

- The tiger. Amazing.

[applause]

Please read
the next picture once.

- "Teller will use five dice."

- Five dice.

- "Teller will roll a 12."
- 12.

Incredible.

Can you read
the last two ones, please?

- "Penn"... that's me...

"Will use a pink crayon. Penn..."

- Pink crayon.

- "Penn will color the state
of Massachusetts."

And you can spell Massachusetts
and I can't.

- [laughs]
- That's incredible.

Ladies and gentlemen,
it's a miracle!

[cheers and applause]

- Guilherme Silveira!

[cheers and applause]

Is this really
your first magic trick ever?

- Um, in a show, it is.

But I did a lot of tricks
for my family

when I was really,
really like a baby.

I would do a bathroom stall
escape trick.

- Wow.

- I would close the door,

lock it from the inside,

and crawl from underneath

the door to the outside.

- So really, you were
just tricking the person

who has to go
to the bathroom next.

- Yeah, now I feel very bad
about it nowadays,

but it was very fun at the time.

- Oh, man.
- Yeah, yeah.

- You've just given
a lot of children

some bad ideas.

Oh... [laughing maniacally]

- Okay.

It's time to turn
to Penn and Teller

and see if you fooled them.

- Yeah.
- Boys.

- Guilherme.
Boy, what a great trick.

What a great trick.

And I wanna tell people,

uh, which I think
is really important

that we point this out,

that everybody at home
who they watch the show,

they see it,

they think there's
all sorts of clever ways

to make people look
like they have a free choice

when they don't.

And, uh, there was no force.

They were all free choices.

Alyson could've picked
anything she wanted.

Uh, Teller could've picked
any amount of dice.

Could've thrown any number.

And I could've picked
any color of...

And what's also interesting is

you did travel in time.

- Mm-hmm.

- You actually sent that email

arrived in the inbox

before you started.

That's completely true.

There's no scam on that.

You did travel in time.

And then you went
into the future,

then you went into the back,

went to the future,
went to the back,

and you sent us an image

from the past into the future

into the past into the future.

The image was there.

It was all 100% legitimate.

With no sneaking, no lying,

no nothing.

And on top of that,

you didn't fool us.

We don't think.

Did I give you
enough stuff in there?

- What do you think?

Do you think you
fooled them or no?

- A time traveler fellow
knows each other.

- Aww. [laughter]

- Yeah, yeah.
- All right.

Guilherme Silveira!
- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.
Thank you, Penn and Teller.

- Thank you.
Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

[cheers and applause]

- Remember the ball
I talked about

at the beginning of the show?

You're gonna need it,
because up next,

Penn and Teller
are gonna teach you

an amazing magic trick.

You don't wanna miss it.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome back to "Fool Us."

It's time.

Like you at home,
I have my little ball,

and I'm ready
to learn a magic trick

from magic's greatest duo,

Penn and Teller!

[cheers and applause]

- Yeah.

Teller is going
to teach you a magic trick.

Now, when Teller
and I work together,

Teller doesn't speak.

That means a lot
of people wonder

what his voice sounds like.

And they don't just mean
the sonority and the texture.

They mean his vocabulary,

sentence structure,

the way he forms an argument.

Well Teller, when I first
met him... and this is true...

Was a language teacher.

[laughter]

And Teller is
extremely articulate.

Speaks very, very well.

Although I do all
the talking for us,

we work
on my monologues together.

For this next trick,

teaching you a move in magic

is all gonna be
in Teller's words.

Every single word I say

is written by Teller

with no editing by me.

So if you have at home

a little aluminum foil ball,
or a coin, or a key,

you can do this
along with Teller,

and learn a magic move called

The French Drop.

This is all Teller.

[laughter]

Good evening,

students of the venerable art
of chicanery.

[laughter]

The subterfuge
you're about to learn

will enable you
to convince an audience

that an object is here

when in truth, it is there.

The maneuver is called
The French Drop.

It is the most versatile move
in sleight of hand.

Every serious conjuror
must learn it.

It is the magician's
rite to passage.

Let us...

- [whispering indistinctly]
- All right.

[in accent] De passage.

It is the magician's
rite de passage.

Let us begin.

Hold the ball

between the thumb
and index finger

of your right hand.

Now allow the ball to roll
lightly into the palm.

There's no effort.
Gravity does the work.

Now repeat.

But this time, bring the ball
to the left hand.

Allow the left thumb to pass
under the right thumb.

Close the fingers over the ball
as if taking it

but secretly let it roll down
into the right palm

as your left hand simulates

the presence of the ball,
and moves away.

To do this convincingly

requires some study.

Place the ball in your hand,

and note the exact position
of the fingers.

Now remove the ball,

and match that finger position.

The hand may be partly open

but only you can see that flaw.

[laughter]

Try to feel the imaginary ball

in your hand. [laughter]

The more real it becomes to you,

the more real it will seem
to the spectators.

But be warned.

At the moment you do
The French Drop,

if you are
an honest human being,

you will feel guilt.

[laughter]

You may reflexively
blink your eyes

to avoid beholding
your wickedness.

Blinking is
an unconscious giveaway,

what we call "a tell."

My tell is to look up

with my eyebrows raised

in frank, wide-eyed innocence.

[laughter]

Penn's tell is
to clear his throat,

and do the move
at blistering speed

to get it out of the way.

Yeah. I do that.

[laughter]

To minimize these tells,

follow the movement
of the imaginary ball

with your eyes.

Shamelessly look directly
at your hands

and move them suavely

in a smooth, continuous line.

[laughter]

Now enlist the aid
of a patient friend

with a massive tolerance

for mind-numbing repetition.

[laughter]

As an only child,

I used my mother.

Alternate between genuinely
passing the ball

and doing The French Drop.

When your mate, your mother,
or your mirror

can't tell true from false,

or catch a flash of guilt

on your dishonest face...

[laughter]

Congratulate yourself.

[applause]

You've trained yourself to lie

in cold blood.

Or as the French say,
sang-froid.

- [whispering indistinctly]

[in exaggerated French accent]
Sang-froid!

As the French say, sang-froid.

At last, you're ready
to do magic.

Reach into your pocket
for some magic dust,

and ditch the ball.

Sprinkle your hands but don't
immediately show it empty.

Make it a magical drama.

The ball is melting!

It's burning your flesh
like hot steam.

[laughter]

[applause]

Try The French Drop
for a transformation.

With a little preparation...
[crowd oohs]

A ball blooms into a flower.

[cheers and applause]

To make young children

shriek with laughter,

pre-set a grape in your mouth.

Then take a second grape,

and handling
it just like the ball,

pretend to smash it
against your head.

Then...

[laughter]

The children will be
so busy chasing the grape

across the floor,

they won't notice you

eating the evidence.

[laughter] [cheers and applause]

This single, simple sleight

opens the door
to so many wonders.

Practice it well.

Then go forth
and astonish the world

with The French Drop.

Or as they say in France,

Le Tourniquet.

[laughter]
- [whispering indistinctly]

- Le Tourniquet. Le tour...

Or The French Drop,
or as they say in France...

- Le Tourniquet.

[all gasping] Le Tourniquet.

Just drop the terminal T.

Come on. Everybody with me.

Le Tourniquet. Ready?

All: Le Tour-ni-quet.

Try again.

["Le Marseillaise" playing]

[cheers and applause]

- Ah!

I've gotta make
tonight's show disappear,

and now I know how to,

thanks to Penn and Teller.

Come back next week

when we reappear
with more fools.

- More "Fool Us" next week.

More "Fool Us" next week.

[cheers and applause]