He made a huge deal about the blindfolds, and everybody pay attention to that and forget that the "volunteers" present are his assistants and all the phrases they wrote are rehearsed
Very late to the party, but this is great! I love all the respectful name calls of the other guys. When the first episodes of Fool Us (UK) aired your routine was the most memorable, well, OK, the fishmonger who gutted himself to pull a card out of his guts was memorable but I correctly guessed his method instantly. ;p I went down the rabbit-hole on your method because all I could see was that moment in R-P-S last phase where you go to the pedestal and thump/kick it, and pedestal > trapdoor > offstage assistance > shoe is hard to un-think, right? But you've said that was an accident. If you hadn't interacted with that prop it might have been much easier to unravel the only remaining method, ie other table and when it was brought on? Anyway, when I watched you explain the actual method of misdirecting with the briefcase, tip of the f'hat mate! XD
I watched the video of how Richard Bellars did this, and I like the trick. But, the final result of "You Fooled Us!" makes me doubt the authenticity of the show. Which has crossed my mind lots of times, and I'm sure I'm not the only person to think this. We know that Penn & Teller know magic inside and out, and if anyone can see how a trick is performed, it's them. They've got front row seats and they see everything with their eyes, not through a camera lens like we viewers do. I doubt they're really fooled very often, if at all. But, if this show consisted of a half dozen performances, and each time Penn & Teller revealed how they watched the trick unfold, it wouldn't be a good TV show. People want to watch Penn & Teller get "fooled", but it's not them being fooled: it's the viewers. It makes great TV - it makes Penn & Teller in a positive light because they've got the humility to admit they don't know it all. Except they do. When hugely talented stars show a bit of "humility", or admit they're "human", or give the glory to someone else, or admit they're wrong, or say sorry - it usually sits extremely well with the viewing public. (And I don't just mean P&T, I mean any celebrity or talent). There is a massive trend for celebrities to say sorry, show weakness, admit they're wrong or put the spotlight on other people - lots has been written about this - it shows vulnerability and relatability. And it gets media attention - so things that in the past might have been considered "career suícíde" actually raise the celeb's Star even higher. Think of how Simon Cowell was when he first burst onto TV screens with Pop Idol, followed a few years later with X Factor: his gimmick was that he was immensely rude, hypercritical, obnoxious, apparently oblivious to what people felt or said. He portrayed himself as infallible and as the God of Everything. At first that played well - it was a new TV phenomenon, people tuned in to see him devastate performers in an almost sociopathic manner. However that quickly became old, and his TV persona started to become hated. So he did a total about turn and began portraying himself as Mr Nice Guy - he'd find something good to say about most performers, except the ones that were so blatantly awful that even the performer knew they were awful. And an important side-element to this was that if Cowell said positive things about fairly mediocre performers, the advent of digital streaming meant that some people would pay to download that performer's music, and Simon would make some money from it. Before streaming, only the winning act (and maybe a couple of runners up) could have their music put on sale in physical shops on physical media. But streaming meant that Cowell could put every performer's music on sale, regardless of whether it was outstanding or not - and fatten his wallet. So, back to Penn & Teller. If they were never "fooled", the show would quickly grow old and be difficult to watch. And I feel sure they make some money off the back of the magicians who "fool" them and go on to become popular/famous. When they are "fooled", it raised their image by making them appear vulnerable and relatable. If you look through the comments on all the "Fool Us" videos here on YT, a consistent theme is people saying how lovely it is of Penn & Teller to be so respectful to performers, and how refreshing it is to see them really not know how a trick is done. And I like all of that too. But it is a "fool". In this video of Richard Bellar's trick, we don't get to see the table being brought onto the stage (presumably by Richard himself). And we know that the piece of paper with the "predictions" is in the base of that table. For the viewers, the table is absent one moment and present the next. We were deliberately not shown it being brought on to the stage - because, if you have to figure out where the piece of paper came from, it would be completely obvious that the object brought on stage *after* the event simply concealed the piece of paper (which had been written up backstage). Sorry for the very long post. But finally, here is the crux. The viewers didn't get shown the table arrive on stage, because we'd have figured out the trick pretty fast. Penn & Teller were sitting right there, and would have seen Richard bring the table from backstage on to the stage. They're experts in performance magic. How could they possibly *not* have figured out that the paper was hidden in the table, having been written out back stage. Yet they didn't mention the table at all. They weren't fooled for a second. It was the television audience who was fooled by deliberate editing and omission. The end result is a good one though: Richard got well-deserved kudos and a "Fooled Us" trophy, to help kickstart his career, presumably with some contractual obligation to Penn & Teller's production company.
You said all your years or training and practice didn't come into play. All your years of training and practice allowed you to a) not be seen doing it and b) make it entertaining. Anyone could step on the gimmick - getting caught staring at it, plus thr loud noise giving it away, and it wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining.
uggg, why ruin the surprise in the tittle. Girlfriend says this is a really cool trick, but if I know whats going to happen now... its a NO WATCH for me, sorry
I love the fact that everyone is focused on the suitcase to contain the prediction, and that allows for the table to be brought on stage without anyone noticing it wasn't there in the first place. That's great misdirection!
WTF! So many people told me you can't have other people off stage writing it down secretly and handing it off and I was right all along and just saw this video 6 years later lol
I see. So an offstage assistant was writing this down on the paper and placed it in some secret compartment as the table was being transported up with the magnetic shoe piece, and you step on it, and then it is loaded successfully with the paper in the shoe with the answers. Smart.
Haha I had the thought "maybe he didn't slip the paper down or had it inserted by an assistant, but had a hole in the shoe and stepped on it", but was stumped on how it was delivered onto the stage. The editing does make it harder to pinpoint the method. Very clever!
Hey, Richard... we used to work together, LAMBERTS! Remember your magic, esp one particular trick in the call centre. Can't believe you made and BEAT P&T! that's awesome. Chatted last week with Mike Alan, your name came up. small world. Warmest wishes. Jon
Well-earned trophy!!! Completely baffling. Maybe he is able to write with his toes, in the dark, in a cramped space, and fold a piece of paper with his toes. Why is the first appearance not available?
Wish there was a way to learn this trick, but unfortunately that's all but impossible given how hard it is to find a 1st edition of the book it was in.
Hey brother! hope you are doing well. good to see you still at it. not sure if you remember me but you were the first person online I had ever gave any money to support.
I didn't see your original. But I just watched the FU video and enjoyed it very much. Then I watched your reveal video and went back to watch your FU again. Seven years after you posted FU and 5 years after the Reveal and watching P&T say they were fooled, and it was still exciting to watch you react to fooling them. Thank you for posting both these videos. I wish you well.
Like Harry Blackstone Jr makes a whop sound to hide bird cage sound going eiether up his sleeve or thru the side of waste toward very back of vest coat jacket hanging there
Its simular like Jonathan Niel Brown and David Copperfield adaptions to room service key illusion that Copperfield performed on his CBS V TV special the statue of liberty vanish and reappear special
*I Know How He Did It. It's Such A Simple Trick* 🤔 *Pssssssssst He Told Me* 😂😄😆 *Amazing Trick Buddy & Worth The Trophy* 🤗 *ALL THE LOVE FROM INDIA BUDDY* ❤
Brilliant! Knowing the gimmick doesn't really ruin the trick for me.. The Magic is in the moment, and in that Particular moment, you fooled 2 of the smartest skeptics on the Planet
