[jazz music]
♪ ♪
- From the Penn and Teller Theater
at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas,
here's our host, Brooke Burke!
♪ ♪
- Welcome to "Fool Us."
You're here, I'm here,
we've got four magicians backstage
ready to show us some of the best tricks in the world.
The only thing missing are the stars of our show.
Magic legends Penn and Teller.
♪ ♪
Yes.
[cheers and applause]
You know the drill.
Penn and Teller pony up
one of their fancy "Fool Us" trophies
and a slot in their Vegas show
to any magician who fools them.
Here's our first act of the night.
Some people run a family business.
I am a family business.
My dad makes props that are unique to my act.
Thanks, Dad.
My mom sews many of my outfits.
Thanks, Mom.
When your parents work with you
the added ingredient is love.
Korean magicians are ambitious and competitive,
but they also show uncommon support for each other.
We exchange tips and try to improve each other's magic.
The way I stand out is with humor.
I want to be Jim Carrey, plus magic,
because I hope to fool Penn and Teller
and it's hard to figure out someone else's magic
while you are laughing at their jokes.
I hope the last laugh will be mine.
[applause]
- Please welcome Korean conjurer Kimoon Do.
[applause]
-Hi. Please.
Hello everyone, and thank you, Brooke.
- Thank you for having me.
- Today I'm going to show you guys a card trick.
The first effect is finding four aces.
Let me shuffle the deck first.
- Okay.
- Watch carefully.
[warm music]
♪ ♪
Ooh. The first ace...
is here. Ah.
[laughter]
[applause]
Oh.
Do you see this arrow card?
- I do. - Yeah.
This arrow card will help me
whenever I make a mistake.
- Okay. - Okay.
Next... second and third.
The last... ah.
Ace of spades. Ha ha!
[applause]
It's an interesting card, right?
- Mm-hm. - Yeah.
For now I will put this arrow card
in my pocket right here.
Everyone can see it.
Anyway, I got four aces.
Brooke, can you take a card please?
- Sure. - And shuffle the cards.
Just shuffle please. - Okay.
- Yeah.
Wonderful. - How's that?
Is that good? - Yeah. Great.
Thank you very much. - You're welcome.
- And out of four aces
please touch any card.
- This one. - This card.
Check it and show it to everyone, please.
And I brought something.
This is a wallet. - Okay.
- Empty wallet. Empty wallet.
Uh, I'm broke.
[laughter]
Beggars can be good.
The left is ace of diamond...
Clubs... Hearts.
Oh, you picked ace of spades, right?
- Yes. - Yeah.
Thank you. - Okay.
- Because you picked the ace of spades
I will find all spades from the deck.
Watch.
♪ ♪
Ace. Two. Phew! Ah!
[applause]
Three. Four.
Uh-- five, five, five...
Is here.
[laughter]
Six and seven.
- Wow.
- Eight. That is all I can do.
So, I use this arrow card to find
the nine of spades. - No way.
[applause]
No way.
- Look at this arrow card.
It's done.
Ah...
[mumbling incoherently]
Thank you. - Wow.
[applause]
The other three aces in my wallet
and put it away.
And again, I will put this arrow card
in my pocket right here.
No switch, no switch.
[laughter]
Okay, almost three more to go.
- Okay.
- One. Two. Three.
I put three piles
and I hope this is jack, queen, king.
Uh-oh. - Uh-oh.
Jack of spades is...
Somewhere in the middle.
[laughter]
Oh, wait...
Ace.
Another ace.
Oh.
These three aces should be in...
what's in my wallet.
Of course.
Watch.
Jack of spades.
Queen of spades.
The last king of spades--
[laughter]
Um, what?
Arrow card was here.
Oh, yes, there we go.
I found the king of spades.
[applause]
- Wow.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you.
[applause]
Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Brooke. - Yes?
- You shuffled the deck before, right?
- I did.
- Look.
Everything is in order.
Is ace, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen king.
This card is all down from ace to king like this.
Of course, the last card is all heart.
13 card. Right there.
[applause]
Yeah. - Amazing.
- Thank you very much.
And...
Oh.
This is Kimoon.
[cheers and applause]
- Kimoon Do, everyone.
Come on over here. Wow.
- Thank you very much. - Thank you.
That was incredible.
It was so much fun to see that up close.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you for letting me participate.
[Kimoon speaking Korean]
- It was very fun for me as well.
- And how long does it take you
to practice an act like this?
Because your hand movement was so fast,
and it's really incredible to watch.
[Kimoon speaking Korean]
- Wow, eight years. - Yeah.
- That's amazing. - Yeah.
- And how important is humor to your magic?
[Kimoon speaking Korean]
- Well, I think you did. You did just that.
Alright, Kimoon, let's see if your magical misdirection
will earn you a "Fool Us" trophy.
Let's check in with Penn and Teller.
- Okay.
- Ah, Kimoon, you know,
just when you think there's nothing more
that could be done with cards
you're doing-- you're doing so many,
so many different things.
And some of the stuff or effects that other magicians do,
but bringing the arrow in is just a brilliant thing
and stuff we're watching really closely,
I've gotta tell you,
even if we thought we followed things here and there,
your execution was so perfect.
And that really matters, you know?
There wasn't a moment of sloppiness.
Everything was crystal clear.
Everything was natural.
Every move was perfect, but--
I have to ask you-- this is a big but--
I have to ask you one thing.
Do you have that arrow card with you up there?
Could you pull out the arrow card, please?
- This one? - Yeah, yeah, please.
Now take that arrow, and just tilt it
toward Brooke a little bit.
Not quite so much, a little less.
A little more, little more. Little more.
Because that's where your trophy is coming from.
[cheers and applause]
[Kimoon laughing]
[cheers and applause]
- Congratulations! - Thank you very much!
- You fooled Penn and Teller! - Oh, my God!
Thank you very much. Thank you.
- Good job. - Thank you very much.
- Really good job. - Amazing.
- Thank you, thank you, Brooke.
- Good job, sir. You did a good job, too.
- Kimoon Do, everyone! - Thank you very much.
- Great job, thank you so much.
Amazing. Wow!
[applause]
Nice move.
Penn and Teller are fooled
and we'll continue to have an enjoyable night
while Penn and Teller continue to sweat it out,
when we come back.
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome back.
Our next magician really puts the fool in "Fool Us."
Take a look.
- Hey, fun fact, there's a whole bunch
of Matt Donnellys on this planet.
There are a lot of people named Matt Donnelly out there
and I had to do something to stand out.
Both to humans and internet searches.
So I became Matt The Mind Noodler.
Noodling is a disgusting form of fishing.
But it's kind of rugged, and out-doorsy, and blue collar.
That's kind of my approach to magic.
This is my second time on "Fool Us."
They're right over there. I can read Penn's mind.
He's thinking, "What the hell is Matt doing up there?"
[Penn laughing]
Let's just get it out of the way.
I didn't fool them. - If you think you fooled us,
I'm gonna punch you in the face.
- I co-host three podcasts, which is two too many.
But the one you care about is the one I do with Penn.
So, it is hard to keep secrets from them.
But hey, I did it.
Penn and Teller have no idea
what's in store for them tonight.
[cow mooing]
So tonight, not only am I going to surprise them,
I'm going to noodle their minds.
[cheers and applause]
- Put your hands together
for the comedy magic of Matt The Mind Noodler.
[applause]
- Thank you all so much,
but tonight is not about comedy,
it is not about magic,
it is not about entertainment.
It is about redemption.
That's right. I plan to redeem my family's greatest shame.
In 1991,
at the Ham Days Festival in Lebanon, Kentucky,
my uncle, working as a Secret Service agent,
failed to place himself
between then Vice President Dan Quayle
and an active shooter.
Now a lot of you are thinking right away
Dan Quayle was never shot.
Not by a gun, no.
But by a t-shirt cannon.
And so with your permission
I would like to re-enact that scenario
and restore honor to my family.
Is that okay with you guys? - Yes.
[cheers and applause]
- We don't know much about the shooter,
but we do know he was from western Massachusetts
and 6'6".
[laughter]
Does anyone fit that description
here in the audience today?
[laughter]
Oh, Penn. Oh, I wasn't even thinking that.
Oh, great, come on up.
- Yeah.
[applause]
I'm from Greenfield.
[applause]
I'm from Greenfield, Massachusetts.
- Greenfield, Mass. - Yeah.
- That's west? - Yeah.
- Perfect. Great.
Penn, you're gonna help out with this trick,
so grab any color marker you want.
You're gonna put your mark on this t-shirt, okay?
- I will.
- Great. You happy with the orange?
- I am happy with the orange. - Great, go ahead
and draw it on, make it nice, distinct--
- On that t-shirt? - Right here.
This is your canvas.
♪ ♪
And you know what,
to make it even more distinct
for the people all sitting in the theater here,
just grab another color and throw another color on here
and do something else with it. - Okay, okay.
♪ ♪
Oh, this is getting very Woodstock.
- Yes. This is perfect.
- You know the peace sign stands for nuclear disarmament.
Did you know that? - I didn't know that.
- In semaphore. - Wow.
- Yeah, that's what it is. - Awesome. Thank you.
- If you haven't got a joke, a fact is second best.
[laughter]
- Fantastic. Now, we don't know much about Dan Quayle
except that he looked exactly like Teller.
Does anyone in the audience fit that description?
[laughter]
- He looks like Teller. - Teller. Perfect.
Come on up here, Teller.
[applause]
Come on up here, Teller. Just take your mark right there.
Penn, have you ever fired a t-shirt cannon in your life?
- No, I never have. - Well, today is
your lucky day, buddy. - Okay.
- All right, let's bring out the t-shirt cannon.
[epic music]
- Oh, jeez. - Yeah, this is the ham cannon.
This is the exact replica of the weapon used
that day in 1991. - Okay.
- All right? - Yeah.
- It is cumbersome, but I promise you in 1991
this was peak t-shirt technology.
- Wow. It is very cumbersome.
All right, so we're gonna get your shirt stuffed in here.
- Okay. - Make sure it's super tight
that it fires. - Okay.
- I will now arm the cannon.
[loud whirring]
- It's now armed? - It is.
- Okay.
- Teller, your job is to get shot.
[laughter]
Go ahead and take that place right there.
Oh, and I almost forgot,
I want to make sure we do it
under test conditions.
And it was raining that day. - Oh, jeez.
- So, Brooke, do you mind coming over
and playing the part of the rain?
- I don't know if I want to take part in this,
but yes, I will help you out.
Okay, I'm gonna be the rain maker?
- Here you go. Yeah, you're gonna be the rain maker.
And do a little over here and over here.
- Okay. - Like that.
Now Brooke, have you ever made it rain
on three male performers before?
[laughter]
- I have not. - Okay.
Today is pretty awesome.
- First time for everything--
- So, just give it a little squirt there.
- Okay. - You're doing an excellent job.
And then-- great.
And just to make sure we do this right
I'll get three raincoats for us.
- Okay.
- Penn, you get to put that down for a second,
I'll give you a raincoat. - I put this down now?
- Yeah.
-That means picking it up again. - It does.
[laughter]
- I hate this thing.
[laughter]
And it's armed. - Yeah, yeah.
Just go ahead and put your raincoat on.
- Okay - Teller, put your raincoat on.
- Does it have arms in it already?
- No, it's a Kentucky raincoat. You make your own holes.
[laughter]
- Penn, do you need help?
[laughter]
Penn? Penn, are you-- - Yeah?
There are people who say
I can't act my way out of a paper bag.
[cheers and applause]
Now I pick this up? - Yeah.
- Okay.
- Put it over the shoulder there.
- I hate this. - Good. And then, uh...
Teller, I couldn't get the TV rights
to show the Presidential medal,
so you just have this.
Here, you can just put that on.
[laughter]
[applause]
So, Brooke, take one step back. - Okay.
- All right, you're gonna make it rain.
I'm gonna yell "Potato," and then you're gonna fire.
- Okay. - Ready?
- Yes. - Brooke, make it rain.
- Yes! - Penn, potato!
[gasping]
Oh, no.
Even when you know your history you're destined to repeat it.
["awing"]
All right, Teller can you grab the t-shirt there?
[laughter]
Penn, that doesn't look like
the shirt you signed though, does it?
- No, it was a different color than that.
- Well, that's weird.
Then maybe I... Maybe I...
Maybe I caught the shot.
[gasps and applause]
- Wow. - We did it!
I am redeemed! Thank you so much.
Thank you, Teller.
- Matt The Mind Noodler, everyone.
- I'm glad we have lunch, this will take a while.
[laughter]
- How are you gonna travel with this thing
when you take it on the road?
- Um, I don't know.
I think I'll buy a plane ticket for the cannon
and I'll check myself.
[laughter]
- They say that magic is hard, comedy is hard.
Is comedy magic extra hard?
- It is because I think, like,
once you make an audience laugh too hard
they don't want to give you credit for magic, you know.
You know, you don't get a lot of, like--
I don't get a lot of gasps, and "ah!"
And no one cries at my show.
- But how much fun is it to laugh?
I mean belly laughs, Matt. - Oh, thanks.
- Well, you've redeemed your family's honor.
Now, let's see if you fooled Penn and Teller.
Are you ready, Matt? - Yes.
- I'm gonna hold your hand for this one.
- Are you on the edge of your seat, Matt?
- Very much.
- Matt is one of our best friends,
one of my best friends.
We've been friends forever.
And Matt Donnelly is very unusual in magic.
He may be the only one that has this quality.
Everybody in magic starts out as a child learning magic
and then clumsily learns to be funny.
Learns to perform on stage.
Matt Donnelly in the New York improv scene
was one of the super stars.
Matt Donnelly is funny.
So, we've known for a long time
that Matt Donnelly, The Mind Noodler,
was gonna be a wonderful, wonderful act.
Now, let's get to where we try to figure out your trick.
First of all, I see you every day.
- Yes. - I don't think there's a day
I haven't seen you in years,
and yet you kept this trick from us.
We didn't know anything about it for all that time.
And in that way, Matt Donnelly, you fooled us.
And you get a souvenir t-shirt
that I made especially for you. - So close. So close.
- So, in keeping the trick from us,
you actually fooled us.
In terms of the trophy,
get the hell off this stage!
Get off the stage! - Come on, Penn.
- Get outta here!
- Oh, boo!
- I am taking my cannon and I'm going home.
- Matt Donnelly! Goodbye, Noodler.
- You can't go home, we still need you, Matt.
[cheers and applause]
Matt The Mind Noodler, everyone.
[cheers and applause]
Not nice, boys. Not nice at all.
Do you want to see more magic tricks?
Well, we've got a few more for you, when we come back.
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome back.
Penn and Teller gave away a trophy earlier tonight.
Let's see if they've got another one in them
as they face our next magician.
- Hi. I'm Brielle.
I grew up in a small town in West Virginia.
I'm not new to performing
but I'm relatively new to magic.
I discovered magic while substitute teaching.
Another sub had amazing command
over his classrooms.
He started and ended each class with a magic trick.
Magic is a great tool to connect with people.
Even with a masters degree in clinical psychology,
and my performing background,
I've had to overcome stage fright.
My friends have played a big part
in helping me become a performer.
One of them even rented out a theater for me as a gift.
I was terrified to get on the stage
but I don't back down from a challenge.
Magic is hard.
But it brings my interest
in psychology and performance together.
It's not like I'm not afraid.
I just do it anyway.
[cheers and applause]
- Please welcome to the stage the magic of Brielle.
[applause]
- It is truly an honor to share the stage
with you Penn and Teller.
It's no secret that I am a big fan of both of you.
And Brooke, you too, of course. - Thank you.
- And being the super fan that I am,
I have a huge collection
of Penn and Teller memorabilia
and I brought a few of those items
with me today.
- Oh, my goodness.
- A bullet fired from a Colt Python .357 Magnum magic wand
from a show in February, 2002.
A perfectly ordinary deck of cards,
signed by Penn and Teller,
and, finally, a set of Penn and Teller's
very own clear cups and aluminum ball
that I paid a ridiculous amount for online.
[laughter]
That I could have easily made myself at home.
But this was actually touched on stage by Penn and Teller.
How cool is that?
[applause]
Yeah!
He did it again!
Penn, I'm going to stand over here
and turn my back
and you're going to make some very important,
completely secret from me decisions, okay?
- Okay. - Great.
Penn, I want you to decide on an item for yourself.
So, look at the three items in the case.
In fact, pass your hand over them.
Perhaps you feel drawn to one in particular.
- Mm-hm. - Decide on one.
- Yup. - Take it out of the case now.
- Mm-hm. - Show it to the camera.
And keep it for yourself. - Okay.
- Now, let's get Brooke and Teller involved now too.
So, there are two items remaining in the case.
I want you to decide on one, Teller.
Take that item out of the case now.
Show it to the camera.
Great, now there is one item left,
so take it out of the case, show it to the camera,
and hand it to Brooke.
- Does she have one? - Thank you. I do.
- Yes, she does. - Okay.
Now, Penn, I'm going to turn back around,
but before I do, please close the case.
And everyone take the item that you're holding
and put it behind your back so that I can't see it.
Penn. - Yes.
- You first chose to keep an item for yourself.
And I'm not sure if you realized it
but the bullet kind of looks like a little number one
and I think that that influenced you.
Did you choose to keep the bullet for yourself?
- Yes, I did. - Can you show it to us, please?
- Yes, I will.
[applause]
And who chose the second item?
- Teller. - Interesting.
I think Teller chose the cups and ball,
because famously you performed this trick twice.
Once with a clear set of cups
and once with an opaque set of cups.
Can you show it to us, please?
[applause]
And Penn, of course, that would mean
that you saved the deck for third
and you gave it to Brooke, which makes sense,
because if you look at the back
of that perfectly ordinary deck of cards
you'll find that your favorite card is marked,
the three of clubs.
Brooke, please show us the deck of cards.
[gasping]
[applause]
For those of you keeping score,
I correctly guessed the locations
of all three of those items.
And not only that, but I told you why
Penn was influenced to make those decisions.
But after having explained all of that
you probably think it's a bunch of hoonanny.
Or, Penn, as you would probably like to call it, bull [bleep].
- Yup.
- But, I wasn't guessing.
In fact, I knew what choices you were going to make.
You kept the bullet for yourself.
You gave the cups to Teller and you gave the deck to Brooke.
And before coming here I printed a prediction
on this luggage tag that has remained
in plain sight the entire time.
Penn, could you take that tag, open it up,
slide out the prediction,
and read it out loud for everyone?
- "My prediction.
"Penn Jillette will have the bullet.
"Teller will end up with the cups.
"Finally, Brooke will have the deck."
- Wow.
- Can you slide that out for me, please?
[applause]
And now I can finally add this to my collection as well.
[cheers and applause]
- Brielle, everyone.
[cheers and applause]
So interesting.
You said you were new to magic,
but we would never know it by this performance.
How long have you been a Penn and Teller fan?
- I remember watching them from a very young age.
- So this has to be extra surreal.
- Unreal. Yeah, I...
No words.
- So, what is the hardest part about being a magician?
- When I talk about being a magician
I am just overcome with joy
that I found something that fits who I am.
Of course, there are hard parts to anything.
Like the stage fright,
or, you know, deciding what type of magic fits my voice,
but I just love it.
It's hard. It is hard sometimes,
but it's worth being brave for and working hard for.
- All right, Brielle,
let's see if you can add a "Fool Us" trophy
to your memorabilia collection. - That would be cool.
- Let's see if the boys are ready.
- Ah, Brielle, we were so taken
by the fact that you opened that case
and had that real memorabilia.
That's really-- means a lot that you had those.
It's a beautiful thing in the case.
Wonderful, wonderful performance.
And we really enjoyed it with your case there
and the tag, and everything.
And it is, as you know,
the first season that we have Brooke here.
And, Brooke, did they give you the safety briefing?
There's supposed to be a safety briefing, Brooke
that you get here. - Guys,
I didn't get a safety briefing.
- If there were to be an emergency,
and it's very unlikely, it's a very safe building,
but you were on stage
and you're the one in authority.
You're supposed to have the safety features.
So you can point out the outs if someone is in trouble.
- Nobody told me, Penn. - No one told you?
I'm sorry, Brielle, we got off the subject here,
but that's really important.
That's your job-- or a small part of your job.
- Are you trying to torture her?
- It's not your job.
So, that's someone's fault
they didn't point out all the outs to you.
But, I'm sorry Brielle, we want to get back to your trick,
but that's really important that you know that, Brooke.
- I'll get on it with them. - But we know that.
But, Brielle, it was a fabulous, fabulous trick,
and we really loved it,
but I think I might have slipped something in there
to show you that we don't think that you fooled us.
- I don't think I fooled you.
Thank you, it was an absolute honor.
- Oh, you're so good. - Oh, Brielle everyone.
[applause]
Oh, she fooled me.
[applause]
Penn and Teller have a lot on their plate.
More foolers on the way
and later, they perform a trick of their own.
Don't go anywhere.
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome back to "Fool Us," everyone.
Here comes our next fabulous magician.
- I am Bruno Tarnecci and I am in love.
I entered circus school when I was 12.
Riding a unicycle and juggling were just crushes.
But magic, that was love.
By 21 it was mutual.
I won the grand prize for magic in Latin America.
If my home of Peru
is the rhythm and flow of my performance,
vintage objects are my magical partners.
Like a cane I saw in the window of an antique shop.
I knew I had to have it in my life,
but I didn't know why,
until one day it called out to me.
"Hey, here I am. Let's do something."
Tonight, that very same cane will be my accomplice.
Penn, Teller, I hope you enjoy our magic duet.
[cheers and applause]
- Give it up for the gravity defying magic of Bruno Tarnecci.
[warm music]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
♪ ♪
[gasping and applause]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
[applause]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
[bright, whimsical music]
♪ ♪
[applause]
[gasping]
[applause]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
[applause]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
[applause]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
[applause]
Bruno Tarnecci, everyone.
Tell me about the cane.
- Well, I was in Lima, Peru, walking on the street
when I saw an antique store, a vintage store,
so I saw the cane over there and I fall in love.
And then I start realizing
that I can create my own dancing cane routine.
- Is there a story in your performance
that you could share with us.
- Well, I'm from Lima, I'm from the coast,
so I always in relationship with--
in relation with the water.
So, it how it move the cane
and how the cane floats
is like to be in the water.
Something like that.
- Okay, Bruno, I hope your magical cane
is a mystery to the boys.
Let's find out. Boys?
- Well, Bruno, you were sure raising cane up there.
[laughter]
What a...
[laughter]
[applause]
What a-- what a great routine.
And, you know, Teller is a real expert
at animation of stuff.
Teller's done three major tricks
over the years that do animation of objects.
We're watching in very different ways.
I was just watching it move.
It was one of the most magical things you can do,
is the animation of an inanimate object,
and I was just watching it that way,
but Teller was watching it technically
and telling me afterwards
some of the amazing innovations you made
and a lot of the stuff you created for this, right?
A lot of the stuff is original to you.
- Yeah. - And one of the things
you're doing in this routine that's so brilliant
is you're accomplishing this stuff
in many different ways,
which is one of the most important things
to do in magic, so that one method
cancels out the other, and cancels out the other.
And I'll tell you, we just loved the routine.
Teller drew all sorts of stuff
and kind of took me to school on this,
but-- I, um, I don't think you fooled Teller,
but I think the audience will tell us
that you sure fooled them, and they loved it.
Didn't you?
[cheers and applause]
The audience was just spellbound by this--
this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful act.
So, they loved you, I loved you, Teller loved you,
everybody loved you, but I don't think you fooled us.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Do you believe Penn? - Yeah.
- Do you think they figured it out?
- Yeah, sure. He's the master.
- Give him another warm round of applause, everyone.
Bruno Tarnecci. Thank you so much.
- Thank you. - Thank you. Good luck to you.
[cheers and applause]
You've waited long enough.
Now it's Penn and Teller time.
See the Las Vegas legends perform right after this.
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome back, everyone.
If there's anyone who knows about the word random,
well, it's Penn.
It's literally the title of his latest book.
Joined by my very own daughter, Sierra--
who has no idea what's about to happen--
here's a very random trick by Penn and Teller.
[applause]
- Hey, Sierra, you know, the word random
is really important in life
and really important in magic tricks.
And it's really hard to generate random.
And this trick kind of demonstrates
how difficult it is
for a human being to generate random.
Now, we want for this trick, the most important thing,
is that we start with a random card.
Teller is going to riffle down the deck at random
and you just say stop, at random.
- Stop. - Okay.
That's the random card you picked.
What card is that? - The three of clubs.
Okay, she picked the three of clubs
at random out of the deck.
We don't want to just stick you with that.
We want to give you a possibility
of choosing another one,
so Teller's gonna just slide the cards out
and just grab a bunch of them, there.
Just grab-- just slide that-- yeah, just grab right there.
And that's the card you chose right there.
It's the-- - Three of clubs.
- The three of clubs.
So that probably wasn't random, Sierra.
That's probably what's called a card force.
Teller had control of it all the time.
So, we picked that twice.
So, the real way to do random, probably,
is just for you to name a card off the top of your head.
Look at me, Sierra.
Name your favorite card.
- Six of spades. - Six of spades.
Now, magicians have asked people
to pick random cards for years, and years, and years
and they know the frequency that people will pick cards.
And you picked the six of spades.
And that is the 33rd most likely card to be picked.
That's pretty good.
We're gonna give you another chance.
Another way to do random.
See, all these cards are different here, Sierra,
and all you've gotta do is just fold them up,
turn them over, shuffle them, whatever you want to do
and then just pick a random card
the way you think it would be random.
Now, there's now way we could be forcing it.
We couldn't be doing anything to you.
We can't be messing with you at all.
Totally clean. Just pick any card you like there, Sierra.
What'd you pick?
The king of diamonds.
Now, this is a weird one, 'cause the king of diamonds
is the 22nd most likely card to be picked.
The 22nd.
You want to pick another one like that?
Just go in there like that.
We're gonna give you a few choices here.
We're trying to get a random card, Sierra,
that's all we're trying to do without messing with you.
Which card do you got there?
- The ten of hearts. - The ten of hearts.
So, the ten of hearts is the 11th most likely card
to be picked.
So, that'll make it four cards there.
And no we're gonna let you choose.
Three of clubs, which is obviously forced,
you picked that twice.
Six of spades, just came off the top of your head
just looking at me.
Maybe I infected you, maybe I didn't.
We don't know.
King of diamonds, you reached in,
you shuffled around, we weren't touching anything.
Or the ten of hearts, which you did the same way.
Which one of those would you like?
- Um... the six of spades.
Are you sure? You're positive?
That's the one that came off the top of your head.
- Yeah. - You really think you
can generate random like that?
You really think you can?
You really think the six of spades is the one you chose?
You feel that is random?
You're kind of trying to screw us up here, Sierra.
So try. The six of spades. Is that the one you think?
- The six of spades is the one I want.
- Am I trying to get you to change your mind?
You think I am? - A little bit.
- You want to stay with the six of spades? Last chance.
The six of spades.
That's what we're gonna choose right there, the six of spades.
But now it gets even harder.
'Cause now you're gonna try to pick a random number.
A number between one and six.
See, Teller is dealing into six piles here
and you're gonna name a number between one and six.
What would you like, Sierra?
- Two. - Two. Two.
Now, I cheated a little bit there.
I said a number between one and six,
which I can pretend gave you six choices
but because I said the word "between"
I really gave you four choices.
Does that change anything?
Do you want to stay with the two?
You want to go with the one, two, three, four, five, or six?
- I'll stick with the two. - Stick with the two?
Now, you can roll the die if you feel I was affecting you.
You could roll that die, see what number you get there.
What number do you get there?
Four. Do you want to go with the two or the four?
- I'll go with the four. - So, you're going with four.
Now, the other question is
four could be one of two piles. Right?
If you go from the left-- one, two, three, four--
it's this pile here.
But if you go from the right-- one, two, three, four--
it's this pile here. Okay?
So, you want to go from the left or the right?
- Let's do it from this way. Yeah.
- So, one, two, three, four.
That's the pile you want? - Yeah.
- Right there? You can still change your mind.
- I'm gonna stick with that.
- The six of spades and that pile right there.
You feel both of those are random.
That's four from this side.
It's three from this side but four from this side.
You could have picked any of these piles
but you chose that one.
Any of these piles would have been fine.
But if you ran the clock back
it would be a whole different thing
but you chose this pile right here, Sierra.
And you chose this card right here.
The six of spades and the fourth pile.
So, these cards are out.
There's no way we're gonna possibly hit those.
Now, name another number.
One, two, three, four, five, or six.
Or you can roll the die.
What do you want, Sierra?
- I'll roll the dice. - Roll the die, go ahead.
Five. You want to go with the five, or change your mind?
- I'll stick with the five.
- So, you're gonna go with the five.
Five. Six of spades. Five down in this pile
that you chose from the right, four.
Gonna move that over there.
Watch Teller carefully, 'cause he's so sneaky.
Watch him carefully.
Now, take the one card, put it over there.
One. Two. Three. Four.
And then five is the one.
Pull that one, pull that one.
Now, Sierra, if you picked another number
you could have had the four of diamonds.
You could have picked the eight of hearts,
but no, you picked that card number five.
You chose the six of spades, chose that at random.
Chose the fourth pile from the right.
Chose that at random.
Five cards down. Six of spades.
What card do you got there, Sierra?
- The six of spades. - You are so bad at random.
You are terrible at random, Sierra.
You're just terrible.
- Wow, wow, wow.
My goodness, it's a family affair.
For Penn, Teller, my daughter Sierra,
and all of tonight's terrific magicians,
thank you for watching and we'll see you next time.
[cheers and applause]