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Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 9:01 am
by erdnasephile
I really love reading Paul Gertner's blog about his time on "Fool Us"

http://gertner.com/whats-trick-fooling- ... art-three/

I find his honesty refreshing and his courage in doing that particular trick on national TV was inspiring. (I also think it's oddly comforting that even big time pros sometimes get the shakes.)

The announcement of what's going to happen in about 6 months is very cool for those who can do this trick.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 9:39 am
by Richard Kaufman
If you want to do the trick with no Faro Shuffles you can find my description of Tenkai Matsuura's version in MAGIC magazine. For a lay audience there's no good reason to take any chances or do any Faro Shuffles.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 9:54 am
by Bill Mullins
Magic March 1994.

Whatever happened to the Tenkai Ishida book that you mention?

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 10:01 am
by erdnasephile
I just read Mr. Matsuura's routine in "Japan Ingenious" -- that's very smart, clever routine that immediately puts the trick in everyone's hands. Thanks for the tip, RK!

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 10:42 am
by Richard Tremblay
Richard Kaufman wrote:If you want to do the trick with no Faro Shuffles...

Then, where's the fun of doing it? ;-)

-Richard

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 11:06 am
by Richard Kaufman
For the many people who can't do perfect Faro Shuffles in succession, yet want to do a fabulous trick, there's plenty of fun to be had.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 12:37 pm
by erdnasephile
Was it Vernon who said no trick should have more than 2 Faros?

(I'm not criticizing Mr. Gertner's great trick, but I seem to recall reading/hearing that somewhere.)

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 12:41 pm
by Richard Kaufman
The trick belongs to Dr. Michael Ewer (think that's how it's spelled) and was published in Magicana in Genii. This particular routining of it is Paul's.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 1:23 pm
by erdnasephile
I stand corrected--thanks!

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 20th, 2016, 3:39 pm
by performer
I must have done more perfect faro shuffles in history than any other magician. And what is more with the worst quality cards you can imagine.
I expect you know why. The svengali deck. They often come uncollated and you have to put them back in the right order.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 7th, 2017, 7:27 pm
by Joe Mckay
Paul Gertner was back on the show again the other day.

He did a great job.

You can read the first part of his account here:

http://gertner.com/penn-teller-fool-us-take-two/

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 13th, 2017, 12:20 pm
by Joe Mckay

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 13th, 2017, 12:56 pm
by erdnasephile
Enjoyed reading the background behind Mr. Gertner's appearance. Lots of thought and effort into that performance, which I greatly respect. Although I think I prefer his classic C & B routine, I also think it's a smart move to customize the performance for P & T.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 13th, 2017, 5:00 pm
by Bob Farmer
There is an easy way to do this trick with Faro shuffles.

First, add marks to tell you where to cut for each shuffle (there are already so many marks on the deck a few more won't be noticed).

Second, if you can find it, buy some Cashmere Bouquet soap and run the soap bar around the edges of each card, then riffle shuffle the deck for five minutes to get rid of the excess soap. This is a Tony Kardyro tip. With the cards prepared this way, they will Faro shuffle themselves. Eventually, you'll create a slot in the soap and this makes the application easier. Important: it's the edge of the card, not the top and bottom of the card that is soaped.

Apparently, Cashmere Bouquet soap isn't made anymore. I've used the same bar for decades. It smells awful and was really cheap. Maybe some other brand of soap will work, but I haven't looked around. I suspect a bar with oil in it might work as well.

One more thing: I use Dingle's tip about resting the cards on your little finger to do the Faro. Richard can supply the reference.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 13th, 2017, 6:17 pm
by Bob Farmer
Purchasers of the Bammo Tarodiction Toolbox: I'm working out a way to do this trick with those methods.

And of course, the Bammo method will allow the spectator to shuffle the deck before the trick starts, this making it completely impossible.

Stay tuned.

Re: Paul Gertner's Account of "Fool Us"

Posted: October 13th, 2017, 11:12 pm
by Bill Mullins
Another faro tip:
The big Alex Elmsley book by Stephen Minch has Alex's method for preparing a deck, by rounding the end of each card with sandpaper or an emery board. It's on pp 295-297 of Vol 2.