"It's not juggling, it's misdirection" this phrase has been seared into my brain with the amount of ads Masterclass has put up.

It is simply astounding when they do it with the clear cups. I mean you can see into the cups and the balls still seem to appear out of nowhere.

My favorite thing Penn ever said was when describing different methods of misdirection he said 'or you could have a fat loud mouth with a ponytail distract the audience while you do all the work.'

The joy of watching Penn & Teller doing magic is that, even when they reveal the secret, it only makes the trick even more difficult to comprehend.

And by revealing it it becomes even more astonishing.

Their skill and timing are extraordinary. People here are pointing out that Teller is superior at sleight-of-hand, which Penn has also said, but keep in mind that Penn is narrating their complex little act play-by-play as he pockets and positions the props. That's no small task.

Teller is World Class with his hands.

2 guys 3 cups

Funnily enough, a lot of their tricks I actually appreciate more once they've explained them, because then you can see just how much work and skill goes into them. That's just as impressive as the illusion.

These guys are maters of slight of hand- absolute geniuses and even when done with clear plastic cups, they make it seem as if they still just appear there

They simply proved that it doesn't matter how trivial or simple any trick can be, what matters it's the execution. Love these guys

Why is Teller wearing a mic?

I think that teller is the best at sleight of hand there is. Penn is good, but teller's hands seem to be completely empty when he secretly is holding objects. It's incredible!

i caught every moment of the trick before they revealed it, it just took me 23 replays.

I come back to this every once in a while, because it seems like every time I watch it I'm seeing it in a new context. I think what I've realized lately is that performing "magic" for people provides a certain kind of entertainment value that only lasts until the show is over, and then they're immediately asking for more. But showing people that it's not really "magic," just hours and hours of practice and hard work to make something difficult appear effortless... that both proves your value and earns you greater respect as a performer, and inspires others to work just as hard to make something of value now that they know that the only real magic is determination. Replace "performing magic" with "making art", "fixing computers", or any other skill where people treat you like a wizard, and suddenly your own hard work and the work of those around you becomes more apparent.

My eyes couldn't follow the trick even when they showed it on purpose. Needs some quick moving hands to do that

You see how they do it, they TELL you how they do it, and it STILL looks like magic! These guys are great.

I love how when Penn & Teller explain a trick it makes it even more impressive, because suddenly it's less about the mystery of what they're doing and more about the pure skill it takes to pull it off.

Penn & Teller began with a guest appearance on Jonathan's show and ended with Jonathan as the host on Penn & Teller's show

Even with clear cups and Penn telling us what they're doing, it still looks like magic.

I love how I KNEW about Penn's juggling misdirection and I still fell for it. Gotta love these guys.

The great thing about this is that when they do the trick, you're astounded by the mystique, the mystery and what you know cannot be true. When they reveal it, you're astounded by the skill, the clear practice taken to get to that point and how meticulously orchestrated it is. Either way ... yeah, bravo.

What I love about this trick is that it shows just how much artistry and skill is required to do magic, and somehow it makes the trick just as magic, if not more.

Watching it again and again, I'm convinced Teller teleported that baseball to the cup, it just appears there o.O

They do this so fast! I'm sure it requires years and years of practice to make it look this seamless, especially in front of cameras and a live studio audience. I couldn't pull this off in front of my dog.

The amazing thing is that people are just as perplexed when they do the trick with the clear cups.

The great thing about Penn & Teller is that even though they are revealing how it's done (even though they are old tricks and everyone basically knows what's going on already)...they still manage to amaze the audience because of the way they present it.

Palming an entire fking baseball like that is some max level illusion.

It's this reason why I love Penn and Teller. They can show me a trick I already know, and are still amazingly entertaining to watch. Even moreso when they "reveal" the trick with a fake reveal. Classic.

Ever since I was little I always hated how magicians never explained how they did their tricks. Something about that just seemed so wrong and unfair. Penn and Teller are so fantastic because they break all the stupid traditional rules of magic and show it for what it is: not mysticism, but pure creativity, cleverness, and talent! They're against all the bullshit aspects of magic, they're educational, and above all - they're hilarious! Penn and Teller are THE BEST magicians!

Every now and then I pull up this trick and watch. It's why I love P&T, and why I love their Fool Us show. My spouse and I, when watching magic performances on TV, will reverse, pause, and slow-motion tricks to see... if not WHAT was done or HOW it was done, but WHEN a thing happened. In a way, it spoiled a lot of tricks that rely on gadgets or flashy effects, but it gives us an appreciation for the skills involved. Wonder is not diminished by knowledge.

The two of you together working the ball on that second cup is so smooth and quick I have trouble following even with narration and a clear cup. It's a thing of beauty.

The astonoshing sleight of hand makes the clear cup verison still seem magical

I'm so glad they're willing to share a little bit of magic and help us enjoy this trick with them. 😊

These guys, Ricky Jay, all the greats - it's not that it's impossible to figure out how they did it. It's just hard to believe anybody gets that good at anything. Love watching mastery of a medium.

These guys have been so great for so long!! I would love to see them live!!!

12 years on and this is still entertaining.

I have watched this several times, and it still looks like magic to me!

The reason i love penn and teller is because even when they SHOW how to do the trick they do it in a way where it still looks like things are vanishing and appearing. They are so professional and have mastered sleight of hand so much that even when looking you in the eyes and showing you how its done you still get left feeling you have have no damn clue what just happened

Amazing. The trick is how good they are with their hands, the precision.

These guys are such great showmen. I was actually more impressed/entertained when they did the trick showing me every step. Love it.

them telling us how it was done made it 100 times more impressive

The slight of hand is insane, I rewatched the begging with the red cups after they revealed how they did it with the clear cups and I still had to rewind a couple of times even though I knew what to watch for...

I saw them in 1986 … and Yes they did this trick … I was a wonderful show !

My favourite line of all time from anything ever made, has always been “This is not juggling, this is called misdirection!” Which is what penn always says when revealing the Cups And Balls trick

Showing us how they do the trick ruins nothing, in fact it takes the appreciation of what they do on stage to a whole new level.

I love watching this video because it shows just how freakin' good their slight of hand is. Even with clear cups and step-by-step explainations, it's beautiful to behold. Hours and hours of practice went into making it smooth and perfect!

This really is proof of just HOW fucking incredible they are. It's not just quick slight of hand, it's perfectly SMOOTH slight of hand too. It is literally perfect in every way, timed perfectly. Just fucking wildly good

I have always disagreed about knowing the trick making it less impressive. For me knowing how it works and seeing it done flawlessly and so quickly I had to be watching and in some cases just had to assume they did a thing (sometimes even when you KNOW they're going to sleeve a baseball you cant see the damn thing happen)... that's sublime. I'm watching someone do a totally different kind of performance than just 'tricking' me and relying on my ignorance to make me impressed. When you impress me and I know how you did it... yeah. That's the magic for me.

I love that the first ball comes pre loaded into the last cup. This is why Teller flipped it quicker than the first two red cups.

Yeah, I just watched this three times in a row. I am still amazed even after seeing it all, finally.

Sleight of hand at its finest! 👏👏👏

1:13 "This is not juggling, this is called Misdirection" -Penn-

Still crazy how he rolls the ball in his left sleeve and then rolls it around his body out the other sleeve just like the cigarette trick.

With the exception of a few people whose bulbs just aren't very bright, I think we all knew how the cup and balls trick works. Yet we still appreciate and love the sleight of hand and showmanship that makes it magic.

You know youre a great magician when you show how its done, and its still mesmerizing

Only seen the cigarette bit before this, thanks Jack!

I want to watch Penn and Teller live.

It is even more impressive when you know how they are doing it. I can still barely see/not notice the moves they are doing. Their slight of hand is simply astounding.

I never would have figured this one out, but the years of learning to avoid the misdirect combined with me learning the French Drop from you guys' show helped me crack the code.

the see through cups didn't help anything

Magic is incredible, but if you watch it a few times it's shocking that you don't notice everything they do.

Thanks to this I learnt something about magic: it is all in the preparation. What the audience sees is what you did during the previous trick. What you are actually doing is preparation for the next trick.

It’s so amazing watching the video again after it’s revealed because I can’t believe I didn’t notice all the times they went in their pockets! Amazing!

1:13 "This isn't called juggling, this is called misdirection!"

After watching this, it seems to me that what they are taking advantage of is that you can't look at two things at once in your vision. If someone is showing you three balls, or juggling, you can't simultaneously look at the other guy doing something slightly shady with the cup or whatever. I guess they know exactly where your center of attention is going to be and take advantage of that. I think they are all rather small visual targets, and far apart enough from each other so when you're looking at one thing the other is too much in your peripheral.

Magic is impressive. But sometimes not knowing how something is done is more disappointing than impressive. Knowing how something is done and seeing the magician(s) perform it to perfection is a lot more impressive to me. Comprehension gives way to true appreciation because you know how hard it is.

this what over 30 years(now 40) of practise and skill does. Absolute masters in their art. The slaight of hand. The speed, timing and precision is absolutely beautiful to watch. The Final base ball appearing is so fast. Now if you now want good laugh and giggle , check in slow mo. The voices are hilarious but also you can see how they do the trick. Still simply just beautiful. Would love to see them. Unfortunately live in Europe.

awesome!!!!! For all you people who say that magicians shouldn't reveal their secrets...well...I don't think these 2 have. We all know the cup and ball trick is exactly that..a trick..with a bit of missdirection thrown in. What these 2 just did was so complicated...sooooo over the top....that if you slow this down and watch it frame by frame..you still won't be able to do this extremely complicated and well rehearsed trick. Its just so hard to follow...they revealed everything and yet revealed nothing!!

I love how confused and lost the host looks when Penn says they're gonna do the trick again.

These guys ARE a cut above the rest, even seeing what they are doing it was AMAZING!

Love the guys so much. Even when they clearly show and explain to me how a trick is done, I am still asking myself "how on earth did they just do that?"

My question is how the hell do they fit that stuff in their pockets?

It's interesting that when you watch the trick, seeing all the hand movements that are putting the balls under the cups. Maybe I watch too much penn and teller fool us.

I have seen this but so many times and I’m still impressed.

There's a moment at 2:39, where teller has an opportunity with the cup, to pass the ball to it and place it, but instead shakes an empty cup instead, then just before planting the cup, throws the ball into the cup. This, for me, is him showing off that he doesn't need to take the easy route. I saw an interview with him once where he said he could take a shortcut in some tricks, especially around this type of trick where the ball could already be under the cup so he didn't need to take a risk by trying to plant the cup and throwing the ball underneath at the last second, but he didn't do it. He wanted to practice the harder way just for himself, even though it just made the trick harder and ultimately made no difference. What a dude!

No potato :(

3:06 Is that Ellen Page?

your my idol penn and teller one of the most famous magician's in the world keep up the good work.god bless you always :)

This is why these guys are the best! Slowed it down to .25 and still couldn't keep up with clear cups!

I'm with Ellen Page at the end. "What...?"

This is NOT juggling This is called Misdirection

I saw these 2 in person. Teller is a cool dude. 💯

I have a friend who's a professional magician, one of the best. Won "close-up magician of the year" NINE times, and his specialty is the cups and balls: he wrote a book on it. I know exactly how the trick is done and when the peas (he uses 3 walnut shells and plastic peas) are passed, and I still have never actually caught the swaps, his slight-of-hand is so practiced and skillful. To me, that's the real "magic", the manual dexterity required, and the fooling of the eye so that even when the brain knows what's happening, it still cannot process it even when you're looking right at it. (The patter and presentation, that's just the "fun" part of it.)

2:23

IT'S A POTATO !!!!!!!!!

The amount of misdirection is gorgeous...Well done, sirs...you are exemplary.

I love that i know what they're doing. I can point out what is misdirection, and sleight of hand, i know what they're doing when they do certain moves. But it's still magic. I can watch it over and over and still think "but how"

nope, still don't follow the movements, even with the transparent cups

Pops tolled me "if you cant explain to a kid what youre doing, you dont know what youre doing" im 23.

One of the coolest shows ive ever seen was these guys in vegas. They do this with the clear cups, and you still couldn't see how it was done. Do yourself a favor if ever having the chance to see them, do it.

I love baseball, and I also love Penn and Teller's magic tricks. That ending with the baseball is probably my favorite Penn and Teller moment in history, lol

It gets so much less "romantic" when you know where to look... Check out Ricky Jay's version because, no matter where you think you should look, you have no idea.

This is pretty academic stuff, considering I have an ex-wife that made my entire house disappear.

I have more respect for them when I saw how it was done, because this really shows how good sleight of hand artists they are. Even with clear cups, it's very difficult to notice some of the swaps, like how 1 turns into 3, I watched it many times and even in slow motion it's fast and his hand perfectly covers the swap. Also the last swap for the baseball, that was just clean and smooth sleight of hand.

Honestly...Watching Teller do this at the start is the only time I've ever actually seen a magician make the switches. Can visibly see him set the balls down and/or remove them from his pockets...but that's what makes these acts impressive, is that they make their movements SUPER obvious for the basic stuff, then suddenly there's giant balls everywhere and you have no idea where they came from because you only saw the obvious small ball movements. Obviously, you can see the switches being made with the clear cups, but it's still impressive how cleanly it's done.

That was before Ellen Page magically turned into a guy... one of Penn and Teller's greatest tricks.

These guys are always entertaining

The funny thing about this is - it's like this in many professions. I'm a programmer, and people call it "magic" when a small helper skript I have written with a few keystrokes suddenly works. But they are even more amazed if they've watched me code it. And I myself think athletes are freakin' beasts, and even moreso after I try out their sport for an hour. And they will appreciate the skill of an excavator operator, who will be amazed about the work of a potter, who will think of car mechanics as wizards, surgeons, pilots, ... If you can watch and appreciate how much practice and skill goes into any profession, it doesn't lessen the amazement.

I love that the ad I got before hand was for penn and teller starting with “this is not juggling this is called misdirection”