- Illusion, the art of tricking the brain,
distorting the senses, challenging perception.
You can't trust what you see
even with your own eyes.
Meet the Masters of Illusion.
(audience cheering) (rock music)
Hello everyone, I'm Dean Cain
and welcome to Masters of Illusion.
Now, what do the best magicians do?
The best magicians make the impossible seem possible.
Now we've got some of the best magicians in the world,
so that means you're about to witness many things
that just seem impossible!
Is that possible?
- Yo Dean, oh my God Dean! - Check this out.
- I'm so glad you're here. - All right, Dan Sperry.
- Ladies and gentlemen. - I got something, it's crazy!
- Hello Dan.
- This is amazing, Dean, this is crazy.
Hey, what's up? - Yeah.
- Sorry, I gotta tell Dean something.
I was on the internet, right?
And I was looking up some stuff.
I brought a sandwich cookie in case this takes a while
'cause in case you need a snack,
but I was on the internet, right and I was reading.
This was amazing.
It's gonna blow your mind.
So, I guess like, the parents and the tooth fairy
are like in on it, right?
'Cause the tooth fairy's supposedly not real.
Supposedly. (audience laughing)
You lose your tooth when you're a kid,
put the tooth under the pillow,
then you get the money.
But they're in on it because then,
what happens when they take the teeth
and grind it up, turns it back into sugar, right?
So, the kid's eating the sugar.
That's what makes the teeth fall out.
So, by the end of it,
then they put the money back in.
It's all a cycle.
See, it's all connected.
Blows your mind. - It does.
- Blows your mind.
I don't need that part.
This is the part of the cookie that we really need
is the center, right? - The center.
- Have you ever seen this?
- Yes.
- Where I had a, I had a cup.
Here, yeah, hold,
here, hold that cup.
Hold that cup. - Okay.
- Because this is the center.
That's the other mystery.
It's like you know, what's under the pillow
is like tooth and the sugar and that's why
you can't eat this stuff 'cause whenever you look inside,
you'll notice that that's actually not really sugar at all.
That's an egg and uh, whatever.
Magic show.
(laughing) (clapping)
- I think it goes without saying,
but do not try this at home.
It's time to present our dynamic duo
with their thrilling performance from Brazil,
here's Deadly Game.
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(audience cheering) (clapping)
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- The impossible is easy for the masterful
manipulations of Ben Barnes, up next.
(rock music) (cheering)
This next magician has been tasked with turning
these average Jills and Joes into mystical virtuosos.
Here's Ben Barnes.
(cheering) (clapping)
- Thank you so much.
We have two audience volunteers.
We have.
- Alise.
(clapping)
- And?
- Alfred.
(clapping)
- Alise, have you ever done magic?
- No, never done it.
- Would you like to try?
- I'd love to.
- Perfect, perfect.
- Now I'm gonna start you off easy
and I have a deck of cards here.
Alfred, I want you to take any card out that you like.
Show it to everyone but me and Alise.
Alise, no peeking.
Make sure she doesn't peek.
Everyone got it?
All right Alfred, I'll take it.
All right Alise, show time.
- Okay.
- Tell the truth.
Did you see Alfred's card?
- No.
- All right, you're gonna find it.
- Okay.
- Here's the secret.
Don't overthink it.
(audience laughing) - Okay.
- Take this card.
All right, don't show them, don't show them.
But go ahead and you look at it.
Let me see it.
Alfred, would you be amazed if she found it?
- I would definitely be amazed.
- (laughs) Good, good.
Alfred, you took the Queen of Hearts.
And that was the card she stopped at.
Was that your card?
- No.
- Was it a Queen?
- No.
- What was it? Tell me.
(audience laughing)
Do you know what I'd do?
(blows air)
Blow.
(blows air)
(intense music)
(laughing)
(audience clapping)
You know what, Alfred?
You try it.
Blow.
And Alfred is magic too.
(audience laughing)
Let's give them both a round of applause.
(audience cheering) (clapping)
- Illusionists have the ability to make
even the most ordinary objects other worldly.
This performer will rope you in with his act.
Let's hear it for Smoothini.
(audience cheering) (clapping)
-Yeah, look at that, look at that.
Calm down!
'Cause you scary!
You're very scary!
I'm trying to make this rope go right through
my body.
In small portions. (audience oohing)
Little bit through here.
Little bit through there.
And through my big gut that I've been
working on during the pandemic.
(audience laughing)
Just right.
Through there.
But the worst part is the--
(grunting)
You do not wanna smell that.
(audience laughing)
At all.
(clapping)
Thank you.
- Normally, I'd welcome the next performer,
but it seems like he won't even be on stage
for this illusion.
Here's the magic of Rob Lake.
(cheering) (clapping)
- For this illusion, to make it even more impossible,
I'm not even on the stage.
I'm in the control room backstage right now.
And we have several volunteers we've chose at random
from the audience on stage.
For all of you on stage, let me know you can hear me
with a big round of applause.
(clapping)
Excellent.
Now, we're gonna give all of the volunteers
on stage a tour of the stage.
You can see in the middle of the stage,
we have a platform.
Now, this platform is only a couple of inches thick,
so please examine it all you want as you walk by.
We're going to divide all of these volunteers up
all around the stage so they can
view the illusion as it happens from every possible angle.
You can see there's air in every direction.
This platform is at the middle of the stage,
surrounded by absolutely nothing.
I need two people who are not afraid of heights.
We're gonna ask you to go and stand on top of the platform.
It will be your job to watch the illusion
as it happens from above.
(intense music)
We're gonna put somebody behind
to watch this from the back,
make sure nothing happens at all from the back.
(intense music)
And we need someone who doesn't mind
to get a little dirty,
get on your hands and knees and sit down
below the platform.
When you go down, put your hands above your head
and please don't move.
Now, everyone on top of the platform especially,
stay where you are.
Don't move.
I don't want anybody to fall off.
Right now, my assistant should be bringing out a curtain.
We're going to hand the curtain to the people
on top of the platform.
Hold it up but don't raise it up just yet.
Remember, we have volunteers chosen
from the audience at random.
I'm not in the theater.
The conditions are completely impossible
for any sort of magic right now.
To the people on top of the platform,
take the curtain up.
Wave it over your head.
Hold tight, do not let go.
On the count of three.
One, two, three. (intense music)
(audience cheering)
- Next up, the quick moves of Joshua Jay
when we return.
(intense music) (clapping)
This card trick may seem a little backwards
but I promise it'll all sort out in the nick of time.
Here's Joshua Jay.
(audience cheering) (clapping)
- All right.
And now, time travel.
I thought it would be interesting
to do a card trick, but backwards.
In other words, playing with the time of a card trick.
Because this is a trick that involves time,
let's isolate time.
I'll place my watch not only under cloth,
but also under glass so that you can
keep your eye on it the whole time.
Now, every deck of cards you've ever seen
comes from the factory in exactly the same way, right?
Ace, two, three, four, five, six, and so on of clubs,
ace through king of hearts,
ace through king of spades,
and ace through kind of diamonds.
And every card trick you've ever seen
happens the same way.
You pick a card.
I find the card.
And the crowd goes wild.
(laughing)
So, if we were to do this backwards,
we would have to start at the end of the trick,
which is the part where you guys go insane.
(crowd cheering) (clapping)
Now this is the part where I have to find your card.
It's of course, completely ridiculous,
because you haven't even picked a card yet.
(laughing)
I'll place this card right there
where you can watch it.
Now, I need some help.
In the vest, please, will you join me up here?
With a round of applause.
(clapping)
What is your name?
- I am Gideon.
- Gideon, nice to meet you, Gideon.
I'm gonna look away to keep this completely fair.
I'll riffle through the cards and you will call stop
anywhere you want.
Remember that card, okay?
- Stop.
- Can you see that card?
- Yes.
- Remember that card, got it?
- Got it.
Take the cards in your own hands.
And now, we have to do the first step,
which normally would be at the beginning of the trick,
but here, it's at the end.
You need to shuffle.
Could you give em a quick mix?
(low music)
Nobody's judging you.
That's good. (laughing)
Okay, now take these cards
and for the first time,
tell everybody which one you saw.
- Three of clubs.
Okay, go through the deck face up.
Take out the three of clubs.
Ah, that's the three of spades.
Keep goin'.
A little faster here, no?
No, a four of clubs.
A two of clubs, keep goin'.
Gideon, what's wrong?
Is it uh, is it gone?
- Nah, I haven't found it yet.
- It's not that it's gone, it's that it's gone
back in time.
Ya see, I didn't have to find your card
because I already found it.
Your three of clubs.
(clapping)
Thank you, Gideon!
Now stay with me, stay with me.
Ya see, we are starting to go back in time
and the reason that I know we're starting
to go back in time is because I'm now
wearing the watch that I took off three minutes ago.
(clapping)
But if we were to go all the way back in time,
we would have to unshuffle this deck of cards.
The way Gideon shuffled it.
You watched him shuffle.
Reds and blacks and hearts and clubs.
And to go all the way back in time,
to unshuffle this deck would look
a little something like this.
(cheering)
That's the ace, the two, the three,
the four, the five, all the clubs,
all the hearts, all the spades, all the diamonds.
The trick never happened.
Thank you.
- Thank you! (clapping)
- Mind reading is the unbelievable skill
of Wayne Hoffman next.
(upbeat music)
If you're like me, you probably wonder
how these magicians do what they do.
Well, this illusionist plans to bring some of that to light.
A round of applause for Wayne Hoffman.
(cheering) (clapping)
- So, right now, I'm gonna give you
a peek behind the curtain and show you how
a mentalist practices reading people's thoughts.
Now, we have someone from our audience here.
What is your name?
- Lindsey.
- That is correct.
(laughing)
Now Lindsey, in a moment, I'm gonna show you
how I practice and how we're gonna do this
is as follows.
You're gonna be concentrating on something,
whatever it may be.
Something personal or it could be something
totally at random.
I'm gonna try to get it letter by letter.
And if I'm wrong, if I get a letter wrong,
see there's consequences.
That helps me train.
Consequence will be that I have to eat glass.
- Eat it?
- Every time I'm wrong.
That pressure makes me concentrate a little bit harder.
Now, to prepare, just in case,
I have this little sandwich baggy
with the light bulb in it.
I want you to take this hammer
and I want you to just give it one good whack right there
and crack it.
(glass cracking)
That was, give me that, I don't trust you.
(audience laughing)
Awesome, now you can see the shards of glass right here.
Now, be very careful.
I don't want you to touch them because
they're very sharp.
Actually, here.
Just a little.
I don't want you to really take it
but just very gently tap that.
You're shaking like I am but it's sharp, isn't it?
That's a real glass, yeah?
It's a real light bulb.
I want you to clear your mind and you're gonna focus
in on something right now.
Could be something meaningful or it could be something
completely random.
Whatever it is, concentrate on it now.
Do you have it in mind?
Cool.
Just look at me.
Think of it.
Does it start with an R?
No?
This is not a good way to start.
(intense music)
Look at me.
Think of the first letter.
(intense music) (crunching)
It's an L.
- Uh huh.
- Keep thinking.
- Okay.
(crunching)
- And then an E?
- Yeah?
Wait okay, yeah.
- Think of the next letter.
O.
(audience groans)
- It can be.
(laughing)
(intense music)
(crunching)
- Look at me, think of it.
Don't break your concentration.
Ignore the sound of the glass.
Think of it.
Think of the whole thing.
(intense music) (glass crunching)
I think I got it.
(intense music)
Think I have it.
I feel like it's something personal to you.
Am I right?
- Yeah.
(intense music)
I'll tell you what.
I have my thought here that I think you're
concentrating on.
I want you to take this board and this marker
and write it but don't show the cameras.
Don't show the audience and don't show me.
If I've done this correctly,
then these two should match.
On the count of three, we're going to turn these around
and show the audience.
Are you ready?
One, two, three. (intense music)
Right on the money. (cheering)
(laughing)
Give her a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen.
(cheering) (clapping)
- Well that's it for this edition
of Masters of Illusion.
We hope you'll join us next time
for more amazing magic.
Until then, I'm Dean Cain.
Thank you for watching.
(cheering) (clapping)