Jon Allen's Version of Russian Roulette

[haroldross]

Jon Allen performed his version of Russian Roulette on one of the episodes of 'Penn and Teller: Fool Us.'

I know I'm a sucker for these kinds of effects. I perform several of these types of effects, some with nails/spikes, and sometimes even blindfolded. I would never consider having a spectator smash the cup/bag or whatever. Jon's version appears to be a 'safe' way to perform it since he 'removes' the nail and 'loads' it at the end. Even with that, I don't appreciate the way he 'used' the spectator in the effect. It is uncalled for and very unprofessional- that is just my opinion. This effect IS dangerous and should not be made fun of.

What do you think?

[OwenGraven]

Indeed, his performance was not so top notch as said.

I personally never liked effect like this one or the money in enveloppe thing. Why because it's more a game of altered luck than magic.

The only russian roulette I perform is cookie cutter from dan sperry with the twist that at the end there is a revelation of a card on my tongue because I "ate" the wrong one and I spew the blade out and do the bloody cuts revelation thingy.

But it's part of the bussiness, and I see this version poorly made.

Fool us has made already a lot of magicians appear, and some did win and lots didn't. Mostly you know how it works, because our basics are damn old and everybody in our industry knows them too well, but sometimes you see jewels of performance, Micheal vincent, daniel madison and young and strange are those who come to my mind.

greetings,

Owen Graven

[haroldross]

The 'money in the envelope' style effect, I guess the official term would be 'Bank Night.'

This is one of those effects that either you love or hate- very few are in the middle here. It is a great effect if performed properly. I hate 'sucker' effects. As a magician I never want to make anyone be the 'sucker' but me. My job is to entertain, not embarrass.

That said, I prefer John Archer's technique and patter along the lines that Ken Dyne suggests in his version called, 'Who's Got The Money?' This is not one I do a lot.

Again, the performance can make this a great effect (It works well for John, but not so well for me) or a dud of an effect.

[Afields]

I talked to John about this recently, he said that the television producers forced him to use a spectator during the show. He almost didn't go on from the lack of control he had over the staging and presentation of the effect. He's also extremely disappointed with how it appeared.