- 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)
- Hello, everyone.
I'm Dean Cain, and welcome to Masters of Illusion.
You know, it never fails here on the show.
- Hi, Dean.
- I get interrupted by a magician at the very beginning.
Ladies and gentlemen, My Uyên.
- Hi, everyone.
Well, I see today you have a red handkerchief on.
You know what?
I think I have a better idea.
I think green.
Good.
- My Uyên, ladies and gentlemen, and my green hanky.
(audience applauding)
If you're looking for some extra change in your pocket,
keep this next magician nearby,
as he seems to know his way around a coin or two.
Let's hear it for Andi Gladwin.
(audience applauding)
- This is a trick using this small metal tin,
which happens to be the perfect size to fit
four American half dollars.
The idea of the trick is I'm gonna place the tin
on top of the shot glass.
This way you can see all the way around,
but also underneath the tin too,
to make sure I do nothing sneaky.
Here's the idea.
I'm gonna take a coin one at a time,
gonna make the coin vanish and appear inside the tin.
Obviously not like that.
I'm gonna put the lid on it.
It'll be a much better trick that way.
So to make the coins go through the tin,
I just have to throw from one hand to the other.
That should leave us now with two coins over here,
and of course one coin is already gone into the tin.
There's two here.
Let's go again.
Just the coins inside.
This time, instead of passing the coins over,
I'm gonna try and drop the coins through the tin.
You see it happen.
Now there are three coins in the tin.
And let's try one last time.
This time we'll change it up a bit.
This time we'll place the tin under the glass.
Now I have to make the coin go all the way through
not just the tin, but the shot glass too.
It happens like this.
Actually, let's change it up.
Now we have all four coins over here,
leaving just the tin under the glass.
We'll try one more time.
This time let's make it even harder.
I'm gonna place all four coins inside the tin
and then we'll place it on top of the glass,
and I'm gonna go one step further.
I'm gonna cover it with my pocket square.
This way I won't be able to manipulate the coins in any way.
You can see the coins still inside the tin.
We'll cover up, and I'm even gonna let you see
the tin under the silk.
It's gonna happen in an instant.
Here we go.
Now, now what's happened
is the tin has gone through the glass,
leaving just the four coins here and the tin under here.
(audience cheering)
- This performer is nothing short of explosive.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kevin Li.
(audience applauding)
- Have you ever opened a bottle of cola
and it sort of exploded on you?
- Oh, yes. - You have?
So Andrea, you have.
- That's never happened to me.
- You haven't? - No.
Let's change that.
I have a bottle of cola just for you, Linda.
So you take this, give it a good shake.
Shake it up, shake it up.
Yeah, that's really good,
and you can see the carbonation building up.
So hold it, so one hand on the bottom, one hand on the top.
Perfect.
I'm gonna try to take some of that carbonation out
and just hold onto it.
Let's grab a little more,
and let's try to just grab all of that right out
and hold it here for now.
If this really did work, nothing should happen
when you open up that bottle.
So go ahead, open it up.
Let's just move over here to be safe and fingers crossed.
(drum rolling)
Everything's good, that's good, okay.
Not bad.
I'll grab this from ya.
So we still have all the bubbles here.
Can you just grab some of it, hold it in your hand,
yep, just like this, and you're gonna take some.
I'm gonna throw some out in the audience
so you all can just take some of it as well.
Everyone hold it like so.
Good, I'm gonna count down from three in a moment,
and I'd like you all to just directly throw the bubbles
at this champagne bottle.
All right, does that sound good?
Here we go.
That's three, direct it over here.
You can turn in a little more.
That's three, two, two and a half, one.
(audience cheering)
Very nice.
Pour some out, that's for you.
- Thank you.
That is for you Andrea, and cheers.
- Pay close attention.
We would hate for you to miss this next illusion
from Shaun Jay when we return.
(audience cheering)
Let's hear it for our very own wizardly wordsmith,
Shaun Jay.
(audience applauding)
- Did you know that the average American
every single day consumes 3,700 milligrams of this stuff?
Salt.
Yeah, and too much sodium intake
can lead to high blood pressure, kidney failure
or even early heart attack,
and that's no good, folks.
So I'm just here to give you a friendly reminder
to just kind of chill out on the salt a little bit.
Now watch this.
(audience applauding)
Whether it be in the freezer aisle, the frozen food aisle
or even your local restaurant,
extra sodium in your diet can be very difficult to avoid.
Thank you.
(audience applauding)
Okay, this isn't gonna stop anytime soon,
so I got an idea.
Let's try something spontaneous.
What's your name?
- Olivia. - Olivia, okay.
Olivia, just think of any three random words or objects
and just go ahead and call them out for me.
You tell me.
What's the first one? - Lasagna.
- Lasagna, okay.
- And then I'm gonna go with sardines.
- Lasagna sardines, okay.
- And I'll go with llama.
- Llama, okay.
Lasagna, sardines and llama.
Let's try this off the top.
Here we go.
I'm gonna tell a tale, a little story, a little allegory.
It was a massive success and not an epic fail.
Watch me now as I flow, you see the song.
Follow along on the show.
You're gonna be watching me going and flowing.
Man, I'm on ya man, I'm like a multi-layered lasagna.
Now you want to know the word that you just heard?
I'm like the wordsmith nerd.
It keeps on flowing, it keeps on showing.
What was the next one?
Please remind me. - Sardines.
- Oh yeah, because I'm caring about the green
with the sardines, and what was the last one?
- Llama. - Oh yes,
because I'm bringing the hot drama like Barack Obama.
Now I got this Dalai Lama.
Whoo!
So please, don't do it for me.
Do it for your health and do it for your wealth,
because as I try to eliminate all of the confusion
you guys know enough, you know better,
that you're watching Masters of Illusion.
And that's a wrap.
(audience applauding)
- Don't blink.
You might just miss how this master of slight of hand
pulls off this next illusion.
Here we have David Gabbay.
(audience cheering)
- Oh my goodness.
It's wonderful to be here, and over there
I have absolutely nothing inside this bag.
No, I'm just joking.
Inside this bag is my pet brick, and it is a solid brick.
I painted it so it doesn't snag on my suit.
And we're gonna create a little mystery with this brick.
I need to borrow a wristwatch from someone in the audience.
You have one?
Thank you.
And what's your name?
- Patty.
- Patty, thanks for helping out.
There's your watch.
That's gonna go inside my handkerchief,
and I'm just gonna wrap these rubber bands around it.
So Patty, there's your watch inside the bag
right next to that brick.
Now it is California.
If we had an earthquake right now,
that brick would knock over, destroying your watch, Patty.
So I had the foresight to bring another paper bag,
and so I will move that brick over.
Perfect.
So now the brick's here, your watch is there.
Everything's nice and safe,
unless we cause a little magic to happen
and have them switch places,
and the brick should make its way back to this bag,
leaving that watch all the way on this side of the room,
and Patty, is that your watch unharmed and perfect
from one side of the room to the other?
Hear it for Patty.
(audience applauding)
Thank you.
- Buckle up.
We are in for a wild ride with this next act
from Trigg Watson when we return.
(audience applauding)
Let's take a sneak peek at the future of magic
from our Master of Illusion, Trigg Watson.
(audience applauding)
- As you all know, we magicians love to have people
come up on stage to help us out with our magic tricks.
Thanks to the magic of modern technology,
I have figured out how to eliminate that need,
allowing people to participate
from the comforts of their seats.
Hello, you on the end.
Hi there.
What is your name?
- I'm Carolina. - Carolina.
We're going to bring you up onto the screen here.
There you are.
You're famous.
The same technology that is currently being used
to make repairs on the International Space Station
has now been repurposed for card tricks on TV.
Now this here, Carolina, is a multi servo,
highly articulated robot arm that mirrors the exact motions
of the human hand.
I actually have a special web interface
that allows me to control it and move it around.
But you of course didn't come here to see me
control the robot arm.
You came here to see Carolina control the robot arm.
I actually have a QR code I'd like you to scan
that will give you access to the web control.
Can you go ahead and give it a try?
How's that, is that right?
Is that good, you got it?
Brilliant.
I'd like you to go ahead and press the close hand button.
Yes, you did it.
All right, click it again.
Brilliant, perfect.
I'd like you to pick a card, any card.
Now you're gonna use your elbow here,
so go ahead and slide the elbow in either direction.
There you go, and just keep moving up
until you land on a place in the deck of cards
that you are happy with.
Aha, it looks like you've landed on two.
We'll narrow it down.
Just one more time, open up your hand,
and now the choice is yours.
Ah, changed your mind last minute, all right, fair enough.
Take a look, go ahead, open up your hand
so we can see what we ended up with.
You went with the six of hearts.
Now some magicians might be accused
of having maybe more than one of the same card,
so we like to have the card uniquely identified
and I want to give you the opportunity, Carolina.
Green or blue? - Green.
I'd like you to go ahead and close your hand.
Nicely done.
Now I'm just gonna get you to sign your name for me.
I assume it starts with a C.
Use the twist option first.
Can you slide the twist a little bit, just the twist slider?
You can use the elbow, oh nice, a good C,
and then you're gonna get an A.
Is that an A?
Yeah, good, and then R, and then an O.
Yes, okay, and then an L, an N.
It's a unique spelling, Carolina.
(audience applauding)
Now whenever a magician performs a card trick,
usually the cards are shuffled by the magician,
but in this case,
I am not really the magician here, Carolina.
You are the robot magician, so I want you to go ahead
and use the rotate option again,
and then I want you to close onto those cards for me.
Can you close your hand?
Perfect, now I'm going to add a special device.
This is a 52 card pickup prevention device,
allowing us to safely shuffle the cards
without having any gravitational issues.
Okay, now I'm gonna get you to just toss the cards
into the bag.
Go ahead and open up your hand for me.
Toss it in.
Brilliant job, perfect aim.
That was terrific.
Close your hand again.
All right, this is the fun part, Carolina.
Go ahead, go side to side, use the rotate up and down,
side to side, shake it like you just don't care.
Everybody's shuffling.
Yes, you can do it, you can do it.
Yeah, brilliant, brilliant work.
You can bring it back a little bit.
What is going on?
I gave you too much power here.
Go ahead and open up your hand.
Perfect.
I want you to know that you have in your hands right now
the world's only cowboy lassoing card robot.
That means you are going to be lassoing your card
with nothing but a piece of rope
and your newfound robot skills.
I'd like you to just close your hand for me.
Nicely done, good.
I'm just gonna lower the rope inside,
and I want you to make sure that you,
maybe bring it a little further over.
Can you use maybe the shoulder?
There you go, yeah.
Rotate it inside.
I want the cards to kind of be spread out,
and I want you to kind of use your,
use your intuition here, Carolina.
I want you to just trust your judgment.
This is more of an art than a science.
Just start moving like you're going fishing.
You're just gonna move side to side,
left and right, up and down, and there's gonna be a moment
where you just become one with the cards,
where you just all of a sudden start to feel
like you've made a special connection.
Oh my gosh.
Carolina, lift up, lift up a little bit further,
little bit further, keep going up, oh my gosh, what is this?
Oh, Carolina.
Here, go ahead, use the rotate.
Bring it a little further over, further this way,
further this way.
You can do it, further, yes, oh my gosh.
Ladies and gentlemen, look, a single playing card
with unmistakably her signature on it.
Carolina, take a bow.
Take a bow, yes!
Give it up for Carolina.
(audience cheering)
Robot magic!
- Get ready for a grand illusion
like you've never seen before from Wayne Hoffman
when we return.
(audience applauding)
Would you consider yourself a gambler?
Well, I'd call our next illusionist that,
but what he's about to do is no gamble.
It's pure magic.
Wayne Hoffman, and do not try this at home.
(audience applauding)
- Thank you, guys.
We have someone from our audience
who is going to help me out.
Now we haven't been formally introduced.
What's your name?
- Saul. - Saul, Wayne.
I have some foil actually
that my mom used to wrap my sandwiches in.
I want you to take a look at that first
and verify that it is indeed foil
that you would get from a grocery store.
Hold it to the light, there's nothing weird about it.
It is foil, is that right?
It's like he's done this before, amazing.
And next, a kitchen knife.
I want you to be very careful with this,
but again examine that and make sure that it is indeed real.
Be very careful.
Touch the tip of the knife and verify that that's sharp.
It is?
Lay it here very carefully.
Now in a moment, I'm going to try to persuade you.
I'm gonna try to influence you to hold that knife
in one hand or the other,
and we're gonna see if I get it right,
but first I'm gonna blindfold myself
so I can't see what you're doing.
So from this point forward, just follow my instructions.
First, pick up the knife and hold it in either hand.
Now I want you to make sure the blade is up,
and I want you to hold your other hand in a fist like this,
so one hand is empty and one hand holds the knife.
I want you to place both hands underneath mine,
and let me know when you're in position.
- I'm in position. - You're in position.
Now question, does one hand hold a knife
and the other one is empty?
- Correct.
- I want you to show the audience.
Hold up the knife so they can see it,
and then whenever you're ready, put it back under mine.
Are both hands under mine?
- Yes. - One holds the knife
blade up and one is empty?
- Yes. - Hmm.
Interesting.
(audience applauding)
Let's do it again.
This time you can choose to switch hands
or keep it the same.
Now make sure you put it in one of your hands
so that one holds the knife and the empty one is left.
The choice is yours where you put the knife.
Whenever you're ready,
I want you to hold both hands underneath mine,
one containing the knife blade up and the other empty.
Just let me know when you're ready.
- I'm ready.
- Is one hand holding the knife and the other is empty?
- Yes.
(audience applauding)
- One more time.
Now your left is my right and my right is your left,
so we only have one try left,
so make sure you do this right
and let me know when you're ready.
- I'm ready.
- Is one hand empty and the other one contains the knife?
- Yes.
- I just want you to remember one thing, and that is this.
Persuasion is extremely powerful.
Let's give it up for him, ladies and gentlemen.
(audience cheering)
Well done.
- Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition
of Masters of Illusion.
I know I did.
Be sure to join us next time.
'Til then, I'm Dean Cain.
Good night.
(audience cheering)
(exciting music)