Original subtitles

Right now, I'm gonna take you on a journey into my world.

In this episode, I go on an all -American adventure.

From the shores of Venice Beach.

To the bright lights of the Vegas Strip.

Watch as I go on a road trip into Magic's heartland.

I have never seen that before in my life.

And bring some amazement to the U .S. of A.

My name's Stephen Frayn, but most people...

Call me Dynamo.

So, who are you the best man?

I'm Ben.

I'm a master of pantomime mixed with robots.

Hey All

right

You show me off and I got to see you one thing more.

So you made it off, right? Yeah A lot of money right there a lot of

money. See what just got bored about this

With this hand?

Yeah.

Watch.

You gotta be kidding me, man.

I'm telling you, this man is ridiculous.

Wow.

Well, you know, he could have just asked me for 50 bucks.

Venice Beach, California.

Despite its glamorous reputation, this seaside town, which sits along the North

Pacific coastline, feels more like a meeting point for lost souls.

Among the buskers and tourists, the beach has become a refuge for drifters,

drunks and homeless people.

casualties of the American dream.

I had arrived in the States three days earlier after spending the past month on

the beaches and favelas of Rio, which had been one of the most exhilarating

experiences of my life.

After my South American trip, I jumped on a flight to the US, where I wanted to

catch a glimpse of this vast country.

Route 93, Arizona.

I was heading towards Nevada and then on to LA and was travelling through the

Mojave Desert.

This was biker country, so I knew the locals would be hard to impress.

How you doing, you alright?

How you doing? Cool.

Cool.

You going? Not too bad, man.

Yeah,

I don't need it out here.

I'll try something a bit fun, yeah?

This could hurt me.

It won't hurt you.

Everyone just, all of you, stand up.

You look quite strong.

You look extremely strapping.

And I won't mess with you. All right.

All of you get in a line. If you stand there, if you stand behind him, put your

hands on his shoulders.

I mean,

you stand behind him and do the same thing. Put your hands on his shoulders.

Yeah, perfect.

If you put your hands on my shoulders... Now, if you alone was just to push me

now, just push me, I'm going to go flying, right? You didn't put any effort

there. No.

I would have fallen over, yeah? Right.

I'm going to try and resist.

all three of you strong guys trying to push me over. Okay.

One or two things could happen.

I could get crushed, could die, or I could survive, and we could tell this to

people in years to come.

Okay. Just put your hands in my shoulders.

On the count of three, I want you all to push, yeah?

One.

Two.

Three.

Never seen anything like that. And to be this close and see it, don't have a

clue. I figured we'd all be laying down in the pile on top of the little guy.

Gave it everything I had.

Everything I had.

Pushed him as hard as I could. He wasn't budging an inch.

I didn't think there was any way he was going to be able to push back.

So that was kind of surprising.

I would think it's impossible.

I mean, one of us against him, let alone three of us against him. I should have

knocked him over by myself.

Right. No question.

You know the old saying, dynamite comes in small packages.

Yeah, we're not far from Vegas. You should go to Vegas and maybe try that

I'll back them up.

As I headed north, I came across a drifting school in the middle of the

I love driving.

and nothing seemed like more fun than tearing it around an abandoned highway.

I wanted to try something with the drivers, so during a break I managed to

some time with them.

Take out any card.

I want you to put your signature on there. Yeah, on this side here.

Maybe do a smiley face or something so it's totally unique.

Show it to everybody and show it to the camera.

I'll put it about halfway down, right?

Make the cards up.

Which one's your car?

Okay. Right in front of us, perfect.

I want you to basically drive towards us relatively quickly.

Yeah, you're going to drive past me. I'm going to stand over there.

And stop, you know, give it a little skid before you kill everybody.

All right.

Jump in your car.

Don't worry, guys, you're the professionals.

Good luck, everyone.

Don't knock me over.

I'll try not to.

Go forward a bit.

Stop!

How

does

that happen?

We all need a driver.

Drive my car at everyone and do a little skid.

Said he was going to do something with my car, but somehow he managed to place

it on my front tyre.

I don't even know how that happened.

I used to drift cars with my mates in a parking lot back in Bradford, but I

wanted to learn from a professional.

So Eric agreed to take me out for a ride.

After getting some pointers from Eric, I wanted to show them what I could do.

So, first off, I need to borrow a car.

Don't all come at once, you know, don't all put your keys in there.

You can borrow mine.

Okay, which one's yours?

The red one.

Nice.

So the rest of you guys, I want you to jump in your cars and form a steel ring

of cars around me and the car, yeah?

Yeah, if you back up over this way.

Come further forward.

Can we go knees in?

Yeah, yeah.

Can we get a bit tighter here?

Like that? Quite a big gap there.

Will you bring the truck in, yeah?

All right,

cool.

All the cars are ready.

You guys are cool?

Checked out.

Coming up.

Yeah, pretty much.

I have never seen that before in my life.

I was on a trip across the Arizona desert on my way to L .A., but something

me I needed to make a detour.

Yeah, we're not far from Vegas. You should go to Vegas and maybe try that

I managed to hitch a lift with some bikers on their way to Vegas.

We headed down Route 93, the never -ending highway that cuts through the

desert and is known as the loneliest road in America.

I could see why.

Riding through this open wilderness, it made me realize how much of a celebrity

life is just an illusion, whereas the real world is a far harsher place.

We always hear about America's success stories, but for everyone who makes it,

Thousands are left behind.

As dusk falls, the desert becomes pitch black.

But suddenly, a city of fire rises out of the darkness.

Las Vegas.

Thanks very much, Miles.

Don't you have any change or coins?

I have some today.

Can I have a look?

Oh. Can we use the big one?

Yeah. Yeah?

Did you get rid of that? Or is this a... Half dollar.

Yeah? Alright.

Watch.

That was half a dollar.

That is... Can we touch it?

Yes.

Oh, my effing God.

No holes.

He put a coin and, you know, stuck his finger, like, in the coin.

He violated the half dollar.

Yeah, pretty much.

Pretty much.

I

was

staying overnight at the Venetian on the east side of the Vegas Strip.

It's another great example of a Las Vegas illusion and features a lifelike

replica of Venice, complete with canals and gondolas.

To get a feel for the place, I took a ride with two of the hotel guests.

Can I have a look at your watch?

Can I take it off? Yes.

Do you know if it's waterproof?

I have no clue.

I guess it's not waterproof.

Right.

Was it expensive?

Kind of.

A little bit. A little bit.

Watch this.

Oh, God.

Is that your watch? It is.

Pretty much, he took my watch off, and he threw it in the water.

We went about, I don't know, 10 seconds.

And he just reached his hand in the water, pulled it out, and the watch was

his hand. And I can't explain it. It's crazy.

You are really amazing, dude. Thank you.

It was crazy.

I have never seen that before in my life.

As I walked down the Las Vegas strip, I started to think about all my friends

and family back home.

So I stopped up at a convenience store to pick up some postcards to send back

them.

So, where are you from?

The UK.

The UK.

You're from the UK? I'm from the UK.

What's your name?

Becky. Becky.

Dynamo. Hello.

Ian. Ian.

Don Dynamo.

Yeah.

Got some postcards.

Can you take one?

Take one.

I want you just to...

Fold it in half, like this.

And then tear it in half.

Alright, two piles.

Perfect, yeah.

Take two piles of each.

And then, same with each one.

So we've got six postcards.

We've all torn them up.

I'll give you a pile and you a pile.

I want you to mix them up.

In fact, you can turn them over as well so we can't see what's on the faces.

If you just place yours down on the counter.

If you place yours down.

Yeah, if you just want to spread them out a little bit. Yeah, so you can see

backs of all of them.

Just push any one forward.

Right there, and if you push one forward as well. A1? Yep.

Right there?

Yep.

So I have all of these ones.

They both just pick... V2.

That's pretty good.

Are you two a boyfriend and girlfriend?

We're married. You're married?

That explains a lot.

You know, being married, then, you know, you're not so

much individual anymore, you're kind of more...

You're

more of a unit, weren't you, sir?

Yeah? I think... I think I need to get rid of the tear mark.

I'm going to send it to somebody.

Yeah.

Good as new.

We need to send it to someone now.

OK. You know what, just think of somebody.

Someone back home, to think of their name.

Yeah?

And now think of, maybe don't give away their address, but think of the area

that they're from.

And

read

a message.

So it's not simple.

Got a message in your mind?

So for the first time, name the person out loud.

Caroline.

And name the place that they're from.

Bridget.

And what area, like where? Wales.

Wales. And the message you sent them. Hi from Vegas, love from Vegas.

Interesting.

This is for Caroline from Bridget in Wales.

And this is love from Vegas, so yeah.

Coming up.

The next afternoon, I headed out on the 300 mile journey to LA, this time by

car.

After a few hours of driving in the intense heat, I took a break at a local

diner just off the highway.

world's famous, fabulous, amazing burger.

Outstanding.

Hey, how was everything?

You said it would be the best burger ever. Did I not tell you? World's famous

burger? The best burger. Thank you. I hear it all the time. Thank you. I'm

you liked it.

You want to sit down for a second? Sure.

No complaints, right?

No complaints.

No, no. You've been working hard, so you have to eat. Oh, thank you. I want to

try something. Do you have any dollar bills on you?

Oh, well, let's see.

I have a five. A five would be perfect. Is that all right? Yeah.

Okay. Cool.

So I want you just to take it and fold it in half.

Okay, I think you can do that. And then just fold it in half again.

This way? Yeah, that's better. Okay. And then fold it in half one more time.

Okay. Yeah. Sure.

Perfect. And also, this glass. So we've got your five, right?

Right there.

You're going to cover it with the glass.

Like, just cover it? Yeah. Okay.

So you can see your five right there, yeah?

Can't do anything with it.

Nope.

Watch.

Just keep your eye on the fire. Okay.

Oh, my God.

Check it out. That's for you.

That's my tip?

Yeah. Oh, perfect.

Oh, my God. That is hilarious.

Amazing.

Put it in your pocket before you change it. Oh, yeah, yeah, right.

Don't change it back. I like it.

Thank you. I'll take it.

How's everyone doing, you all right?

I want you to do me a favor right now. Just think of a celebrity who they might

be living or dead, you know, but someone you think would like this place. All

right. I don't know if they've been here before or whatever. Have you got one in

mind? All right, I do.

Okay, just name that person out loud.

Say your name?

Yeah.

Elvis. Elvis.

I think you'd like this place, all right?

Yeah, obviously.

You could have said anybody, right?

It could have been anybody.

Can I move this? Sure.

Don't freak me out. It's going to be something weird, isn't it?

I'm just going to come in between you two. All right.

Without you, without you, without you.

You've got to be kidding me.

Oh, wow, I do know.

Wow, that's really cool.

Oh, my God.

That is cool. That's awesome. I don't even know what to say.

I'd arrived in Los Angeles.

Every year, thousands of people come to Hollywood with the promise of a better

life. It's a place where dreams are made and broken.

Waitresses become movie stars and vice versa.

Hollywood seems to bring out that childlike wonder in people.

A touch of magic where anything is possible.

Hello, what's your name?

Ladan. Ladan?

Yes. And you are?

Kimia. Kimia. Nice to meet you.

I'm Dynamo.

I'm Dynamo.

You got some sweets there?

Yeah. Can I have one?

Okay. All right.

Oh,

you've only got two left though. Are you sure?

You sure I can have them? Yeah.

You sure you don't want... It's your last one. You sure?

All right.

Yeah.

Do me a favor.

Can you cup your hands together?

Like that, yeah, open them up like this, yeah?

Perfect. Watch this.

See if it's real.

It is real.

Pretty cool.

I think that belongs to you.

Oh, thank you.

Now with all of those, put them in here.

It's amazing.

There were no more left, and then you clicked your fingers and opened the box

again. There was about five dozens of them.

Baseball is America's national sport and millions of kids grow up wanting to be

like their sporting idol.

I visited a local bat cave where young players were training with the hope of

one day hitting the big league.

So we've got two pitching machines here, yeah?

And we've got a bucket of balls.

What's your name?

Felipe. Felipe Dynamo. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, man. Can you pick any

ball out of there for me?

Sure.

That one right there?

I've got a pen.

I'm going to write my signature on here, yeah?

And then, can you do your signature here?

Yeah.

On this bit, right?

Perfect. And pass the pen, Felipe.

And if you want to finish off by signing on the, yeah, kind of, what's the

middle there?

I'll take the pen and give you the ball.

I'm going to take the ball, drop it in there.

See that?

Yeah? Now I want you to take the balls and give them to these guys and I want

you to make sure that the signed ball gets loaded into the machines, yeah?

You decide which one it goes into, yeah?

Kids, maybe stay back there. I don't want the balls flying out at you.

Let me know when you've done that.

How many can I put in this machine?

How are we doing, Felipe?

Are we good?

Yep. All right. Get yourself out of the cage so you're safe.

Yeah?

All right.

On three, let it rip.

One, two, three.

Is that your signature?

Yeah. Is that his signature?

Can we see it?

His signature?

That's my signature.

I'm Dynamo.

How did he do it?

Coming up. That was pretty cool. I don't know.

It was my last day in L .A., so I'd headed down to Venice Beach, a seaside

to the west of Hollywood.

What's your name?

Erica. Erica, nice to meet you, Erica.

Nice to meet you. I'm Dynamo.

Nice to meet you, Dynamo.

I want to try something here.

Okay. With you.

You've got a bag there, right?

Yes. What's in there? Have you got, like, have you got keys?

Can I see some of your belongings? Like, nothing personal, just, like... Okay.

What have you got in there?

You've got your phone, you've got your cream.

What's in this middle part here?

What's in this middle part?

You've got some mints.

Can I use those?

Sure. Perfect.

Do you want to take one out first?

Okay. You take one and I'll take one.

Do you still need my bag? No, no, you can put these back in there.

Okay.

So, I've got one.

You've got one, see that?

Mm -hmm.

Yeah?

Watch closely, all right?

Yeah.

Watch.

Venice Beach is a place that really captured the imagination.

From the eccentric buskers to the brightly painted buildings, I wanted to

I could turn someone's thoughts into a reality.

What's your name? Brady. Brady, I'm Dynamo. I'm Mike. Mike, how are you

You alright? Doing good, man.

I've got a pack of cards here.

Are you mixing those up?

Yeah.

Perfect. Now, I want to try something using your imagination.

What I want you to do to begin with, yeah, is imagine that you've just

these cards, yeah? Imagine you can't get them out of the box, yeah?

Like, literally just take hold there of one hand and come over to the other hand

and just try to pull them out.

Is that you imagining it or is that... they're not coming out, right?

It's weird, right?

Was it like a resistance?

Yeah. And look, like, obviously, you know.

This time with you, actually.

Okay. I'm going to put my, like, just say stop.

Stop. Like that? Yeah.

Second.

Wow. Yeah.

No, no.

What did it feel like?

It felt like we were glued in there. Yeah, like I couldn't go past where I

you to stop. They were stuck.

And, like, if you were to, if I put it down like that, yeah, just lift that up,

it's pretty easy, right?

Yeah. Yeah?

Like, if you lift up, you can lift them up, right?

Yeah. Yeah?

This time, what I want you to do is imagine, yeah, let's say something

but not too heavy, something you can lift. Okay. But not too heavy. Okay.

So, like, if I just put them down there, just, um, what are you thinking about

now? A bag of dog food. A bag of dog food.

Right? Try and lift it like an inch and see if it feels different.

What the hell?

Does that feel like a bag of dog food right now?

That's not a deck of cards.

All right, this time, let's take it a step further.

Forget a bag of dog food, yeah?

I'm talking like a car.

You can't pick a car up.

I don't know.

It's strong.

Try and pick it up now.

You guys have got good imagination.

All right. That's cool. Just try to pick it up now.

Normal.

Wow.

Thank you.

I can pick these up.

That was pretty cool.

What happened?

I don't know.

As I continued along the promenade, I came across a group of guys selling

mixtapes to passing tourists.

Can

you

hold this thing there? Can you come over this side?

Yeah.

If you back up a little bit, yeah?

Do me a favor. Give me those scissors.

Oh,

God.

Oh, I hope that's your battle. You're the one.

The wire and everything.

Oh, that's real. I feel it.

You're not working no more today. Wait for that.

Back up a little bit.

Pull a little bit taut, a little bit taut.

No way. No way. No way. No way.

It was my last day in the U .S., and although I'd only seen a small part of

vast country, I felt as if I'd uncovered some of the magic behind the American

dream.

The ordinary people who shape its landscape.

You know the old saying, dynamite comes in small packages.

What was that?

Later that evening, I headed downtown to the Spring Street district, which is

home to the LA Times.

The area used to be the financial centre of Los Angeles, but during the 1980s,

the district plummeted to become a neighbourhood with a reputation for high

unemployment and derelict buildings.

It reminded me of the streets I grew up in.

and how its reputation meant we were cut off from the outside world.

So before I left, I wanted to give Spring Street a lasting memory.

Something that would live with the area forever.

Are we gonna jump?

Can we help it?

Welcome to school.

Next time on Magician Impossible, I head back to the UK and straight into a

media frenzy.