[Turtleboy]

I'm going to post below what we learn in the podcast.

I'm going to spoilerize it if you don't want to know how the sausage is made. The information in the spoiler below will tell what happens after an act goes on, how P&T deliberate, how they make their guess, what happens when they tell the magician, and how it is decided if they were fooled or not. If you don't want to know, don't read.

Again, it's super interesting if you want to know how the show is made, but it is like revealing a trick and takes away some of the magic.

Spoiler

P&T have no pre-knowledge of who is going to be on the show and what trick they are going to perform.

After the magician performs, P&T deliberate. The Judges, who are the producers of the show, magicians themselves, and know how the trick is done, listen in. P&T often deliberate for up to 10 minutes, but it is cut down for TV. Once they are finished deliberating, they make ONE GUESS to the producers/judges. The judges tell them if they are right or wrong. Penn then talks to the contestant, already knowing if he was fooled or not. Any questions that Penn asks, and any answer the contestant gives, is just for TV entertainment. It doesn't mean anything, as the judges have already told P&T whether they were fooled or not. In fact, the producers will often pre-write the coded hints for Penn, so they don't have to take up time making them up.

This came about because one of the contestants was accused of cheating because the audience said he did not answer Penn honestly. So the podcast had the contestant and the producer on to point out that the judges had already determined the fooling, and the answering didn't matter.

 

[pdhenry]

I remember the particular act. It was well done (and of course, P&T were fooled).

What was interesting to me was

Spoiler

that the "busts" are scripted.

Although, you can tell that

Spoiler

when Penn asks a direct question about the method, it means they're fooled and the guess is a wrong one - as Penn knows by that point.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I'm going to post below what we learn in the podcast.

I'm going to spoilerize it if you don't want to know how the sausage is made. The information in the spoiler below will tell what happens after an act goes on, how P&T deliberate, how they make their guess, what happens when they tell the magician, and how it is decided if they were fooled or not. If you don't want to know, don't read.

I always want to know or I wouldn't watch this show. Even when they do know, the code isn't enough to really help me. If I wrote down the very specific details I might be able to do the research. Oh, well.

I haven't watched lately but I have numerous episodes waiting to go.

I always suspected if Penn gave away the secret, he was wrong, and therefore was fooled, because he's not actually supposed to.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I have a bunch of episodes saved up to watch. Now would be a good time, I guess.

Happy 74th, Teller.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I have continued to avoid this show, but one reason was that I was afraid I'd forget I had seen an episode. One solution, I realized, was to look for episodes I had recorded twice. There was one where weather bulletins or interference meant I had to see the rerun, so I hope I kept the one that got interrupted so I know what to watch.

But if the first date the episode aired is the date of the recording, then I know I haven't seen it unless it has those interruptions. So I've been watching these.

After last night, I'm convinced Alyson is just showing her acting skill when she is squeamish about a dangerous stunt. Either she's great at improv or she has rehearsed. I haven't seen much that she has done before this, but on the episode I saw last night she was just great. She recovered so quickly when interviewing the magician that it had to be just acting. She was completely professional for the interview. If I was fooled before, well, I'm easily fooled. I watch the show wanting to know how tricks are done but of course I don't speak Penn's "code". I just feel more comfortable having heard an explanation whether I get it or not.

Seems like the comment was made that Alyson was fooled. She's always fooled. She's no magic expert. Unless she's acting again.

Penn explained a trick Teller was doing and once I understood I went back and played it again and again and I just couldn't follow what Teller was doing. But of course these two are some of the best in the business.

 

[HarleyRandom]

I'm going to post below what we learn in the podcast.

I'm going to spoilerize it if you don't want to know how the sausage is made. The information in the spoiler below will tell what happens after an act goes on, how P&T deliberate, how they make their guess, what happens when they tell the magician, and how it is decided if they were fooled or not. If you don't want to know, don't read.

Again, it's super interesting if you want to know how the show is made, but it is like revealing a trick and takes away some of the magic.

Spoiler

And of course last night Penn revealed exactly how the trick is done. Which makes it obvious he was fooled because he wasn't speaking in code and we're not actually supposed to know. And of course the magician said no, that's not how he did it and Penn and Teller both went up and examined the equipment.

 

[mattack]

I have continued to avoid this show, but one reason was that I was afraid I'd forget I had seen an episode. One solution, I realized, was to look for episodes I had recorded twice. There was one where weather bulletins or interference meant I had to see the rerun, so I hope I kept the one that got interrupted so I know what to watch.

I use kmttg to download metadata files to keep track of which episodes of most shows (or even sometimes specials) I have seen. (Even though I have a bazillion tuners, because of necessary pre/post padding on many shows and sometimes delays/pre-emption, I can't keep ALL shows as 'new episodes only' and absolutely always get them.. Another magic show, the Dean Cain hosted show, is another I have to keep re-recording reruns since it often ends up skewed 15 minutes or sometimes the recording is something completely different).. also, even though I used to say I never watch reruns, for various reality/crime shows, I do sometimes watch reruns since I probably couldn't tell if they cut something out.. (I do wish streaming services allowed me to play faster than realtime though -- if they did, I might have subscribed to Discovery+ already.. instead of presumably getting the content automatically when they and HBO Max merge content..)

 

[cmontyburns]

Hasn't been much chatter on the show here of late, but there is a new season underway. Season 9. I thought Season 8 was a pretty strong one and there were several acts that I wanted to post about but never did. Season 9 has started off well too, so I want to try to get back to commenting on stuff I liked and didn't. Example of the latter: they had that Australian woman back on again to start season 9. She is my least-favorite contestant they've ever had. How she has fooled them 5 times in a row now is beyond me.

Anyway, in this week's episode (Spoilers for S09E04 OAD 11/4/2022), they had an example of the former. And in fact I thought he was one of the best acts the show has ever had on. Dani Daortiz, the card magician. What a delight. Even if his card tricks had been less amazing, his presence and patter were so much fun. I had a great time just watching him perform and imagine it must have been a blast to be sitting there at the table with him.

But the tricks! Wow. I've watched it back through a couple of times and there are one or two spots where, if you don't let yourself get distracted by his patter and calculated boisterousness, you can see that a little move must have been performed. But what that move was, and how it would led to the result, remains a mystery. Obviously to Penn and Teller too, who were sitting right there watching it close up, and were just blown away by what Daortiz pulled off. It was cool that they just gave him the trophy straightaway, but I really would have loved to hear what Penn would have said to him in the normal setting.

What a great act.

 

[mattack]

Yeah for once I caught up already. There were a million tricks in one performance.

what was the name Penn gave about the cat ghost trick? He gave a much more direct mention of another magician’s trick.

also, the mention of something like “your jacket looked well fitting the entire time” was one of the most obvious hints besides the direct mentions of previous magicians. I don’t know how he did the pool cue though.. even slowed down it was amazing.

 

[cmontyburns]

what was the name Penn gave about the cat ghost trick?

The spirit cabinet.

 

[mattack]

That was one thing, but I swear he also mentioned another magician's name.. maybe I'm misremembering which trick that was about, though.

 

[Turtleboy]

Ortiz's trick was insane. I can chalk up everything to him being the greatest sleight of hand magician in the world, but how did he force Allyson to choose the Jack of Hearts.

 

[cmontyburns]

I watched that a couple of times the night it aired, and probably half a dozen times more that weekend. One of the best routines I have ever seen. What makes it so good, on top of the incredible skill, is his presence and patter. The whole thing is just damned fun.

 

[Hank]

I watched it a few more times today, and I still can't see ANY moves he makes. Except when he throws the card "out of the box" I think he palmed that one and it just looks like it came out of the box. It certainly wasn't there before.

He's a master at finding any card in the deck and stealing it before anyone can blink an eye.

 

[kdmorse]

I watched it a few more times today, and I still can't see ANY moves he makes. Except when he throws the card "out of the box" I think he palmed that one and it just looks like it came out of the box. It certainly wasn't there before.

He's a master at finding any card in the deck and stealing it before anyone can blink an eye.

You can also catch him putting the 3 of hearts on top of the box, but that's the least impressive part of the trick. In addition to having found and palmed the card in the first place, the skill with which he keeps everyone's attention away from the box until the moment he wants them to look at it is an impressive feat in itself.

 

[cmontyburns]

Weird interaction with card magician Horret Wu in last Friday's episode (26-Nov). Penn said he had written down a bunch of code words in his notebook, but he didn't want to say them in order not to give away how parts of the routine were done. This is a scruple that seldom has troubled him in the past. So, he threw it to the judges to decide whether Wu had fooled them, based on their listening to Penn and Teller's deliberations. The ruling was that Wu had fooled them, but Penn and Teller didn't get up from their chairs to go to the stage and give him the trophy. They let Allyson do that. I wondered if that last part was because they didn't guess correctly and thus shouldn't have gone up to get a closer look at Wu's card setup. Regardless, the whole thing was weird.

 

[getbak]

It sounds like Teller got COVID during the time they were recording this season, so he had to miss a couple of shooting days. They recorded those acts with just Penn doing the review and then recorded the segments with P&T sitting in the chairs after Teller returned.

That's why they didn't go up on stage to give him the trophy. It would have given away the fact that Teller wasn't actually there.


They've done the "go to the judges" thing in the past when there isn't an easy way to speak in code to the magician (especially if it's someone who doesn't speak English well) and the trick doesn't have an easily identifiable name. He will often make a "guess" where he reveals a lot of information about how he thinks it's done, but those are almost always when the act is a fooler, so he's not actually spoiling anything.

 

[cmontyburns]

It sounds like Teller got COVID during the time they were recording this season, so he had to miss a couple of shooting days. They recorded those acts with just Penn doing the review and then recorded the segments with P&T sitting in the chairs after Teller returned.

That's why they didn't go up on stage to give him the trophy. It would have given away the fact that Teller wasn't actually there.

DIdn't know that -- thanks.

 

[Hank]

Teller also had heart bypass surgery in October... probably well after the show wrapped.

Heart surgery forces Penn & Teller to postpone dates

Penn & Teller have temporarily taken down their hit show at the Rio as Teller recovers from open-heart surgery.

www.reviewjournal.com

 

[getbak]

Yeah, he had his surgery the same week the season premiere aired, so it would have been shot many months before.

When the show aired during the summer, they used to shoot the new seasons in the February/March timeframe. I don't know if that changed with the show moving to the fall, but it was still likely shot sometime in the spring at the latest.