Original subtitles

Illusion, the art of tricking the brain, distorting the senses, challenging

perception. You can't trust what you see, even with your own eyes, because

brain can be misled. Meet the Masters of Illusion.

Hello and welcome to Masters of Illusion. I'm your host, Dean Cain. Can

deliberately trick our brain?

Look at this right here. You see a floating pyramid.

But is it really? By turning this sculpture, the pyramid is gone.

It's actually abstract metal bars. Only when it is rotated do the spaces in

between the bars reveal the artist's true creation.

Our first performer proves that a straight line can indeed be divided into

parts. Here is Las Vegas legend Rick Thomas.

of illusion, Farrell Dillon, is having a little trouble finding you a chair.

Sometimes we magicians wish that we could go back in time and understand

about magic than we do now, because it seems like the more we understand about

magic, the less this stuff just feels like magic, and the more it feels like

psychology. So I would like to stop and speak for just a moment about optical

illusions. Now, according to Wikipedia, an optical illusion is a visually

perceived image that differs from objective reality.

Now, I'm sure you've all experienced an optical illusion before, and if not, get

ready as I present to you one of the world's most famous optical illusions,

chair in the Bach.

Ooh, mysterious.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you. I know it's just a silly trick, but I really enjoyed doing it, so

hope you guys like it also.

So I would like to stop and speak for just a moment about optical illusions.

Now, according to Wikipedia, an optical illusion is a visually perceived image

that differs from objective reality.

Now, I'm sure you have all experienced an optical illusion before, and if not,

get ready, as I present to you...

one of the world's most famous optical illusions, the chair in the Bach.

Ooh, mysterious.

Thank you. Thank you.

I know it's just a silly trick, but I really enjoyed doing it, so I hope you

guys liked it also.

So I would like to stop and speak for just a moment about... I'm sorry, did I

this trick already?

Okay, I'm sorry. You guys are just lucky I'm not telling the same jokes over and

over, because that would be redundant.

But by now, you guys have obviously figured out that this trick is not about

chair. flipping over inside the box, and actually about something completely

different. It is about the fact that this box is a TARDIS.

Now, you've probably never heard the term TARDIS before, I mean, unless you

an affinity for British television, but according to Wikipedia, a TARDIS is any

object that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It's a true

impossibility. Now, I hope this all makes sense to you, because by now, you

probably think that I've made this up, and I hope you all have a better

understanding.

Next,

Las Vegas headliner Mack King will crack you up.

Mack King seems to find his fingers giving him some trouble. Let's check it

I'm going this way. Hi, this woman in the blue. Catch that rope. What's your

name? Shida. Shida, come this way. Ladies and gentlemen, it is Shida.

Watch your step there. Nice to meet you.

Right this way. Shida, right over on this side. Thanks for coming up. Shida,

and I and that piece of rope are going to do one of Houdini's most famous

tricks. Okay.

Yeah. This is called the Houdini Challenge.

naked rope escape.

I just want you to take off your clothes and tie me up.

No, I'm kidding.

You don't have to tie me up.

No, we're going to do a quick card trick, Shida.

Take the deck in your own hands. Take out any card you'd like. You can look

through and find one you like or select one at random, but... We need to be able

to tell your card from all the others, so I want you to write your name really

big on the other 51 cards.

No, I'll take the deck. You keep your card. I'll take the rest. You hold on to

yours.

It's very complicated.

You got it? Okay. And just take this. Write your name really big, Shidae,

across. No, these are mine. Write it across yours.

Yeah, that way, suppose she had the six of clubs.

Even if I had two of them, I wouldn't have two with Shidae across them.

You got it?

Not you, her.

You got it?

I'm out of time.

Show everybody your card. Show the folks.

Yeah, show everybody.

Yeah, get them over on the left. Did you get these guys over here? Did you show

them? All right, good.

Set that six of diamonds right back there.

But you'll recognize that when you see it because you wrote your name across

face of the card. I sandwich her card in the center so she's safe. Hold the hold

deck if you would there, she did. Did you bring any twist -ems handy home and

garden ties up here with you?

Oh, it's a good thing I did.

We need two of these for the trick. Two twist ties.

I'm going to twist twist tie number one around, twist tie number two.

So they're kind of locked together, right? That one's twisted around that

I'm going to twist this twist tie around this thumb.

You can give that a couple of twists if you want. Just make sure that's good and

tied around my thumb there.

Good, just, yeah.

I know that one goes around that thumb, so my thumbs will be wired together like

a little pair of thumb cuffs. Yeah, can you twist that up nice and tight so I

can't escape?

Like a, no stale bread at your house.

You want to sit down really badly, don't you?

I'm going to get you a chair.

We'll slide this over here. You can have a seat.

Hold the deck

between your hands. Kind of interlock your fingers over the edge.

Good.

Extend your arms away from your body. Come towards me just a little bit, if

would, and turn them sideways so the deck's face down. Good.

Don't separate your hands.

The cards will drop on the floor, but can you come towards me just a little

more? Hold them right up here.

Here we go. I snap my fingers. Your card jumps from the deck

now into my pocket. Can you hold the cards with one hand, reach in my pocket

with your empty hand, and bring out your card?

Yeah, right there.

Oh, yeah, that's the one.

Oh, fig cookies.

Put those back. I'm saving those for later.

No card.

There's only one other place it could be.

My birthday.

No, untwist me, untwist me, untwist me.

What was the card?

Six of diamonds?

I don't know what I'm doing. Can you go through there, take out the six when you

come to it? I'll get rid of this stuff. Here you go. Enjoy yourself.

I can't believe it's not there.

Maybe I should check the directions. I just read them on the box of Frosted

Flakes. Do you like those, Frosted Flakes?

Oh, yeah. The directions to the trick are printed on the box. I will trade you

the deck for the box. It says right on the side, if the card is not in Mack

King's pocket, tear open the top of the safety seal box -o -tasty cereal to find

out why.

Give it a rip.

Oh, that wax paper bag. Those are like impossible to get into. Reached out

amongst the Frosted Flakes.

Show everybody your card with your name on it. The same exact six of diamonds.

Sidi, thank you so much for your help. Here's a fine deck of Mack King cards

Frosted Flakes for you. Sidi!

Next, Dana Daniels has gone to the Burns.

Dana Daniels has a very talented assistant named Luigi.

They're kind of a double billy.

Thank you. How about a nice round of applause for Luigi?

Fantastic. Luigi here is a psychic parrot. We're going to prove it right

We're going to start off by having Luigi read the mind of someone here in the

audience. I'd like to get a lady volunteer if we can. A woman, I'd like

their mind read by a bird.

Oh, we've got one right over here. Would you like to come up and give her a nice

round of applause? Bring her up on stage.

Hello, how are you? Stand over here. Hi, what's your name?

Stephanie. Stephanie, nice to meet you. Now, Stephanie, we're going to have

Luigi here read your mind.

All right?

Now I'm going to have you select a card from this deck. Now these cards right

here, you push on them.

They do squeak. You want to try? Try it. A little push right there. You also

need a squeaker in your hand.

I'm a jerk.

Now I'm going to riffle my thumb through the card, say stop any time.

That will be your selection. You ready?

Okay, here we go.

Stop. There we go. Take the card to stop that.

All right, let's make sure he doesn't see it. We're going to turn him around.

Show the card to the audience.

And then place the card back inside the deck anywhere.

Anywhere back in the deck.

There we go.

Perfect. Good. Now, what we're going to do saves a lot of time.

Okay, we'll cut the cards.

And now we're going to put the bird in a hypnotic trance. Here we go.

Right there. A little hypnotic trance. He's now going to a deep hypnotic state

like Iowa.

Now concentrate on your card.

Concentrate. Picture the card in your mind.

Here we go.

Picture the card in your mind. Here we go.

There we go. Oh, I think we got a connection here.

All right, now we're going to take a look over here. We're going to have

look through the card.

As soon as he sees it, he'll reach up. Look at that. Oh, he stopped at one

one card only.

What was the card you selected?

Two of clubs.

Two of clubs. And look at that. He picked the jack of diamonds.

Pretty close.

It's a bird.

It's pretty close for a bird.

I would love to see your pet do better.

What?

Obviously, one of you is lying.

Tell you what, I have an idea. We're going to try it again, but this time

going to use larger cards.

Larger squeaker.

Same jerk.

These are cards that the bird is more familiar with. See, we've got worms, a

cracker, cat in jail, and an airline engine.

It's a bird.

Okay, we're going to turn them around.

You say stop, and that will be your card. Oh, right there. All right.

Okay, remember the card, please. Remember, remember, remember, remember.

I'm going to shuffle a card back inside this deck.

There we go.

Okay, we'll just shuffle it in here somewhere.

Okay, it's any one of these four cards. Come on, let me see. Which one would you

like? Just go ahead.

All right, reach up.

Just reach right down.

Reach right down. Pick one out.

Yeah, look at that. He's reaching right down.

Oh, he likes that third one right there.

All right.

What was your card?

I think it was a cat.

A cat.

In jail.

Unbelievable.

Picked two clubs.

There you have it right there.

All right. Let's give her a nice hand.

Thank you very much. It was very delightful.

All right.

Next, go behind the scenes with Aaron Raddatz and discover where the magic

happens.

is a master of magic, and he actually wants you to know how it's done.

Thank you. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Great to be here.

You know, magicians over the years always have had a very distinct style to

performance, often incorporating classic tuxedos, colorful boxes, and a pretty

assistant or two.

You've got to remember, though, magicians of yesteryear have had some

questionable costume choices.

Everything set?

Yes? All right.

Drum roll.

I feel like I should acknowledge his costume. I kind of thought wearing it

make me look like the Fred Astaire of magic, but it looks kind of more like

Lady Gaga of magic.

You should see the matching underwear that came with it.

Don't worry.

Thank you. Thank you. A simple yet effective illusion.

As a matter of fact, it's so simple, I can't help but show you how it works.

The way we're going to do that is we're going to turn it around so you get to

see the backstage view.

And you'll get to see how I see all of you. Now, here's how we're going to do

this. You're going to get a backstage view, so let's turn that prop around so

they can see that perspective. Great.

Let's go ahead and get in possession, Chrissy.

Very nice. Everyone ready?

Looking good.

Let's do this from backstage.

Drum roll, please.

I feel like I should explain this costume I'm wearing. I thought wearing a

jacket like this would make me look like the Fred Astaire of magic. I feel more

like the Lady Gaga of magic.

You should see the matching underwear they came with.

You got to see part of the secret.

Let me show you the other half.

Oh!

Well,

there

you have it. Aaron Raddatz flips everything around, reveals all, and it's

a mystery.

How did he do it?

I don't know.

Remember who we're dealing with. These are the best in the world. These are the

masters of illusion.

Until next time, I'm Dean Cain.