Penn & Teller: Fool Us - Siegfried Tieber Returns

Siegfried here. This is my second appearance on Penn & Teller: Fool Us. I hope you enjoy it! | For updates about upcoming projects and appearances join my mailing list at SiegfriedTieber.com | IG: @SiegfriedTieber

[@Shadow__X]

I think I cracked Penns code when he said "every day the earth rotates a little bit", the cards are in an order that seems random but that he knows, and the top card of one deck is the bottom card of the next and 2nd to bottom after that, or vice versa, so he just has to calculate how much the deck deviates from the first one and he has the position of any card in that deck

[@sagnikpaul1811]

I understand what you are saying. It feels like I can do it. But, it's going to consume a lot of time for preparing.

[@RudolfKlusal]

Yea, that's what I am thinking. :-) He's just very good with dates :-)

[@wallywest2360]

Yeah, I forget the term but there are ways to order a deck so that it appears random, but there is actually a pattern to it. Such that you don't need to memorize the order, you only need to know the top card and follow the pattern. That said, what he did here is still very impressive. He had to know the pattern VERY well. Not only to locate any given card in the deck, but to know by date which card was on top of any given deck.

[@mareksroka5629]

I also heard that key word in Penn's code, and, rewatching the show, I realized that Penn didn't select his card at random. It was calculated and completly exposed the trick.

[@eurotrucksimualtor.2880]

@@wallywest2360 actually not, he needed to know almost 6 or 7 of the decks, the rest are just to completed the viewer and my guess they are all repetitive, so he could lurk around them freely, without worries

[@HalcyonSerenade]

This is one of those tricks where I'm more impressed by the creativity of the setup than the trick itself. Being a geek of numbers and _not_ so much sleight of hand, math-based tricks are the only magic tricks I can do, so they don't usually get me 😅 But the scenario here and the misdirection employed -- what with recalling trivial facts about the days mentioned -- were greatly entertaining! Great performance!

[@LuisRodriguez-lf1ic]

Putting that engineering degree to work

[@harleyburton8731]

I remember my first invisible deck and that simple math required for working it. Back then even that was tough to do while keeping a good banter going and trying to build something around it. I haven't re-watched it to see if I could figure out the exact system, so maybe it's down to simple math. We know it's a rotation thing, but it isn't necessarily JUST that. I suspect it's a little more complicated than adding to 13 or something. Even if it isn't though, Siegfried stood in from of millions of people, and Penn and Teller, and never broke a sweat and kept it entertaining. The man has many skills and sleight of hand and misdirection etc are a tiny part of what makes him great.

[@CaptainWhitebeard]

True! Same at computer science :').

[@spicytrashpanda]

Gotta respect the chops of a guy who brings his Fooler trophy along. That alone was worth the price of admition. I also hope the book was enjoyable.

[@TorQueMoD]

It was likely educational :)

[@AlexReynard]

I love the touch of carrying off the first trophy at the end! I was smiling the whole time!

[@Kyanzes]

Worst case he can say: already got one.

[@karthikc8880]

Incorporating the current situation (ongoing pandemic) as part of storyline of the act made it more entertaining.... Needless to say, great trick!!

[@cadencantrell9634]

He may be the only person to ever walk off the FU stage with a trophy without actually fooling P&T

[@16CharlyV]

He still took a trophy at the end 😂. Great routine, man. So funny and entertaining from beginning to end.

[@IHACKER316]

that's his from before :)

[@maximem.ste-marie3578]

technically, you are not wrong

[@hungfao]

Another fine performance. The trick was good but the magician is very entertaining.

[@edsimnett]

The last trick felt to me like a tell. If the decks were random it would be common enough (that you would not want to do it) that the chosen card would never be in that position even over 150 decks.

[@MikeRees]

Yea that was my thoughts too, though I'm not sure on the statistics. I know in a group of 23 people there's a 50% chance that 2 have the same birthday, but using the same logic the odds of them choosing the card that appears in the same place twice is still probably smaller than the number of decks on the shelf.

[@edsimnett]

@@MikeRees If you have 52 decks there is a ~1/e (about 37%) that a given card will never appear in a particular (specified) spot. So with 156 decks there is a ~5% it will not happen. Maybe you get away with that by saying "no" but that completely ruins the trick, because it looks like you are waiting for one that you know. (this is different from the birthday problem, which would be closer to saying is *any* card in the same position in any two given decks (I think))

[@uginiopaka3376]

Yea I immediately googled 52! (factorial) and was like yea no...

[@vasiliscond9433]

Same here. Great trick nonetheless, and incredible use of bar trick concepts (like memorizing what day of the week is on a given date any year) and combining that with stacks. The trick would have been sold better if when Penn said the 4 of spade he would've thought and said "ohh... Well... There is no deck where the 4 of spades falls on the 30th position. Penn can you tell me a different card?" Then he went to find it. Probably would not have fooled penn and teller, but it would have definitely fooled me, or heavily thrown me off the scent

[@gatovillano7009]

I will try to guess out this trick is done. The last time he was on fool us, he seemed to have a deck that had an organized chaos. The cards were in a special order that allowed him to find the 2 cards. I believe that these decks all have the same organized chaos and they only rotate according to a mathematical formula that uses the number of the month and the date.

[@ecqtn]

the sequence can be reconstructed from the first and the last request. but it's truly amazing how fast he can just recall and find everything on the spot. crazy preparation!!

[@ryanhamstra49]

These are the tricks that impress me. It’s one where he basically tells the truth. They aren’t randomly shuffled, but he knows where each card is in each deck and that is extremely impressive to me

[@mitchellkoch3065]

In his first trick, he snuck a peak of the bottom card after the cards were shuffled when he gestured to Allison to check that he wasn’t looking at P+T’s card. Absolutely gorgeous misdirection.

[@SgtJoeSmith]

Penn said they coudve been doing it. They actually were. Penn's card was spot 30 after ace of diamonds in both decks. All the decks for each month were ordered the same. Then each month was 1 card off. But this guy still had to memorize the order of cards and count them in head

[@pietpatat8421]

@@mitchellkoch3065 He didn't peak, he did the Mnemonica Stack

[@daysiewaysie]

what a fantastic personality and joyful to watch. my mood is so much improved. If you don't already, you should consider giving occasional performances to hospice patients. you are an absolute treasure

[@matthewwallace1374]

wow, Siegfried, amazing magic. thank you for sharing your talent with the world!

[@justasimpleguy3882]

Its great to show an ilusion even if you didnt fool them, great work Siegfried, saludos gran mago desde Chile!!

[@Phi1618033]

Clever, because his last trick on Fool Us involved memorizing the order of the deck.

[@Nerketur]

This is one of those amazing mathematical-based tricks, I'm certain. Even so, it does take a _lot_ of mental gymnastics to be able to pull this off, so I'm extremely impressed. I love these kinds of tricks so much. Thank you for doing it. 😀

[@user-ux3jp9oo7r]

It's a rotating pattern ( thats why penn said how the earth "rotates" ). So you will have to memorize, but only 1 deck of cards. Each day will be off by one card. For example, if King of hearts is #1 in position at day 1 and jack of spades is #5. Then day 2 The king is in position #2 and the jack is in position #6... and so on and so forth... the idea is still very impressive

[@Nerketur]

@@user-ux3jp9oo7r alternatively, you could make each suit, and card into a number from 1 to 52, and have a mathematical way to transform that number into a date or back. No memorization needed, but the deck couldn't be in _any_ random order.

[@user-ux3jp9oo7r]

@@Nerketur Im just saying the method he did in the video, u can even see it, but im very intrigued by what u said, care to explain further how it would work?

[@Nerketur]

@@user-ux3jp9oo7r one option is the same way pseudo-random number generators work. Suits are in positions randomly, say suit is (seed × 7 % 4) + 1 Value is (seed × 49 % 13) + 1 That will work one way, but not the other. For the other, you'd have to do something like (card number * some value % 52) = position. Then you could reverse it more easily. It wouldn't look quite as random, but it would work, and at a glance, you wouldn't neccessarially know what the pattern was. I'm not going to show a full working example because I may actually use it as a trick I perform one day. :)

[@Folsomdsf2]

It's a pattern that's deviated via the date. The dates are numbers he's just doing quick math and knows the 'default' positions. He memorized 1 deck and uses the dates to figure it out after that.

[@soocool78]

This is both one of the first tricks I figured out in one watch before Penns remarks….but even as I figured out I said “damn, this is freaking impressive”. Well done on creating such an amazingly designed trick and the mental gymnastics that have to follow it

[@francislawless8003]

Super performance So well organized creating a wonderful illusion

[@SiegfriedTieber]

Thanks, I appreciate it!!

[@harleyburton8731]

This is one of those tricks that is still impressive when you know how it's done. Also, this is a magician who is great to watch even when you know what he's doing.

[@LunaC_literaturecoach]

It's so amazing to have been able to see this trick live on Zoom, and you have been an incredible support for my boyfriend and me in the first months of the pandemic! Thank you for being such a kind human being (in addition to being a mesmerizing magician)

[@iscaleto]

Your energy is the real magic, I simply cannot stop smiling and giggling when you perform. You are my favorite magician

[@net_lag]

Saaame

[@newyorkslim2001]

well said -- agreed!

[@MahmoudMaguid]

It would be my honour to one day call this gentleman my friend. He just seems so nice and cool

[@evanbarnes9984]

I think I know exactly how this works, and it actually makes the trick more impressive to me!

[@jeffhoward9186]

What a wonderful magician and performer. Thank you for sharing your talent.

[@jefffrederick258]

Sigfried if you see this - please keep it up. I love your energy and your magic.

[@TheRealWinsletFan]

I flipping love this. Wonderful.

[@stivaro]

I JUST saw Penn & Teller in Vegas 2 days ago and Penn did almost this exact bit. Only, he used decks of cards from him and Teller's travels over the years. He talked about...I think...a castle with many rooms and then you associate those rooms with specific things. Still...I doubt I could pull this off.

[@graziellebaggiobernardinis1403]

he is a sweetheart... He gives me the vibes of Encanto's Bruno if he was treated right 💜 I loved to see him again ^^

[@antonlvdm]

Love this guy's energy!

[@goose2270]

Great job! Love seeing you do what you love, and you have awesome presence on stage! Keep up the great work!

[@nanan_hello]

One of, if not, my favorite magicians. Good work!!

[@carmcarm8230]

This magic is insane. This guy is a genius!

[@raspxaseron6464]

I watched both your appearances on this show and you are great! Entertaining and funny. Your magic is half who you are and half the trick.. Don't change at all.

[@themugwump33]

As someone who loves math, this trick absolutely delighted me!!! Well done!!

[@TheJovan211]

That's amazing, it doesn't matter how you did it! Well done, nice work!

[@jefflenney9460]

Dude, congrats - and glad to see you're feeling better! Yours was STILL my fav show at the Magic Castle A few years back, was nice meeting you then - hope you're still there (or elsewhere) when LA finally opens everything up again!

[@YourWishes]

As a programmer this is one of the few tricks I understand, still incredible showmanship while doing fairly complex mathematics!

[@jimbobjones9330]

Same. All he needs is a simple algorithm to handle the list rotation. It isn't a simple "rot 1" type of thing, and memorizing the one deck is impressive as hell no matter what. But this is one of those things that can be replicated by a relatively simple bit of code.

[@russofamerica]

That was a fantastic trick, and you have a great personality!

[@TorQueMoD]

Super entertaining to watch Siegfried! Thanks so much for posting!

[@bigrob966]

The mental power for how it sounds like this works is crazy. What a great trick!!

[@mguerra79]

I'm not a magician, so, it was a great trick! Congrats! Keep them coming!!!

[@sooryag8769]

Just watched this on your birthday after watching your first appearance. Happy birthday and I hope you got the book!

[@sebastianrodriguezlemoine8013]

Absolutamente genial y encantador al mismo tiempo! Felicitaciones... ya sabes qué te van a regalar para tu cumpleaños! Saludos desde Argentina!

[@musickid43]

The end answered this for me. When given just a card and a position and have to find which deck, there must be a deck for every possible combination which then means the decks cannot be randomly shuffled. If he would have said "there are no decks with that card in that position" then I would still be confused. Still this is a great trick.

[@mediamannaman]

Great job, buddy! Your acting classes were worth the money as you are a great showman.

[@melissachalsma7853]

Ahhhhh Siegfried!! You are so great!!!

[@SilverPhotos]

I love all your performances, they are so enjoyable and full of positive energy. Always excited to see more!

[@VocaDollGW2]

I love this guy, this trick was amazing!

[@TheRattleShark]

This is the type of trick where he could tell you exactly how he memorized all those cards and it would still blow your mind. To engineer a trick of this magnitude is where the real magic lays. If I thought of this first I would set up 4-6 different sequences and leave myself clues in the dates as to which way each deck is sequenced, this way the cleverest of onlookers can't spot the pattern. A good way to separate each pattern would be by the days of the week. Each deck that's falls on a Saturday or a Sunday would be deck sequence 1, Monday 2, Tuesday Thursday 3, Wednesday 4 and Friday 5. You would still have to make sure each of the 52 cards was on the top of one sequence so you better have a big card budget. Well done. I hope to see more of Seigfried soon, such a likable guy.

[@Alkis05]

You would still have to memorize a lot of 52 size sequences. That's a lot, to not get mixed up.

[@TheRattleShark]

@@Alkis05 my guess is that he had 5 difference 52 card sequences memorized. Monday, Wednesday and Friday would have individual sequences and then Sunday Saturday would have the same sequence as well as Tues, Thurs would have their own. Building it and checking it would take forever to set up and perfect.

[@Alkis05]

@@TheRattleShark My guess is that he had one order, but many different sequences, based on some math having to do with the date. Like 4657 in one 6574 in another, 5746 and so on. I suppose I should check it. (Yeah, just checked it. Eg: 6 spade, 5 spade, 9 hearts. 5:43 6:33). He probably used the fact that the year has 52 weeks, one for each position in the deck. Let's say, First sunday starts at 6, second sunday at 5, third sunday at 9 and so on. Then with a bit of math, he knows that 03/28 is in week 16. It is the same order, the sequence just starts at different points of the order and loops back. The shift depends on the date. That is what Penn was referencing when he said "The world keeps spinning" or something like that. When he is presenting the decks (the first two he opens), he chooses the decks in such a way that he doesn't need to show overlaping parts of the sequence. That way the audience can't know that both decks are in the same order. Still, he has to memorize the sequence and not mess up the math. Not an easy trick.

[@IronReece13]

Amazing trick would love to see your show, if we ever can again

[@RobertBallMagician]

This was a wonderful performance 😊👍😊😊👍👍

[@Dip3268]

Damn Penn and teller knows everything...I was like what the hell is this really a memory trick which can't be possible well not these much...hats off to penn and teller..and you as well

[@avrilrosejuanes217]

We just love you man!❤️❤️❤️

[@ideegeniali]

What impresses me is the wording Penn can come out in the code reveal! Each day earth rotates a tiny bit. It's impressive to think of that methaphor to be so precise/telling and yet on topic with the pandemic lockdown theme!

[@aaronkratzmann9703]

And to come up with it on the spot, have it be relevant to the trick without giving toom uch away is amazing. His knowledge of techniques must be truly immense for himto be able to come up with codes for them so consistently.

[@sharpo]

One of the greats!

[@Max_Jacoby]

Knowing deck number you know the order of cards. Deck #1: 1234 Deck #2: 2341 Deck #3: 3412

[@swtpeteswtpete1515]

So he used a trick to memorize a single deck, like a mnemonic; then starting card rotates a day forward at a time, from one deck to the next - audience didn't notice the pattern or any repetition which is likely there...and lastly he need only do minor subtraction to get the place in the deck and which deck to grab. Cool!

[@TheDavemarz]

I almost wish that he faked a slight of hand movement so that Penn and Teller would have caught that and thought that was how he did the trick.

[@dinerocurioso]

@@TheDavemarz I don't like red herrings and they shouldn't be a thing in Fool Us

[@criticmed]

Felicitaciones gran Mago y actor. Esperamos otra gran presentación tuya en foul us, y obviamente en latinoamérica, abrazo.

[@crestfallenraven]

YOU ARE BRILLIANT!! Sooo many smiles 😃😃😃❤️❤️❤️💕💕💕👏👏👏🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💋

[@661Justice]

Wow! I got it! Great act done much, much better than I ever could.

[@monsierlemaire8282]

That was a lot of fun. Great trick!

[@Cthulhus_Mum]

I love how happy he is that they worked it out. Just delightful :)

[@danieldiamantes]

Que genio hermano, ¡ESPECTACULAR!

[@IcePrincessje]

It brings me so much joy to see you perform. Your style is just so vibrant it makes me just happy to watch. And the truck is also very nice, even when you know how it's done.

[@freddydonoso9027]

Excelente amigo excelente felicitaciones gran idea....eres un crack....

[@JohnSmithAnythingChannel]

The way the dates are written on those cards, it's like cassette tapes.

[@ythehunter755]

I like how he explains them how he did his previous trick at the start

[@deviousbug54]

What a legend and good sport 👏

[@IHACKER316]

Great guy and briliant trick - I have no idea how its done

[@OiVinn-eq1ml]

Legend has it he's still waiting for the book

[@bregt14]

Nicely done. Greetings from Belgium!

[@aximusroh6453]

Yeah ive seen most of P&T Foolers and yeah, you're my favorite. You definitely made me laugh the hardest, especially the 1st time you won. Love your work champ 👍

[@axel.lessio]

Entendí el código de Penn y hace mucho sentido, sin embargo es un truco genial! Fuiste brillante por haberlo concebido pero también porque la forma en la cual lo presentas es perfecta para que el público no tenga duda de la autenticidad, eso fue asombroso.

[@bzqp2]

Great show!

[@Pedroepacas]

just Amazing!

[@seanroland612]

You are so enjoyable to watch!

[@dragoslove]

Only an engineer would develop an algorithm to monitor card positions over months. I love this.

[@prospectnyc]

That is a lot of algebra to do in your head! I loved this!

[@stephenbollin702]

Absolutely brilliant performer.

[@jaysharp789]

When Penn selected his card it confirmed what he thought. He knew the answer before he picked it. "The Earth rotates each day". . . and so do the cards

[@matthewlund7807]

If I were to give my own hint in Penn-like code, it would be this: “This is going better than expected” @5:47 was not only brilliant acting, but meta-commentary about the trick! Extremely clever! I loved your performance throughout.

[@amyk9813]

How so? 😅

[@matthewlund7807]

@@amyk9813 At that point the trick was close to being “revealed” but not quite. If the participants asked for different numbers/ cards, you may have been able to see the trick at that point. Of course, you’d have to be clever enough to notice the trick either way!

[@corkkyle]

Great performance!

[@Alkis05]

This is perfect, because people said that, in his first appearance, he did the trick by memorizing the deck. So its funny he doubled down on it.

[@iambicpentakill]

You are always entertaining!

[@davidsanchezplaza]

crack! genio y figura, el mejor junto con Jandro!

[@ryannelson8657]

What a great dude and great act.

[@helenapereira8547]

Love your personality... and your magic too, of course 😁

[@goldeneddie]

Thank you for not exposing the outcome in the title of the video.... that made it more exciting to wonder what P&T would say!

[@kathrynnpetersen8876]

When Alyson said ace of hearts I knew she was going to select that one

[@kenpearce3269]

👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻very entertaining!

[@hundredpercentjuice]

Midway through the trick, let me practice my Penn. "I bet you love living in LA, but would have loved it more in the 1960s, with the Mod culture. Much less traffic obviously, since everyone loved to cycle" Penn picking deck 2 was a classy choice, there's 2 more obvious ones to pick. Great trick with awesome presentation, Truly a pleasure to watch.

[@venkateshchidipothu7980]

Your performance mesmerized me...

[@shams.v]

Is it a happy coincidence or just KZbin AI that this video was suggested to me today i.e. 8th Jan which happens to be Siegfried's birthday. Amazing performer. 🤠

[@Nico12420]

I think the trick was in their book that's why Penn's going to give him their book on his birthday!

[@sharpfang]

This is not a magic trick - this is pure-blood juggling. Except instead of hands, this guy uses his mind, juggling numbers masterfully.

[@danielboone4796]

You are a great magician and entertainer!

[@oldschoolwarrior]

Your showmanship unparalleled, your skill is superb. Your personality is so endearing. I loved this performance as much as the first. Simply fantastic!

[@wyboovrede8118]

Wauw extraordinaire!

[@landonmiles97]

Penn and Teller have a lot of respect for him. Very cool thing for them to do.

[@karan360s]

This is my favourite show now....😇😇😇❤️

[@sailaab]

you are such a breathe of fresh air😊👌🏽 . This👍🏼 (act) had indeed one of the best routines in close-up magic that i have seen.

[@AIArchiveLabs]

A

[@ilmalocchio]

Breathe is the (act) and breath is the (noun)!

[@sailaab]

ilmalocchio fuck the language

[@benjaminfranklin4149]

This is a brilliant arrangement of a principle with which many magicians are familiar. Creative, fun, and entertaining. I love this performance. Very inspirational Siegfried!