Awesome Magic

Thumbs up for magician Vincent Kuo as he amps up the classic magic finger trick you learned as a kid. He works such trickery with his digits we’d be worried he might steal some of ours if we got anywhere near him.

(PG-13: Language) “It works 50% of the time.” On The Graham Norton Show with Will.i.am, Jennifer Lawrence and Jamie Oliver, Chris Pratt tries a card trick with lots of disclaimers beforehand. Honestly, we’re more amazed that Will.i.am doesn’t know what an Ace is.

CaptainDisillusion is getting so good at debunking, he’s now tackling two lies in a single short video. The cup levitation trick is easier to do, but at least you know it’s a trick. The train track near miss video on the other hand leverages realism for views.

Magician and escape artist David Blaine dropped by The Tonight Show, and proceeded to freak out Jimmy and the guys from The Roots with a series of impressive close-up card tricks, culminating in a serious mindbender. Then he pulls a Steve Jobsian “One more thing…”

Mental Floss‘ Elliott Morgan fills our brains with 26 tidbits of trivia about magicians and their tricks, including the math skills, psychology, and dexterity required to make stage illusions convincing. Also, we never knew Teller’s first name until today.

Magician Mac King opted not to do his mesmerizing rope trick to try and fool fellow Las Vegas vets Penn & Teller. Instead, he went fishing on stage. Now that’s a proud and natural entertainer.

We’ve all seen magicians perform some variant of the cheesy old rope trick, but we’ve never seen anyone do it quite as well as Vegas prestidigitator Mac King, whose timing, precise slight of hand, and stage presence all come together to elevate this classic gag.

Magician Mahdi Gilbert – who developed his own methods of doing tricks because he has deformed hands and feet – tries to fool Penn and Teller with his oil and water trick with the two masters watching right beside him.

Stone-faced 23-year-old Kyle Eschen tries to fool Penn and Teller with his charming awkward schtick. At the end of the day, he might be more of a comedian than a magician, but that is no insult. The man belongs on the stage.

In the first episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ third season – with Alyson Hannigan as the new host! – comedy magician Michael Kent tried to bamboozle his idols by making a glass and a bottle switch places, and then some. Wait for it…

To promote fast food restauraunt Del Taco, magician Stuart Edge posed as a crew member and produced menu items out of a seemingly bottomless paper bag. Check out the behind-the-scenes on his Snapchat page, or just follow his coworker’s gaze at around 1:45.

The sequel to the flawed but fun heist movie sees the team of illusionists blackmailed by their nemesis (Morgan Freeman) and a tech prodigy (Daniel Radcliffe) into pulling off an impossible heist.

DaveHax shows us a simple but impressive party trick: making it seem like your shoelaces tied themselves. All you need is an extra shoelace, a string, and pants that are wide enough to hide the bow. Now go and impress your nieces and nephews.

David Kwong is both a magician and a professional crossword maker. It’s no surprise that one of his staple tricks is based on the popular puzzle. It involves making a crossword with the help of the audience, and then some.

The latest version of Ellusionist’s wrist-mounted flash gun is more affordable and 50% smaller than the original Pyro. But it’s packed with new features including a USB rechargeable battery, a detachable wrist strap and a burst fire mode.

(PG-13 Language) Magician Neil Henry already spoiled the video in his title, so we won’t bother with a tease. He took one of his recent performances as the opportunity to propose to his beloved girlfriend.

The NoMad Hotel’s magician Dan White challenged The Tonight Show‘s Jimmy Fallon to a fun but simple guessing game, but then turns the trick inside out. He also blew The Roots’ minds with a deck of cards and a Sharpie.

Shin Lim was an aspiring pianist, but 7 years ago he turned to magic because his wrists gave out. Watch him fool Penn & Teller with a barrage of sleight of hand tricks that he’s learned in that short amount of time. Skip to 2:10. Mirror here.

The last time we saw Piff, he failed to fool fellow magicians Penn and Teller. But he’s back on TV, because magic dragons live forever, and Mr. Piffles has to eat. This time he got on the fast track to the semifinals of America’s Got Talent.

Magician Steven Brundage performed his way out of a speeding ticket. But can he fool the great Penn and Teller? Watch as he manipulates and solves Rubik’s Cubes in ridiculous ways. He explained his performance a bit on Reddit.

The young magician Moritz Mueller doesn’t need assistants or props to draw your attention away from his sleight of hand. All he needs to do is flash a smile. If that doesn’t work, Moritz also knows how to rely on good old spit equity.

A slick Irishman amuses pub patrons by performing his version of the sleight of hand trick that involves matching a funny story with the sequence of playing cards he pulls from a shuffled and cut deck.

The vanishing bottle is one of the simplest yet fun to watch magic tricks. But the world famous magician, entertainer and educator Shawn Farquhar put a spin on the trick by doing it slowly. Keep an eye on his left hand starting at 0:36.