[jazz music]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- From the Penn & Teller Theater
at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,
here's our host, Brooke Burke.
♪ ♪
- Welcome to "Fool Us,"
a show that gives the world's greatest magicians
the chance of a lifetime to fool two Las Vegas legends
and take home the treasured "Fool Us" trophy.
Only one thing stands in their way.
Well, actually, two things,
Penn and Teller.
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
Penn and Teller are ready to rock,
and so is tonight's first act.
Let's meet them right now.
♪ ♪
- We are Ramó and Alegria.
We are from Spain, and we are so happy to be back.
♪ ♪
This time, we are here to win with my trick.
- It's an incredible trick.
- No verdad. No. - Sí.
- Alegria has been doing therapy.
I think it's helping.
We work better as a team now.
She even made me pancakes the other day.
They weren't bad.
I think Alegria is trying to be especially nice to me.
- I made some changes, just for make it better.
I guarantee, it will kill.
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Coming to us from Spain, please welcome
the always feisty Ramó and Alegria.
[applause]
[mystical music]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[applause]
[glass shatters]
[no audible dialogue]
[groovy Latin music]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[cheers and applause]
[music resumes]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Ramó and Alegria.
That was great. Is he OK?
Is he coming back to us?
- I hope.
- How often does he get hurt in your acts?
Oh, here he comes.
OK. [applause]
He's OK, everyone.
Come on over here and join us, Ramó.
We were getting worried about you.
- I don't know.
I'm just trying not to die in the stage.
- Is there a story behind this act
that we might not have recognized?
- Yeah. - It's like,
the girls in the magic always--
- The girls-- - Always in the back...
- Yeah. - Always in the shadow.
- And now she's in charge. - Yeah.
- Ah, so this is a...
- It's like a revenge-- - Revenge in this act?
- Yeah. - Got it. [laughs]
OK, Ramó and Alegria, it looks like the boys are ready.
Let's go and see if you fooled them.
- [whistles] - Penn and Teller?
- Ramó and Alegria, good to see you again.
I just want to tell you, and I mean this,
you can look for 50 years all over the world,
and you will not find a better stage magic routine than this.
This is the best stage illusion ever.
[applause]
It's just funny, and it's just terrific
and so, so difficult.
We sit here all the time with people, often from Spain,
who do incredible card tricks, incredible coin tricks,
and we talk about how difficult that is
and the practice of that-- and we're right.
It really is.
But this is harder
because it's just harder to hide a human being
than it is to hide a card in your hand.
You're doing this incredibly difficult illusion stuff.
And you then have this comedy overlay
that's just absolutely perfect.
So I can go on and on saying good stuff.
And here's the moment where I'm gonna need therapy
because my self-loathing will be so overwhelming.
After saying all this good stuff about you,
we then have to say, you didn't fool us.
But we love you and please,
please come back every time you can.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
- Ramó and Alegria, everyone.
You didn't fool them, but we sure enjoyed that.
Thank you so much. - Thank you.
Bye. - Thank you.
Ramó and Alegria, everyone.
Coming up, more magic tricks
from the best magicians working today,
including a trick by Penn and Teller in tonight's finale,
so stay close, everyone.
♪ ♪
[jazz music]
[applause]
- Welcome back. Stopping by to try
to fool Penn and Teller is this next magician.
♪ ♪
- I was bullied as a kid.
It made me feel powerless.
So I know what drew me to magic.
A magician makes things happen.
There's this cool illusion of being the one in control.
I've always liked that idea,
and it kind of got me through some tough times.
If I meet someone who's been bullied,
I tell them, things change,
and life definitely gets better.
So if you can use static to charge your phone,
why settle for anything else?
- And I guess that's a fooler.
- I fooled Penn and Teller last time,
and it was one of the great moments in my life.
So much has changed since that moment.
I now have a wife and a baby.
I show my daughter magic sometimes
just to see her fun reactions.
I got a video of it on my phone.
You want to see it?
- [laughing]
♪ ♪
- She seems fascinated by my "Fool Us" trophy too.
So I'd like to bring her another one.
I want to fool Penn and Teller this time for her.
[baby laughing]
[applause]
- Please welcome the magic of Bryan Saint.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you so much. Thanks, Brooke.
Hey, Penn and Teller.
I'm gonna show all of you a trick
that can only be done on TV.
Cube,
mixed.
One second.
Solved.
[laughter and applause]
- It's green screen.
- Don't get ahead of me. [laughter]
As I said, this is a trick that can only be done on TV.
Some of you may have seen me do this trick on TV,
and you're thinking, I remember seeing that trick.
I don't remember being this disappointed.
[laughter]
That's because if you saw me do this trick on TV,
you don't remember seeing that cheap green folder.
It was there. You just didn't see it.
That's because with this very specific shade of green,
this green folder was able to be used as a green screen.
Now, on TV, a green screen can be digitally replaced
with anything, which is why it's one
of the unwritten rules of "Fool Us"
that you can't use a green screen in your act
because I could just replace it with anything I wanted--
solved cube, mixed cube...
[snaps fingers] "Fool Us" trophy.
[laughter]
Or I could replace it with nothing,
make it look like the table is empty.
And that looks great when it's me and a TV camera.
Not quite as effective when it's me, a TV camera,
and a live Las Vegas audience.
[laughter and applause]
Because all of you see that green screen,
so you assume that behind it, there must be a mixed-up cube.
♪ ♪
Which there is. [laughter]
And if you assume there's a mixed-up cube,
you probably assume that all I'm doing is just
switching cubes behind the screen,
but that's not what I'm doing.
I'm not switching cubes.
Switching cubes isn't that practical anyway
because with what you see here, a solved cube and a mixed cube,
you can only do the trick one time.
The solved cube would start behind.
The mixed cube would start out front.
You can mix it more if you want.
It doesn't matter.
It's never going to get solved.
♪ ♪
Then you'd put the mixed cube behind.
You would make the switch, bring out the solved cube,
and the trick would be over.
Because if you're switching cubes,
you can't mix the solved cube.
♪ ♪
Well, like I said, I'm not switching cubes.
So what if I did mix up the solved cube?
And what if I did the trick again?
You see, a lot of you were really fooled
for about one second.
[laughter]
Because one second is all it took
for most of you in this room to think,
OK, he's using a third cube.
All right, fine.
But what if I did the trick again?
[audience exclaims]
You see, at this point, you're not thinking,
he's got a fourth cube.
You're thinking, how many cubes does this fool have?
[laughter]
And if I was switching cubes, it'd be a lot,
because I'd want to do the trick over and over again.
The problem is, I wouldn't actually be solving any cubes.
I would always be switching for a solved cube.
So doing the trick over and over again
just ends up being a domino effect.
This cube gets switched for cube one.
Then cube one gets switched for cube two,
cube two for cube three and so on.
So at this point, you're not even impressed
by the trick anymore.
You're more impressed by my organizational skills.
[laughter]
But you might be thinking, if I'm not switching cubes,
can I do the trick without the green screen?
Well, yeah.
What is the easiest way to solve a cube on TV quickly
without using a green screen?
It's pretty simple.
Just make yourself a green cube.
[laughter]
Works the same way as a green screen.
Every sticker is green, so you just digitally replace
the stickers with anything you want--
solved cube, mixed cube...
[snaps fingers] "Fool Us" trophy.
[laughter]
Two problems--number one, same live Las Vegas audience.
And number two, I'm guessing it's one of the unwritten rules
of "Fool Us" that you can't use a green cube in your act.
My problem is, I can't solve a normal cube quickly
without hiding it.
So if I can't use the green screen,
I have to use something else. I could use my coat,
but this doesn't prove that I'm not switching cubes.
[audience exclaims]
It may prove that I'm some weirdo
that likes to hide cubes all over my body.
[laughter]
But I want you to forget all that.
Just for a second, I want all of you
to put yourself in Penn and Teller's place.
♪ ♪
If this really is a normal cube,
and I'm not switching,
then what is happening behind this green folder right now
that allows me to do this?
♪ ♪
Well, obviously, I can't tell you.
But I can tell you,
I'm not switching cubes.
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
[cheers and applause]
- What?
What? Bryan Saint, everyone.
What? - Thank you, Brooke.
Pleasure to meet you. - My goodness.
Wow, you had me on the hook the entire time.
Were you one of those kids
that could just crush the Rubik's Cube?
- Absolutely not, so-- [laughter]
- So how did this trick come to be?
- This all came from a joke.
There's a joke that I see
a lot of magicians do when they're doing cube magic,
and I always thought there was something more to the joke,
that there was actually a really good trick.
And it turned into what you saw here.
- Mm. What happens when tricks go wrong?
- Oh, I--I prefer to have something go
not according to plan in my real show.
Years ago, I used to keep all my props
in a case on stage when I would perform.
That case fell behind me.
Every prop I owned shot into the first eight row
of the audience like a tidal wave,
and the crowd went crazy.
And after the show, I had at least a dozen or so people
come up and say, hey, we'd like to book you for our event,
and we want to make sure
that you do the case thing in our show.
- They probably thought it was part of the act.
- So--yeah, they thought it was part, you know?
And what's the worst that can happen?
It can't be much worse than that.
- That's a great attitude.
OK, Bryan, let's see if your cube magic
mixed up Penn and Teller enough to get you a trophy.
- Let's hope so.
- All right, boys?
[applause]
- As the one who does most of the talking
for Penn and Teller, I want to tell you, Bryan,
I believe that's the best patter we've had on the show.
- Whoo.
Wow. - That is the--
- Wow. Thank you so much.
- That is the best script, the most beautifully delivered,
just the timing and everything, just--
just wonderful all the way through.
- Wow. - A nice, clear concept
people could understand, and then re-explained,
and then expanded, and just beautifully put together.
And if--if we were giving an award for patter,
that would come down right now.
But that's not what it is.
- OK. - We really think
we have a good idea how you did it.
But...
what we're saying to each other
about how you did it, uh, uh,
feels half-assed.
[laughter]
And even though we use logic
to figure out how you did this,
we just cannot figure out how you did it.
So you fooled us.
[cheers and applause]
- You made us work for it. You stumped Penn and Teller.
Amazing. Congratulations.
Wow.
I didn't know where you were going with that one, Penn.
Bryan Saint, everyone.
- That was fabulous. - Thank you so much.
- We really enjoyed that.
Thank you, Bryan.
[cheers and applause]
He's so good.
Ah, I love it.
Bryan Saint just put the "fool" in "Fool Us."
We've got more coming up, so stay close, everyone.
♪ ♪
[jazz music]
[applause]
- Welcome back.
So far, one magician has already fooled P&T,
but there might be another one coming your way right now.
♪ ♪
- My younger sisters were a great audience
for my early tricks.
They loved it,
until they didn't.
Then my captive audience disappeared.
You have to work to hold your audience.
I was happy my college in Korea had
an excellent magic department.
Not many universities offer such a program.
There, I was able to learn
classical and modern techniques.
It has paid off.
I have enjoyed seven wonderful years
as a professional magician.
I like to create my own tricks
using everyday objects that people can see in a new way.
Tonight, I have a fun new trick up my sleeve.
I'm ready to blow away Penn and Teller,
and maybe it can get me a trophy.
[cheers and applause]
- Coming to us from Korea,
put your hands together for Sion.
[upbeat music playing]
♪ ♪
[music stops] [laughter]
[music resumes]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
[bouncy music]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[audience clapping]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims, applause]
♪ ♪
[audience exclaims]
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
- Sion, everyone.
We want more. This was so much fun.
You seem like you get a lot of joy from magic.
- [speaking Korean]
- It's the most joyful thing in the world.
- The audience really, really loved that.
You had them clapping and moving.
[applause]
And how important is the audience energy
in your performance?
- I'm curious if you could share with us
one of the strangest places that you have ever performed.
- Was that more nerve-wracking than performing with--
for Mr. P&T? [laughs]
Our generals.
- [speaking Korean]
- He really wanted to show it off.
So instead of being nervous,
he was more ecstatic to perform.
- Sion, let's find out if Penn and Teller know the secrets
to your sponge ball magic.
- Oh. - Here we go.
Ready? - Yeah.
- Boys?
- Sion, that was-- that's a great routine.
You know, I don't think I've ever seen a magic act
themed entirely around color.
Color is usually just part of it.
You had color as the whole theme, which is really nice.
And using a paintbrush as a magic wand
was just a really smart idea.
And the idea of taking a sponge-ball routine
and a quick-change routine and a film-to-life routine
and putting those all together as one idea framed by color
was really, really good.
And I think you could see that the audience loved it.
Oh, there's so much in this.
There's dozens and dozens of magic moves.
And as much as we love them,
they're all magic moves that we knew
and just thought you were terrific
and wonderful and loved the color theme.
And sadly, for us, you didn't fool us.
- Oh.
[applause]
Well, you didn't fool the boys, but we certainly enjoyed that.
The audience had so much fun.
Let's--let's give him some more love, Sion.
And you can see that they love you as well.
We really enjoyed that.
So much fun.
Come back for more, Sion.
[applause]
How about a quick break and then more magic?
Sound good?
Well, we'll see you in one minute.
♪ ♪
[jazzy music]
[applause]
- Welcome back.
Our next magician is ready to fool Penn and Teller.
Let's see if they can fool you, too.
Take a look.
♪ ♪
- I'm Vilgot from Sweden, and I'm 17 years old.
I come from a family of inventors,
entrepreneurs, and artists.
Combine all of them, you get me, a magician.
The fourth ingredient is my own.
I'm an optimist.
I refuse to believe that anything is impossible.
The first time I decided to compete in magic, I was 11.
So I was so nervous, but I won
the Swedish Junior Championship.
I told you I was an optimist.
I think what plays a big role in my performances
is that I portray this image of confidence.
Now I'm facing one of the biggest challenges of my life.
Penn, Teller, I might be nervous,
but you'll never know. [bell dings]
[laughs]
[applause]
- This 17-year-old from Sweden
just might be the future of magic.
Give it up, everyone, for Vilgot Michelin.
[applause]
- Hello, "Fool Us."
As you can see, this table has a line down the middle.
This line separates the present from the future.
And this is very important because I'm only 17 years old.
So it's unlikely I can fool
Penn and Teller in the present.
But I think I have a chance to fool you here in the future.
I even brought a piece of my own future.
[laughter]
Penn and Teller, would you please join me in the future?
[cheers and applause]
What I am about to do is a magic trick
that will take us through time and space.
And, Penn and Teller, we're going to start with you.
- OK.
- Here in the future, we have a blue-backed deck,
and I want you to see all 52 cards,
seeing they're all the same on the backs
and all different on the faces.
Teller, I would like you to cut off some cards.
♪ ♪
And, Penn, you take the rest. - OK.
- In a moment, I'd like you to look through the cards.
Look at the faces.
Look at the backs.
Make sure that this is an ordinary deck of cards.
Go ahead.
♪ ♪
Teller, you too.
♪ ♪
Wow, you guys really don't trust me.
- Not at all.
[laughter]
OK.
- Thank you, Penn, and thank you, Teller.
Finally, I will give the cards a mix
before they go back in the empty card box,
which, Teller, you can see is truly empty.
Yes, perfect.
I'll square these up.
Please keep an eye on them here in the future.
I'll be back. - OK.
♪ ♪
[whooshing]
Ooh. Well.
[applause]
Here I am in the present, and, Brooke,
would you please come and join me?
- I'd love to.
Nice.
Goodness.
- You are going to select one of these 52 red-backed cards,
and that card is going to be our time traveler.
So as I run my pen over the cards,
please just tell me stop.
- Stop. - Here?
- Yes.
- And then pen comes down at the 6 of diamonds.
And the 6 of diamonds will be our time traveler.
And, actually, since it is your card,
I'll try to draw a picture of you on it.
- OK. - OK.
♪ ♪
OK, hold still.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
OK, OK.
I think this looks good.
What do you think?
- Honestly, that does not look like me.
- OK. No.
- But you're adorable. [laughter]
- Now we'll put it back in the deck.
I'm gonna cut up bunches of cards.
And again, please tell me, stop.
- OK.
Stop.
- OK, would you like one more?
- Sure. - OK.
And exactly there, I will put our time traveler,
leaving it face up in the middle of the deck.
- OK.
- Our final act is to launch our time traveler
from the present into the future.
So, Penn, please pick up the blue deck in the future.
Brooke, pick up the red deck here in the present.
Hold them up like this.
I'm going to count from 3, 2, 1, drop.
And when I say, drop, both of you drop your decks, OK?
- OK.
- Ready? - Yeah.
- 3, 2, 1, drop.
♪ ♪
I hope it worked.
- Me too. - Me too.
- And if it did, your card, Brooke,
which was face up, should now be gone.
Can you see the 6 of diamonds?
- No. - No.
We can go through every single card, and you'll see,
there is no 6 of diamonds anywhere to be found.
- Wow.
[applause]
- Not even in the card case.
- Nope. - No.
Well, this could only mean one thing.
It's time to go back to the future.
[laughter]
[whooshing] Ooh.
Now, Penn, you and Teller examined these cards
thoroughly before we even started.
- We sure did. - All ordinary blue cards.
Please take them out.
And I'll take the cards.
- I bet you will. [laughter]
- And if this miracle of magic and time travel worked,
we should find one card face up, the 6 of diamonds.
- 6 of diamonds. - Wow.
[applause] - Look.
- Oh, that's me.
- We found our time traveler.
Oh.
Oh, by the way, because if Brooke's card actually
traveled through time and space,
it must come from the red deck.
♪ ♪
And it does.
- Wow.
[cheers and applause]
- Well, Penn and Teller, here.
Ooh, be careful.
My future is in your hands.
[laughter] - Oh, yeah.
- Thank you. [cheers and applause]
- Vilgot Michelin.
Well done. Come and join me.
Let's have a chat. Wow.
OK, well, you fooled me.
That was amazing.
- That's a start.
- What inspired this trick?
- Well, I started out with the concept
of "Back to the Future."
I really liked the movie.
And so I thought, what can I create in magic that can,
well, you know, share my love for it?
- What else do you do besides magic?
- Well, you know, outside of magic,
usually I just be really annoying to my little sister.
- Oh.
- I play some instruments.
I play the piano.
- Oh.
- Yeah, and I also play double bass.
Ba-doo-boom-boom-boom.
Yeah, like Penn. - Nice.
All right, Vilgot, let's see if there's
a "Fool Us" trophy in your future.
Penn and Teller?
- 17 years old? - Yeah.
- When I was 17, I'd never even been to Sweden.
That's--really, really, really good.
We just loved it, and you're so young.
We hope we're on the air long enough,
you can come back another zillion times.
But there are so many movies we could talk about.
We talked about "Back to the Future,"
but you could also talk about "Star Wars"--
would also be important for this.
We got "The Karate Kid" with wax on, wax off.
You got "Batman" with my favorite.
You know, not--not the Joker.
My favorite was Two-Face.
You've also got "Terms of Endearment,"
which I hated.
I hated that movie,
and it's got nothing to do with his trick.
I just wanted to point out how much I hated that movie.
[laughter]
You were so good, and we loved you.
And such a great performance.
But it's gonna be next time, we think, that you fool us,
not this time. - OK.
- Oh.
Well, Vilgot, let me ask you.
What do those movies have to do with your magic method?
Because that means nothing to me and maybe our audience,
but does that mean-- - We weren't talking to you.
- Well, I'm trying to figure this out, Penn.
- We weren't talking to you.
We're talking to a magician here.
- Vilgot, does that all make sense?
Do you think you fooled Penn and Teller?
- Well, I look forward to the future.
- We look forward to having you back.
Thank you.
Vilgot Michelin, everyone.
[applause]
Oh.
Penn and Teller put their heads together for that last trick,
and they're gonna put their talents together
when they take the stage next.
So stay close, everyone.
♪ ♪
[jazzy music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome back.
Getting ready to host this show,
I watched a lot of episodes of "Fool Us."
And one thing that I noticed,
along with a ton of incredible magic,
was that some magicians do tricks that are pretty intense
and sometimes even a little bit gross.
Now, in our first meeting, Teller even said--
yes, he actually said--
that they were a little bit worried
that I might be uncomfortable
with some of those intense tricks and that I might even
be a little bit squeamish.
Well, boy, they don't know me.
Well, guys, I just might be a little tougher than you think.
So to prove it, I worked up a little trick of my own.
And to close the show, Penn and Teller,
would you please join me on stage?
Whoo.
Boys, I'm a little bit nervous.
Now I know how the magicians feel.
But I have prepared a trick for you,
and this is a little bit of a dangerous trick--
I hope you can take it--
one that you should not do at home.
We are gonna take a sewing needle.
And we're gonna put the sewing needle--
we're gonna thread some dental floss through it
and put it through my ear lobe.
And then like magic,
we're gonna rip it through my ear lobe.
- Sure. - So a little dangerous.
Could be a little bit gross. Could be a little bit bloody.
Is that cool? OK, I'm gonna need your help.
Do you mind, Teller, just taking out my earring?
Because I want to show everybody at home
that I do have pierced ears.
♪ ♪
Ow, Teller.
[laughter] I'm just kidding, guys.
Oh, come on, you guys.
You've probably never assisted someone
doing magic before, have you? - No, we're good.
- OK, so now we're gonna thread this dental floss
right through the sewing needle, OK?
And hopefully I can get it right through there.
There we go.
So that was easy enough.
So nothing funny here.
Now what I'm gonna do, boys--
and if you don't mind-- you see that, Teller?
Legit needle, yeah? Dental floss.
I'm gonna thread this needle through my ear.
- Is that why I got this mirror?
- I need you to hold that mirror up because
what if I poked it into the wrong place, right?
So a little bit higher.
Right there.
And here we go.
Needle through my pierced ear.
- It's going through there?
- So check this out, everybody.
I just want to show you.
- Oh, that's through.
- I know, look at that.
- Yeah, that's through there. - Does that look painful?
This one's not comfortable.
So now I'm gonna remove the needle, OK?
- OK.
- Teller, can I give you the needle?
And now, look at this guys, right through the ear.
See that? - Yes, I can see it.
Yes, I can see it. I see it.
- Do I trust you guys or what? - I've seen it.
- Teller, take a look at that. - You've shown me.
You see--we've seen it. - Come on.
Does that gross you out? - We have seen.
- All right, all right, all right.
So now what I need you guys to do,
you can put the mirror down, it's OK.
We're gonna just even this out.
And then if I could get both of you
to take one end of the dental floss.
Yeah, and you're ready to rip that off for me.
Thank you.
OK, now, guys, this is serious because if this goes wrong,
you're gonna rip through my earlobe.
There's gonna be blood everywhere,
and we're gonna need stitches.
So let's count it down together.
Are we ready? I'm trusting you, Teller.
Even though you doubted me, I'm trusting you.
Here we go. Are we ready?
- Yep. - All right, here we go.
both: 3, 2, 1.
- Go. - Pull.
- Ah!
- Oh.
[audience ohhs]
- Boys?
- Brooke Burke, ladies and gentlemen, Brooke Burke.
[cheers and applause]
- It's time for my magic ears and I to say goodbye,
but we'll be right back with another fantastic episode
when "Fool Us" returns.
I got some good ones. [squeals]
[cheers and applause]