[jazz music]
♪ ♪
- From the Penn & Teller
in Las Vegas, Nevada,
here's our host,
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Welcome to
With safety protocols
some of our performers
and others will join us
all with the same goal:
to fool magic's greatest duo,
win a "Fool Us" trophy,
and eventually,
perform in Penn and Teller's
So let's bring them out,
the two and only
[jazz music]
[cheers and applause]
Quick reminder
that none of the tricks on
and that all audience members
or at our remote studios
have no information
ahead of time.
And with that in mind,
[fireworks boom]
- Hi, I'm Jonathan Burns,
magician and semi-professional
You may not realize this
but I was a gangly, weird kid.
So I developed
to make people laugh with me
And then I realized
[whispering]
[windchimes ringing]
Now I live
which is Amish country.
Normally, I'd be traveling
but lately,
for the locals.
Family has always
I spend a lot of time at home
painting nails, trying makeup,
I've definitely become
My grandfather was a huge
He said, "You're destined to do
So tonight,
I'm gonna try to do
and hopefully fool Penn
[cheers and applause]
- Back again to try
is Jonathan Burns!
[applause]
- When I was a kid,
my whole family would gather
for Thanksgiving dinner.
And we wouldn't be
and argue
like, oh, uh, politics
or how to carve
We would wait till after dinner
and we'd fight
There were those of us who
and then there was me,
who wanted to watch the annual
"World's Greatest Magic"
Luckily, there was a second,
in my grandparents' basement.
It was kind of like this.
I was sitting on the couch
and watching every move
[stirring music]
People would come down
"Ugh, magic's all, you know,
and cheering audiences."
Isn't that exactly
[laughter]
Tonight, I decided
that I dreamt up while sitting
on my mum-mum
in hopes that it will inspire
or even a 47-year-old magician
who was sent to
And I will do that using this.
[laughter]
The straitjacket,
invented in
to cure anxiety and depression.
Luckily, it worked so well
that people no longer suffer
I'll also be using this,
the Anneheart Malin
At Anneheart,
We love 'em.
[laughter]
Retail value of 1499.95.
I've also asked two people
This is Randy,
and I also need
a semi-professional
- [laughs]
- She's helped more magicians
than an awkward childhood.
[laughter]
I'll have 60 seconds to make
and escape this death trap.
If I don't get out in time,
And worst of all,
this furniture rental
and I will lose my deposit.
[laughter]
You ready?
[exhales sharply]
[sighs]
[laughter]
[frenetic percussion music]
[exhales sharply]
Okay.
Tuck me in.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- [breathing heavily]
[cheers and applause]
[laughter]
- Jonathan Burns!
Ah.
So do you do tricks out
that you find
- I do.
I can fit myself
through a toilet seat
- Oh, okay.
- So I kind of use everyday
to my advantage.
- Yeah, so I'm
but how do you discover
that you can fit
- [laughs]
It's a trip to a, like,
- Oh.
- When no one's looking,
And then--and it works.
Yeah, I can squeeze myself
butt-first through
And I learned that
- Oh.
- Okay.
- You are welcome, America.
- I bet there's some stores
- That's--well, that's why
[laughter]
- And so were you
before you were a magician?
- I was.
I was kind of always
who would, like,
to gross out girls.
- Did you do that thing
- I had friends who could.
I was envious.
- Ugh.
- My specialty
- Oh.
So as the guy
how'd you finally get married?
- Oh.
She found me
She knew no one else
- Oh, yeah?
She's a special lady.
- Yeah, I guess so.
- Well, then,
- I know, right?
I would but I'm giving
- Okay.
Let's go straight
and see if they'll
Well, or...
Penn, Teller.
- Jonathan, come back
- Oh, I would love
- You do such good bits.
You know, there's
And Teller and I had totally
Teller loved one thing.
Teller loved the fact
that you escaped
- Yeah.
And the idea of doing
that doesn't happen
So funny.
And the idea of that
And you look so great doing it.
It just looks so brutal,
and at the same time,
And completely original.
- Man, I wanna just give you--
keep giving you
But the idea--you know,
people are always trying
that no one has seen before.
And I think you've done that,
- Wow.
And then not escaping
just destroys me.
Kills me.
- And we loved it and think
and come back all the time.
And I think I've slipped in
that should've
that you did not escape
- [laughs]
- Yeah, you did--yeah,
But I have a question for you.
How do you get out
[laughter]
- Well, you didn't fool 'em
but it was our first ever
Thank you, Jonathan Burns!
- Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
- Find out who will try
when "Fool Us" returns.
[cheers and applause]
[jazz music]
[cheers and applause]
- Welcome back.
This next magician
even if you're barefoot.
That's how good they are.
Let's meet them now.
[fireworks boom]
- Hey, guys.
And I am a close-up magician
You can't take anything
like cards,
So when I got drafted,
I made magic
like rubber bands and coins.
Coin magic got me a job
I created effects
but my dream was to perform.
So I started creating tricks
and I quit making magic
I put my life savings
something totally unique.
It is an effect that
and it won at the
But I don't perform it
My stage character
I'm an average dude who can
I'm saying if I can do this,
There's magic in me,
so there must be magic in you.
[cheers and applause]
- Coming to us direct
here's Eric Chien.
[cheers and applause]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[dramatic vocalizations]
♪ ♪
[music suddenly concludes]
[tense drumroll]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Wow!
Eric Chien!
[cheers and applause]
Wow.
That was an epic trick.
- Thank you so much.
Thank you.
The routine that you just saw
the routine I used
- It felt like a whole story,
- That's how I try
Not just, you know,
I like to have a story
- Oh, you were showing off.
- Uh... [laughs]
[both laugh]
- So tell me the story
- Um, so that trick is
Like, you know, humans,
we're born to be greedy,
So, you know,
and these magical frames.
And, you know,
And I realized that it
And then I decided
for, you know, to make money.
And, you know, at the end,
everything just vanished
And because greed takes over,
- And when you're coming up
do you think of the story
- I clear my mind of all
and I think of the story.
And then I start piecing in
what magic belongs
- Oh.
Eric, it's time to find out
if Penn and Teller know
- All right.
- Hey, Eric.
- Hey.
- I gotta tell you.
I gotta tell you, we, uh...
- We feel that this
We try to be so fair
And I believe you're
because we met you
and we saw--
we knew that you won FISM.
And we pay attention to that.
- We know that you--
"Asia's Got Talent"
- Yes, yes.
- And so were emailing
about this Eric guy.
We were pulling up videos.
- We were watching it,
We were studying your style
and we emailed back and forth
what's great about this guy
is he does stage
with cards.
He's got some new stuff.
And the stuff
he also does better
So we really became
- Wow.
- And we analyzed what you did.
So for you to come on the show
is like a lead baseball bat.
I mean, you really-- you
And even with all the video
So it's really not fair
that even when we know
you still fooled
How do you do that?
- Wow.
- You fooled them!
- Wow.
- You fooled us!
- You did it!
- Ah.
- Yay.
- Well, I'll gladly
And you'll get the trophy...
- When you come here to Vegas.
And you fooled Penn and Teller!
- So great, Eric.
- Give it up for Eric Chien!
- Whoo-hoo!
Thank you, thank you.
Yay.
Penn and Teller
and they're not out
They'll take on
right after this.
[cheers and applause]
[jazz music]
[cheers and applause]
- Welcome back to "Fool Us."
One ticket to Vegas
Will we have another?
Find out as we meet
[fireworks boom]
- I am a linguist by trade.
All of my academic training
I read Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic.
I can kind of fake my way
I do not speak or read Chinese
which is a point
because I am Chinese.
[buzzer blares]
What I really love about magic
is that magicians
Just look at Teller.
He's abandoned
but he's still
I'm a pastor.
And when I did feel
my experience in magic
to step into the pulpit
and to connect
Penn, Teller, I hope
can be just as effective
[cheers and applause]
- Let's change it up
of Jeremiah Zuo.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you, Alyson.
Thank you, Penn, Teller.
I'm so happy to be here.
I love the way
to fool and delight
sometimes other magicians
So tonight, I wanted to just
Not with a clever apparatus
or any sort of sneaky
but with a linguistic illusion.
I'm gonna use my words
that otherwise
mime.
I wanted to show you
However, only three
Three of them exist
For example, I have a coin
I don't know if you can see
uh, but those two,
Those are two of the ones
Those two exist.
I also have a third coin
a fourth coin behind this ear,
a fifth coin in my mouth,
and a sixth coin in my beard.
[applause]
Now only three
This one exists.
Uh, but this one doesn't.
Neither does this one.
And neither does this one.
This one doesn't exist.
Now I understand
because the ones that exist
to the ones that don't exist.
I mean, take a look at 'em.
This is an old dollar coin.
This one's made of silver.
This one's also made of silver.
Minted in the late 1800s.
Also minted in the late 1800s.
The only difference
and, uh, this one doesn't.
[laughter]
Now I'm gonna move the ones
just so we don't confuse them.
'Cause as a linguist,
I love these coins
They're fascinating to me
because they kind of exist
We're able to talk about them.
We're able to think about them.
I'm even able
Look, if I take one of those
and I didn't lap it--
Like I said,
[Penn chuckles]
- And I hold it tight
And I apply just
Ah!
It vanishes.
It's gone.
Completely gone.
It doesn't exist anymore.
Well, it never did.
But now,
[laughter]
Now I only have two coins
I have three coins
I used to have a third coin
But now it doesn't even
I mean, it still kind
'cause we're still able
we're still able
but now it's two steps
But here.
I'll take another one of these
and I'll squeeze it.
It doesn't go up the sleeve.
Tight in the fist.
One last peek.
Little less effort.
Ah!
It disappears.
It vanishes.
Now it doesn't even not exist.
I still have three coins
but now I only have one coin
and we have two coins
[laughter]
If I take the last coin
and I make it disappear
it looks like
But now, I don't have
I have three coins
And I have three coins
And the best part is
this works at all
both linguistically
If I take one of the coins
and I squeeze it--ah!
Look. It disappears.
Now it doesn't exist.
That leaves me with just
one coin that doesn't exist,
and three coins that
But here.
Focus with me
I mean,
You can see them.
You can touch them.
You can hear them.
But if I snap my fingers
and I make one
that leaves me with only
two coins that don't exist,
and three coins
And this is the best part,
my favorite part.
If I make the last coin
so that it
to the latecomers,
But you and I know better.
We know that I have six coins:
three that don't exist
and three that
And you are distinguishing
in your brain.
You're welcome.
[laughter]
And you can explain this
You can recall for them
two coins starting
You can tell them
that was behind my ear,
the fourth coin
the fifth coin in my mouth,
and the sixth coin in my beard.
If you are feeling cheeky,
you could mention a seventh,
an eighth,
Those are
the coins that would've existed
should I have chosen
If you just feel like lying,
embellishing the story,
You can tell them I had
a 10th, 11th, a 12th coin.
I don't mind.
You and I,
I never had any more
three that exist
and three that don't.
Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
- Oh.
Jeremiah Zuo!
That was delightful.
- [happily] Ugh!
- Who knew watching
would be so much fun?
How did you come up with that?
- It's just the fun fact
that we can talk
And so I thought why not
- By talking about things
do you make them exist?
- At one level, yes.
- So what's more fooling
The sleight of hand
- I think
it's the language.
- For magicians,
maybe the sleight of hand.
- So you have four kids?
- I have four children.
- Wow.
- In terms of magic,
He is following
- Oh, boy.
And are any of them
- My oldest daughter,
she is on that path.
If not linguistics,
then definitely literature
- All right, well, let's see
earned you a trophy
Boys.
- Jeremiah, we like you.
- Oh.
- We like you so much.
That was such a great routine.
We just loved it.
Absolutely loved it.
There's so much
First of all, we wanna say
and there's just three coins,
which, to people at home,
might not mean as much
but that's astonishing.
That's really beautiful.
And your moves
You know, I'm gonna
I'm not gonna hide it.
But click paths, retention.
It's just the best we've seen.
And some of that's your own
- That is correct.
Really, really fabulous.
Now I have a question
that really doesn't have to do
with giving you code
It really is a real question.
I believe--and Teller
that when you were using
you were also doing moves
Is that right?
- In terms of your acting.
And that made the acting
I also loved that--
that half your act
Just like us!
[both chuckle]
- It was just so wonderful
You know,
just takes Three Fly,
and goes to a whole
just beautiful handling.
But as beautiful
the idea is--the ideas
even better.
And all of that stuff--
wonderful stuff to think about,
And we would very, very much
love to give you
- [laughs]
We don't think
because,
we don't think you fooled us.
- Thank you guys so much.
- Is that right, Jeremiah?
- I think they've got me
but I will accept
[laughter]
[imitates whipping trophy]
- There you go.
- Aww.
[cheers and applause]
We're taking a quick break
but we have more awesome magic
Stick around.
[cheers and applause]
[jazz music]
[cheers and applause]
- Welcome back.
Our next act
[fireworks boom]
- My name is Sabine van Diemen
I didn't start out
I started as a dancer,
and I was the youngest ever
in the Holland Show Ballet.
But during rehearsal
one of the magician's
And I had only
to learn the fire cage.
When I popped out and saw
I was hooked.
I know I wanted to do this
for the rest of my life.
As a magician's assistant,
you are always the one
And I just thought to myself,
So now I'm a solo magician.
I get to saw people in half.
Now I'm one of the very few
Penn, Teller, I hope that there
who are going to be
by what they're about to see.
[trumpet music]
[cheers and applause]
- Direct from Holland,
give it up
[soft music]
- Hi, Penn and Teller.
Welcome to Holland.
Now this next illusion is
And I need to trust my boys
as they need to trust me.
Terrence.
- Gabriel, are you ready?
- That is to show you that
are real and sharp.
Let's do this.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[tense music building]
Go!
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Sabine Van Diemen!
Hello.
- Hi.
- All the way from Holland.
How's your neck?
- [laughs] Sore.
That must take
- A little, yeah.
- And how gorgeous is Holland
with the little canals
- Oh, so beautiful.
There aren't a lot
are there?
- Not really.
But I think it's time
- Do a lot of young women
and wanna talk to you
- Yes.
Also, when I do a show,
I perform a lot of magic
with, you know, little girls
And I try to give them
or something they
And I always use the words,
"Please practice
I'll come and see your show."
- Aww.
It's time to find out
know how you did your trick.
Penn, Teller.
- Hey, Sabine.
- Hi. Hi, I'm good.
- Oh, it's so good.
And it's so nice this season
that we're able to see
you doing stuff, like,
You know, that was
to be able to see that
'cause at a stage, you know,
we think you could be using
or something like that.
But out there,
with the boats going by
there's no backdrop, no bars.
And it's great that
doing magic anymore.
It's opening up to many,
But we still aren't
doing danger magic
so it was great
And also, that we see a woman
in charge of the whole thing
and making men
[laughter]
That men have
- Finally!
- You had those guys making
really stupid gestures
where you did all the strength
And this a classic of magic.
I mean, we're familiar
It was done first
who did a little something
He said he could
with his breath.
He did that deep
And then, of course,
the most important magician
Robert-Houdin, did that trick
And having the smell of ether.
He said it was ether
So it's a real classic
And we loved
It was a perfect performance.
And because it's
and because we've studied it
we don't think you fooled us.
- What do you think, Sabine?
Do you know that they know
- Yeah.
- Thank you so much.
Sabine van Diemen!
[cheers and applause]
After this quick break,
you'll witness the greatest
perform a trick of their own.
Don't miss it.
[cheers and applause]
[jazz music]
[cheers and applause]
- Our next potential Fooler
is a retired schoolteacher
who has loved magic
He says he would not be
if it weren't
In fact, he says
who inspired him
and go professional.
That was 45 years ago.
Please welcome Teller!
[applause]
[laughter]
This trick requires dialogue.
But don't worry.
Teller's written
Just read them off
while you watch the magic.
Now Teller's very, very sorry
if this distracts you
from trying to figure out
but there's no way around it.
So good luck.
[laughter]
[cheers and applause]
- [chuckling]
Oh, goodness.
If I had seen these scissors,
I would have known it was you.
[groovy music]
[clears throat]
I should have known.
I surprised Teller last season
by coming on
I remember his face--
he looked like
So I guess it's only fair
that the rat bastard is putting
Oh, look at this.
Scissors and a bell jar
with a spool of thread.
My favorite color too--pink.
So you made this all
Oh, good, good.
Thank you.
You're winding the thread
so either it matters a lot
or you want me to think
You know a lot about thread
from doing the red ball
Oh, the scissors.
Right there?
Cuts like real thread.
Now you're folding it
just like the needle trick.
That's to keep it from tangling
I knew that
That's why you wrote that part.
Uh, you're not gonna do
I know how that's done.
Kinda.
[laughter]
What's that?
Okay, so I should
He's gonna do the needles?
It's full of needles and now
they're rolling around
Nice misdirection.
♪ ♪
You're pinching
under the end of one
You're squeezing it.
♪ ♪
Stop!
I can't talk, watch,
and hold these stupid needles
Okay.
♪ ♪
Thank you, son of a jackal.
Okay.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
You're tapping the needle
using the scissors
♪ ♪
Do I know this trick?
Did you show it to me,
in that Tommy Wonder book,
[laughter]
[laughing] Oh, gee.
Some of the threads
audience: Whoa!
- Right through the eye
It's so small.
But Teller's got
[laughter]
Looks like they're--
Looks like they're
You threaded the needle,
Oh, Jimmy,
♪ ♪
It's beautiful.
Whether or not
I'll want to remember
because anytime either
we both win.
We always are
in the same bubble.
[cheers and applause]
- All right!
- Can I look at this?
I can take it to look at it?
- Yeah.
You know how it works.
You go back.
- And I get
This will be very interesting.
I'm so excited.
So how did you feel
when Penn challenged you
Ooh!
Okay.
How do you think he felt
Mm-hmm.
So...
- Look at him.
[laughter]
Aww.
And you did it completely
without him ever
And it's true that you actually
a year ago or something?
[whispers]
[speaking]
He should pay
[laughter]
All right.
Well, it's time to go to Penn
and see if he figured out
Penn, how about
- Well, I gotta hand it to you.
I did it last year.
I should have known
There was no doubt
Anybody would have figured out
I should have been
But on that front,
you completely fooled me.
I had no idea you were
I was even talking to you
and how I tried to find--
how hard it was
I had that whole conversation
as though we where
and I knew what
But I didn't know.
You completely fooled--
on that, you completely
And on this,
you completely fooled me 100%.
I can't even know
So you bring down the trophy.
- Yay!
- I can shake his hand.
- We have a Fooler!
We have a Fooler.
- Whoo-hoo!
And now you have
Yay!
That was a big surprise
We'll have more surprises
next time on "Fool Us."
Good night from Las Vegas.
[cheers and applause]