CHT: Patrick Coffin.
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin
In other news, I hear they still haven’t found the cure for cancer.
BillyHW,
Yes, I agree. Let’s not have any fun or crack the slightest smile until every, single problem in the world is solved.
He was much better at concealing his sleight of hand than the guy with the cups (though he did manage to get me at the end with the potato) but his tricks were more transparent (cup guy was setting up his reveals 10 steps ahead of the audience).
I’m amazed. The only thing I can figure is that the lady was a confederate and the trick was setup before the magician started. And that’s only for the ring box. His sleight of hand with the cards must have been done with palming, but I couldn’t detect it. His patter was perfect.
Mike, there is another explanation. But I agree he’s awesome. The best thing is that he repeats the effect over and over, with slight variations. I have about two card tricks that are pretty darned amazing, but I can only do them once. 🙂
Very cool! I love trying to figure these kinds of things out. My belief is that, for the main trick, the reveal card was always on top (except for the “you don’t believe me?” bits) and it was the second card down that was pulled and placed in the middle of the deck. Notice that when he places the “reveal card” in the middle of the deck just before he actually does the trick, he never shows the face.
The “face up” trick seems a bit more elaborate and I haven’t figured that one out yet. Seems like it would involve some cutting of the deck when he flips it, and having the “reveal card” in the middle of a sandwich between the Ace and another card. When he pulls just the Ace, he’s actually pulling three cards (the card on the bottom of the sandwich hides the “reveal card” face). I’ll have to watch it a few more times, though.
As for the ring box, that actually seems like it might be the simplest of them all, actually. He already had a card folded up in there, and when he points to the ring box (and EVERYONE turns their eyes expectantly towards it), he quickly folks and palms the “reveal card”. Then it’s just a matter of quick palming and swapping when he drops the original box card into his hand.
I’m no professional sleight of hand artist, so I could definitely be wrong on these, but like I said I LOVE these kinds of tricks and trying to figure them out. Anyone else have theories on how the tricks were performed?
I’ll only make a tiny comment. I was surprised at one point when I found out that David Blaine had an accomplice within a restaurant on one or two of his street magic tricks so that it is not out of the question here.
Confederates are common parts of magic tricks, but there is considerable skill there as while. The magician and the confederate must act as if they’ve never met. That is difficult. Even harder for the confederate, they have to mix with the crowd in a way that deflects all suspicion. They have to maneuver to where the magician can best make use of them. That can be harder still if many want to get close.
On the other hand, I find the idea that the magician single handedly folds the card fascinating. That’s a skill that can probably be acquired but would be difficult to distract from. Given that, the substitution for what was in the box is relatively straightforward.
Squeee!
That was awesome!
Personally, I never really cared how the trick was done. What matters to me is presentation – is the magician able to make it so convincing that I can’t see through the act? If so, then I’m happy! That’s why I could never get into the Masked Magician. He takes all the fun out of it.
Tabs – that’s what I always liked about Penn & Teller: they both revealed “the trick” but did it with great presentation style. You felt like you were learning about the trick, but still had fun because 1) they were pretty funny about it, and 2) they’re pretty good illusionists/sleight-of-hand artists anyway. (Watch the cups and balls trick again – even with transparent cups, they’re quite slick.)
“I became a magician to find out how I do this.”
HAhahahahahaha
@ Jamie
Ditto, and they were fun because they showed you one trick and how it was done, then turn around and do a different trick and leave you hanging on *that* one! But, sadly, too many wonderful performers go into politicking and take all the fun out of hanging out watching them. Le sigh.
Ghosty, the first part of the trick is actually some very basic card trick stuff. After he has the woman write her name on it, he makes it look like he’s placing it in the middle of the deck, but it’s actually getting put just under the top card, so that it’s the second card in the deck. It’s a basic technique where you hold the card at an angle so that the front edge is touching the deck, but the back edge is actually lifted up. This makes it look like the card is going deeper into the deck than it is. The giveaway (other than the logistics of just knowing how you’d do this kind of trick) is how the top side rests against his palm, and the lower side is rested against the pinky, ring, and middle finger. This technique usually looks like that. As a matter of fact, the camera gives it away on this one too, as if you look closely when he is putting the card “in the middle” of the deck, you can see the top card’s shadow on it.
After he gets the card to the second in the stack, he then does a double lift – that’s where you lift two cards in such a way that it looks like you’re lifting one. It’s the most basic of all card trick techniques. If you’re curious, there is giveaway here in the way he flips the card very close to the deck, as well as how he really doesn’t lift it too high but drags one edge along the deck. After he does this, he flips the two back over so that the dummy card is once again on top and the written on card is now back second in the stack. He then takes the dummy top card and puts it back in the deck, the audience of course thinking its the written on card, which is now really on top and is flipped over when he does it again slowly. Watch closely and you’ll actually see him flex the cards when he goes to put the card in the middle of the deck the second time, releasing the second card from the top.
Then he does some psychological stuff to help lull the audience down again. He does some fancy handwork and some flourishes that look like they’re sleights of hand, but they’re not – they’re just fanny handling. Each time he then reveals that he didn’t actually do anything, which is entertaining and as I said, adds a psychological aspect to the show. It’s also to set up the next trick, where he will use a sleight of hand to actually trick the audience. They’re not as apt to notice it after he’s just done a series of these things without actually tricking them.
For this next trick, he really does place the card face up in the deck, about 6 or 7 cards down. He then does the sleight of hand to move most of the top cards onto the bottom of the deck. When he shows them that the card is actually in the middle of the deck (about the 3:20 mark), he does something which I think is called a thumb lift, but I may be remembering the term incorrectly. Basically, he groups the top cards together into a mini stack and when he goes to put them back together from fanning them. He then holds this mini stack up from the main deck with his thumb. The way he holds the deck in his hand helps to hide this from the audience, but if you look closely in the video you can actually see it. When he flips the deck over to show the bottom, he moves that mini stack to the bottom. I think he does it by actually “curving” them around the deck as he turns it. In other words, he gets that mini stack lodged in his palm so that it stays there along the hand while he uses the other hand to turn the main deck. Then, that mini stack goes back down onto the deck, but this time on the bottom. I may be wrong about how he does it, but I know that he does it.
After he shows that the ace is on the top, he does another double lift, so he’s lifting the Ace and the card underneath it to reveal the written on card. He then flips the written on card back over, so it’s now the third card in the deck – but the audience thinks its the second card, so when he takes the second card and puts it in, of course they think it’s the “name card,” which is really the second in the deck now. He then lifts the second card and we see the “name card.”
Now what does he do? Yet another double lift. He puts the “name card” in the middle of the deck but sticking out, but there is actually another card on top of it also sticking out. Just before he brings it around to stick out the side of the deck, he goes ahead and briefly pushes it back into the deck. What he’s doing here is dropping that “name card,” so when he swings the card around to stick out of the side, its the second card from that double lift. That leaves that written on card on top of the “bottom cut” that he has in his lift hand. When he puts that “bottom cut” on top of the deck, of course the “name card” is on top.
The ring box is basically what you said, though I believe he folded the card right after the final “jump to the top” trick. If you watch the video closely you’ll see he pulls it away and then does what look like some folding motions very quickly while the audience is busy looking at one another laughing. Of course, he’s also holding his hands in a guarded position. Either way, when he picks up the ring box, he has the folded “name card” in his other makes it look like he’s taking the card from the box whereas its the one he’s folded.
I’ve actually studied card tricks quite a bit. I’m not skilled enough with the hands to actually do them, but I know the different techniques and the basic things you’d do and so I can figure out how they’re done. One final point you may find interesting: notice how some of his finger nails are slightly longer than would be expected of a man as well as pointed towards the center. This helps with the double lifts and some other methods.
i see we’re back to normal on blogging only every 8-10 days. 🙁