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Anyone else notice than Morgan & West were the first acts to fool P&T yet not have P&T go up and congratulate them afterwards? Or was it just edited out?

It's just after the "no deck switch" discussion and saying they didn't fake one either to put them off the scent, there seemed to be a slightly frosty feeling about it. Anyone at the recording able to shed more light on it?

davidplaine wrote: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.

Yes they would...

me_simon wrote:Anyone else notice than Morgan & West were the first acts to fool P&T yet not have P&T go up and congratulate them afterwards? Or was it just edited out?

It's just after the "no deck switch" discussion and saying they didn't fake one either to put them off the scent, there seemed to be a slightly frosty feeling about it. Anyone at the recording able to shed more light on it?

Teller tweeted.......

Yes, Morgan and West did one fakey move that looked like a deck switch. It wasn't, nor was it their main method, as we learned later.

Nick did not nor did he have to use stooges, this is a method in print but he adjusted it.

Stephen Ward wrote:Nick did not nor did he have to use stooges, this is a method in print but he adjusted it.

I agree, I'm almost certain that I know the method you are talking about - if it is, then the slight adaptation is a cool idea, plus, it was good enough to fool Penn and Teller, so great job

Dan

I thought the Morgan and West routine looked a lot like a certain DB routine. Only a lot less entertaining.

It was presented in such a throw away manner I couldn't care how the did it. Its as if the costumes are a substitute for actual charisma.

I guess someone must find them entertaining and congratulations on the Vegas gig

OK, having read it back, one of my posts was not technically correct. I don't fancy giving the method away though.

Jon Allen wrote:OK, having read it back, one of my posts was not technically correct. I don't fancy giving the method away though.

Elaborate much? Do you think that he DID use stooges? or that you dont think its the trick you were refferring to in print?

Dan

He didn't use stooges.

And yes, I think it was similar to the DB effect.

I enjoyed it. Best episode yet - if Michael Vincent had been swapped with Piff.

Jing wrote:why the dressing up as old people gimmick

They have to wear something...

Jing wrote: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'

The gimmick is that they are from the Victorian era. I think it's pretty original and taps into the steampunk fashion. I don't think it's supposed to be funny in itself, but creates some nice opportunities for humour, like having silhouettes instead of photographs in their album. You obviously didn't find that funny, but I enjoyed it. Not exactly roll on the floor funny, admittedly, but a nice touch.

I also thought there might be a deck switch, but you presumably missed the fact that there is a highly experienced magician who acts as moderator. He knows the actual method, so if West had lied, the moderator would have called the duo on it, and they would not be off to Vegas.

I suspect Penn and Teller were a little nonplussed because they saw something and it was confirmed that this was not a move just to throw them off the scent. It's just that they didn't quite realise what the move actually did (until a few minutes later). As a couple of people have already suggested, I think there was more than one method used.

They seemed less happy when Benjamin Earl got the nod in the original special!

I just watched Saturday's Fool Us

I thought Cubic Act were sublime. Utterly wonderful. Loved it!

Nick Einhorn's routine was a tremendous magician fooler. I liked its narrative simplicity and the fact that there was no option for multiple outs. Nice one!

Michael Vincent's routine was lovely, but didn't hold many surprises for me. I saw the ending coming right from the off. But then I applaud him for going on with commercial and entertaining material rather than a one-purpose 'magician fooler'.

The only effect I took the time to re-watch was Morgan & West's. I understand what was going on at the point where P&T thought they saw a deck switch. What I find tragic is that the whole switch argument took attention away from the bulk of the effect, in which (I believe) two or more methods were at play, much more cunning than an ickle switcheroo. I've got suspicions about the latter half of the routine, but that's all. Well done guys! Oh, and while I'm certain that there were no 'fake moves' to throw Penn & Teller off the scent, I'd like to ask anyone calling 'foul' for that reason to cast their minds back a couple of weeks to Mathieu Bich's card box and his performance of Spreadwave.

All in all, I think it was the best show yet in the series.

And, for the record, I thought the nailgun trick was ace.

Pete

Have to say, I wasn't a fan of Morgan and West deliberately avoiding Penn's question, by giving the answer to one he hadn't asked.

Penn asked
"So there was nothing done between the time Johnathon shuffled the cards, and he sat down?"

Answer,
"we did not switch the deck."

That's not what he asked, and they know it.

Regarless of how much they may going to claim a victory over Penn and Teller, the routine didn't hold my attention (or from reading reviews, nor did it particularly grab many laypeople) and it seems everybody and their mum saw them do the sneaky little move as Johnathon sat down. If there was no conversation afterwards with Penn, pretty much every spectator would have walked away thinking, "well he just swapped the deck for another one, I saw him." and they would be happy with themselves with that, and wouldn't feel fooled or that they had just witnessed anything particularly magical.

Arkesus wrote:Have to say, I wasn't a fan of Morgan and West deliberately avoiding Penn's question, by giving the answer to one he hadn't asked.

Penn asked
"So there was nothing done between the time Johnathon shuffled the cards, and he sat down?"

Answer,
"we did not switch the deck."

That's not what he asked, and they know it.

Regarless of how much they may going to claim a victory over Penn and Teller, the routine didn't hold my attention (or from reading reviews, nor did it particularly grab many laypeople) and it seems everybody and their mum saw them do the sneaky little move as Johnathon sat down. If there was no conversation afterwards with Penn, pretty much every spectator would have walked away thinking, "well he just swapped the deck for another one, I saw him." and they would be happy with themselves with that, and wouldn't feel fooled or that they had just witnessed anything particularly magical.

Thats a bad thing too ... imo, the trick that they did was pretty cool - it fitted their style, it worked for the show and I felt that it had quite a good "feel" for a trick, reading Johnathons thoughts with pretty much no effort at all, which seemed a BIT lost on the audience, but Johnathon was amazed

Its a shame because the effort and chat with P&T seemed to have been edited into it so that the whole trick lost all focus and the main thing people remember is the "little fight" with Penn about the REALLY REALLY obvious move ... even if it was put their to look fake :S

I also didnt like the cocky attitude of "would we be able to do THIS" and show a really odd looking book thing and a crazily large bag ... Penn didnt seem impressed AT ALL (he said something like "Do what?" and looked seriously confused ...)

I like the trick, and was kind of expecting the "Elvis Silhouette" style ending to the trick; Pick a card, think of the celeb on it and I'll cut it, so overall I liked their routine, but I dont think anyone will remember it at all ... its a real shame they didnt do more tricks though, compared to the time of previous contestants like 'Soma', or the length of time of 'Cubic' it seemed that their could have been a bit more substance :/

Dan

I think the M&W experience is more an indication of the way things appear different on a screen than on a stage. The framing of the cameras and the pacing of the edit freatly alter the feel of the performance. Sometimes it helps greatly. Other times it's bad news. In my previous job as a video maker, I've seen it go to both extremes.

I suspect that this one would be more engaging for a live theatre audience than the folks at home with their goggleboxes. I also think that it would be an excellent routine for the middle of a show. In the short attention-span world of Telly, I think a couple of shorter, snappier effects might have served them better.

Again, it's a shame that so much attention is on the 'deck switch' claim, as there were, I think, some rather cunning methods at play in that effect.

Pete