Magician Benjamin Barnes Fools Penn & Teller with Card Magic Trick | Penn & Teller: Fool Us

You probably know better than anyone that magicians are sneaky. They like to cheat. You notice I said they. I don't include myself in that group because tonight I'm going to perform the world's fairest card trick. I will perform it in a manner so unquestionably fair that you will doubt the involvement of trickery at all. For example, this begins with a factory sealed pack. That seems fair, right? Of course, when working with a new pack of cards, you know that the top two cards are advertisements and the bottom two are jokers. And if you look through the pack, starting at the face, you will clearly see that the pack is in perfect order. But of course, to perform magic, the cards need to be shuffled. But if I do it, you might suspect me of using one of those fake shuffles that looks like the real thing, but isn't. But of course, if I were to ask Alison to shuffle, now that would be fair. Don't you agree? Alison, will you please join me on stage? Yes. Lovely to see you. I'm going to give you the cards. Okay. Now I want you to give them a good shuffle. Oh gosh, you're asking a lot from me. Okay, we're not judging. Oh dear, see, they're slippery. However you're most comfortable. I mean, watching you do it is the most comfortable. Yeah, sure. I've actually practiced, which is what's so sad. Oh my God, it's so bad. Very good. Now, Alison, do you know the current order of the cards? No. Neither do I. May I? Yes, please. Okay, I can feel your relief. Now, Alison, you're going to select a playing card in the fairest way imaginable. I'm going to take the joker, and I'm going to run it along the edge of the pack. Say stop whenever you like. Okay, stop. Right there? Yes. Now, Alison, beneath the joker is a card, your fairly selected card. I'm going to lift my hand so that you can see it, and I can't. Okay. Now, remember that card, Alison? Yes. Okay. Now, at this point, Alison, it's only fair that I tell you that while I don't know what card you saw, I do have an idea of where it is. I want you to change that by shuffling the cards again. You're asking a lot of me. Okay, hold on, I'm going to do a thing. This is my redemption right here. Nope, it's not. That's not bad, that's not bad. Now, Alison, do you know where your card lies in the pack now? I have no clue. Neither do I. Now, if I were to touch the cards now, I could do something sneaky, but I want to be fair. So, Alison, I'm going to ask you to put the cards back in their box. Very good. I'm going to ask you to go ahead and close that box. Fantastic. Now, Alison, I have a pin. On the end of the pin, there's a label. Just take the label. I'm going to ask you to reseal the box with that label. Okay. And lastly, good job. Lastly, I'm going to give you the pin. I want you to write your initials on the label. On the label? On the label. Okay. I wrote my married initials. That's fine. There you go. I messed up. No, you're good, you're good. Now, Alison, with your right hand, I want you to reach into my jacket pocket and confirm for Penn & Teller that it is absolutely empty. Totally empty. Totally empty, great. I want you to reach into the pocket again and confirm that aside from the pack, it is otherwise empty. Yep. Penn & Teller, I ask you, what could be more fair than this? Nothing. My hand is empty. Check this out. Let's see. Alison, take the pack out of my pocket, please. Is it sealed? Yes. Do you see your initials there? Yes. Break the seal. Oops. Take the cards out of the box. Okay. We'll get rid of the box. Now, look through the cards. Yes or no, have you seen your card yet? No. Really? Okay, keep going. Have you seen your card? No. Alison, for the first time, name your card. The Four of Hearts. And that, Penn & Teller, is the world's fairest card trick. No, your shuffling was perfect. Oh, well. All right, so we just caught you in a lie. Yes, you did. So you've been a magician for a very long time now. Do you believe in sharing what you've learned or keeping it secret? I believe absolutely in sharing what I've learned. I'm only here tonight because people share with me. I feel an obligation and an honor to share with those coming behind me. Are you a student of magic history? Oh, yes. I love magic history. With my study, the trick that I did for Penn & Teller tonight uses techniques that are so old, they're new again. Wow. I've fooled almost every magician I've shown that trick to. We'll see if I get lucky tonight. Okay, Benjamin, let's go to the world's fairest duo and see if you fooled them. Hey, Benjamin, boy, what a great, great presentation of that. It is just so fair and so open and so clear. As our mentor, Johnny Thompson, used to say, you just close all the doors as you go through. And it seems like such a rough trick. And you were such a smooth character that it's just beautiful to put it all together. And we don't think you fooled us. And I think I put a little bit of code in there. But did we tell you enough that you know? Oh, yeah. Also, we think, how do I want to say this sneakily, that there is something unusual about your suit coat pocket. You, gentlemen, are not even close. You are not close. I'll try to say it more plain language. There's no rougher, smoother. No. And my jacket is totally legit. Everything is totally legit. I'll take your word. I'm not going to check it, but. Really? One hundred percent. You fooled us. It's really good. Your life is good. Thank you. Ask yourself, what's the stereotype of a magician? That's not exactly an image of diversity. The magic world is so much richer than that. There are so many magicians that are not white males. A teacher of mine once said, if you feel you don't have a venue to perform in, create it. So we did. We got a church basement, and we've got a few potted plants, mold carpets, and we made a show. And it really took off. This is everyone who ever performed there. Every nationality, ethnicity, and type of magic. The largest magic venue in Chicago contacted me about booking their talent. So I showed them this poster. After five minutes, I have the job. And now I book all the acts and most nights I get to perform there, which is fantastic. Tonight, I'm bringing a trick that some magician friends have called a miracle. Maybe it can help me pull off the miracle of fooling Penn and Teller.