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Bonus Chapter No. 2: Piff the Magic Dragon

Lesson time 16:36 min

A professional magician with years of experience, Piff the Magic Dragon gets advice and coaching from Penn & Teller and Johnny Thompson on a new routine that he has created largely from scratch.

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Topics include: Bonus Chapter No. 2: Piff the Magic Dragon

Penn & Teller

Teach the Art of Magic

In their first-ever MasterClass, Teller breaks his silence as he and Penn teach their approach to creating moments of wonder and astonishment.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] PENN JILLETTE: We first met Piff the Magic Dragon when he performed on our show "Penn and Teller-- Fool Us." He came on, we fell in love with him immediately. And over the past years, he's moved to Vegas. He's got his own theater over at the flamingo. And we work with him a lot on different things. Not only do we help him with his magic, but he's also come in and rehearsed with us and given us ideas for our show. And he's just a friend and someone we work with a lot. He's brought us a trick that we've not seen that he's having some trouble with, for us to kind of brainstorm with Johnny Thompson and see if we can get the trick to be a little better and maybe go into his show. He is in his full Piff the Magic Dragon wardrobe. You should always rehearse in the actual wardrobe you're going to wear. That's a rule that I know, but I never follow. When Penn and Teller rehearse, I rehearse in jeans. But he should be in his magic dragon costume. So Piff, show us a trick. - Look, first of all, I'm a genuine magic dragon. - Okay. - All right. So I'm just here naked, as I usually am. Basically, I didn't get dressed today. All right? - And you've also got Mr. Piffles and Jade with you. - He's in his dragon outfit. - Yes. - Yeah. - She's in her showgirl outfit. - She's in her showgirl outfit. I am-- - Butt ass naked. - Let's continue. - Okay. - One of my favorite periods in magic-- and there's really only one of my favorite periods of magic-- was back in the day between 1910 and 1940. Those 30 years, people were just doing crazy stuff with magic. Like, when they were writing magic books, they would just make up effects and then just make up even more ridiculous methods. So you read these things, you go, how is that possible? Spoiler alert-- - It's not. - Bang. My favorite period in magic. When magic was real magic. Now, during that period there was a guy who was called Alexander. And he toured all over the place as Alexander the Man Who Knows. And even now, his posters are incredibly famous. - Alexander was not exactly a magician. Alexander was a mentalist. - Yes. - Who did really obnoxious, horrible readings of the audience. You know-- - Correct. - He would threaten the audience with revealing their secret affairs. You know, and he'd have people out doing research on them so that he could. It was creepy. - Yes, but hang on a minute. PENN JILLETTE: This is your hero. - He did, also, marry 12 women and kill three men, so it wasn't all bad. - - So this crazy, crazy person would wear a turban on onstage and he would do readings from the audience. And the audience would come in, they would write down questions and throw them in a bowl. He would then concentrate, look into his crystal ball, and receive these messages. Now, the messages weren't coming from outer space. They were coming from two metal plates that he was standing on, a...

About the Instructor

With more than 40 years performing together, Penn & Teller have sold out shows around the world, earned a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and created the longest-running headline act in Las Vegas. Now the legendary magicians are taking you behind the curtain. Learn fundamental magic tricks and the psychological tools that create amazement, at home or on stage. Expand your perception of the possible.

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Penn & Teller

In their first-ever MasterClass, Teller breaks his silence as he and Penn teach their approach to creating moments of wonder and astonishment.

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