- [Narrator] 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.
(crowd cheers)
- Hello everyone, I'm Dean Cain
and welcome and to Masters of Illusion.
What's real
and what is not?
That's a question you may be asking yourself a lot
over the next half hour
but that's the beauty of magic performed by masters.
Will you be entertained?
- Sorry to interrupt. - Ladies and gentlemen,
Wayne Hoffman.
I was just introducing the whole show.
- Sorry.
I, I talked backstage.
I'm working on something really quick.
It's a whole thing about recycling.
I got two crushed cans, green or red.
Which one do you want?
- Green - Green? Your call.
Watch the dent in the can.
Because if you imagine we can take the dents out,
the dents will start to come outta the can
and we still have a hole, but if you imagine we can grab it
and throw it away,
if I just snap, you see the hole reseals itself.
It's actually resealed.
Tap on it. Resealed?
- Resealed. - Now we can refill it, too.
Listen, there's nothing in there yet,
but imagine we can refill it.
It's starting to refill.
Keep going. Now make it cold.
Here, feel it.
You'll feel it getting colder. - It's very cold.
- It's getting colder and colder.
I'm a big fan of recycling.
And this one's for you, bud.
'Cause you're gonna be doing a lot
of the introing and a lot of talking for the show.
So here you go.
(crowd cheering) - That's pretty good.
This next act, can't just be a lucky guess.
It's beyond prediction.
What's the explanation? Must be magic.
So let's hear it for Eric Jones.
(funky music playing)
- Good evening, folks.
Thank you so much for having me back.
I wanna show you all something interesting.
Here in my pocket, I've got a single envelope.
In that envelope happens to be a playing card
with a prediction, a commitment to your astonishment.
Ma'am, what is your name?
- Valeria. - If it's okay,
I'd like to try something with you.
You, me and my pack of playing cards.
Specifically I've got two black Kings here on top
of the pack which I will leave here for just a few moments.
Valeria, I need you to choose a card.
I'll pass through the cards, just like this.
Whenever you get the notion,
I want you to say the word stop.
Wherever you say stop, that'll be your card.
Does that sound fair?
- Yes.
Stop.
- Would you like the uppermost card where you said stop
or the lowermost card?
Completely up to you?
The uppermost card.
Ooh, that is not a bad card at all.
Now, if it's okay with you, I'd like to mark this card
because the truth of the matter is I could have
another card just like this in the pack.
So I'm gonna ask you a couple of personal questions.
What's your middle name?
- Alejandra. - A-L--
- E-J-A-N-D-R-A.
- How tall are you?
- 5'4". - 5'4", that's admirable.
I like that. Five feet four inches.
So we got that there as well.
Last but not least,
did you happen to have a pet growing up as a child?
- I did. - You did.
Was it a dog, a cat, a gerbil, a snake?
A dog. What kind of dog?
- Rottweiler. - What was your
Rottweiler's name? - Beba.
How do we spell that?
B-- - B-E-B-A.
- Now there's no way that I could know any
of this information.
Your middle name, your height
or the name of your childhood pet.
That's true, yes?
That all checks out.
Are you a science fan at all?
- I am. - You are.
Have you ever heard that a matter cannot be created
or destroyed?
You have?
you may have also heard that it cannot occupy
two places at once.
Now folks, what you're about to see is going to
look like trick photography.
So if you need to blink, do it now.
Watch.
(fast-paced music playing)
You know, at the very beginning
I was hoping that I could make a connection with one of you.
And I got to learn a little bit about you as a
matter of fact.
But I also said that I was gonna make a prediction,
a commitment to your astonishment
that I mentioned that I wouldn't touch until
the very end.
Now, wouldn't it be interesting,
wouldn't it be strange, in fact,
if this single playing card that's been in your view
this entire time would happen to be your three of clubs
with your middle name,
your height and the name of your childhood pet?
(crowd cheering)
Thank you guys. Thank you.
- What you're about to witness
defies the basic laws of matter
and who better to attempt such a feat than Anna DeGuzman?
(upbeat music playing)
- Thank you all so much.
I'm here with a lovely volunteer from the audience.
Miss, what's your name?
- Celine. - Celine.
What is your favorite thing to drink?
- Water. - Water.
That's super exciting.
But you normally drink water with a straw, right?
(crowd cheering)
It's pretty crazy.
Can you hold out your finger like this?
Right? Just do this finger.
Yeah. Can you try to balance it?
So we're gonna hold it.
Perfect. All right.
- Okay. - Let it go.
(crowd cheering)
- That's crazy. - You know how it works?
I just got this static from your hair.
- What? - Yeah.
Watch, if we just get more, watch what happens?
You make it stick on one finger.
Do you all see that?
- That's insane.
- Yeah. (crowd cheering)
And if I can get it right, you should be able to--
(crowd cheering)
Can I see your purse?
- Sure. - Hold it out like this.
Yes. I'm gonna put the straw in.
Like I said, you see--
(crowd vocalizes)
Okay.
Oh God.
What do you have in here?
It's still going.
Okay. Oh, okay.
Oh God.
It's...
How did you, where did you, how...?
(upbeat electronic music playing)
It's bigger than both of us.
- [Narrator] Next, an impossible prediction by Rob Late.
When we come back. (upbeat music playing)
- I know these illusions are beyond belief, but don't worry.
You're wide awake.
This magician, however, would like to take us
on a journey through his dreams.
Here's Rob lake.
(techno music playing) (crowd cheering)
- Last night, I had this strange dream.
It was so strange it actually woke me up
in the middle of the night.
So I wrote every detail
of my dream down on a piece of paper
and I sealed that paper inside of this box.
That way I could show it to you tonight.
But before I can show you my dream,
I have to find a dream date.
Who wants to help out and go on a dream date with me?
Excellent. Right here in the front.
And excellent.
Excellent. And all right.
Oh, are you guys together?
- Yeah. - Well I'm gonna steal your,
steal your date for a moment.
I'll let you stay back down there.
Have a seat right here to my right.
Have a seat right there.
And what is your name?
- Codi. - Excellent.
Codi, I have a key to this box.
I want you to hold on this key.
Keep it very safe and secure.
All right. Tonight, I had a dream
that the audience set me up on a blind date with you
after the show. - Really?
- We're gonna let them decide all of the details
of our date.
Like here.
Let's see.
Here in the front, this guy in the vest.
Where do we go on our date?
Anywhere in the entire world, where was our date?
- Japan. - Oh, Japan.
I absolutely love Japan.
Excellent. All right here.
And in the middle in the front here.
What did we have for dinner?
- A poppy seed salad.
- My favorite. - Really?
- Yes. - Excellent.
The gentleman in the glasses on the second row back there.
What did we do on our dream date
after we had our poppy seed salad?
- You went to a sauna.
- Ah, so soothing.
Perfect. Now lady here in the front.
Do you have any coins in your pocket?
- I don't have coins, but let me, but I do have cash.
- What do you got?
- 20.
- $20. Oh, big spender tonight.
Excellent. All right, Codi, back to you for a moment.
Who did you come here tonight with?
- I came here with my boyfriend.
- Oh, your boyfriend? - Yes.
- The, the guy who tried to come up on stage
and ruin my date.
And what is your boyfriend's name?
- BJ. - Has BJ taken you
to Japan yet?
- No. - Oh, so Mr. Magic is ahead
right now. (crowd laughing)
Codi, come right over here.
Stand right here.
I'll be right back.
This box has been hanging up in the air
outta my reach the entire time. You could all see it.
No one could have possibly touched it.
Codi, you still have your key?
Bring your key over here.
I'd like you to please remove the lock from the box.
- Okay? - Yep.
Carry the lock to the center of the stage.
I will meet you there.
This box is outta my reach in the air, above your head
this entire time.
You saw no one could have possibly touched.
Inside, I have a jar.
That jar is sealed air tight, yes?
- Yes. - Inside is a piece of paper.
Please remove the paper.
Excellent.
And I want you, Codi, to hold this corner right here please.
Check this out.
Last night, I had a dream
that I was on a blind date with Codi.
We went to Japan
where we had the most amazing gourmet Japanese version
of a poppy seed salad you can ever imagine.
After that, well, we hit off great in the sauna?
The total cost or date was only $20,
but the best part of all was BJ had to pay.
Codi and BJ.
Watch the astounding skill of Robert Ramirez
when we come back.
(upbeat music playing)
This illusionist would like to pay some respect
to the magicians who came before him
with an act that stands up to the test of time.
Let's hear it for Robert Ramirez.
(hiphop music playing)
- Ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna show you one
of my favorite magic tricks.
This is what we call magic apparatus,
a word that's not used very often.
It used to be really a popular in the sixties
and the seventies,
kind started dying in the eighties and nineties
and now nobody really does this kind of magic
but it was shown to me
and I just thought it was so incredible
that I had to show you.
So what an opportunity we have that you get to see this.
A little history, it's called Cube on Release.
It was invented by a man named Jack Hughes in 1956.
It's three pieces, but we're only gonna talk
about two of the pieces at the moment.
So it's got this wood frame, which we'll get to afterwards.
Mainly it's this two ropes with the red block in the center.
Perfect.
Two ropes, we'll do this 100 times so you can see.
Stay.
Solid piece of rope all the way through.
There's no magnets or it doesn't come undone
or anything like that.
That's rope number one.
Rope number two looks exactly the same.
Smells exactly the same as well.
Don't ask me what it smelled like.
It just smells exactly the same.
We have the red block here.
It's solid in all sides.
Yes, it hurts my knuckles.
There's two holes on the inside and that's so
you can see right through (vocalizing)
but really it's for the two ropes.
So we're gonna place the two ropes
through the cube.
The goal is, the magic trick here is,
I'm gonna get the ropes to melt right through
that solid cube without touching the cube.
So we're gonna place it right there.
I'm gonna take one side of the ropes
on each side and cross them.
That way It gives me a little heftier grab there.
Okay, perfect.
On the count of three, I'm gonna pull the two ropes
without letting go.
The ropes will magically and swiftly pass
through the red cube.
On the count of three, here we go.
One, two, three.
You'll see that the two ropes go straight through.
It's pretty impressive.
I know.
I know, 1956, it's pretty crazy.
But whenever I do this trick people always immediately,
soon they say, ugh, I bet you that's just slight of rope.
I have no idea what that means,
but it must be some type of magic that happens.
So again, solid cube all the way through.
Great. So we're gonna put the rope back through,
back through the cube like this.
The frame is so that it lets me not do
what we call slight of rope.
It's a solid wood frame here.
The cube goes right there.
Da, da, da, da.
Ropes locked into place.
And just like we had it at the very start,
we have this beautiful piece of apparatus.
Now the goal is to do the exact same trick,
to do the exact same trick
where the cube's gonna go through the ropes.
But this time I will not touch the ropes in any way,
shape or form.
I'm solely only gonna touch the cube and the cube will still
melt right through the ropes.
Here we go.
Close up on this.
Not this, this.
This is hurting my thighs.
All right, here we go.
I should have--
All right.
Alright. This is exactly how it would've looked in 1956,
full squat and everything.
All right, here we go.
Ladies and gentlemen, this, this cube on release from 1956.
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(crowd cheering)
- Let's give a round of applause and a warm welcome
to our very own My Uyen.
(pop music playing)
(crowd cheering)
- [Dean] I don't quite understand how this next one is done,
but maybe you do.
Dan Sperry is up next.
(upbeat music playing) (crowd cheering)
This performer has been described as eccentric,
mysterious and now pyrokinetic.
Here's Dan Sperry.
- Yay! Magic show!
Now usually magic, right, deals with the supernatural.
Sometimes it even delves into the super unnatural.
I know, I know, I know.
And that's what we're gonna do right now.
You and me.
Well, who are you by the way? - Gabby.
- Gabby, face me like that.
Stick your hands out like Frankenstein.
Right. Step up a little bit.
And yeah. Pinch your fingers together
and make like two fists like you're riding invisible bike.
In a moment, you're gonna make a choice.
I'm gonna demonstrate, but the choice is gonna be yours.
So you don't have to copy me.
So when I say go, you're just gonna lower one
of those fists, just like I did.
Ready? Go.
Perfect. So that's the one that we're gonna get rid of.
You kept that one.
Keep that fist and hold it against your heart.
Perfect. Gabby.
I have a little friend with me in my pocket.
Again, getting to the supernatural, super unnatural aspect
of magic.
This is little Gabby.
You can see the resemblance.
Gabby, did you have like a nickname in school
or anything like that?
- Gabs. - Gabs.
All right, so this is gonna be little Gabs, right?
In order to invoke that power,
I'm just gonna pass it around.
You don't move.
You won't feel anything and I'm not gonna touch you.
Just like that.
Gabby, do you feel any different?
- Yes. - Yes. Okay. Good.
'Cause so does little Gabs.
Now we need to add an element.
That element is fire.
If I take a little bit of that fire from this lighter,
you'll see that little bit of the element
causes little Gabby.
That means we've made a connection, starts to stand up.
If I take, so that's your left hand.
So if I actually singe and burn a little bit
of the left hand right there, watch.
Just like that.
If I snap, boom, that's not a good sign.
But if I singe a little bit of little Gabby's hand.
Gabby, did you feel anything now?
- Yes. - So yes.
What I want you to do, go ahead, extend that fist.
Spread your fingers, peek and show 'em.
Magic show!
You're done. Thanks Gabby.
The rest of you go to church.
(rock music playing) (crowd cheering)
- We never know what to expect with this magician.
He constantly challenges what we thought was possible.
Here's the one and only Ed Alonzo.
(jazzy music)
- Okay.
Watch closely and at home, get up nice and cozy
to your flat screens because I'm about show you
my magic box.
It's right back here, but let's take a look inside.
Ah, what do we have?
Feather. (rolling tongue)
(chuckling)
Check this out.
Empty, go.
Let's do it again.
(chuckling)
One more? That's impossible.
Take a look.
Oh, yes. (jazzy music playing)
- Well that's it for this edition of Masters of Illusion.
We hope you'll join us next time for more amazing magic.
'Til then, I'm Dean Cain.
Thank you for watching.
(crowd cheering)