talkmagic.co.uk

I was surprised to the point of crying 'Fix!' when it transpired that neither Penn nor Teller had seen Bich's Spreadwave effect. He admitted on the show that the trick was quite old, and it won an FISM award. Surely a clued up duo like P & T would have been aware of it?

Mark Shotland was great, and I agree its a shame that they kind of gave away the secret behind that effect, or at least alluded to it. I imagine he won't be performing that any more.

Daniel Madison was a disappointment, even I could see what he was doing just by the way he held the cards. I'm not saying the audience could of course, but there's no way he could have hoped it would escape P & T's beady eyeballs. To think he's making noises about selling that effect now. He has a bunch of great magic effects out there, but chose to go with a gambling one.

I thought Young & Strange were good too, they seemed relaxed and natural in front of the cameras.

I certainly would not worry about any exposure in the show. People in the magic fraternity may have moaned about the Masked Magician too but, did it really do much harm? So you had to up your game a bit, try out new things, surely that's a good thing?

I think, Flood, that your friend illustrates the point beautifully regarding the cups and balls. They explained it, but your friend still loved it. Its because people (hopefully) know there's no such thing as magic, but some of them love dropping their defences and being taken for a ride, just for a few minutes. They'll suspend disbelief, they'll let you lie to them, just to be entertained. Good innit?

Grimshaw wrote:Daniel Madison was a disappointment, even I could see what he was doing just by the way he held the cards. I'm not saying the audience could of course, but there's no way he could have hoped it would escape P & T's beady eyeballs. To think he's making noises about selling that effect now. He has a bunch of great magic effects out there, but chose to go with a gambling one.

With Daniel Madison's, the editing at one crucial moment was very unfortunate as that gave it away for me.

They spent 20 mins on my bit, had two guesses and examined props. Penn ripped off a glued down table cloth exposing the method even though Teller had already looked underneath and seen what he had to (thus working out the method!) - then I get dropped from he show...

There seems little rhyme nor reason to how his is done. Effects that should fool don't due to P&T being given loads of time to work it out and allowed to examine things and ask multiple questions. Effects that shouldn't fool them because they are well known do... Hmmm

In hindsight I don't believe this was remotely as above board and in favour of the magicians as it proported to be - no surprise though.. It is TV

Mandrake wrote:The recording I saw contained a lot more discussion and explantion than was shown on TV so there is more involved but, thankfully, it's not broadcast. In some respect the segments are repeated for technical reasons and filmed again so the explanations tend to be somewhat briefer under those circumstances. Also bear in mind that Johnny Thompson is behind the scenes, he's the only one other than the performers who knows the secrets used and he can rule whether P&T have got it right even if only a few words of explanation are used.

Oddly enough, the comments that Penn made to Young & Strange last night were the ones the were re-recorded at the taping session I went to (as mentioned earlier in the thread) because his original comments were deemed 'too revealing'... (Mandrake, I'll look out for a PM telling me what was said on the night that you attended!!)

I would also echo Grimshaw's points about exposure. Unless folks have got a really keen interest in magic, most exposure is just a mild distraction for them - it serves to give them a brief 'lightbulb' moment and then, typically, they forget all about and are quite willing to be entertained/baffled again... often by exactly the same trick!! Personally, I've never found any of my routines have been harmed by any type of exposure... however, it doesn't hurt to have a few alternate methods to use just in case you do get the odd smart-ass trying to trip you up.

But, in general, I think if folks are really interested in how something is done then their interest should be encouraged... after all that's how we all learnt, right?

But, to drag the post back on-topic, I think the show straddles a very tricky line and, on the whole, deals with the issue of exposure very well. From the lay-folks I've spoken to about the show, I don't think the audience are tuning in to find out how the tricks are done - they just want to be entertained by some great magic. And, on that score, I think it succeeds

Sean

PS - Agree about Mark Shotland - terrific performance and, even though, Penn's comments were a little revelatory about the die.... my wife still had a few questions about the envelopes - and, bearing in mind she lives with a mentalist, I think that says something about the quality of Mark's performance

Klangster1971 wrote:PS - Agree about Mark Shotland - terrific performance and, even though, Penn's comments were a little revelatory about the die.... my wife still had a few questions about the envelopes - and, bearing in mind she lives with a mentalist, I think that says something about the quality of Mark's performance

Mark Shotland was brilliant, I don't normally like that sort of trick but it was a really brilliant take on it. In fact, I think all performers were great this week

I'm not too bothered about the die force being given away. It doesn't explain how that number was put on the envelope in question, and it didn't make it even less of a trick

Does anyone know if this is repeated at all? I missed it

Yes, it's repeated on Friday night I believe. Check an online TV guide, it's definitely repeated once.

R

Adam Boyes wrote:Does anyone know if this is repeated at all? I missed it

I think they get repeated on Friday nights on ITV2. They're online on the ITV Player too.

me_simon wrote:

Adam Boyes wrote:Does anyone know if this is repeated at all? I missed it

I think they get repeated on Friday nights on ITV2. They're online on the ITV Player too.

Nice! Thank you!

Could we divide this so each episode is a different subject heading? This is obviously going to be a very popular subject for discussion. We have split all the Review subjects yet some of these get very few postings.

So what are we calling that snooker ball effect then?

TimEden wrote:So what are we calling that snooker ball effect then?

And why was that chap allowed to do two effects?

Grimshaw wrote:

TimEden wrote:So what are we calling that snooker ball effect then?

And why was that chap allowed to do two effects?

You wait until Etienne. He did about 20.

BUT

It was, as ever, an absolute master of a performance

Interesting to read what some members of the public are saying, & how the programme is being percieved:

Penn & Teller: Fool Us:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

All good wishes

Mike Danata

Hi Mike,

I don't understand the relevance of the link you posted.

R