*The relevant magic words!* xD God this was wonderfully executed. Just sitting there and nonchalantly reading out the instructions like they themselves don't know what they're doing... I enjoyed this so much more than any regular magic trick! The comedy, as always with these two, is brilliant. :)
They look so wonderfully bumbling and clumsy, and then they do a bloody marvellous trick. That takes quite a bit of dexterity and preparation. Great stuff.
As many folks have pointed out below, it's relatively easy to figure out the trick... ...but what's so great about the trick is how much better (i.e. how much more effective) it is *precisely* because their presentation of it is so inept (by which I mean, of course, how "inept" they are pretending to be) which fits the style of their appearance on the show perfectly.
A very impressive bit of magic, not because of their sleight of hand or skill, but the hilarious presentation. I wish certain professional magicians worked on their presentation more...
And when Hugh asks for a handkerchief at 3:45, Stephen checks both his pockets, subtly replacing the jar with the full card with one that contains the trick piece.
@DrMcGonzo My guess is they hid an additional orange in between the pillows on the sofa. Hugh is good at juggling, I first assumed that he got better over the years, that's why he loses balance over thete, but the more I watch it the more I am convinced, that he lost it to justify falling back on the sofa... Now the part I cannot guess is how they got him to pick the card, the double of which they placed in a second pillbox and orange...
8 years late but the vital part is probably at the beginning; asking him to choose a card that then dictates how many Stephen counts out struck me as suspicious right away. Probably a stacked deck with all three at the beginning being the same; thus they didn't ever have to guess.
To add onto the earlier comment, you can see Fry reach into his pockets when checking whether he has a handkerchief. He switches the card the interviewer tore with a pre-torn card prepared earlier; we never see the card the interviewer tore again for the rest of the show. Once the torn piece is in the interviewer's hand, all Laurie has to do is swap the oranges with a concealed, pre-prepared orange, and the trick is done. Force the card, swap the pillbox, swap the orange Simple and boring in concept, which is why presentation is so important.
4:55 Hugh drops the orange he's holding in his right hand and replaces it with an orange from his left hand which he pulled from the sofa. It's very cleverly done.
it`s 1 o clock at night and my walls are superthin. so when they got at `the relevant magic words`i had to smother my laughs in a pillow for not waking up the neighbours
Fry switches the pill box when he puts his hand in his pocket while looking for the handkerchief...still love the act though, they are hilarious! Not sure how the card got in the orange though...
Jagoda Jazdzewska The interview is from 1991, the book is originally from 1948, and can still be found for about £2.95 second hand in a revised edition, and is considered by many to be the card magic bible, even now. That is more than you asked for, but this is the internet, where people will talk nonsense for no reason.
They must have planted the same cards (all a bit torn similarly) in all the oranges (make a small slit and slot the rolled up card in). When Stephen put the torn bits of card into the pill box, he didn't put all of it in. The hardest part is how they made Terry choose the right card. Of course, terry might have been faking too.
I can assure you that they would fool neither Penn nor Teller. As other commenters have pointed out, the trick just comes down to forcing a card and two sleights of hand. This clip, like many from their skit shows, demonstrates their ability to use their creativity to turn a simple premise into comedy gold.
They only gave Wogan the option of picking three cards. And there were three oranges, so I assume they had very subliminal ways of knowing which card was in each one. Bloody good trick though.
If you look closely after he's dropped the oranges, he pulls the last one out of his pocket. So they knew which card it would be. If you look right as they kneed a hankerchief, Steven checks his pockets, but he's actually putting the card pieces in his pocket.
I've not seen a magician/illusionist for quite a while, mainly because of the way many of them choose to present their acts. Penn and Teller have been instrumental, I think, in tearing down the kind of overblown, haughty ways of older school magicians, with all of the misdirection of scantily-clad assistants and wild hand gestures.
The amazing Jonathan does this. It's pretty easy actually. Prep work with a bill in an orange. Miss direction (lol) and slip the broken pieces in ur pocket or somewhere else when no one's looking
When he said lady stroke gentleman a first couple of times, I kept wondering, why would a lady stroke a gentleman, and both volunteers in the magic trick too.
Wogan's a bit of a twat, isn't he? Anyways, Stephen and Hugh are both amazing, of course! Is there anything they can't do? It's really not fair to the rest of us... :P
Why do people always feel they need to post how they think a trick is done? Why not simply enjoy Stephen's skills and their wonderfully funny performance?
I'd like to discuss how they did it. I think it was legit magic. The question is; What kind? It seemed rather Voodooey to my eye. How'd I lose an eye I hear you asking? The War. Which one? The War for Independence! My ex-wife gouged it out during our divorce proceedings.
Oh my goodness, they are both so brilliant, so talented! I've had a crush on Stephen since my early teens and it has not disappeared with age. If anything, it only grew bigger. (No pun intended ☺)
