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Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 25th, 2018, 7:15 pm
by Jonathan Townsend
Starts tonight on the CW
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 25th, 2018, 9:48 pm
by erdnasephile
I really enjoyed Matt Marcy and Andrew Evans because they showed how classics become yours when you truly put yourself into the routines.
However, my very favorite part was the "Squire"---I busted a gut laughing!
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 26th, 2018, 1:16 pm
by Edward Pungot
My favourite was the Stanford guy.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 26th, 2018, 2:36 pm
by erdnasephile
Yes--Andrew Evans--he was very good.
I generally don't favor the broom suspension-type tricks (I think Jerry Andrus referred to them as a physics lessons), but the kicker was fun (I first saw Stan Allen and Tina Lenert do this on an "It's Amazing" show).
There's a cool illustration of Robert-Houdin doing this "Ethereal Suspension" in Christopher's Panorama of Magic, which also includes the kicker.
The one thing I would have liked better would be if that board had been thinner. It just seemed chunky.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 26th, 2018, 4:45 pm
by Tom Moore
There's a cool illustration of Robert-Houdin doing this "Ethereal Suspension" in Christopher's Panorama of Magic, which also includes the kicker.
That’ll be because he invented it.... as P&T alluded what was presents in the show was almost exactly the original Houdin trick even down to some subtleties of the method and pre-show work. Andrew did a great job of dressing it up in a modern style and giving a logic to it all - again as they alluded the “broomstick suspension” is a poor poor distant cousin of the original effect.
Unfortunately the thickness of the plank is entirely related to the weight of the person levitating above it - for a typical 70kg adult assistant you need something about 5cm thick to be able to survive. That’s one of the reasons houdin used a child originally...
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 26th, 2018, 4:52 pm
by erdnasephile
Thanks for the comments, Mr. Moore. You are, of course, correct. I should have made clear in my post that "Ethereal Suspension" is a Robert-Houdin creation.
What I've always thought interesting is how Curry's "Magician's Magic" tries to "correct" the original Robert-Houdin illustration.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 26th, 2018, 5:38 pm
by performer
Mysterion did very well. He has worked very hard and deserves it. I am baffled that Penn and Teller couldn't figure out how his trick was done unless they were playing along with it. I have a less complicated version of that cabinet thing in my kid show briefcase. I figured it out within seconds. I will concede however that their version although less portable is less likely to be exposed on You Tube. For a year or so anyway.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 26th, 2018, 11:01 pm
by Bill Duncan
erdnasephile wrote:I generally don't favor the broom suspension-type tricks (I think Jerry Andrus referred to them as a physics lessons), but the kicker was fun (I first saw Stan Allen and Tina Lenert do this on an "It's Amazing" show).
It's funny you mention him, because while I was watching it, I thought he'd be impressed by the changes, and charmed by the presentation. Jerry was a bit of a do it yourself too after all.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 27th, 2018, 2:36 am
by Pete McCabe
While watching this show I had an idea for the moment at the end of the suspension where you have to raise the person before lowering them. The idea is, as you walk around, showing the suspension, etc., you end up standing behind (from the audience's perspective) the suspended legs. So to walk to the front, you lift the legs over your head, walk under, then turn and lower them behind you, and all the way to the ground to end the trick.
I think this would play, and would cover this tell of the method.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 27th, 2018, 6:37 am
by Tom Moore
The "bounce" required to release can be eliminated through a combination of assistant strength and using a different locking mechanism - most people use a simple ratchet system made out of steel; I designed (and i'm quite sure others have created similar solutions) a locking system made out of titanium which didn't bite and so doesn't need the bounce to release it - combine this with an assistant who can hold their shape better/longer and all that wiggle/bounce required to lock in different positions is eliminated.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 27th, 2018, 4:26 pm
by Brad Jeffers
erdnasephile wrote:There's a cool illustration of Robert-Houdin doing this "Ethereal Suspension" in Christopher's Panorama of Magic, which also includes the kicker.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 27th, 2018, 10:54 pm
by Daniel Z
Here's a photo of David Ben in one of his conjuror incarnations doing what I believe is the first performance in modern times as per the original (complete with cane on footstool) in front of a live audience (2002). The whole thing was set up and later taken apart in front of the audience.
Trying to attach a document the status button gets me a message saying:
ERROR
Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.
any advice?
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 27th, 2018, 11:07 pm
by Brad Jeffers
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 27th, 2018, 11:14 pm
by Daniel Z
I was going to show a later shot showing the trestle (saw horse) removed. I'll try again.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 1:13 am
by Richard Kaufman
I use Imgur to attach photos in posts.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 9:03 am
by Daniel Z
Thanks Richard. I may try to figure that out.
In any case the photo I had in mind is a similar image to the one Brad posted just a little later I the act and the support (trellis, saw-horse) under the footstool/cane end has been removed. The image that is already up is probably sufficient for those interested in this little tangent.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 10:00 am
by Bill Mullins
Is that Suley assisting?
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 10:28 am
by Daniel Z
Hi Bill. It sure is.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 10:30 am
by Daniel Z
And David's son Courtney being suspended. When Court grew too big or too bored it was Julie who he floated in the ether...
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 12:29 pm
by performer
I have never liked that trick. I have seen far too many people fall off the damn thing. I'll stick to card tricks.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 8:27 pm
by erdnasephile
Bill Duncan wrote:erdnasephile wrote:I generally don't favor the broom suspension-type tricks (I think Jerry Andrus referred to them as a physics lessons), but the kicker was fun (I first saw Stan Allen and Tina Lenert do this on an "It's Amazing" show).
It's funny you mention him, because while I was watching it, I thought he'd be impressed by the changes, and charmed by the presentation. Jerry was a bit of a do it yourself too after all.
Yes! From what I know of Mr. Andrus, I think he would have liked this presentation of the trick as well.
For those interested, I found where I read Mr. Andrus' original comments on the generic broom suspension performances:
Genii, October 1989, pg 239-240.
Also, Jonathan Pendragon had his exceptionally intelligent and cogent (as usual) take on magical suspensions and levitations published in
Genii, November, 2014, pg 36-7. A very thought provoking read from someone who knows of what he speaks.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: June 28th, 2018, 8:35 pm
by erdnasephile
Speaking of the "do it yourself" aesthetic: Since you already have the sawhorses there, it would have been kind of cool if maybe the performer could have quickly sawn the plank from a bigger piece of wood and then cut a big pole into two. That would have gone along with the theme and the subsequent drilling, and could have made everything look more innocent (as long as he could have done so entertainingly).
I remember David Goodsell published a similar idea where he would have guests for dinner and steer the conversation towards spirits. He would go out to his workshop and the guests would hear a rotary saw. He would then come back in holding a piece of 2 x 4 while brushing the sawdust off of it. You guessed it: he would perform an effective Telekinetic Timber routine with the feke.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 1st, 2018, 4:53 am
by Doug Thornton
Teller is having back surgery. With all best wishes, looking forward to the Genii Convention in 2019.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertain ... rlier/amp/
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5 -- Episode 2
Posted: July 6th, 2018, 5:35 pm
by erdnasephile
Did anyone catch episode 2?
Overall, while I thought the idea of an entire show of former foolers was a great idea, I enjoyed Eric Jones' turn the best. (I also think Paul Gertner was an inadvertent victim of a unfortunate close-up camera shot.).
What did you think?
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 23rd, 2018, 5:33 pm
by Brad Jeffers
Danny Cole fooled them with
this very neat trick.
Apparently thread was not used, in which case it fooled me too.
Really beautiful.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 23rd, 2018, 7:18 pm
by Michael Close
No "apparently" thread. Thread is not the method.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 23rd, 2018, 7:48 pm
by Richard Kaufman
That was great!
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 24th, 2018, 1:30 pm
by Steve Mills
Personally, I thought last night’s show was one of the weakest of the entire series, until P & T did the egg bag. Now it’’s one of my favorites.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 26th, 2018, 9:19 pm
by erdnasephile
I loved the egg bag routine. You could see the Miller bones, a lot of Thompson, and even a dash of Hobson. I even thought their choice of color for the egg bag was so smart (and neatly solved the Miller/Thompson v. Hobson take on egg bag color). The best part about the routine is that I couldn't picture anyone but Penn and Teller presenting that. Bravo!
[PS: So far I've been fooled by Danny Cole, Ed Riley, and Kostya Kimlat (that was a great strategem--too bad it didn't take in P & T). However, the act I enjoyed the most recently was the singing guy with the rope]
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 11:56 am
by Tom Frame
A method occurred to me as I was watching Danny's cool effect. Perhaps he had a special vertical, clear piece of plastic or glass affixed to the front of his performing area. The two lights shined onto the glass to prevent reflections. It appeared that he was sticking the blocks to the glass.
He waved the wand (or whatever it was) over, under and beside the suspended blocks, but he never passed the wand in front of the blocks. If he was able to pass the wand in front of the blocks, you'd think that he would have done so, as an additional convincer. Why didn't he? Perhaps he didn't do that because the blocks were affixed to a vertical piece of glass, preventing him from passing the wand in front of them.
Even though Danny denied that the lights were part of the method, why else did he employ them? They weren't needed to illuminate the effect, and they weren't used as aesthetically pleasing stage dressing. They were no more attractive than the Christmas lights, which may have been used to hide the edge of the alleged vertical glass. Red herrings? I doubt it.
Finally, he throws a sheet over the entire apparatus so that P&T can't view it closely or touch it. Why?
Your thoughts?
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 1:52 pm
by erdnasephile
Tom Frame wrote:A method occurred to me as I was watching Danny's cool effect. Perhaps he had a special vertical, clear piece of plastic or glass affixed to the front of his performing area. The two lights shined onto the glass to prevent reflections. It appeared that he was sticking the blocks to the glass.
He waved the wand (or whatever it was) over, under and beside the suspended blocks, but he never passed the wand in front of the blocks. If he was able to pass the wand in front of the blocks, you'd think that he would have done so, as an additional convincer. Why didn't he? Perhaps he didn't do that because the blocks were affixed to a vertical piece of glass, preventing him from passing the wand in front of them.
Even though Danny denied that the lights were part of the method, why else did he employ them? They weren't needed to illuminate the effect, and they weren't used as aesthetically pleasing stage dressing. They were no more attractive than the Christmas lights, which may have been used to hide the edge of the alleged vertical glass. Red herrings? I doubt it.
Finally, he throws a sheet over the entire apparatus so that P&T can't view it closely or touch it. Why?
Your thoughts?
The same thought occurred to me: I kept thinking that he never walked in front of the apparatus until it was covered up to possibly prevent reflections, but I was still fooled big time.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 2:01 pm
by erdnasephile
Re: the Egg Bag routine: Kim Raver seemed like an odd choice, as I didn't think she was currently starring on any CW shows. I wonder how Penn and Teller decide which celebrities to drop into the show?
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 3:21 pm
by Jonathan Townsend
He's been working on the blocks item for a while. And making a few videos -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMVT-hzJjXc
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 3:43 pm
by Steve Bryant
Thanks for that, Johathan.
This one might have looked great on Penn and Teller, especially if he didn't return for the verdict:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rALFNou60ug
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 4:13 pm
by Bill Mullins
Tom Frame wrote:A method occurred to me as I was watching Danny's cool effect. Perhaps he had a special vertical, clear piece of plastic or glass affixed to the front of his performing area. The two lights shined onto the glass to prevent reflections. It appeared that he was sticking the blocks to the glass.
He waved the wand (or whatever it was) over, under and beside the suspended blocks, but he never passed the wand in front of the blocks. If he was able to pass the wand in front of the blocks, you'd think that he would have done so, as an additional convincer. Why didn't he? Perhaps he didn't do that because the blocks were affixed to a vertical piece of glass, preventing him from passing the wand in front of them.
Even though Danny denied that the lights were part of the method, why else did he employ them? They weren't needed to illuminate the effect, and they weren't used as aesthetically pleasing stage dressing. They were no more attractive than the Christmas lights, which may have been used to hide the edge of the alleged vertical glass. Red herrings? I doubt it.
Finally, he throws a sheet over the entire apparatus so that P&T can't view it closely or touch it. Why?
Your thoughts?
Of course it is plexiglas (or glass, or lexan, or some such). Pause the video at 3:48. On your right, you can see the edge of the plastic, with the cutout for the light cord just above the "U" block.
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 4:16 pm
by Bill Mullins
That is a valuable mystery. A Million Dollar Mystery . . . .
Re: Penn &Teller: Fool Us Season 5
Posted: July 27th, 2018, 10:18 pm
by Jonathan Townsend
I liked the up, up, and away finale for the helium balloons. Kudos
