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says "Do not touch screen during Vidi-Kopy operation." After a few seconds of digital flashing, a copy of the image drawn on the paper appears on the screen. After a fake "save" function, the magician is then asked to take a dollar bill out of his pocket, and hold it against the screen and an image of the bill appears on the screen, then the magician presses a fake button on the screen which makes the image magnify on the screen. The magician then has two options, either turn off the tape and then attempt to sell the fake Vidi-Kopy tape to the victim, or keep the tape rolling for the punch-line. The magician is supposed to downplay the warnings about touching the screen and place his bare hand on the screen and press the copy button. The image flashes and a copy of his hand is supposed to appear on the screen, which flashes violently, the female voice starts saying "System
Failure." The magician, as soon as it flashes (but before the hand is visible on-screen), is supposed to scream and act like his hand had been horribly burned.
508:. Then you tell your friend that he will be the magician for an interactive card trick. Penn will ask the person who is in on it to pull out a card and examine it and place it back into the deck. It doesn't matter what card you pick, you say it was the four of diamonds. The victim is then asked to place the deck on top of the TV. Teller then "reaches" up and pulls down a similarly gimmicked card. Penn says "Is this your card, the FIVE of diamonds?" The person says no, then Teller (who has been wearing a red and white striped tie) moves the hole onto a white stripe, this making the red diamond vanish, and thus correctly finding the chosen card. The victim will be amazed that the trick has gone off so well. The person who is in on it is supposed to say that he thinks he knows how the trick was done and asks for the card...he pulls out the gimmicked card which has now magically appeared in the deck. Penn says that there are three separate betting points, but does not say what they are.
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victim and the magician how to do a simple trick involving three cards. The idea is to take three playing cards, fan them out and then flip over the middle card so the fan shows up front, back, front. Penn will then give some bogus instructions to a trick that involves flipping the middle card over in order to make all three backs show in a row. The victim will have trouble with the trick, while the magician will nail it on the first go. This is because the magician has made a gaffed double-backed card by using a
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goaded into betting his money that his girlfriend CAN'T guess the word by concentrating. This drives a wedge between the victim and his lover...who magically knows that the word is "bundle." This is because the magician doesn't use the word picked out of the book, he writes down the word "bundle" and hands it to the victim. While this is going on, the woman is watching the TV, when over the clip, Teller walks in holding up large
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In "Vidi-Kopy", Penn & Teller claim they have created an experimental tape that can turn a VCR into a digital copier. After a short description, the magician starts the tape with what appears to be a computer screen placed on it. The magician prepares a "random piece of paper." A female voice
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The magician pulls out a randomly picked book and asks the victim to pick a page at random, and then he asks the victim to tell him how many lines down to go on the page and how many word across in order to pick a random word. This word is written down on a card and handed to the victim, who is
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when the magician is supposed to act like they see a speck of dirt on the screen. The magician is then supposed to spray some of the cleaner on a paper towel and after a special moment happens in the movie the magician starts rubbing the screen with the paper towel. The clip has been digitally
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This trick is supposed to be used on people who are either too cheap to buy their own copy of the tape, or too sophisticated to fall for the more outrageous scams. The bit will revolve around a fake magic tutorial jokingly titled "Cool Tricks for Dear
Friends". Penn & Teller will show the
397:. After a TV bumper, a quick segment called "Newsbreak" comes on. A news anchor (Nancy Giles) reads a news piece about a new government scandal. After reading a few lines, the anchor is given a breaking headline. She pauses, smiles brightly, holds up a jumbo-sized three of clubs and says "Is
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After the last trick footage is shown, the tape ends with Penn and Teller at the beach, thanking the viewer and saying goodbye. It is stated more or less directly that those who purchased the tape intending to scam their friends are the true suckers. This was overtly foreshadowed during the
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After, Penn & Teller introduce themselves, making a huge point about how there are roughly 137.999 suckers to every
American who owns a VCR (and can thus buy and use the tape). Some of the music in the tape is incidental background music provided by Penn & Teller themselves (Penn on
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to stick two cards together, so only the backs are showing. Penn says to milk this trick, you are supposed to act patronizing and condescending to your victim; in the video, Penn and Teller claim that they have taught the trick to handicapped children who have learned it straight away.
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explanation of the card force scam: "...that's why we made this tape. It's wrong to gloat, and evildoers must be punished." This matches the "trick/punchline" format of each trick, with the tape as a whole being a large trick on the buyer, and this segment the punchline to that trick.
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This trick does not involve cards, but instead requires the user to have paper towels and a bottle of glass cleaner. The tape also included a sticker which reads "Static Free for TV Screens" to place on the bottle. The magician is supposed to start to watch another clip from
460:. The victim is asked to put some money on it. The magician pauses the tape, and then is supposed to pretend to play the film backwards. In actuality, the magician just presses the "play" button. The footage starts to play in reverse. The preacher starts to say all manner of
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from a deck of cards. The magician asks them to make a simple wager on the outcome, and intentionally picks the wrong card from the deck. After doing so the magician asks the victim to watch some TV. When the TV is turned on, the videotape shows a clip from the old
328:, the tape features seven different swindles or tricks that the home viewer can use to fool their friends. The tape was a companion piece to their best-selling book of the same name, released two years later. All of the tricks involve using a portion of the videotape.
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being rubbed with a wet sponge." The victim is supposed to be shocked into thinking that an over-the-counter cleanser can actually damage an image on a TV screen. This is not to be done for money, but just for laughs. This trick was demonstrated on an episode of
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knife. Before your friend comes over, you are supposed to take the five of diamonds and carefully cut out the middle diamond with the knife, then you place the doctored card into the deck. You tell your friend that Penn & Teller are going to be on TV with
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542:) is created that is said to "borderline on eerie." To prove this, The magician asks both people to stand back to back, with the woman staring at the TV, which is playing yet another clip of
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Penn & Teller assume no responsibility for the misuse of these materials and will not be held liable to anyone who loses money from the illegal misuse of this tape.
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538:) you would like to have all your own. In the trick you set up by saying that when a couple starts going together, a mental bond (or
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is our Lord" and "The screams of torture are the music of my dance". This trick was done to seemingly poke fun at televangelists like
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456:]!" The magician is then asked to claim that he has found a backwards masking technique in a show hosted by an unnamed
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365:. This was supposedly to help reduce the cost of the tape, which, Penn jokingly suggests retailed at $ 3.95.
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The tape begins with an odd warning after the usual FBI anti-piracy warning and
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that many popular albums, movies, and TV shows contained backwards messages (referred to as
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your card?" The magician is then supposed to take the money and laugh at their victim.
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altered to look like the image is being torn and distorted like, as Penn puts it, "a
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Said to be Penn's favorite clip, this trick makes fun of the then-popular claim by
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trick that is to be performed with a sucker who has a girlfriend (played here by
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The last trick on the tape is said to be Teller's favorite. The trick is a
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The opening trick involved learning a simple effect called a
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Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear
Friends
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50:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
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493:This clip requires a deck of cards and an
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707:The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller
114:Learn how and when to remove this message
794:Films with screenplays by Penn Jillette
551:which say that the word is "bundle."
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48:adding citations to reliable sources
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423:Late Night with David Letterman
374:The card force (no name given)
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732:Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends
799:1980s English-language films
725:Penn & Teller Get Killed
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320:program hosted by magicians
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670:Magic and Mystery Tour
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450:of England [
245:The Mofo Video Corp.
44:improve this article
464:messages such as "
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255:Lorimar Home Video
126:1987 American film
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739:Smoke and Mirrors
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217:Harvey Kopel
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104:January 2010
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42:Please help
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767:Wizard Wars
746:It's Tricky
536:Lydia Lunch
506:Alan Hunter
440:backmasking
351:bass guitar
332:Tape format
194:Alan Hunter
191:Lydia Lunch
173:Produced by
149:Directed by
143:Video cover
789:1987 films
783:Categories
519:glue stick
470:Jim Bakker
417:watercolor
380:card force
316:is a 1987
289:59 minutes
273:1987-07-10
238:Production
213:Bill Daris
180:Cindy Valk
159:Written by
74:newspapers
677:Bullshit!
549:cue cards
540:simpatico
532:mentalism
480:Vidi-Kopy
369:The scams
209:Edited by
153:Art Wolff
31:does not
686:episodes
555:Epilogue
355:keyboard
302:Language
223:Music by
185:Starring
656:Fool Us
462:Satanic
305:English
294:Country
271: (
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88:scholar
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37:sources
682:Awards
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