Penn & Teller

Discuss the latest news and rumors in the magic world.
Joe Mckay
Posts: 2026
Joined: April 13th, 2008, 6:56 am
Favorite Magician: Lubor Fiedler
Location: Durham, England

Penn & Teller

Postby Joe Mckay » August 26th, 2018, 7:35 am

I read about a P&T routine once. Where they performed a trick and then exposed it on stage. Except they offered the audience the choice of watching the exposure - or closing their eyes to keep the mystery alive instead.

I am just wondering if they have ever performed this routine on TV (eg Fool Us?). I am familiar with most of their work. But this is one routine I really want to see.

User avatar
Matthew Field
Posts: 2846
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Slydini
Location: Hastings, England, UK

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Matthew Field » August 26th, 2018, 12:26 pm

Perhaps it's the trick where Teller gets himself into a cabinet shaped like a rocket ship and then gets sliced into parts, his head is removed (trapped in the front section of the rocket) to a table, things happen, then he gets his head portion put back on and is shown restored. The exposure is Teller wheeling around under the platform on which Pen is standing, riding along on a sort of dolly.

Anyway, that's how I remember it.

Very clever and fast moving. To expose it, the effect is repeated with the covering removed from the front of the raised platform so you can watch Teller zooming around.

Michael Close
Posts: 491
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: The Great White North
Contact:

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Michael Close » August 26th, 2018, 12:43 pm

The trick is called Honor System. Teller escapes from a secured wooden crate that has been thoroughly examined by audience members (during the preshow music). The audience can then decide whether to close their eyes or keep them open to see how the effect works.

I'd tip the method here, but I've never opened my eyes during the trick.

Joe Mckay
Posts: 2026
Joined: April 13th, 2008, 6:56 am
Favorite Magician: Lubor Fiedler
Location: Durham, England

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Joe Mckay » August 26th, 2018, 2:32 pm

Cheers, Mike!

JFox
Posts: 213
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Hollywood, Ca. USA

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby JFox » August 26th, 2018, 6:29 pm

Just a few weeks ago on "Fool Us", P&T did a "packing box escape" (or exchange?)....where Teller escaped from a wooden box on stage.

There was an assistant onstage assisting P&T, that helped with the misdirection.

Was that the "Honor System", or their alternate version of it?

Michael Close
Posts: 491
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: The Great White North
Contact:

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Michael Close » August 27th, 2018, 11:01 am

That was not Honor System.

User avatar
erdnasephile
Posts: 4770
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby erdnasephile » August 27th, 2018, 11:05 am

I think Danny Orleans briefly talked about his family's experience with this effect in an article he wrote about his family's magic vacation in Vegas. I can't remember if the article appeared in Genii or MAGIC.

User avatar
Bill Marquardt
Posts: 409
Joined: May 4th, 2011, 11:16 am
Favorite Magician: Pop Haydn

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Bill Marquardt » August 27th, 2018, 4:47 pm

Michael Close wrote:The trick is called Honor System. Teller escapes from a secured wooden crate that has been thoroughly examined by audience members (during the preshow music). The audience can then decide whether to close their eyes or keep them open to see how the effect works.


Sounds like the show opener at the Rio, or at least the one I watched. There was no reveal option, though. Very puzzling unless you think like a magician.

John Signa
Posts: 318
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Las Vegas, NV

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby John Signa » August 27th, 2018, 7:15 pm

Bill, you may be thinking of an opener that is similar to Honor System in that it involves the audience inspecting an empty wooden crate prior to the show. Then when show starts Teller appears from the crate. There is no reveal, just the sudden appearance.

If I recall correctly, in Honor System there was also an inspected plexiglass box placed inside the create. Teller escaped from both. And I'll fess up that I peeked.

User avatar
Bill Marquardt
Posts: 409
Joined: May 4th, 2011, 11:16 am
Favorite Magician: Pop Haydn

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Bill Marquardt » August 28th, 2018, 12:03 am

John Signa wrote:Bill, you may be thinking of an opener that is similar to Honor System in that it involves the audience inspecting an empty wooden crate prior to the show. Then when show starts Teller appears from the crate. There is no reveal, just the sudden appearance.

If I recall correctly, in Honor System there was also an inspected plexiglass box placed inside the create. Teller escaped from both. And I'll fess up that I peeked.


Ah, yes. Similar but not the same. At the Rio, Teller appears inside the previously inspected empty box, he does not escape from it.

Jack Shalom
Posts: 1368
Joined: February 7th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Jack Shalom » September 3rd, 2018, 11:46 pm

I noticed that in the opening credits for Fool Us, it lists Alyson Hannigan as a Producer of the show.

Really?

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27056
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 4th, 2018, 12:05 am

Producers get paid more.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Jack Shalom
Posts: 1368
Joined: February 7th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Jack Shalom » September 4th, 2018, 8:24 am

Exactly.

Really?

Tom Moore
Posts: 635
Joined: February 7th, 2012, 6:45 pm
Location: Europe
Contact:

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Tom Moore » September 4th, 2018, 9:17 am

More often than not it’s because producers get paid less.... but that the title sounds illustrious and like a promotion for the individual concerned so in lieu of pay rises tv shows give the talent credits as head writer or producer, maybe employs their friends/partners in minor staffing roles and let’s them sit in on a few meetings because that costs a lot less than paying the talent an extra 100k per episode.

Obviously o don’t know the specifics of this show but that’s how and why it happens on virtually every other tv show I’ve worked on.
"Ingenious" - Ben Brantley: New York Times

thomasmoorecreative

Jack Shalom
Posts: 1368
Joined: February 7th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Jack Shalom » September 4th, 2018, 1:47 pm

Very interesting. Thanks for the enlightenment, Tom.

Joe Lyons
Posts: 875
Joined: November 13th, 2017, 8:27 am
Favorite Magician: Wonder
Location: Texas

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Joe Lyons » September 5th, 2018, 7:08 am

Producer credits aren’t always meaningful.
Recent Vanity Fair article:

Vanity Fair: Natalie, I saw that you have an executive-producer credit on the film, as well as an acting credit. What has your relationship with this project been like over the years?
Natalie Portman: I do? [Laughs] That’s awesome! I didn’t have a relationship—I guess that’s something my agents added in, and I didn’t realize. [Laughs]

observer
Posts: 342
Joined: August 31st, 2014, 5:32 am
Favorite Magician: Harry Kellar - Charlie Miller - Paul Rosini - Jay Marshall
Location: Chicago

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby observer » September 5th, 2018, 12:36 pm

A Producer credit might bring in more money over the course of time. I know from reading about Gilligan's Island - which was re-run over and over and over and … - that the producers/writers/directors got residuals forever, whereas the actors only got anything for the first four or five (something like that anyhow) repeats. The actors were quite bitter about that.

Contracts may have changed since then of course. Still, a Producer credit is potentially lucrative, as well as being a nice thing to have.

Ted M
Posts: 1187
Joined: January 24th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Dani DaOrtiz
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Ted M » September 6th, 2018, 1:10 am

Looked like the producers anticipated diminished viewing figures for the Labor Day broadcast, and stacked the deck accordingly.

Those producers earn their money.

User avatar
erdnasephile
Posts: 4770
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby erdnasephile » September 6th, 2018, 7:51 am

From IMDB, please find following a list of the producers for Fool Us. (I didn't realize there would be so many of so many different types, or that sometimes they only produce an episode or two. Ms. Hannigan seems to be in the latter category, at least since the last time this imdb listing was updated.)

Series Produced by
Danny Harris ... producer (40 episodes, 2015-2018)
Dan Bowen ... associate producer / story associate producer (26 episodes, 2016-2017)
Michael L. Holland ... associate producer (20 episodes, 2015-2016)
Seth Howard ... supervising segment producer / segment producer (13 episodes, 2015)
Joseph D. Reitman ... segment producer (13 episodes, 2015)
Julie DeMarre ... associate producer (13 episodes, 2016)
Peter Adam Golden ... executive producer (12 episodes, 2011-2017)
David Ae Levy ... associate segment producer (11 episodes, 2015)
Olumide Odebunmi ... story producer / senior producer / supervising story producer (6 episodes, 2016-2018)
Andrew J. Golder ... executive producer (5 episodes, 2011-2017)
Darren Toon ... talent producer (5 episodes, 2015-2017)
Glenn S. Alai ... co-executive producer / associate producer (4 episodes, 2011-2017)
Lincoln D. Hiatt ... executive producer (3 episodes, 2015-2017)
Katharine Begg ... producer (2 episodes, 2011)
Peter Davey ... executive producer (2 episodes, 2011)
David Green ... executive producer (2 episodes, 2011)
Alek Compton ... assistant segment producer / associate story producer (2 episodes, 2015-2017)
Penn Jillette ... executive producer (2 episodes, 2015-2017)
Teller ... executive producer (2 episodes, 2015-2017)
Alyson Hannigan ... producer (2 episodes, 2017)
Tom Dearden ... assistant producer (1 episode, 2011)
Bob Massie ... executive producer (1 episode, 2015)
Jonathan Ross ... co-executive producer (1 episode, 2015)
Chris Smith ... segment producer (1 episode, 2015)
Jake Deptula ... associate story producer (1 episode, 2017)
Rick Manfredi ... story producer (1 episode, 2017)
Zach Ralston ... story producer (1 episode, 2017)

MagicbyAlfred
Posts: 2388
Joined: June 7th, 2015, 12:48 pm
Favorite Magician: Bill Malone
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby MagicbyAlfred » September 6th, 2018, 9:48 am

WOW that's quite a list. I guess it comes down to who has the time/availability at any given point (or, in the case of executive producers, the money). Or, as was pointed out on this thread, who might be willing to take less compensation in exchange for a "producer" credit.

That's Show Biz...

Jack Shalom
Posts: 1368
Joined: February 7th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Penn & Teller

Postby Jack Shalom » September 6th, 2018, 10:56 am

I assume that segment producers and story producers have actually done some nuts and bolts work. The rest...well it used to be, back in the day, that the producer was the person who convinced the other guy to risk their money.


Return to “Buzz”