Teller is possibly one of the greatest living historians of magic. Once got a chance to speak to him at the bar of the Oxford Union once, and he has an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of almost every trick, turn, swindle, deception, racket, illusion, con, prop and misdirection technique that mankind has ever invented.
Absolutely astonishing when he's in full flow.
I did ask him if he ever saw a trick that he didn't immediately know how it was pulled off, and he said yes: the first time he saw David Copperfield's circular saw trick. Then apparently Penn Jillette got Copperfield so trashed that he eventually gave the game away.
Absolutely astonishing when he's in full flow.
I did ask him if he ever saw a trick that he didn't immediately know how it was pulled off, and he said yes: the first time he saw David Copperfield's circular saw trick. Then apparently Penn Jillette got Copperfield so trashed that he eventually gave the game away.