If you thought learning about how a bill becomes a law by watching musical cartoons was fun, then you will love the Penn and Teller video segment titled “Penn and Teller Explain Sleight of Hand.”
The clip, which you can view below, is posted on 5min, an online video service determined to deliver “short video solutions to practical questions.” This one is a must for any aspiring magicians out there.
In just three and a half minutes, you can become a master of this popular trick by following the seven basic principles of magic that Penn explains while Teller acts them out. They are: palm, ditch, steal, load, simulation, misdirection and switch.
But before you can understand why they are important, you have to see them in action.
In the video, during Penn’s monologue about the complexities of the sleight of hand ruse, Teller can be seen entering the stage only to light a cigarette, put it out with his foot and light another one. Seems simple enough. But at the end of the video, Penn reveals that Teller had one cigarette lit the whole time. He never put it out and never lit a second one.
Together, the two elucidate the way each of the seven principles fits into Teller’s miming routine. Teller palms the cigarette in order to complete a ditch while he simulates extinguishing it on the ground and steals a pencil (which will in turn simulate a second cigarette) from his pocket. By scratching his left eye, Teller creates a misdirection that allows him to load the lit cigarette, which he has been keeping in his ear, into his hand and switch it with the pencil.
It sounds overwhelming and confusing, but Penn breaks down each step so that every anxious viewer at home can become a master of the sleight of hand. Watch the video a couple times and see how well you can do it:
Tags: Penn and Teller, Penn Jillette, Teller, sleight of hand, magic tricks, 5min, how-to video
