talkmagic.co.uk

I'm pretty sure they just sort of "helped" the deck along the way. If you know what I mean.

Lovely to see the guys on prime time TV and heading to Vegas where they will absolutely love them.

Gazzo on next week....I just let out a little wee wee with excitement.

For what it's worth:

Cubic Act
Excellent. Could have been a bit tighter, and did start to drag. Glad they revealed that there was someone in the box, it could have become very tedious if they'd have shown an empty box at the end instead.

Nick Einhorn
I've been a closet fan of Nick for years, and I was truly baffled by this until thinking outside the box. Gorgeous effect, stunning execution, and I wasn't bored for a single second.
I was shocked that the names were part of the revelation, but after thinking harder, it would have been a bit of a let down if they hadn't have been, if that makes sense!

Michael Vincent
Oh pleasure... I could see exactly how this was done, and from the very moment the signatures went on, I said to the wife "Ohhhhhhh yes".
HOWEVER... to have performed this close-up, under the scrutiny of Penn & Teller was nothing short of ballsey. And he performed it magnificently.

Morgan & West
What can I say... I saw the 'move' that caused all the controversy, but I really do feel that the move was a playful one to some degree. There are many more ways to skin a cat than the obvious!

Penn & Teller's Nail Gun
Dear oh dear. Probably the most obvious routine of the evening. This was utterly, without doubt, the least magician-friendly effect of the night.
I'm sure most of you can gauss how this one was done, just a shame P&T didn't go in front of the judges themselves! SAYING THAT... I adore Penn & Teller, and it was pure entertainment!

Seige quietly slips back into his dark corner, consciously aware that the Freudian Slip in his ramblings will hopefully go unnoticed

I love that rationale that only magic fans will enjoy Fool Us.

Well Effing DUH!!!!!!!!

Guess what lady, I'm not a fan of cars, do you think I cancel nights out to watch Top Gear. Can't stand cooking, do you think I wake up in time to watch Saturday Kitchen? And I don;t know a single pensioner that fights for the remote in the old people's home so they can switch it over to the Teletubbies.

It was a very good show this week.

Loved the Cubic stuff, the accompanying music really helped the mood of the piece.

I thought that Morgan and West were using a code until the end when Ross was left to go it alone and it still worked. Full marks chaps.

Cubic Act - awesome, but feel something was lost on TV, they were amazing at Blackpool, but still best of the night for me.

Nick Einhorn - got both of those mega-selling books, he spoke about, and they're awesome, am sure he's a great magician, seems likeable, but I don't really like these multi-revelation mental magic effects, in contrast to Cubic Act, I think this one works better on TV than live.

Michael Vincent - as I said the last time, ok he can do card moves, but it's totally uninteresting, I would rather someone do some basic magic and tell me some jokes, I have friends who can talk to you and ask you about yourself and then make jokes on the spur of the moment about your personality and the situation you are in, which is a lot more interesting than moves, people are more interested in people than things, gah.

Morgan and West - how many more double male acts do I have to sit through, why the dressing up as old people gimmick, was it supposed to be funny, it wasn't, and they totally cheated with making a 'fake deck switch', not only did I also see the switch, but you can tell by the way the little one was so excited about fetching the bag, and then he lied that they had done the fake move, I know they are on this forum, and that they will deny it, but it was obvious, also if you do that in a real show it completely defies the point of magic whether that is the method or not, because as we have said before, once the audience has a method, they are convinced it's not magic, even if it's not the correct method.

I've just signed up to ask this, so please excuse my post if it's out of line, but is Cubic Act's performance not done by simply having the girl-in-the-box grab onto the lamp-post or performer? It was, of course, a beautiful and well-choreographed performance, but I feel like I am missing a trick that everyone else seems to be seeing?

The cubic act was lovely! Really enjoyed that. In fact i liked the whole show apart from the P&T ending!

lxmpl wrote:I've just signed up to ask this, so please excuse my post if it's out of line, but is Cubic Act's performance not done by simply having the girl-in-the-box grab onto the lamp-post or performer? It was, of course, a beautiful and well-choreographed performance, but I feel like I am missing a trick that everyone else seems to be seeing?

We do not give away the secrets.

With Michael Vincent, i must say i am a huge fan of his, and he did perform flawlessly. As soon as i saw him getting the backs signed i turned to my girlfriend and said i know what this is... and i was right, "the unholy three" from darwin ortiz's book "cardshark" however it did annoy me how he avoided Penn's question: is this your original effect?" to which he replied "its the first time its been performed live on TV"
one of my favourite things about Michael is that he seems to be a truly nice guy, before the show my girlfriend asked me why i liked him, and i said "because he is a gentleman" perhaps avoiding the question like that only bothered me because it wasn't entirely honest and conflicted with my opinion of him.
i think i preferred Michael's original performance not to mention the fact that i am incredibly jealous of his ability.

I like Michael Vincent also stangely enough a friend of mine was with him on Thursday and was to embarassed to ask him what the routine was. personally if he knew he wasnt going to fool them he should have wheeled out Rhapsody in Silver which is his best piece and would have at least got him a zillion bookings elsewhere. With the background music this is real magic for those that have not seen it... it has the wow factor in his hands

Anyway , Morgan & West were a real let down and i clicked the method straight away. How Penn & Teller were fooled ill never know. The Romans were using this system two millenia ago . Two clowns if you ask me and they would have to pay me to see them in Vegas...id rather be in the High Heel Club stroking a Gin And Tonic counting my pawn tickets

Hi,

Sorry to be a muggle about this...

But one trick on the show was spoiled for me because it seemed so obvious how it was done... I'm hoping someone on here can confirm that this is NOT how it was done, so I can stop being annoyed - and stop wanting to shake Penn and Teller for missing it.

First I have to say my father was a working magician (close up) for many years. And two of my friends are/were members of the magic Circle (one thrown out for a TV show he did on the BBC).

So although I am a muggle, I have read many books, and do know a fair bit of history. In fact I do know the mechanics of many/most performances. So I am not annoyed at 'knowing' the trick. I am annoyed at what I think it is, and hope it wasn't.

The dinner trick.

I didn't believe Catherine (the girl selected) was randomly selected. There is always a reason for any move (from a good magician). So just picking someone like that seems to easy.

So she chooses where the dinners go.

She chooses the three random (hungry) men.

And she choses who gets which envelope/which table.

The choice to switch the envelopes was too perfect. As the performer didn't get to touch them in the switch. It was a move put in not for the audience but for Penn and Teller.

I only watched it once but I didn't believe her, and because of this I was reading her as acting all the way through (maybe just because I wanted to?)

And of course she had ample time preshow to do the pyschic trick of meeting the three lads and getting their names.

So even if there was a minute cut/edited of them getting name badges, there was no need to change anything in the envelopes.

It annoyed me, as it felt such a cheat. I couldn't believe that Penn and Teller didn't go for it. Though Penn did say to Catherine 'he would kill her if she was in on it'.

Anyway, I'm not looking for the answer. I just would love to find out that Catherine was NOT in on it.

Then maybe I could watch it again and see if I see it in another way. Is there an unedited version of the acts anywhere?

Sorry to rant a bit, I just feel so grrr about this act at the moment.

Some dude was in on it , thats for sure.

The only person in on it was Nick... and I wouldn't exactly call him a 'dude'

There were no stooges, no pre-show, no accomplices and no 'additions' made during the edit.

So there's no need to feel Grrr about it.

It's actually a variation of an effect that is in print...

Oh, Morgan & West didn't do a deck switch. End of story.

Magical_Trevor wrote:Having re-watched this on itv+1 (sad?) I am still loving this show the best - I really liked the meal thing, and like Penn am fooled as to how each of the names etc got into the envelopes ... I have SEVERAL ideas and think that the moethod (or a VERY similar method) may be in a certain Berglass book and reminds me of a trick I had AGES ago (and saw at a convention); The Ultimate Chair Test Routine by Luca Volpe and Titanas.

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd love to know if I'm right or not (Feel free to PM to avoid exposure and I'll gladly throw my ideas out first to prove I'm not begging for answers - As I've said, I know how I'd have done it, but the routine wouldnt have been as drawn out - NOT a critisism btw)

Cube routine STILL amazing, Mr Vincent was FLAWLESS but I do agree with the 2nd time on Tv thing a little :/, The victorian guys I really liked their patter and style, but I swear I saw a switch / drop too ... ITV player might crash by the amount of times I'm gonna watch - and I really like the idea of Johnathon getting his own card to keep

All the best to the guys going to vegas, its gonna be awesome to see an American Audience's reaction to old school british folk.

Dan

Oh, and GAZZO ON NEXT WEEKS SHOW !!! YAY !!!

Although I’m pretty sure how I know this was achieved; I wouldn’t want to give the raw secret away. If my thinking is correct; the secret of this effect relies on a rather clever and subtle combination of equivocation, suggestion and force. I believe that the audience members were genuinely selected at random, though the permutations are of course far fewer then he’d like us to believe. The effect also relies very much on the 3 lads not being ‘spoil sports’, since the cards do not say EXACTLY what is read from them. The only requirement of the effect is to get the correct envelope to the correct table. For sure is that if the girl had opted to move the lads once they’d sat at their tables, the envelopes wouldn’t have moved with them.

Credit where it’s due – brilliant trick. I’m a big fan of ‘mentalism’ and such, and despite Nicks lack of charisma compared to Derren Brown, it was the best trick so far on Fool us, in my opinion.