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.

Meet the Masters of Illusion.

Welcome to a very special edition of Masters of Illusion, as we celebrate 21

years of magic, mystery, and making the impossible seem possible.

Over the next hour, in addition to the magic that you're going to see performed

live right here on this stage, we will bring you Masters of Illusion classics,

the best of the best from all 21 years on television. Some performed on stage.

Some outside, surrounded by spectators. All the most incredible moments from

Masters of Illusion. So, let's get started.

As you're about to see, this crazy, dangerous escape was one of the boldest

ever. It becomes very apparent that if the escape is not successful or not done

in time, the only outcome is death.

Now, this is a magician who usually walks on the lighter side of magic, but

this time.

Here is Murray Satchin.

I've got to get out of the car before I'm being blown up. When you hit the

stopwatch, it triggers the timer on the TNT.

So you need to be out way before 90 seconds. Yeah, the first thing to go up

me.

All right, everybody.

Let's do this.

You good?

Yeah, you know what? I need one hairpin.

That's the only tool I get?

The only tool I get? Really?

One hairpin.

All right, put them on.

Oh, hang on.

That's it.

All right.

Let's do this.

What's your head?

Oh, man.

Not as easy as you think getting in.

All right.

This base is small. You know, in those monster movies, they made this look a

easier. I'm just saying.

Oh, my God.

I want to make sure I can reach this timer.

All right, give me a kiss. Okay.

I love you. I love you. I really, really wish you weren't doing this.

All right.

Okay, ready? Yeah.

Three, two, one, go.

You are...

Stupid. One thing you come across a lot on this show is a total disregard for

the laws of physics.

But what you're about to see is the perfect example in which the law of

is completely violated. Check out this amazing levitation effect that's one of

the best ever.

Here is Greg Bruin.

Next up, Franz Harari and Mack King when we come back.

This next magician has been entertaining magic and comedy lovers everywhere with

his wacky tricks just like what you're about to see. Here's his performance

the 10th anniversary show in Santa Monica, California.

Here is Mack King.

Let's see. This is for you.

Right there.

Enjoy yourself.

What's your name, Matt?

Michelle. Nice to meet you. Michelle?

I'm Matt King.

Michelle, do me a favor. Hold that rope up into the air. We'll try a little

magic trick here.

Stretch it out nice and tight. I'm going to throw these scissors and cut it

right in half in midair.

Michelle, can you stand? Hold it in front of him. That's a good move.

Michelle, can you stand up for just a sec? The rope has to be kind of high for

this to work. Hold it up nice and high. That is still not going to be high

enough. You're going to have to come up on the stage. Give Michelle a big hand

for volunteering.

Walk a step there.

Sorry to cut you like that. Hi, nice to meet you.

Right around this side or right over here, Michelle, if you would. Thanks for

coming up. I can call you Michelle.

Well, when can I call you?

Right now?

Show's over.

Michelle, you and I and that piece of rope are going to do one of Houdini's

famous tricks.

This is called the Houdini Challenge Naked

Rope Escape.

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

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

You don't have to tie me up.

No, Michelle.

This is for you. Hold on to this right down there. If you would, just at the

base, just like that. That's good. If you hold it like that, everybody can see

the water part of the glass really good. When you were a little girl, Michelle,

did you ever go fishing?

Yeah. My grandpa used to take me fishing when I was a little girl.

He said, my grandpa said, in order to catch fish, you have to have three

You have to have the proper fishing pole. This is my grandpa's original

pole right here.

You have to have a place to put the fish.

That's what you're holding right there, Michelle. I'm going to...

catch a fish and drop him right in that glass of water. The third thing that you

have to have to catch fish is, of course, the proper bait.

The Fig Newton.

That's right. You bust off about a third of a cookie. That's all you need. A

nice, long, squishy, skinny piece of squishy Fig Newton. Here's what you do,

Michelle. You kind of roll up that Fig Newton piece and squish it up on the

so it'll stay.

And with Fig Newton as bait, you can fish anywhere you want. You and I are

fishing out here in midair.

We're not looking for just any fish. We're catching goldfish.

There's a goldfish right here in midair. Let's see if I can snag him. Yep, got

him.

Oh, yeah, he is a fighter. Whoa, oh, geez.

That's a dang

real

fish.

Michelle, you know the rule here in Santa Monica?

Oh, you don't know the rule. The rule is whatever you catch, you got to eat.

Nah, he's still there. He's still there.

He's just a little scared now.

That's why the water's kind of cloudy.

Hold that one just like before. I can't show you how to catch fish out of the

air, but I can show you how to freak out your friends.

Get a carrot and a carrot peeler. This is how I pretended to eat the fish. You

peel off a big strip of carrot so it looks just like a goldfish.

Okay, there's work to do.

You've got to use your teeth.

Don't worry, today we'll use mine.

Actually, these used to be my grandpa's, too.

You turn up the carrot so it's vaguely

goldfish -shaped.

Pretend like that glass of water is your friend's aquarium.

Bunch of goldfish swimming in there.

Here's what you do. Hold that carrot sliver behind your fingers. Nobody knows

you have it there. That's your secret. When you're ready to freak out your

friends, reach down amongst their fish, pull out that carrot. You go, oh, I got

your goldfish.

Don't do this. Don't say, oh, I got your carrot.

So you keep a wiggling. Before they get a good look at it, you pop it in your

mouth.

You ready for this?

Oh, Michelle.

Hold that glass over here.

Michelle, thank you very much for your help. Watch yourself going off the edge

there.

It was once believed that fire was one of the four essential elements that make

up our world, the others being earth, wind, and water.

But whatever the era, it's not too far a stretch to say that fire is probably

the most dangerous element to deal with in magic. This amazing performance was

the first time Masters of Illusion shut down Hollywood Boulevard to pull off

something spectacular and more than just a little bit dangerous.

Here is Franz Harari out on world -famous Hollywood Boulevard.

The watch took over six months to prepare and over 140 trained

The stunt begins with this.

It's a prototype to an F -14 jet fighter.

Imagine being placed inside a steel coffin. That coffin being placed

into the flames of a jet engine afterburner.

Most importantly, remember, what you're about to see is live.

It's not only being watched by you at home, but being shared with over 450

people right here on Hollywood Boulevard.

It's not special effects. It's not Hollywood trickery.

It's real.

The amount of heat that's put out by this jet engine is enough to destroy

anything in its path.

That is a major firepower.

Throughout history, mankind has been fascinated, if not obsessed, with the

of overcoming fire.

It's still happening today.

Only in this version, I'm going to lock myself inside this steel coffin.

Once inside, I will be subjected to the power of this jet engine.

It's also been said that one of the only substances on Earth capable of

withstanding such heat is a crystal.

It has been said that the crystal holds the essence of man.

Thank you.

Next up, the unbelievable talent of Barry and Stuart.

This magical duo has consistently entertained audiences the world over

their unique blend of amazement and amusement.

These two establish themselves as among the quirkiest and most irreverent

magicians ever to appear in the series.

Here is the very skilled and very funny team known as Barry and Stu.

We would like to do a trick for you now that we call Stuart's Surprising Spleen.

And to do that, we need to borrow something from the crowd. So could

the front row, could you reach into your pocket or your bag, take out first your

cell phones and hold them up high?

Now, in the past, we've found it difficult borrowing things from people

audience. Yeah, people, they don't trust us. No, especially with their cell

phones. So we've developed a gentle, persuasive technique to get round this

problem.

You sir, you sitting right there?

Keep your hands where you can see them and get that out of your phone.

Give it here.

Come on, give it to him, or we'll give you a wet willy. Have a seat. With a

knife.

What you've all just witnessed is a mugging.

Sorry about that one, victim.

Victim. Sorry, you're not really a victim. What's your name?

Charlie. Sorry about that one, Charlie.

Charlie.

To do this trick, we need Stuart's spleen, we need your phone, but we also

one other thing, and that's this.

High -speed blender.

First, Charlie, your phone goes in the blender.

Then we add some milk.

Don't worry, Charlie, this is 0 % fat milk.

Now... Here comes the magic bit. Everybody watch very, very carefully.

Charlie, you might want to go away.

OK, Charlie, your phone's all blended up. Now we need to give it a shake.

Oh, yes, we do.

Just keep telling yourself, Charlie, this is all an illusion.

But it's not an illusion, is it? No, don't tell him that.

The perfect phone cocktail.

We like to call this one...

Text on the beach.

Here we go.

And now, Charlie, to make your phone completely disappear.

Gone.

Totally gone.

Abracadabra.

No, no, no.

I know what you're thinking, and yes, you are right. The phone hasn't actually

vanished. The pieces of the phone are right now, besides Stuart's very

surprising spleen.

And the thing about Stuart is he grew up in the northeast of Scotland on a diet

of oats, haggis, and when he was very, very young, malt whiskey.

And that gave Stuart the property of his very surprising spleen, didn't it? It

did. We can prove this to you now using this X -ray machine.

You see, earlier today, I drank a special radioactive fluid, Sunny D.

And, Charlie, it means your phone should show up on an X -ray picture.

Let me just get inside the x -ray machine right here.

We do have a photographic plate that, when placed in front of the machine,

should develop a picture showing us the precise location of your phone.

Let's have a look.

Oh!

OK, right. Now, I'm not actually a professional doctor, but I can tell,

at that very, very realistic, kind of no -waste -take picture there, that...

Charlie, your phone is right beside Stuart's very surprising spleen. Yep.

phone has reformed itself in my stomach.

All right, buddy.

Do it.

Buddy,

you don't have the phone. You've messed this up.

Pull your hand back. Hang on. I know I missed it. Try again.

Stuart, I'm stuck. I'm stuck in your ribs.

You know what?

I think I'm just going to have to go forward.

Forward? Yeah. Oh, gosh.

Come on up here.

Quick as you can.

Come on, this is show business. Up the steps.

Could you do that any slower?

Time is money.

Charlie, take your phone back.

Hopefully, if you wipe off the blood and the bile, that thing still works. Give

it up for Charlie as he goes back to his feet.

Stuart, I'm going to do a backflip. A backflip?

Amazing is the only way to describe Farrell Dillon. Up next.

One of the favorites of Masters of Illusion, this next magician does

with a sense of fun. This performance was not his first on Masters of

but it was perhaps his best, showcasing his multiple talent.

You'll see what I mean.

Here is Sparrow Dillon.

Hi. Hi. My name's Sparrow. What's your name? Bill. Bill, nice to meet you.

have you ever been inside of a straightjacket before?

Not recently.

Oh, good. So you're going to be familiar with this. Awesome. Hop in.

I'm just kidding. They don't let me do that anymore.

Bill,

what I would like you to do is take a look at the jacket. Pull on it. Make

it doesn't stretch or anything. It's made out of canvas and leather. There

buckles and straps on the jacket. Pull on those. Make sure they do not come

It's very, very important.

Everything okay?

Great. Bill, what I need you to do is hold up in the jacket just like that.

Perfect. My arms are going to go in the sleeves. My tie, however, goes over the

front of the jacket because it's very important that I look classy.

All right, now, Bill, on the back of the jacket, you're going to find five

buckles and five straps. What I'd like you to do is start at the top, work your

way to the bottom, buckling each of those straps in succession.

While you're doing that, I'm going to tell everyone a brief history of the

straitjacket.

The straitjacket was invented in the year 2000 B .C. by the Egyptians.

It was originally made out of paper, but then the Egyptians realized it didn't

make a very good restraint because people could just tear their way out.

I'd like to credit Wikipedia with that history of the straitjacket.

All right, now, Bill, you've done a great job so far. I've got two more

and two more buckles. There's a buckle on this sleeve, a strap on the other

sleeve. Those go across my body, and they buckle in the back. I'd like you to

tighten that as much as you possibly can, okay?

A lot of people ask me where I get these straitjackets from.

I got this one from TSA.

Yeah, it's really embarrassing. I don't want to talk about it.

Yep, now, Bill, when you're done with that, I've got one more strap.

It hangs between my legs, okay? But I've got a method for this one. It's like

football. Do you like football?

Oh, yes. Great, nothing more manly than football.

So you'll be the quarterback. I'll be the center. I'm going to hike you the

strap.

When I say hike, you grab hold, okay?

And don't grab before hike.

And when you grab it, don't pull it or anything. Just grab hold and wait

instruction.

Down!

Okay, you obviously don't know how to play football, but there's a buckle back

there, which you've clearly already found.

Take the strap, put in the buckle, and then tighten it as much as possible.

All right, good. Now, Bill, when you're done with that, I've got two more quick

favors left to ask. The first one's very simple. Would you take my tie and pull

it up over my sleeve?

Yeah, I don't want to look ridiculous. That'd be awful.

And then, Bill, if you would, go over to that side of the swiveling platform,

take your feet, place them against it like this. That'll keep it from

back and forth. I'm going to stand on the surfboard, Bill. If you would, take

your hands and put them on my elbows.

Perfect. We're going to try and balance. Here we go. One, two, three.

Don't worry, we'll try again. Here we go. Don't force it. One, two, three.

Well, we're all going to die.

Which is a shame because we just proved the Mayans wrong.

Okay, I just alienated all the Mayans. Wonderful.

All right.

Better idea. Put your hands on my shoulders, Bill. That might work a

better. Here we go. One, two, three.

Nope, that worked worse. Okay.

All right, Bill. Better idea.

Hug me.

No, don't worry. It'll be just like football. Give me a big man hug. Here we

This really means a lot to me.

Okay, it's getting awkward, so if you would slowly let go of me.

Great, and then slowly back away, or back away fast, that's fine.

And Bill, you've done a wonderful job putting me in the straitjacket and for

putting up with me. Let's give Bill a big round of applause. Thank you so much

for your help. Watch your step on the way back down the stairs. Everybody, one

more time. Bill!

And now, for the moment we've all been waiting for, the straitjacket escape

while surfing.

Music, please.

Yeah, I know, it's hilarious.

Now, I'm going to explain to you guys exactly what I'm doing as I attempt to

escape from this straitjacket.

That way, if you guys ever find yourselves in this exact same

too can escape from a straitjacket while surfing.

All right, the first thing I need to do is get one of my arms up over my head.

Here we go, arm up over the head.

I think I just hit myself in the face.

That's a joke for the mothers.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you guys for caring.

I feel like we're family now.

All right. So the next thing I need to do is get one of my arms up out of the

sleeve. Here we go. Arm up out of the sleeve.

hear you from here. This isn't television.

Actually, it kind of is. That's really weird.

The only time that doesn't make any sense.

There we go.

Last draft.

Bill, this one's for you.

Okay, I guess it doesn't work that way.

All right.

Now, I'm almost out of the jacket, and I've got one more thing left to do. I've

got to get the jacket up over my head. Now, normally, this would be the easiest

part. It's like escaping from a sweatshirt.

Because if I have this ridiculous contraption, it eliminates my eyesight

merely a second. So if I kept flying at you, I'm sorry.

Here we go. Jacket over the head. Ready?

I'm okay!

I'm going to need your guys' help. If you would count with me to three, I will

remove the jacket because I'll feel obligated because you guys have been

awesome. So on the count of three, ready?

Are you kids trying to kill me?

All right, on the count of three with me. Ready?

One, two, three.

Next, Jonathan Pender, Nathan Fang, and Jackie Yu.

properties of glass is that you can see right through it, like water. But

another property of glass is that it's solid, and you cannot pass through it.

Or can you?

Well, here he is. Not in the studio, but out at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood.

This performance was one of his best and most astounding ever. Here we have the

amazing Nathan Thorn.

I need to borrow... A cell phone from somebody. Sir, can I borrow your cell

phone? Yeah, yeah.

Excellent. Oh, very, very nice. Oh, this one looks expensive and fancy. I'll do

my best to be very careful with it. So now, you have insurance on this?

Yeah. Now, I notice you don't have a case on this. You probably should,

Probably should. I found out here's a really good inexpensive case that you

go out and make yourself.

This is really good at the beach.

All right, hold on. I have them in my back pocket over here.

This right here, a balloon.

Take a balloon. It's a really good inexpensive case. What you do...

Before you go to the beach or something.

I want you guys to notice the color coordination as well. I love it. All

thank you.

All right, watch.

Very carefully, we're going to take it. And if you just place the phone

inside the balloon, now

it's protected from the elements. Isn't that amazing?

Wow, thank you.

That's inside the... Okay.

Now here's the thing, so this will protect you in the sand, but what about

water? Water can still get in. Here's what you do, you inflate it slightly.

You see that the screen still lights up and everything inside?

Yep. Alright, and if you actually tie it off, like this, now, if you drop it in

the water, it'll float!

It sure won't. Look at that, so you won't lose the phone, it'll just bob

in the water, right?

Now you want your phone back, right? So this is a good case for now, but we'll

give it back to you. Hold on a second. Sure.

There we go.

Did it get there?

phone in.

Oh!

That's not your phone.

That's not my phone.

Well, it's a different one. That's my phone! Wait a minute!

What? When did?

So, um, um, alright, that's weird.

I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. Do me a favor, since we have

out here, can you do me a huge favor? Can you please dial your phone so we can

find it? I feel really bad about this. Go ahead and dial in your number. Okay.

And we're going to call it.

Where's my phone?

We'll find it. Hit call. Okay. See if we can find it.

Can you guys hear it?

What's that?

Right here?

No.

No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Look, look, look, look, look. Sir, is

your phone? Are you kidding me? Inside this display case?

Are you kidding me?

Is that your phone inside the display case?

Yes. Yes? All right, here. Do you ever stand right over here? Okay, I feel...

That's crazy. Can we get someone from the Hard Rock Cafe to open this up for

Okay.

Okay, I have a way of getting it out, but the problem is that if security

by, they're going to think I'm trying to steal.

So do me a favor. I did this a few times back in Scotland growing up, and I got

into a lot of trouble. So do me a favor. What I want you to do is make sure that

no one's coming. Make sure no security's coming. Can you do that for me? Is

there any security coming?

No, no security coming? All right, here, we're going to try this.

Ready? Hold on one second. Ready?

That's your phone, right? Double check. Make sure that really is your phone.

That's your phone?

Absolutely? Yes. Good. Hold on one second. We've got to steal that back up.

There we go.

Good. Excellent. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Where's my watch?

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

Quick is the best way to describe the action of our magic ambassador from

Korea. Here is Jackie Yu.

One of the hallmarks of magic is making something vanish or suddenly appear.

Another version is making something change into something else or someone

Setting a Guinness World Record for this very trick, an all -time highlight of

the series is this unbeatable performance.

Here, doing it like no one else can, is Jonathan Kenseth.

Well, that's it for our very special 21st anniversary show celebrating over

decades of Masters of Illusion. And there's lots more magic to come.

We hope you keep watching and asking the same question.

How'd they do that?

I'm Dean Cain. Thank you so much for joining us.