The legendary Penn & Teller were on Jimmy Fallon promoting the new season of their show Fool Us. They always have magic which is deeply thought-provoking. Here they talk about the difference between juggling, which relies on skill, and magic, which relies on lying. (Which is truly wonderful because a lot of Penn’s juggling is based on lying and much of Teller’s trick is based on skill.
Jimmy Fallon Indulges his love of magic
This year, magic has seen a wonderful resurgence in the public consciousness. One of the places this is most apparent on the Tonight Show, now hosted by SNL alum Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy is nearly the perfect subject for performing magic to. You can always tell exactly what he’s thinking and you know immediately when he’s genuinely surprised by something. He’s had three superb magicians featured on his show in the past month:
Dan White
Dan is based in New York, with his own show The Magician at the NoMad.
Shin Lim
is the winner of the latest season of America’s Got Talent. (Although he does happen to be Canadian… confusing!) He is also internationally recognized in the industry as a winner at FISM (essentially the magic Olympics.)
Joshua Jay
An irritatingly photogenic sleight of hand artist from Ohio, now living in New York. Josh holds a special place in my heart as the first original magic trick I ever had published in a professional journal was in his column, "Talk About Tricks” which he edited for MAGIC Magazine for a dozen years. Josh has a show in New York called Six Impossible Things which is sold out months in advance.
Masters of Misdirection
"Misdirection" is an oft-used, but mostly misunderstood term of art in magic. Here is an explanation from the masters themselves: Penn & Teller, the longest running headliners in the history of Las Vegas.
Benedict Cumberbatch does a magic trick
World's greatest detective... Practitioner of the mystic arts... Inventor of the computer... Genetically engineered super solder... Is there anything he can't do?
Magic on the Tonight Show
Magician Dan White appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and performed a neat short piece of close-up magic backstage for The Roots. It has a really interesting twist which I did not see coming (which is particularly odd, because I know the trick.)