- [Chris] Man, I have no idea.
(laughing)
- It was structurally the best trick
I've ever seen in my life.
(ominous music)
- This is my theory for magic.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- What's going on, guys?
Just got to my buddy Spotty's house.
Let's go say hi, see what's up.
We're going to Electra tonight.
Garret Thomas, one of my all time favorite magicians
in the entire world, and he's in Montreal,
so we're gonna hang out and get some behind the scenes.
Got him!
Oh, you're still in PJs.
Jesus, dude, it's literally,
turn the lights on here, oh my god, you vampire.
It's like 5:00 p.m.
- It's 7:00 a.m. somewhere.
I'm less embarrassed by this than
what's going on on the screen.
- [Chris] The life and times of a mentalist.
Before I say hi to you, how's my snake doing?
- She got bigger.
- [Chris] Really, she grew up?
Still not dead?
Good for you, man.
Is this, are you playing comp?
What's your SR right now?
- 18.
- [Chris] Whoa!
All right.
- I just keep getting paired with shit players, though.
- [Chris] Yeah, same for them, huh?
(laughing)
All right, now that you're dressed,
what is this?
- This is a puzzle, 'cause you like puzzles.
I'm not even sure I can do it every time,
but se how it's set on three?
So, if you were to try to tumble it,
there isn't enough space in there
to be able to do that.
But if you know how.
- [Chris] What, do I turn around?
- No, no, it's fine, let me see if I can--
- [Chris] Wait, do I cut this out?
- No, no, no!
- [Chris] This looks fishy.
- Does it?
- [Chris] Yeah.
- It's 'cause you gotta know the method.
- [Chris] You're doing something.
- Of course I'm doing something, but hold on.
There, I got it to change to one.
- [Chris] What are you finger palming?
(laughing)
That was a magic trick, it's not a puzzle!
- It's a puzzle.
- [Chris] You were gonna fool the crowd
(mumbles) though, weren't you?
- I don't know, if I was a little bit better at it.
'cause when I first saw it,
I thought there's something in the bottom
that unlocks or opens.
- [Chris] Wait, I'm still quite fooled.
Hold on.
Even knowing that there's a bit of a method, I'm still.
This is quite fooling, I'm not gonna lie.
Hold on.
- [Spotty] Mr. Puzzle man!
- [Chris] Screwdriver.
(laughing)
Yo, don't laugh!
I'm trying.
Okay, this is my thought process, okay?
I'm looking at seams, I'm thinking
something might slide, right?
I'm looking at these screws.
I think these might be a diversion
and this might slide, right?
Or maybe you press them down, maybe you press here.
Man, I have no idea.
I'm completely fooled.
- [Spotty] Should I tell you?
- Um, no.
Yes, no, but yes, I don't, hold on.
This one's a little uneven, though.
It's like it's sliding.
Could that be?
Can the top part slide, yes or no?
- [Spotty] No.
- Guys, look at this, there's, wait.
What the hell?
Were you fake finger palming something?
Show me your hand.
- [Spotty] No.
- [Chris] There's nothing in there!
There's nothing in your hand!
(laughing)
- [Spotty] This is so fun!
- Don't laugh at me!
(shouting)
(rattling)
Nope, I'm fooled.
There's no way that this, uh,
what is it, how does it work?
Magnet?
- Yeah.
- [Chris] Well, how does that work?
- [Spotty] I'm not really sure, I think it's because
it doesn't have place to tumble because--
- [Chris] There's no friction?
- [Spotty] The moment you move it up, the glass is there,
but when this--
- [Chris] So I would've never solved that.
- [Spotty] It kind of rolls it over.
- [Chris] So like a PK ring, that would be
absolutely deadly.
- [Spotty] Yeah, I tried it with that,
but I knew you'd recognize a PK ring right away.
- [Chris] Imagine if I did get it, though, without it.
Would you be--
- I would've been very confused.
- All right, whoa, geez, almost dropped my camera.
Going to the Garret Thomas lecture at the Mainline.
Where is it, this way?
(laughing)
Bit of a (censored) hole, isn't it?
- A little bit.
(laughing)
- [Spotty] (mumbles) right there?
- This is it, we're here.
I'll insert hip-hop music while I'm walking.
(instrumental hip-hop music)
This is it.
Ooh, look at this theater.
Oh, a new Montrealer.
- What?
- [Chris] Welcome to the city!
- Thank you.
- You're alive, sunshine.
- [Chris] Hey, here's the main man right here,
Mr. GT.
(laughing)
The omni-cube!
And you can put it in your drink
and it keeps it cold, too.
- [Announcer] A big round of applause.
(applause)
- All right, well, when you meet someone,
their name tells you nothing about them.
I have this weird signature that gives you a little heads up
as to who I am and how my brain
may or may not work.
Garrett Thomas, G-A-R-R-E-T-T, Thomas,
this is T-H-O-M-A-S.
(hip-hop music)
This is gonna act as a table
so that you can do all the work
with your right hand.
If any sleight of hand happens,
it's because you're going to do it.
If anything goes wrong, we're gonna
pretend it's my fault.
Four coins?
- {Participant] Yeah.
- [Garrett] Can you tilt it down so everyone can see?
One, two, three, four, yes?
Two and two behind, good? - [Participant] Yeah.
- I want you to stack the coins up in your hand.
You can see my hand is empty.
I want you to imagine that you took one coin
and you gave it to me.
So with your hand, pretend to pick one up
and pretend to give it to me.
Did you give me a coin or did you just imagine it?
- [Participant] I imagined.
- Everything in life starts with imagination.
I want you to not freak out.
It's okay, I'm here with you,
it'll be over soon.
(laughing)
I nailed the camera too, so that's okay.
(laughing)
Slowly open your hand, take a look.
You only have the three?
- [Participant] Yeah.
- Good.
Make sure this is real and not
a figment of your imagination.
Does that look good?
- [Participant] Yep.
- [Garrett] All right, there's one,
there's two, there's three.
Actually, yep.
Actually, you make 'em, square 'em up nice and neat.
I don't wanna touch 'em.
- [Participant] Okay.
- The first time, you pretended to give me a coin,
somehow it happened.
This time, I want you to actually take one
and really give it to me.
And yep, you can hold those tightly.
Is that real?
I noticed he closed his hand
before he even dropped the coin,
'cause the question is still the same.
Did you really give me a coin,
or did you just imagine you gave me a coin.
- [Participant] I'm pretty sure I gave you one,
but you're gonna prove me wrong.
- It's up to you.
- I did give you one.
- Open my hand?
Open my hand.
- You want me to open your hand?
- Mm-hmm.
(laughing)
Open your hand slowly, all four coins back in your hand.
Give him a big round of applause.
(applause)
- [Chris] Six.
- Six!
How many shapes do you see?
- [Chris] Four.
- How many shapes do you see?
- [Chris] Oh god, five.
- Hesitation.
How many shapes do you see?
- [Chris] Three, four.
- How many people see a triangle?
How many people know there is no triangle there?
How many people still see a triangle?
(laughing)
This is my theory for magic.
You tell an artist, "I want you to draw a triangle,
"however, you're not allowed to really draw a triangle."
What are we telling a magician?
"I want you to vanish a coin,
"however you're not allowed to dematerialize matter
"and suck us into a black hole."
So how do we vanish a coin?
Well, the artist figured out
that if you can control the environment,
you can create the illusion of what's not there,
you can create the experience
of something that's not there.
Any one of these Pacman shapes are gone,
you no longer see a triangle.
It's as simple as can be.
- [Chris] Garrett, what do you think of your first,
this isn't your first lecture in Montreal, is it?
- No, well, it's my first in, well,
15 years ago I was up here.
- [Chris] But has Montreal changed since then?
- They still speak French, it's crazy.
- [Chris] Now time for some poutine?
- Oh, absolutely.
- [Chris] Let's go.
(gentle electronic music)
Oh, it's Canadian money!
- Yeah, that's how I'm doing it!
- [Chris] What is your opinion on our money.
- I actually don't hate it.
- [Chris] Really?
- I don't hate it.
- [Chris] 'Cause it's been one of the biggest struggles
for magicians in Canada, our bouncy money.
- I think you're all wimps, I'm gonna
put that out there right now.
- [Chris] Love it.
(instrumental hip-hop music)
- It doesn't really change size.
(laughter)
(mumbles)
- [Chris] How do you feel right now?
- [Man] She's scared.
- I'm just scared.
(laughter)
- All right, Garrett Thomas is gonna show us
probably the most amazing piece of magic
that we've ever seen.
I've seen this two years ago, three years ago
at Blackpool, completely blew my socks off.
Unfortunately, you're not gonna be able
to see it because we're not,
it's just one of those things
you're not gonna see,
but I will, I will get people's reactions after this.
(instrumental hip-hop music)
(applause)
Hypnotized me, hypnotized me!
(laughter)
(applause)
- [Chris] So you've seen the piece of magic
that I excluded from this video.
What do you think?
- It was structurally the best trick I've ever seen
in my life.
(laughter)
- [Chris] What'd you think, Kat?
- I was right there.
I examined everything.
- You know sometimes you see magic
and you go, "Here's a few things I think
"where this is going?"
Literally it's either gonna be there or there or there?
You're not only wrong,
you're not even in the right universe.
It's like saying I think the card's gonna be
in that lemon,
the table is on Saturn.
That's what it is, you think it
but you're not even in the right realm.
- [Chris] You gave them the choice
of telling you what's gonna happen,
and not only were they wrong--
- No, whatever their mouth could say is wrong
and every thought they had is also wrong.
That's the only reason it works,
'cause even if they say one thing
but then they thought it was gonna be something else,
they would go, "Yeah, I thought that."
Because everything you possibly could utter
and everything you possibly could have thought of is wrong,
I'm safe to ask that question.
- And you'll make her disappear?
All of her?
(laughter)
(instrumental hip-hop music)
- All right guys, so that's about it
for this video.
I wanna say thank you to Garrett Thomas
and if you guys enjoy this video,
if you guys enjoy Garrett's work as much as I do,
go show him some love on his Instagram.
First link in the description below.
Go give him a follow.
Go support him.
Anything you can find on Garrett, trust me,
is gonna well worth while.
So Garrett, thank you so much, man.
Hey, bring it in, bring it in.
Good seeing you again.
Good luck in Toronto.
- Thank you.
- Guys, like this video, subscribe, all that stuff,
we'll see you next time, peace, bye.
♪ Enchanté ♪