Penn and Teller Are Revealing How Their Magic Tricks Are Done — And It’s O.K.
As one of the few humans on Earth who un-ironically calls himself a “TV magic obsessive,” let me tell you, there’s never been a magic show on television like Penn & Teller: Fool Us.
I approach the show from several perspectives. As a layperson, it’s entertaining as hell with a clear-cut premise. Fool Us is a magic competition on the CW Television Network in which performers try to fool Penn Jillette and Teller as to how their trick was done. If they succeed, the aspiring magicians win an opening-act slot in the duo’s longtime Las Vegas show. The show has been a surprise ratings hit in its Monday primetime slot, averaging 2 million viewers (it’s been renewed for a third season).
I also watch the show as a guy interested in magic since age six. I’m comfortable saying Fool Us has advanced the art form within popular culture better than any televised magic show in recent memory. The variety of magic subgenres given the spotlight is encouraging for those of us who don’t perform with live tigers: there’ve been acts of coin and card magic, mind-reading, escapology, quick change (where costumes transform in a flash)—even a man who solves Rubik’s cubes, magically. Read the interview..