BY DAVID L. LEBOVITZ for LOOPER

Penn & Teller: Fool Us started in England in 2011, got shut down, was revived on the CW in 2015, and has been a mainstay of the network since. The premise of the show is simple: a magician gets a five-to-ten minute set to show legendary magic duo Penn & Teller a trick, just once. Penn & Teller then try to guess how the trick was done. If they get fooled and can’t figure it out, the magician in question receives a trophy and a spot in Penn & Teller’s long-running Vegas show.

With half a dozen seasons and counting, not to mention YouTube videos with millions of views, it’s been a ratings success and a creator of many a viral hit. It’s arguably the most popular venue for magic in the country. As with anything involving magic, though, obfuscation and misdirection are the names of the game. There’s more to the show than meets the eye, and here we present with you with the untold truth of Penn & Teller: Fool Us.

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