Ricky Jay 52 assistants medium"},"lengthSeconds":"3494","ownerProfileUrl":"http://www.youtube.com/ch

And gentlemen, may I introduce you to my 52 attendees? Note the contrasts of style and character that range from ingratiating simplicity to royal splendor. Some are passive and inert, others brazen and belligerent, some suicidal like you and me, with card art like other forms of theatre, music and dance. It has its own styles, its own classics, its own genres. I'm going to start my show tonight doing the same effect three different ways, first in the flashy American style that everyone will remember from the 1970s and on my way to the luckiest night. of my life now the same effect you might have seen performed by a European ooh an old meteor tune just kissed my baby going back to number two think about how much better this would look with a ruffled shirt or a bow tie think about how much better It could now look the same effect as you would have seen it done in a room very similar to this one at the beginning of the century, ladies and gentlemen.

I shall endeavor to illustrate and show how feudal are the attempts of the commoners up to that select circle of society known as the Beau Monde, and, indeed, to show how such entry is prevented by the courteous but frigid exclusivity of its most amiable members, suppose it is the occasion of a public reception our table the drawing-room our terrace the common herd and we would appropriately select the four Queens as representatives of the female portion of the elegant ensemble now, as would naturally be the case. I will besiege these nervous patrician ladies with attentions from the lower orders that will represent the next twelve cards.

I will begin by placing one two three common areas in Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts the next three Outsiders in the queen of diamonds and although the mention of all these suitors is equally in Horan for the Great Dahms, I will treat them equally by placing them in the Queen of Spades one two three Rank Outsiders plus finally the last three who have been closest to the end, therefore, the least crowded and the most deserving of offering their homage to the queen of clubs, ladies and gentlemen, as you have seen, I have brutally taken advantage of these tenderly bred and unsophisticated young creatures by placing them in positions that must be extremely irritating to your aristocratic sensibilities.

Can you enjoy? elude their pursuers and form a nicer clique among themselves first see the queen of clubs look at her as she turns her back on the suitors and then go to Windsor for the next weekend the queen of spades a little more daring than the others seduces the man goochie goochie goo in the midst of her dismay manages to escape the queen of diamonds knows the aphorism it is easier to disagree here in a crowd now you see her and the last thing now you don't see her or as I suggested a moment ago it is possible that these women can seek each other's company the fatal vanity of sex could prove me right that's one that's two that's three boos and the slap on top the last one does anyone have any idea when I'm talking about this it's a refrain from a 15th century poem a poem by Francois, the one that says that no matter how you make your money, you are unlikely to keep it, whether you hustle, scam or swindle, you are a cheat because in the end alcohol and blow are wine and women take it Everything, suppose you never become stingy or false. the Broads or figure scold or thimble platform or napa yak or image snyder smash a rat suppose you are boring to the nose and the delay or you straighten and land the pot how do you melt alcohol multi swag and beats cops the law suppose you try ? a different tactic and in the square you shine your flag in a penny lining you make your kicker with the mumps of mime and you gag fornix fornix the dibs you grab any graft no matter what your cheerful elf demands they drove alcohol AG and the blows take the loss It's up the peak in Charlie shakes with the wipes and the tickers and all that until the juicer grabs your liquor and the blows pick up a lot this is William Henley's 19th century translation of the rich themselves in the hypocritical language the criminal slang from his time talked about the base of the coin exchange artists the mechanics of the dice the card scammers these people are my friends I spent most of my formative years learning the techniques of deception now, many years later, I can tell you that I think there are more differences between the trickster and the conjurer - artist's hand and there are similarities, take for example a night like this, if I act badly I might suffer public disapproval or an empty house, if I act equally badly in the card table, you could suffer the loss of a limb or even your life even though I would like to demonstrate tricks and subterfuges at the card table to do this.

I have to make sure there is a Hmong store familiar with the basic laws of poker, blackjack, gin rummy. We have serious card players in the house. Good thank you. It's fun to perform for you. You play some cards on a pretty serious level. Brilliant. May I induce you to help me for a moment? I need someone else besides a card player. Someone come. There won't be any damage. It will come out well. If you can get out, you can. Come in, could I have a pair? You can put the Joker down and put him in his seat.

That alone would be confusing and this gentleman has found the outer hallway, which is also good, please be my guest. His name is Jeff Jeff Ricky. I appreciate him coming. and you're Larry Larry, you're still Ricky, so Jeff and Larry have been kind enough to join me in what will be a brief philosophical discussion about the nature of deception. Jeff Larry, let me pose a scenario to you, gentlemen, if I told you that these cards were marked. They are not, but if I said they were marked, visualize it and we play with these cards and subsequently I want a lot of money from you.

You would be more inclined for Jeff to call me a scammer, a cheater, or someone who takes advantage of which of those three? terms cheater cheater and Larry and I would say a cheater. I think we have no problem reaching an agreement on this particular issue. Let's try another scenario. Let's say we're playing pool instead of cards. Let's say I was able to run 30 or 40 balls each time. I headed to the table, you gentlemen could run three or four, we played up to a hundred points, we played for a lot of money, not only did I win, but I want a hundred 296 100 to 99 102 98, what term do you think would apply there, swindler?

I don't disagree, everyone's seen that movie where Paul Newman has a con man, it's a classic, I mean, and why is it that, because it's a specific situation, it's a man who stays in a game for more time and plays less well than he can to keep his Opponents there have more time to win more money. Pool players call it playing under speed. Well, that always applies at the card table. Well, maybe what if we were playing poker and at the end of the night I owed each of you $80 and we decided to call it quits? high card double or nothing winner takes all and you cut a queen and I cut an ace you have a nine and you cut an ace and you cut a 10 and I cut an ace I have a feeling this wouldn't last very long, very long, Which is the point, so what if we were in a situation where he was trying to subtly beat you instead of seriously beating you?

In this case, Jeff, what I want you to do is put your hand in the deck anywhere, just choose pick up a group of cards like that could be high low in the middle and we'll see what's at the bottom of your hand there, would you mind turning it around, that's similar to showing that to the audience unfortunately that doesn't leave much room for subtlety. It's possible to beat you, but the only way I could invite you to cut an ace is I can, but let's move on, so the idea here is really to do something that's slightly different, so Jeff, what I want you to do is a Larry .

What I want you to do is just grab a bunch of cards anywhere and let's look at what you've cut out to see what that is and why you've been invited here in the seat necessarily. I mean, I could cut it like Well, here's the idea. If I wanted to keep you around, maybe I'd want to tempt fate by simply defeating it. What do I mean? What if I could cut a three to get a win over your two? I can and that's the point. What I was talking about, I have to confess that if we were playing for $80, I might want to reduce it to three to beat it.

If we were playing by the thousands, I might want to try to get an X, so you gentlemen are truly the eyes of the audience. audience I want them to watch me very closely as I make what should be a good, solid random game, something they would love to see over the course of their own game. I'll give them one more and then do what the players call a dummy. cutting, which is literally trying to let my hands reach the deck and cutting an ace. This is an acquired skill and once again please note that there are no tears or bulges in the deck, no dog ears.

I'm going to take the deck. I'm going to split it very cleanly in half. I'm really going to shuffle the cards solidly and once again I'm going to try to do what's called a dead cut and an ace to get to this part of the deck and cut another ace and by the way. Note that if I cut even one card too short or one card too much, I wouldn't be surprised how this is also something I practice with my left hand, just in case someone breaks my right thumb, let me try to cut the ace off. swords. for your lefty Oh unique luck those of you who follow the game would understand that every time I cut an ace it is much more difficult for me to cut the next one this has something to do with the law of probability that is the concept so once Again, gentlemen , I will ask you to watch me carefully while I shuffle the cards and Jeff, I will give the deck some cuts at any time while I am cutting, could you tell them to stop doing that?

That's good, be my guest, you've been doing it. I may very well induce you to stay with the graduate delirium. Thank you tonight I have chosen three topics of discussion in that first part control what happens when the cards are shuffled and cut then I will talk a little about the false deal that you have heard the term discussed since the bottom of the deck I'll probably discuss it and then maybe finish with a card stacking demonstration, but first, can the cards be controlled well? Yes, I'm going to demonstrate what this would look like in reality.

This is very strange. It's really a playful exercise, it's something that clearly doesn't have a theatrical tone, but I hope you find it intriguing. So what I'm going to do and again these gentlemen who are close by can see that I'm putting aces in the center of the groups. of random cards and then they are at least for this second out of my control and what does that mean? It means it's an isolated exercise so there are a lot of cards between each ace and yet when I push them into the deck I don't leave them sticking out a sixteenth of an inch or 32 of an inch at least for the moment the aces are out of my controller, I mean, they're square and they're in the center, they don't stick out, how do I get them out? again under my control, well I'm going to be honest with you, I have them under my control when shuffling, how can I shuffle the parts well?

This is a complex topic, if I were a cheater I would shuffle the cards in a way that made me look neither smarter nor less smart than anyone else in the game, let's say we were playing gin in Miami Beach and people were shuffling the old fashioned way , so that's the way I'd like to shuffle the cards if we were in a pretty fancy New York bridge hall, you might see someone shuffle the cards this way and then do a little bridge afterwards, that It's what's called a little flourish, but it's just a random shuffle, if you're in Vegas, they wouldn't allow it.

To shuffle cards like this, a pit boss would tell you that you should shuffle the cards with them flat on the surface of the table. Why are they afraid that if you put the cards in your hand I might get a glimpse of them or you might get a glimpse of them like that? This way it's much more procedurally cautious for them, you'd actually shuffle the cards that way, so I'm sure you've all been in private games where people turn over half the cards and talk about that you know Anaconda beyond the trash or that they asked you. poker and in this case they are literally shuffling face up cards with face down cards like this, leaving a distinctive mess of highly placed cards, well what does the sheet do well?

I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you that I've done this long enough to be able to make three statements of absolute fact about the state of the cards at this very moment. The first claim is that although the aces were far apart after all that shuffling, they are now together, side by side. The second statement. Is it there in the center of the deck? The third statement is to make it easier for you to see them. I've unraveled all the other cards so that only the four Aces are face up, so that's an example of partial control as an extravagant example. but still, how is this handled in a real situation?

Let's say we're in Miami Beach, we give a deck of cardsoverhead, now we're going to play some gin rummy and now this should look serious and sincere, two hands of ten cards in play. a hit card, do you play some gin? Well, what I've tried to do is give my opponent a solid gin hand, but over thirty unbeatable points, so he takes a look with me and sees if we've been successful and you can see it. There is a combination here and a combination here, but two kings and a ten and the three would be an unbeatable 33 points.

I know this is a little technical for some of you if you don't play gin, by the way, this is gin, it's the nine. eight seven let's try some 21 I'm sure you play some blackjack now remember we're going to play 21 you'll see me shuffling like you wouldn't in a Las Vegas casino you'd see these strip cuts I'm going to be I like the house, it which means I'll stand on 17, but if you hit 16, you can make any choice you want, I'll even show you what I have, you'll be fine, yeah, you're 18, I'm 16, so I have to draw, so I'd be looking for a pot, 5 would be 21, like in Vegas, eh, that's 21.

Sorry, let's try another one that you can split into 5, but it's much better to double up if you have a pair of fives, Larry, so it would be 17 for you and I won't get 21 every time I have 8 in 5 or 13 and 6 would be enough 19 to get a minor win. Try one more here. Sorry, I gave you three. Some casinos allow you to double down with a three-card bet. 11. Oh yeah, that's not a bad bet. Let's see. 17 again and I have a ten and a four fourteen, so let me tell you they feel it in Vegas, I still know, see if these parts aren't marked, I told you they aren't, I mean, I don't know.

You're going to believe me, but that's not how anyone does this. I think there are two things at play here, one is that I have a very good memory and the other is that I know what happens when the cards are shuffled, but what does this mean? I mean, it means that while we were playing gin while we were playing 21 I was trying to remember where the aces were and leave them in various parts of the deck where I could find them. That's 231 down 3 and if I can go left hand, let's see. that's four, that's card control, move on to the second phase here.

I told them I talked a little bit about false casting. You have heard the term undercast. The second cast is something you've heard about. Yes, you two too, our boys. I've been around the block this is how this works, if I had the Ace of Spades at the top of the deck and we were playing in a game, I'd treat it like the second part, Larry, unless I didn't have it, which It means I wouldn't do it. DLM on the top court I would make it look like I'm dealing the top card but I would keep it on top that's why it's called a second deal.

It's a strange concept. It looks like the top card comes out of the deck, but in fact it doesn't, this is something one could do and requires practice. Now some people say it's even a little bit harder, in this case you would place four Aces at the bottom of the deck and again I want you to do that. Look, this is not an optical illusion, the aces really are at the bottom. What I'm going to do here, this works with five or six hands in the game, but in this case I'm going to give my opponents a card separate from theirs. the cards come from the top my cards come from the bottom this is what she hid now the most elaborate form of fake deal is something called the center deal this was literally unheard of 70 70 years ago it's almost never been seen then we'll actually tell you about her origins In 1933, two men who I believe were the best handlers in America, a man named Charlie Miller living in El Paso, Texas, and a man named Vernon, Canadian men living in New York, received a telephone call from a mutual friend and this guy.

He said there's a guy here in Wichita who can deal from center deck. These two men hung up their suitcases and left for Wichita. Well, what made two grown men travel so fast and so far? I will try to explain it in simple terms. Generally speaking, if I were to deal four aces from the bottom of the deck in any normal game of bridge, gin, Canasta, or poker, I would ask the person in my life and to my right in this case, Jeff, to cut the cards, so if the Aces were on the bottom, you would be cutting them in half, so before you could attack them from below, I would have to somehow nullify your cut.

Now this is possible. I could do the jump, the pass, the ship saw the Taylor coupe, but these are difficult maneuvers and they are especially difficult when everyone is looking at your hands in that important part of the game, if instead I could leave the four aces anywhere on the deck and hand them out feeling like this would be a huge advantage and that's why Charlie Miller and Vernon went to Wichita and they knew the name of the man they were looking for was Alan Kennedy, but they didn't know where he lived, so they went to the gambling joints, pool halls, bowling alleys, they ended up having a very frustrating week and couldn't really find them.

He was packing up his cards to go home when Vernon noticed a little girl eating an ice cream cone with obvious pleasure and tripped and fell to the ground and, being a gallant soul, he gave her a nickel and she returned with another cone smiling. and he said girl, do you know a man named Alan Kennedy and the girl said sure sir, he lives down the street a block and a half away and that's how they found Kennedy and saw the deal downtown and Vernon loved to tell the story when was in When he was 80 years old, he always leaned back and said yes, and the little boy will lead them with that thought in mind.

A demonstration of the deal. You can see that what I'm doing may seem strange in a sense because I'm laying down the aces. in the deck face to face why am I doing that? because it's a demonstration if we were in a real poker game obviously the aces would be face down but this is a case where I want you to see me cheating and what I'm going to do is give it a little shuffle and then I try to feel where those aces are as I deal then there shouldn't be any directly near the top or near the bottom let's say we're playing for him, we'll make it five a little more theatrical, it would be dealing five hands and I'd be trying to have the ace in my hand now you could see that there was no ace on top so in that split second I choose not to take the top and somehow dig under the deck to where I feel an ace, see if I can do that one more time and one more time and if I can, I would be a fake dealer.

Well, as you George Bernard Shaw fans know, he said that every profession is a conspiracy against Lady Jeff. I want to thank you very much. Thank you very much for helping Larry Night do this. I should point out that it is actually very difficult to stand under the hot lights and make rational decisions when playing cards. Thank you both very much, in fact, in the course of that demonstration I mentioned two people who had a profound influence on my life Charlie Miller and the diver Ninh both died just a couple of years ago Charlie was 80 years old Vernon was 98 the reason why I moved to Los Angeles over 20 years ago to spend what I thought would be a few years with these men and it turned out to be two decades and not only do I have the great pleasure of watching them perform, but I was also treated to stories of the sleight of hand artist that they saw when they were younger and I think the The name that was mentioned more than any other was the name of Max Malini Molina was born in Austria-Hungary in 1873 immigrated to the United States to New York when he was small and began to earn a living.

He showed great promise with sleight of hand. busking in the most famous bars along the Bowery, literally passing a hat for nickels and dimes and he became so good at this that he was ready to expand and in 1902 he went to Washington DC he had no advance reservations, but luckily The first day he was in the capital he noticed Mark Hanna on the steps of Congress, a very prominent center of the day, there was much less security than now and he literally ran towards Mark Hanna and suddenly he lunged and pressed a button. his jacket and before the people could grab it and take it away, he made one of those magical passes and when the senator looked down, the button was now perfectly sewn into place, so instead of being arrested as a lunatic, he received a lucrative engagement and his career was made, but since this show is dedicated to playing cards, I'm going to show you a concept that Malini invented at the beginning of the century and the idea here was that more than one person would pick up a card during the course of a effect, so I'm actually going to approach the audience, you don't have to join me on stage and I'll ask several people to take cards if for some reason you don't want to help, it's okay if you do.

That would be great. I'll ask the woman at the end that you don't have to get up, but if you say stop at some point when I play this in front of you and if you really look at that part and try it. to remember it I'm going to ask the gentleman next to you to remember it too, otherwise it would have a plotless effect for you to remember that card and there is a gentleman with a mustache, would you also say stop for me, stop? and that's for you, well, you've done a farmer's job, Larry, the woman sitting next to you, if you don't mind, could you say enough, that's for you and if you could help, try to remember I'm maybe this gentleman with the tie, thank you, leave, good for you and the gentleman in the hallway, this one or the next one, the next one, okay, so I've selected several cards.

I was thinking that it is also a pleasure to live in Southern California. I have gotten to know Ossie Malini, this is the son of Max Malini, who is now a retired businessman and a while ago he told me a story about his father that I will share with You, it seems that many years ago Malini was asked to perform for Governor Brown of the Philippines and Governor Brown, knowing that Malini was Jewish, decided to play a joke on him and at a very important dinner he served him a huge roast pig with an apple in its mouth. and Malini looked uncomfortably at this pig for some time and then he took out his napkin and covered it, he paused for the required dramatic moment, quickly moved the napkin away, the pig had completely disappeared and the cooked chicken was in its meat.

Luckily for me, the show is dedicated to playing cards, so I'm not required to do spells with poultry, which means I have to ask you to take a card, that's all I do in life. So would you be so kind as to say stop sometime? Okay, and if you remember that and the gentleman behind you. It would be helpful, would you remember that card too and if I can ask this gentleman to also say "stop for me" okay, that's one for you and the gentleman next to you if I can get you to say "stop, stop" okay, Please remember that one and you like well yes well I think that's enough well it shouldn't hurt Rosa further back than the first I see a man with the tie in the second row I can also make you say stop, stop, okay and one stop you state, stop, enjoy my dad, so I can I don't know 11 or 12 well selected I'm going to shuffle the cards and try to find them again.

In fact, I have to confess that at this point during the show every night I wonder what it would be like if I did it. I don't find that just as a thought, so if I can get you to mention your card out loud, the eight of Hearts, I'll try to find it in the middle of the deck, that sounds strange, but look, a card has stopped halfway in the deck unfortunately. at least for me that's the eight of hearts, let's see who took the next card, would you be so kind? seven lords, the seven of hearts, could you mention it as the six of spades when I'm trying to get the deck to fly and cut? right in his card which is the six of swords and his lord the seven of diamonds from the six to the seven of diamonds and the knight at the end the ten of swords through a simple cut which is the ace of wands the card the the woman on the island took your ace of clubs your card was you're shaking your head now ace of clubs what was it if you insist I'm looking for a little sympathy you haven't given me anything play with the cold for me I see you I took one I think would you be so kind as to mention it to me ?

Jack of Diamonds from the deck to my hand as if propelled. I'll try to find yours South American or Rio style, if you would be so kind. Kind to name it Ace of Hearts, what was that nine of clubs? The last card, yeah, you didn't take one to make, where were you, oh wow, in the second row, what was your lord, six of diamonds, six of diamonds, now I have to find both nine of clubs nine of clubs six of diamonds here nine of clubs your six of diver how many of you are interested in astrology well there's the enthusiastic response I was hoping for I read in the newspapers that 71% of Americans read their horoscopes how come none of them come to the theater?

I just made it up, you look at your hosts from time to time. I only pretend to be 90% right ma'am, can I induce you to help me for a brief moment? Thanks, I should have done that. a chair, watch your steps, please. Thanks and yesIf you could sit there for me, I have to confess it's perfect. Even when I do astrological experiments I also use playing cards. There is a surprise if you would be kind enough to examine them for me. Take a good look at them and when you think they are right, you can spread them face down on the table and please do that and then slide a middle card somewhere that will be your card, don't show it to me.

However, I would like you to write your name on it. You have a marker. I do. I'll turn around when I do. I want you to write your card not on this side of the car, your name, but on the other side. your name and very large letters would be helpful, okay, and then I will ask you some questions and based on the astrological meaning of those answers, I will determine something about something that you have done so far that almost takes your time. I might get my pen back. I'm not a rich man, so the first of many questions I'll ask him is to tell me the date of the month he was born, but don't answer yet. in court I'm going to ask you for the date of the month, which means I don't want the year and interestingly enough I don't even want the month, so if you were born on March 15, you say 15, so what date?

Wouldn't that be? That means you have to make 14 piles of cards quickly. Would you do that because 14 equals 9 and the mysterious Ike Lon triangle quickly? Even though this is a timeout, you're doing well, but keep moving, so okay? You were born in January, no, do you know how many breaks you have here? Eleven, well, 12 is perfect, so you weren't born in January. Remove any two piles quickly. Well, where were you born in March? remove one pile when you were born in February remove two piles we were born east of the Mississippi is maybe remove three piles how many piles do you see on the table? remove any pile now but mysteriously four piles remain.

Do you read the classics? remove a bunch who killed Laura Palmer we were born under an image of Balzac in that case remove four cards ladies and gentlemen through a strange process of elimination so peculiar that I myself am amazed we are left with one card in my favorite phrase, a card only for the first Again, could you mention the card you selected with your name? V, okay, I didn't mean to find your card, that would be too easy, but you are. Luckily, I have the only mind-reading toucan in the world. The toucan will find your car.

Well, he sees the center of these cars. I'll narrow it down and find a thought. Yes, right there, your card. The king. The king is your signature. Because? no Oh different oh sorry, this hippo head will find your head it will move and find your floor look at that using the famous key measurement system no, I'll take that, you know, in this case this snail will find your thoughts they will actually draw a card , it will go somewhere here moving like snails do, accrediting snail cabin, if you look at that look, it is eating, yes, absolutely not, that's enough, okay, so this turtle with a human head yes, no, that It is apparent.

This rabbit This rabbit will find his card or die, would you be surprised if his card was in this can of peanut brittle? So what have I been doing this since I was 4 years old? Like ladies and gentlemen, there comes a time in every strange person's life when they have to get serious with me, that time is near, look, there's a case I haven't opened in a month inside a new sealed pack of cards. By chance your name is Aaron. I would take this as a very good sign and that is that your name in the king of If I could go back in history and could, the artist I would most like to see would be Johann Nepomuk Hopson, the famous Viennese card magician who enchanted Victorian Vienna Do you mind if I ask you to shuffle? these cards while I chat for a moment dr.

Hopson's is open, a wonderful theater in Vienna. In fact, I have a card from the doctor's XIV here. You can see that he is in a rather strange Napoleonic pose. I'm going to ask you to hold this, but carefully, it's one of my most prized possessions. If I can also get the cards back, Hopson opened a theater in the mid-19th century in Vienna and charged twenty gold ducats for admission, that's more than a common worker earned in a year just from watching sleight of hand. In a theater about a third the size we're in, since you were also kind enough to shuffle, would you say stop at some point while I move these cards around like this?

Okay, okay, I'll ask you to take that. card in his own hand and show it to several people in 1851 at a state dinner dr. Mr Hobson was president, also at this particular dinner there was a beautiful woman that none of the other diners had ever seen and someone sitting next to her said "Darling, you have lovely teeth" and the woman said "thank you, let me show them to you" and called. she for a drink and one by one they took her teeth out of her mouth and placed them in a glass that was then circulated among the confused diners, at one point the glass ended up in front of Dr.

Mr. Hobson covered it for a moment with his hand when he lowered his hand the teeth had disappeared from the glass he pointed to the woman who with the dazzling smile showed that they had returned to her mouth it was in this way that his wife Wilhelmina introduced too polite Viennese society to The Pottsys are asked to destroy all their props and effects at the end of their lives. He thought he had no worthy successors and if it were not for a German lawyer named Coach Fisher this would have happened but I didn't. Care Fisher painstakingly located the first students of Hopsin Zero Man and George Lloyd, another named Karl von Papa Shell, and collected the material in this volume, so it is really thanks to Autocar Fisher that I can present to you my favorite of his many. experiments one that dr.

Hoffman's are called everywhere and nowhere can I see the hands of the gentleman who selected the card please ah in the second row and in fact I will give you some cards and I will ask you to return them somewhere in this part I won't let them see and give them a final cut or shuffle if you want and also leave that to leave it here okay and in fact, I'm also going to take the Divisie card from you and I must also confess that I use this photograph. from dr. Hobson's statement at the proceedings makes it much more difficult to do this under the doctor's rather sinister gaze, but it shouldn't affect your enjoyment one way or another, so if the gentleman is concentrating on the court, don't say anything more than do.

Focus well, I'm going to make a definitive statement here, his court is one of these three, apparently it's not the exciting day, no matter what he expected, well, what would dr. The Hopsons are doing well in this situation. He said that the most powerful magic on earth was the power of a woman's gaze, so I will ask that gentleman to point out a woman near you who from her seat in the audience can help me complete. the experiment would you do that for me are you making a gesture for the person next to you for the benefit of those behind you who cannot see your gaze with your voice could you identify me for me select one of the cards closest to the center or more away any of those three, the center and I'm going to ask you to look at that card and I tell you that if you do, it must be the card selected by the knight, so could you look at the center card?

Thank you. When, sir, could you name the card he selected for the clubs as good? This is the reaction of coming here that it is somehow unrequited, maybe it was the power of my statement, maybe I want me to take this a step further so I will. Now ask the woman to switch and select the card closest to me or furthest away the way you would designate one of those two closest to me and look at that card because if you do that then this card would have to become the two of the applause. The plot thickens.

There is another option we could talk about and maybe we will. I will ask you to stare at the card in my hand, if you don't mind doing it for me, would you appreciate it because that's what it is? now literally look away from the car just look away for a second because if you do that it couldn't be the two of gods that you see and if you look away again please make this card it couldn't be the two of clubs and If you once again look the other way, these could not be both: you witnessed an experiment of the 19th century, an experiment called everywhere and in no way many of you know that I throw cards further than anyone in the world .

Thank you so much. I would like to demonstrate my unusual skill to you tonight, but unfortunately this theater is too small, so all I can do is talk about the advantages of cards over more conventional weaponry, first, they are economical, second, if you are well with them, you can make a small fortune before the actual attack third there have been no convictions for carrying cards as a hidden weapon, for example, you are attacked by a door, you could kill the door, but I know what you are saying, they say that this man is sure He throws cards with incredible speed and amazing accuracy, but can I throw a card and have that card returned to his hand? a mock Australian boomerang, but I know what you're saying, you're saying this guy can throw cards and have them returned to his hand. a simulacrum of the Australian boomerang, but can he, upon returning the cards, carefully cut it in half with a giant pair of scissors?

If he can. Does anyone here have a giant pair of scissors? I do and I, my dad, feel a lot better now, so here it is. how does this work the throw the card comes back the cut and I should point out that if you are attacked by a giant pair of scissors you can throw the card by acting the scissors deactivating the scissors they come quickly but for those of you who prefer speaking ability apparently all of you, I will throw the card in the air and, when I return, I will carefully cut it in half with a pair of giant scissors carefully in half quod erat demonstrandum.

However, I will be using the Sun pod for the rest of the show or as the Elizabethan says "go ahead", but I know what you're saying. You're saying this guy can perfectly cut cards in half with a giant pair of scissors, but can he defend himself against plastic? This seemingly peaceful plastic document is once presented in a festive place. The night in Rio took a small portion of my Anatomy home with it. I keep it close as a reminder of how difficult life on the road can be if you are attacked by a plastic duck. I suggest three methods of self-defense, first look at this. angers the duck, then the bold gesture, this angers the beasts, finally I suggest shooting a letter at the duck, yes, this kills the dock and serves as a healthy reminder to potential hecklers that you are attacked by a gang of animals or a band of fire animals say surely this man can defend himself from plastic, can he defend himself from fruits ladies and gentlemen?

I won't waste your time with foam cots, pears or prunes and no, no, you guessed it, the most prodigious fruit in the house, the majesty of it. watermelon out of season, so terribly expensive tonight. I'll try to penetrate the rich red interior of said melon with a few perfectly placed tosses from the regular package. Many of you will notice that my last two drinks have landed in the exact same place. watermelon is such an impressive feat that I feel compelled to mention it myself, no doubt the last time you saw this was when Errol Flynn did it in Robin Hood.

I understand that I could keep throwing cards into the same melon slot all night, but I'm forced to stop because it's too much fun for melon, but I know what you're saying, you're saying I'm sure this guy can throw cards into the melon slot. rich red interior of said melon. Can the outer layer of the melon of the even thicker pachyderm Attis penetrate? but encouraged by your approval I could try to penetrate the even sicker watch me work this scares the melon this this bothers me you know even johann nepomuk the options are called playing cards the poetry of magic the skill of a conjurer was determined entirely by his ability to perform an effect that was called cups and balls, there are many people who will tell you that it is the oldest effect in the history of magic because in the tombs of King Benny Hasan of ancient Egypt there are representations of magicians of the Nile making the cups and balls.

I am not one of those people, I will tell you that the Greeks and Romans knew the game, that Seneca wrote about it, that the oldest iconography of our venerable art, the famous planetary drawings from Ulm in the 15th century, show cups and balls , the conjurer's game. It has been reproduced continuously for hundreds, if not thousands, of years with his kind permission. I would like to end my performance tonight by showing you my version of this classic that I called a history lesson in 1584. Reginald Scott wrote the first practical treatise on spells. in the English language and in it he talked about putting a ball under a common object like a candlestick.

He also said that you could use a salt shaker, a bowl or even a cup and that if the conjurer was clever he could make the ball disappear and appear almost Only a short time later it was played with bowls from China, it was played in the East. Anthropologists love the concept of inventionindependent. In Western Europe they played with cheap metal cups, a tin that sometimes had the strange ability to seem penetrable. At night I'll use spun copper mugs, my personal favorites, for a reason. I won't give away one of the things I love about this game: it exists independently in the player and mage genres.

This is a scene you may remember as the old game of three shells, I mean this racing race, it was called thimble rig in hustler's language, it could be known as the clues, the Dinks, the blocks or the nuts, the idea that you would put a ball or pretend to put it. a ball under one of the cups, but the ball would appear where it was least likely once again if I place the ball here and move it by moving these cups, you might think the ball was here, but it jumps here one last time. That's why people have been known to lose houses and even clothes playing this little game one last time.

If I place the ball here and move it over here, the ball now jumps too. Now a conjurer would do this in a slightly different way. take the object put it in your hand make it disappear using a magic wand The conger is also cheap they use many of these actually the game was traditionally played with three cups and three balls. I'm going to show you a real sequence of events from a 17th century bestseller called hocus pocus jr. The idea here is that I will cover the center ball with a cup and place one on top, then I will cover this and try to have the ball penetrate solid through the solid joining its partner below now that you know the sequence, why not? follow it again, this time a ball penetrating through two solid copper cups.

This method is a favorite of Matthew Buchinger, the little man from Nuremberg, he was only 28 inches tall. The glasses obscured almost his entire body. Look, that's enough for three balls to appear under Matthew Buchinger. he had no arms or legs but he had 14 children the most famous man who ever played this game the Italian Bartolomeo Bosco Bosco appeared in the early 19th century he had an unusual figure on stage you were a black satin vest black velvet pants beams Making sure That his sleeves were carefully rolled up, he took out his magic wand and polished the tip of a wand which, he said, was made of a strange amalgam of metals known only to him and Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Above this table was a brass bell. He hid the bell. and said the word spirit I mean a final oboe DJ infernal spirits obey my order Bosco sequence with the cups and the ball vah de jeu bo celerity 3 disappeared and still 3 Bosco returned he only had one contemporary rival, the slightly older Frenchman called CONUS , who in 1795 announced that he would have his wife, who was 5 feet 7 inches tall, appear at one of the drinking practices, although I have not even been able to marry. even touching them with his hand, he actually said that the only reason the magician used 3 was to confuse you, so he took one ball and placed it to the side, he lost his pocket, he took the second ball and placed it away as well, He still left a ball here, but he did not explain how this ball came back.

CONUS explained that he said that the magician made a feint that he only pretended to take the ball. In reality, what he did was pretend that he put his hand back and then hinted the ball under the ball. CONUS cup said I don't do such When I put the ball in my pocket it really stays there, how could it come back? And in fact, perhaps in the 16th century many of you prefer the game as it was played in the East with two balls and perhaps you prefer the game. European version with three cups and three balls and if you have been paying attention you will know that there would be one ball under the central cup but now there are three and that is how the game was played for another hundred and twenty years until it was once revolutionized. again by Max Malini, the man I talked about earlier.

Malini would take three glasses and wrap them in newspaper, take a cork from a wine bottle and cut it into three sections, take the three cork sections and place them in her pocket and then make a makeshift wand out of a celery stalk. or anise with a spear, he would pass the glasses around and say spit, I mean, he's hellish about the details or anything else that came to mind and that's the mystery and this year.