The "How did Penn and Teller do that trick?" thread (WITH SPOILERS)

(SPOILERS)

I was a big magic buff when I was younger, and I enjoyed Penn and Teller's show so much I saw it twice in New York! Although some would argue that it's best to watch a magic show without thinking too much about how the tricks were done, I imagine that there are others on the board like me who want to talk about how they pulled off some of their incredible illusions.

The second time around, I knew what was going to happen and have a general sense of how many of the tricks were done, but I have absolutely no idea how the vanishing elephant/cow was done -- anyone want to speculate? I was completely amazed by the trick. The only thing I can think of is that it is not an actual live animal, but if that were the case, I would think they wouldn't have so many audience members on stage who can see the animal close up. Did anyone here go up on stage for that trick?

I'm also curious about two things that seemed unplanned but happened at both shows. Both times I saw the show, the final punchline for the psychic joke act (the punchline that was pulled out of the envelope) was "That's not my dog," although I don't think the joke itself was the same. Did other people get "That's not my dog" as well, or a different joke? And is there more to the trick method for the first two audience members than Penn and Teller just looking at where the audience member is looking on the page?

The second thing is that, for the cell phone/fish trick, the audience member who was supposed to find the box under his seat had a lot of trouble finding it both times, and Penn started making wisecracks. Did that happen when you saw the show, too?

And any other segments people want to talk about?

Updated On: 8/19/15 at 10:05 PM

I'm pretty sure that audience member was always Teller, no? I was in the mezzanine so I can't be sure but it looked like he was sitting on the far side where Teller could slip into the seat before the trick. I'm guessing it's more obvious to the people seated near there.

Hmm, there was definitely some good distraction to make us think it was Teller behind the curtain then... that's why I wanted to go back

bdway411, how did Teller get into the box? I was stumped by that one (although I admit I was not paying much attention to the box either time -- I forgot that was going to happen the second time).

I think the construction of the audience member becomes Teller trick is very clever. Penn is on the video first and you know he's on stage behind the farm backdrop, so it's natural to think that Teller is also on stage when he comes up on screen and that it's his hands you see substituting the cows. And Teller holds up the sign saying that "This trick is not about what we are saying it's about," which of course the audience thinks one thing but actually means something entirely different. The reveal that the audience member was actually Teller was so unexpected it made me (and a lot of people around me) gasp. I would have been really bummed if that part of the show was skipped when I saw it.

The first time I saw the show, the skit with Teller cutting the shadow of the flower was completely ruined because the light that was supposedly causing the flower's shadow did not go on, so it was obviously NOT the flower's shadow on the easel. Teller was standing on stage and he waited a little bit, then walked off for a minute or so (Penn made an announcement there were technical difficulties). Then he came back on and did the trick, but the secret was given away and there was only tepid applause at the end.

Updated On: 8/19/15 at 11:33 PM

Penn says they don't use any plants.

When I saw the show early in its run, the punch line was "paint my house". (Old joke.)

The last couple on stage that turn the box before the show begins.

I saw the show twice. Once from orchestra once from mezz, same couple doing the same thing with the box.

The gold fish one was really given away from the mezz

The "Elephant" was also easy to spot from the mezz. If any of you saw the Temple Grandin movie on HBO. Cows don't mind tight spaces. They like it. The curtain goes up and they raise a trap door and they get the cow to lay down. Cows happy. You could see the line in the hay from the mezz where the trap was closed.

Both times I saw the show, all the punch lines were different but from what I am reading here, there were the same 2 or three punch lines use through out the run. Again this is human nature. They have the books printed its probably the same pages in the book, but the person picking the joke is so excited to be picking a joke and Penn keeps you distracted that you don't notice all the pages are the same and Then it is just placement on the page. most people will pick the 3rd or 4th paragraph on the page instinctively. I did not see the books, but I do know some magic and several tricks work on the participant picking the 3rd item, message, number. It's just the way humans are wired. Restaurants use the same principal when designing menus. There are sweet spots that customers automatically look at.

Updated On: 8/20/15 at 12:11 PM

And this is why the golden rule in magic is never do the same trick twice for the same audience. Also, never reveal the secrets, but too late for that here. LOL

He sure did! He loved the show, too, and has theories about how things gsm happened. He decided not to wait for a pic, by the time we got out, the line was crazy long.

The 2 tricks, which I have seen them do multiple times and why I love them so much. Are the needle trick (Teller ) and the cut the lady in half. Both tricks simple in theory but they taken them to the next level. And I have no idea how neither is done.