Re: Fri. 5/9 'Will it Float?' Sorcery

On May 11, 11:31=A0am, Tom W <blee...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> randwill wrote:
> > "Bill Kawalec" <billkawa...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote...
>
> >> so you think Paul was a co-conspirator...
>
> > No, but nothing in the presentation negates that possibility in the
> > audience's mind. =A0Using the gl***** of a randomly selected audience
me=
mber
> > would have been less suspicious.
>
> > Paul may have been a co-conspirator in that he possibly ran through
the
> > segment with P&T in rehearsal. That would have been a good time for
Penn=
 to
> > tell him that he didn't have any lines in the bit.
>
> Whether or not you like Penn & Teller, they are scrupulous in their
ethics=
.. If
> they want to impress their peers in magic, and it's clear over all these
y=
ears
> that they do, they are going to have to play by the basic rules which
mean=
s no
> previous contact with audience volunteers.
>
> That said, I was wondering if they had rehearsed the trick with Paul
which=
 took
> me out of the trick itself. I think the problem was that he wasn't a
good
> participant. I also think that if his incessant talking was affecting
the =
trick,
> Penn would not have hesitated to tell him to shut up.
>
> Tom W

I doubt they even had a rehearsal, at least on stage; Monday
afternoon's rehearsal time was devoted to Lance Burton's act for the
Monday broadcast. And if there were a rehearsal, based on past
practice, most likely another staffer, perhaps an intern, was used in
Paul's place.

I saw nothing illegitimate in the act; no duplicate gl*****, no prior
coordination with Paul. What I saw were two master entertainers
presenting multiple and simultaneous sleight-of-hands. That's what
they do.