Penn & Teller: Fool Us (2011–…): Season 8, Episode 8 - Magic Cubed - full transcript

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

- From the Penn & Teller Theater

at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,

here's our host,
Alyson Hannigan!

- Welcome to "Fool Us,"

where the competition
keeps getting tougher.

Penn and Teller handle
the stress in different ways.

Penn keeps his cool
meditating and juggling.

Meanwhile, Teller
blows off steam

making TikTok dance videos.

He's fluid and fierce.
Speaking of fluid and fierce,



that was the original name
for our main men to magic,

Penn and Teller!

Penn and Teller award a slot

in their world-famous magic show

to any magician who fools them,

and they throw in
a "Fool Us" trophy

for good measure.

And our first winner
might be this magician.

Take a look.

- People say it takes
about 10,000 hours

to master something,

and I've spent over 25,000 hours

practicing the cube.

I got my first cube in
my Christmas stocking



when I was 14.

It took me hours to solve
the cube for the first time.

About 3 months later, I got
down to about 20 seconds.

I wanted nothing
but to be faster.

I can solve a
three-by-three cube

in under 9 seconds on average.

I was the first female
in the entire world

to solve a six-by-six
cube blindfolded.

I can solve a cube with my feet,

with my elbows, or
underwater with just one breath.

I personally own about
400 different twisty puzzles

of all different shapes
and sizes and difficulty.

For the past several years,

my full-time job has
been teaching the cube.

I have lectured at places
like Stanford and Berkeley.

I've been working on writing
a book on twisty puzzles,

so I just wanted to
take my actual skill

and turn it into magic.

The trick I'm doing tonight is
unlike any other cube magic.

It's taken years to
be able to perfect.

Penn and Teller, tonight,

I'm going to try to twist
your mind like never before.

- Put your hands together

for South Carolina's
Sydney Weaver.

- Any sufficiently
complex mechanism

has a kind of
artificial intelligence,

and this definitely is

a sufficiently
complex mechanism.

If you can imagine the number
19 with 159 zeroes after it,

that is how many
possible arrangements

there are of this cube.

But what kind of
intelligence does it have?

Well, this particular
cube is clairvoyant.

It knows the unknowable.

Let me demonstrate
this with a random bit

of information from
a deck of cards.

Just a mixed up deck, right?

Alyson, I would like you
to help me select a card.

- Okay.
- Now I'm going to turn away,

and I'd like you to
cut the deck in half

and complete the cut.

- Oh, my gosh. You'd
think I'd be better

with a deck of cards by now.

Okay, it's done.
- All right.

Please once more
cut the deck in half

and complete the cut.

- Okay.

- Then take the top card

and sit on it
without looking at it,

and once you've
done that, let me know.

- Okay.
- Awesome.

So there is no way that you
or I or anyone could know

what card you've picked...
Anyone, but not anything.

Because this cube has
the magic of clairvoyance,

it knows your card even
though you and I do not.

- Wow.
- But in order to find out

what the cube knows,

we have to let it do
what it's made for.

- I mean, just this
alone is impressive.

- Now just to be clear,
I am not in charge here.

The cube is actually using me
in the same way a Ouija board

might use tween girls
at a slumber party.

It leads, and I follow.

Not that I'm saying the
devil is in this puzzle cube...

And not that I'm
saying he's not.

- This is very
impressive, just this part.

- Wow.

- The cube has spoken.

Alyson, the cube says
that your card is a club,

but not only does it
say your card is a club,

it also says your
card is a two of clubs.

Alyson, for the first time,
please reveal your card.

- Okay, hold on.

Two of clubs.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
the two of clubs.

- Wow!

Sydney Weaver.

Ah!

That is so impressive.
- Thank you.

- Have you always
been good with the cube?

- I've been doing the
cube for about 10 years,

but before then, I
always loved things

with patterns and
puzzles in general.

- Do you just, like,
go to sleep, like,

dreaming up puzzles?

- Yeah, sometimes I
dream of algorithms,

and the second I
wake up, I try them.

Sometimes they work.
Sometimes they don't.

- Have you always
been good at math?

- I have been, yes.

I teach at math festivals,

and I lecture at universities.

- So what is the
world of cubing like?

- It's a lot of
wonderful people,

people who do different
things from blind solving puzzles

to building crazy
unique puzzles.

Everyone in the
community is amazing.

- And so is it
super competitive?

- I personally have
been to 23 competitions

and have nine gold medals,
so I'm going to say yes.

But a lot of other people
are just welcoming

and want you to have fun.

- Okay, Sydney, let's
see if Penn and Teller

solved your magic cube trick.

- Sydney, I am going to now
damn you with faint praise.

You are the smartest person
we've ever had on this show.

You are the smartest
magician we've ever seen.

Now I know that's
a very, very low bar,

but it's the one
I have to offer.

And not just raw
processing power,

but also a real sense, that's
a really good card selection.

It's really, really
nice and simple

and just mind-blowing,

just right on the
mark in every way

and the number of algorithms
that you need to memorize.

I mean, you gave that number.

How many
possibilities are there?

- Nineteen with 159 zeroes.
- Which is about your IQ?

Around that ballpark?
- Give or take.

- That's somewhere
around where it is.

I don't want to, you
know... I don't want to just hit

how smart the routine is

because that is
a little bit insulting

because it's also
so entertaining.

It's not something
you appreciate.

It's something you just
love from beginning to end,

and the algorithms
you memorized,

that's not the only thing
you've memorized in this trick.

It's... the whole thing
is just astonishing,

and I'm now going
to say something

that, if it does
make you a little sad,

I will guarantee you
it makes us sadder,

because we so, so want
you to come on our show,

but we don't think
you fooled us.

But we love this routine
so much, Sydney.

You were so fabulous.

- Sydney.
- Yeah, I think you got me.

- Did he give you a clue
they know how you did it?

- Yep.

- Oh, well, it was
fantastic to watch.

Thank you so much,

and I definitely need
advice from you.

- All right.
- Okay, Sydney Weaver.

More magicians will
attempt to confound

and astound Penn and Teller,

and at the end of the
show, Penn and Teller

will try to do the same
to us. Stick around.

- Welcome back.

The only thing standing
in the way of you meeting

our next magician is
me saying this sentence.

- Hello. I'm Steven Palmore,

but I perform as Jazz Man S.

My two passions in life
are music and magic.

My bass means everything to me.

When I die, I want to
be buried with my bass

and a pack of cards,

because whether
it's Satan or Jesus,

there's going to be a show.

In 2008, I injured my spine,

and I was temporarily paralyzed.

It was a 9-hour surgery,

and I knew my life would be over

if I couldn't perform
music and magic.

Thankfully, I'm here
today, alive and kicking,

and I don't take one
moment for granted.

I do over 200 sit-ups
and push-ups every day,

and I will till the day I die.
It's the same with my magic.

I don't practice. I train.

So look out, Penn and Teller,

because here comes
me and my bass.

- From Queens, New York,

give it up for
illusionist Jazz Man S.

- My name is Jazz Man S,

and I am the world's
only comic jazz "mugician."

That's one half magician
and one half musician.

I owe a great deal of my
success to my assistant,

and I'd like for you to
meet her, my magical bass,

Little Betsy.

Now, Betsy and I
have traveled the world

making beautiful music together.

We've shared the stage
with Wynton Marsalis,

the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

We've toured with Stevie Wonder.

We've played for
five Broadway shows,

and we even have two CDs out.

I love Betsy more than
anything else in the world.

I even had a girlfriend who
left me because of Betsy.

She couldn't stand
playing second fiddle.

Now let me tell you all of
the wonderful things I love

about Betsy:

her long, slender
neck, her E string,

her A string, her D string,

and, of course, her G string.

Now don't go
getting weirded out.

I know she's just a
musical instrument,

but to a mugician, she's
much more than that.

How you feeling, Betsy, dear?

Is that right?

Betsy said that she's tired.

Well, she should be.

You see, we had a gig until
3:30 in the morning yesterday,

so if you'll excuse me
for just one moment,

I've got to put her to rest.
Here you go Betsy, dear.

Yeah, how's that, honey? Yeah.

Oh, one more thing: she
hates the air-conditioning.

She says that the cold
air disturbs her beauty rest

and takes her out of tune,

so if you'll bear with me
for one more moment,

I've got to get her wrapped
up. Here you go, honey.

Remember I told
you that my girlfriend

actually left me
because of Betsy?

Well, here's how that went down.

One time she walked in on
me while I was getting Betsy

all wrapped up
and nice and cozy,

and she looked at
me, and she said,

"You love that bass fiddle
more than you love me."

I said, "Well,
honey, I love you too,

but can you do this?"

- And that is the
story of my magical,

beautiful bass fiddle, Betsy.

- Jazz Man S!

Hi.

- Hello.

- It's so nice to see you.
- Pleasure is mine.

- How long have you
been playing the bass?

- Let's see, about 40 years.
- Oh.

So what was your
very first magic trick?

- My very first magic trick?
- Mm-hmm.

- Well, I was born on
the West Side of Chicago,

which is kind of a rough
neighborhood, and it still is.

I was in the second grade,

and I was approached
by two gangs of kids.

Yeah, at recess, and
they approached me,

and they said "We want
you to join our street gang.

Whose gang are
you going to be in?"

So I said, "I don't want
to be in a gang of punks,

"so you guys fight it
out, and whoever wins,

I'll join your gang."

So they started fighting,
and about 5 minutes later,

after the dust had
settled, they looked around

and said "Where is
he?" I had disappeared.

- That's the smartest
trick you probably ever did.

- That was the first
magic trick, yes.

- Wow. Is there an art form

to putting together
a great show?

- Definitely.

When I approach
putting together a show,

I don't think about the
tricks. I think about the effect

that it's going to
have on the audience.

How do they feel
about it? Do they laugh?

Do they relate
to it in some way,

shape, form or fashion?
That's why I designed Betsy,

so that husbands and wives
and girlfriends and boyfriends

can kick each other
underneath the table.

- Okay, well, we were jazzed
to have you on the stage,

so let's see if you fooled them.

- Okay.
- Oh, Jazz Man, how long

is it going to take to get
this stupid grin off my face?

I've got to tell you,
there could not be an act

more in the pocket for me.

I just... you know,
I play upright.

- I know.

- And I love it so much,
and I love jazz so much,

and I saw that bass there.

I think you might've heard
me as you were coming down.

I was just hooting. I
just love that so much.

It's just so great, and Teller
and I have been talking about

doing a levitation with
my version of Betsy.

I have a nice Italian bass
that goes back a while

that I play that we thought
about floating around.

And this is just a
beautiful, beautiful setup,

and you really do
play and play well.

- Yes.
- And I've got to tell you,

if you were writing an
act just for me, personally,

you couldn't do
better than this.

I was grinning every moment,
loving every single bit of it.

And the one thing I'll tell you,

now that it's time to say
whether you fooled us or not,

is I can tell you
this very clearly,

and I think you'll know
what I'm talking about

when I tell you it's
all about the bass.

That's how you did that
trick. It's all about the bass.

- Okay.

- You know what
I'm talking about.

- Yes. Yes.

You know what
you're talking about.

- You can read
between the lines there.

I think you could
pick up on that.

- Is that right, Jazz Man?
- Yes, it is true.

- Is it all about the bass?
- It is. Yes, it is.

- So you didn't fool them?
- No, I didn't.

What a great act.

- Oh, well, you really
entertained all of us.

Thank you so much.

- It's certainly
been a pleasure.

- Jazz Man S.

- Nice moves.

- Penn and Teller
aren't off the hook yet.

They've got more acts to take on

when "Fool Us" returns.

- Welcome back to "Fool
Us." The next magician

trying to baffle our
boys is this performer.

- Growing up I had two dads.

My biological father
was absent, off in jail,

and my stepfather,
who's really my dad,

see, my dad being
present in my life taught me

to be present in the life of
my family and my friends,

and really on stage,

I want to be present

in the moment with my audience.

Even though I've done
the show 1,000 times,

they're seeing it
for the first time,

and I want to
experience it with them.

There's a craziness to my show
where cards are flying around,

and Skittles are flying,
and pieces are everywhere,

but in the end, I like to
show how there's meaning

and there's purpose in the mess,

that that's not the
end of our story,

but that's part of our story.

This trick is something
I designed myself.

I was trying to find a way
into Penn and Teller's heart.

I mean, how difficult
can it be to get in there

with, you know,
the right equipment?

Penn and Teller, keep
your eye on this one.

- Buckle up and ride along
with the magic of Danny Ray.

- Hi, Alyson.
- Hi.

- You're going to
be perfect for this.

You know why?
- Uh-uh.

- Because as any
"Fool Us" fan knows,

you love dangerous magic.

- Oh.
- So, Alyson...

Yes.

- I could assure you that
this device is very dangerous.

- I... you got me all wrong. Oh!

- Let's make sure
it's working, Alyson.

- Let's not. Okay.

- Yeah, it's working.

Now, can you verify that that
would have a devastating impact

on anything that it hit?

- Yeah.
- Yeah, okay.

And, Alyson, what do
you think would happen

if this hook hit somebody
directly in the eyeball?

- I think that would
be horrendous.

- Alyson?
- What?

I don't like you anymore.

What are you...

Teller, you're perfect for this.

- Thank you.

Thank you so
much for helping me.

- Uh-uh.

- Okay, let me just
show what would happen.

I want you to
imagine that this egg

with a green eye
on it is your eye.

- No.
- And imagine that that's

behind this device,
and that pin was pulled.

- Wait, wait, wait,
wait. Wait, wait.

Is that hard boiled?

- It is not hard boiled.
- Oh, my God.

I'm going to go back
over there, please.

Oh, jeez.

- If that trigger was pushed,

that would be a
bad day right there.

- Oh.
- Yeah. Yeah.

- Great.
- All right.

Here, let's do this.
Let's get that out of here.

Yeah, that is
beautiful right there.

There's a little eye
juice right there, Alyson.

That's fun. It's all right.

- You just seemed so nice.

Like, you had a nice smile...
- I apologize.

- And then this.

- Apparently I've
already fooled you.

- Yes. Great trick, everybody.

- So, Alyson, for
the remainder of this,

I need you to hold
your eyeball right here.

- No! That's not okay.

- Okay.

I wouldn't ask you to do that.

If anybody is going to get hurt,

that's going to be my job.

Your job is to make sure

I don't end up a
sight for sore eyes.

- Oh.

Aw. - So, Alyson...

- Yeah?
- Let me show you what we have.

We have four metal plates.

Now, three of these have
holes going right through them.

Now, imagine for a
moment that one of these,

with a hole in it, was
placed into this envelope,

that envelope
placed into the device,

and that device had

my eyeball behind...
- Okay.

- Yeah, that would be bad.

- Yeah, I mean, just
imagining it is bad.

- Yeah.
- Is that the trick?

- That is not the trick.

- I think it should
be the trick.

- Because this is what we have.
- Oh, that's...

- It's a solid steel shield.
- Okay.

- This will stop the hook

from going directly
through my eyeball,

which is kind of
the point, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

- So you keep your
eye on this one.

- Can I touch it?
- Sure, if you want to.

- No, I just want to make sure

it's the one that goes in there.

- So here we go. I'm
going to move these over.

In a moment, I'm going to have
you move these around, okay?

- Okay.
- You can move them around

however you want, okay?

So you can just mix them up.

- All right.
- But at the end of it,

you have to know where
the one with the shield is.

Does that make sense?
- Mm-hmm.

- Okay, so I'm
going to turn around.

You start to mix them up.
When I turn back around,

I'm going to try
to read your verbal

and your nonverbal language,

your face, your
reactions, to figure out

which one has the
shield. Can I turn around?

- Sure.
- Okay. Alyson, here we go.

You're... no hints or
clues. No hints or clues.

So I don't know whether
you're lying to me,

or you're messing with me.
Here's what I want you to do,

because I only have
one shot to get this right.

- Mm-hmm.
- One shot to find the shield.

- I really want you
to get this right.

- Now, no hints or
clues, just follow my hand.

Here... ooh, interesting.

I do think... Maybe.

It's one of...

Okay, I'm going
to go with this one.

Alyson, I do think

you were telling
the truth. Is this it?

- Yeah, I hope so.
- That's a big hint.

That's a big hint.
- Oh, okay.

- So here we go.

- Oh, God.
- I told you no hints.

- Do I... I can't...
- Here we go.

- Okay, I...
- On the count of three.

One...

- I don't want to see this.

- Maybe just watch
with one eye open...

Alyson, that definitely
does not have the shield.

Are you messing
with me right now?

- No. That was the right one.

- That was not the right one.
- It was the right one.

See, I told you
this was a bad idea.

- Did you really think
this had the shield?

- Yeah.
- Do you know where...

If you had to guess right now,
which one would you guess?

Just point to one.

- I don't know.

I mean, that was the one.

I swear that was the one.

- Okay, so if you had to guess
you would go with this one?

Here's the problem,
Alyson, is we can't guess.

We can't guess. You know why?

The eye that you think
is pretty is on the line.

That one is on the line.

Okay, so no more guessing, okay?

No more guessing.

- I was the wrong
person for this job, clearly.

- Alyson.
- Yeah.

- I'm going to lock this up.

So, Alyson, here's what I think,

is I think maybe on
a subconscious level

you still know where it is.

- I don't. I never did.

- You don't? We
just have to unlock it.

Let's look at the situation.
We have two metal plates.

- Right.
- One is solid, one has a hole.

- Yeah.
- One will save my eye.

One will make it
pop like a grape.

Yeah. So, Alyson...

- Yeah.

- I'm going to put my
eye into your hands.

- Please don't.
- I might have to in a moment

because you're going
to make the final choice.

- Clearly this is wrong.

- Yeah, so whichever
one you choose,

just using your instincts,
will go into the device,

and my eyeball
will go on the line.

No second-guessing, no do-overs.

Alyson, right now,

I want you to point to the one
you believe is the shield. Go.

- Which one do you
want me to point to?

- Here we go.

- This is dumb.

- Alyson...
- No.

On the count of three.
- W-w-w-whoa...

Oh, God.
- One.

- No.

- Two...
- Mm-mm.

- Three.

Ah, my eye!

My eye is all
right. It's all right.

But, Alyson, had you gone
with this one over here,

I would have a whole different
outlook on life right now.

Alyson, thank you for
choosing life for this eyeball.

You're awesome. I really
appreciate your help.

Let's give it up for
Alyson. Thank you, Alyson.

Yeah, me! Hooray!

- This is mean.
- I'm sorry to do that to you.

- Are you just pretend nice?
- No, this is only, like,

you know, a little piece
of, like, my life, you know?

But these are the things
that come out of my head.

- Ugh, so you, like, wake up

in the middle of the
night with a nightmare,

and then, like, "Oh,
that's a perfect trick"?

- Yeah, that is a problem.

- You know, if you had
a magic master class,

what would you teach?

- Ooh. More the philosophy

behind how you fool somebody,

how you design stuff.

To me, that's more
interesting than some of the,

you know, mechanics
of how it's done.

How about you?

What would your
master's class be?

- How to avoid getting picked

for tricks like this.

Shall we see if
Penn and Teller know

how you magically
saved your eye?

- Yes, let's find out.
- Hey, Danny.

- Hi there.
- What a...

And I mean this as
the highest compliment,

what a goofball trick,
just the goofiest thing,

putting your eye against
some weird machine

and then having Alyson
choose. It's just beautiful.

I really liked it, and
the egg looked great,

the drawing on the
egg, and we got an idea

that the holes in the metal
were not really in the center.

- No.
- Okay, that wasn't my guess.

- What?
- That sounded like a guess.

- I was just musing aloud.

- All right. All right.

- That's the way
someone else might do it,

is what I was saying,
not the way you did it.

We think that that
gizmo you got there...

That gizmo that looks like
nothing on planet Earth

but is rusty and old, but what
would you ever use that for?

Who would ever make a
device to do that other than you?

It's not old. You developed it,

and we think that that machine

can decide whether
it goes through or not,

and you have
some sort of switch.

Well, we don't know
exactly what it is,

but we think that
you didn't fool us

because your machine there
has got some sort of gimmick.

Is the machine gimmicked?

- The machine is not
gimmicked in any way.

- See, what I understood you
to say was that the machine

was not gimmicked in any
way. Can we get a little?

- Yeah.

- It's even much more beautiful.

- I'm going to lock
it into place here.

- So that's locked.
- You have to pull the pin

if you're really
going to do that.

- Having flashbacks.

- Oh!

Okay, and there's no
gimmick in here at all?

- There's no gimmick in it.
- I just asked you outright.

You're giving us your
word as a lying magician.

Okay. Then I'll
give you our word.

You fooled us.

- Thank you so much.
- We have a Fooler.

Yay!

- Yes!
- There it is.

Take it away, please.

- All right.
- That's a beautiful thing.

Up close, it's even
more beautiful.

- It is. Thank you so much.

- Danny Ray!

- Thank you so much.
You guys are awesome.

Thank you.

- We have our first
Fooler of the night

and maybe not the last.

Come back and
see Penn and Teller

take on more
magicians after this.

- Welcome back.

One magician just won a
slot in Penn and Teller's show.

Will our next act join
them? Let's find out.

- I didn't really think

I could become a
magician on stage

because of my speech...
impediment.

I would stutter.

But I saw on the
"Ed Sullivan Show"

a lot of magicians
on there didn't speak.

They did their
acts in pantomime.

I was like,

"Oh, that's something
that I could do."

So I developed an act in
pantomime and ended up

winning a lot of
awards for my magic.

I wanted to develop
a one-man show

about my experiences,

and to that, you
needed to speak.

It was terrifying,
but I kept at it

until I was able to speak
on stage for a whole hour.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Bobby Torkova,
and welcome to my show.

This is a dream
come true tonight.

Who would've thought
that this scared little kid

would be on this big stage,

performing for Penn and Teller?

- Let's give a big warm
welcome to Bobby Torkova.

- Bobby Torkova!

That was so enjoyable.

- Thank you. I'm
glad you liked it.

- I could watch that
every 4th of July.

- Absolutely.

- I always find
that so fascinating,

that people who stutter,

oftentimes performing is
what winds up helping them.

- Yeah, at
times. It's difficult.

I mean, people
who stutter and sing,

they don't have
any trouble with that,

but speaking is still an issue.

But a part of my therapy as
an adult was to go on stage

and actually stutter even
when I wasn't going to,

and I developed a one-man show

which is based on my
experiences growing up

and learning how to do
tricks from the comic books,

and now I can do the whole show,

and I speak on stage.

- That's so cool.
- Yeah.

- Do you perform
a lot of silent tricks?

- I do. I do.

I think for the first
20 years of my career,

I performed silently on stage

because I was
too afraid to speak,

but then I wanted
to do a longer act,

and you have to speak.

You can't do, you know,
two hours of silent stuff.

I tried.

- Well, that was wonderful.

Let's see if you
fooled Penn and Teller.

- Okay.

- Hey, Bobby. Good to see you.

Boy, that's classic magic,

which we do not get
enough of on the show,

a good, classic
silk dye routine,

a lot of Al Baker in there

and a story going all the way
through, not just silk dyeing,

but actually going
through the whole thing.

And I'll tell you, the drop
of the blue handkerchief

looks like a real accident.
- Oh, good.

- And that's a
really nice moment

when you start thinking you're
a step ahead of the magician,

the magician is really
a step ahead of you.

And the good news is,

we love having classic
magic done beautifully.

The stuff you're doing
there is really hard.

There's hard
manipulation stuff in there,

and it's really,
really wonderful.

But the fact that it's
classic means we're thrilled

to have you on the show,
and the fact that it's classic

also means we probably
know how you did it.

- Right. I figured that.

- Just wonderful.

- So they know the magic?

- Yeah, I think they
have a very good idea.

- Yeah. Well, thank you so much.

It was wonderful
watching you perform.

- It was a pleasure.
- Bobby Torkova.

Stay right where you are,
because after the break,

Penn and Teller
take center stage.

- Welcome back.

Penn and Teller have
been dazzling audiences

for more than 4 decades.

Here with a little trip
down Memory Lane

is our legendary
duo, Penn and Teller.

- My children are teenagers now,

but especially when
they were younger,

Teller was a great uncle.

He'd always do little
magic tricks for the children.

One of his favorite things to do

was to tell them about
his partner before me...

It was named Pen,
but with one N...

And the tricks that Pen,
one N, and Teller would do,

and the trick he
loved to tell them about

was how he would
take Pen with one N

and tear him
apart, rip him apart,

and then magically
put him back together.

He couldn't just put him
back together like this.

He had to do this and then
take a little bit of whiffle dust

and put Pen with
one N back together.

They
loved this trick.

Teller would do it
over and over again,

and finally the children
started to kind of catch on,

for the way you
would do a destroyed

and restored something
is, you have a duplicate.

So Teller always
had a duplicate prop,

another Pen with one N,

and he would have
that hidden in his hand.

And then he would
take the Pen with one N

that the children
saw, rip it apart,

and the children knew he
had the duplicate in his hand,

and he would just switch them.

So the children would
watch for the switch.

And then he went to his
pocket for the whiffle dust,

he would ditch the pieces,
come out with the whiffle dust

and then just
show the duplicate.

So by the time my
children were, like, 8 or 9,

they were pretty sophisticated
in watching magic.

And then one day,
we were all at the park,

just relaxing,
having a good time,

and the children
would always check

Uncle Teller's hands if
he wasn't doing tricks,

to make sure there was
nothing hidden in his hands.

They were very, very careful,
and Teller had a balloon,

and Teller was just going
to play with the children

with a balloon.
He's blowing it up,

and the whole time
he's blowing the balloon,

they're watching
the balloon of course,

but they're also making sure
his hands are completely empty.

Now I don't remember exactly
what happened that day...

Maybe there's some
really mean guy in the park...

But all of a sudden,
the balloon just popped.

Now the children said

"Uncle Teller, put the
balloon back together."

But Teller tried to amuse
them in other ways.

He said "Well, wait a
minute, I can use the pieces.

It can be a mustache."
The children didn't care.

He said "Hey, children,
it could be earrings,"

and the children didn't care.

And he said "Hey,
children, it could be snot."

Now they liked the
blue snot a little better,

but then he said

"How about, children,
if I have a boutonniere?"

And the children didn't
know what a boutonniere was

and didn't care at all.
But Teller still did it.

Then he said, "How
about we do some music?"

And he turned the
balloon pieces into a kazoo.

They didn't care.

Then he turned it into a guitar.

I just said, "Pluck it."

There we go.

And then they said,
"No, Uncle Teller,

"we saw your hands
empty. We saw no switch.

"Why don't you just
restore it, you know,

like you did Pen with one
N, but without a duplicate?"

And sure enough, Teller
just blew up the balloon,

and no matter how
sophisticated they were,

they were impressed with that.

Aw.

For tiny Penn and tiny Teller

and all of us here at "Fool Us,"

good night from Las
Vegas. We'll see you soon.