My guest tonight
is a death-defying magician who will be kicking off
a North American tour on May 6. Please welcome David Blaine. (cheering and applause) It must be weird
being a world-renowned magician, because I-I know I do it, and I feel like everyone
does it around you. I don't, like, trust you. Like, even when
I greeted you now, I was like,
"Did he steal my watch? Is my...
is my tie changing color?" Is-is that, like, a thing
that you've just gotten used to, is people are ready for a trick
all the time? Well, let me start
with this show, on its own,
is the start of my career. It was Jon Stewart
that gave me my first break -when I was 18 or 19 years old
-Wow. -and put me on television, so...
-Wow. (cheering and applause) This is the start. Um, and... and the first time
I did magic to Jon, he went running
out of his office and climbed up a wall. -It was at the MTV building,
and it was, -That's... -yeah, it was amazing. -yeah,
that's the black side of him. That's... Yep. That-that's something I wonder. Like, have you noticed
how when you do magic-- 'cause I've watched
all of your specials, I watch your clips on YouTube,
everywhere-- but, like, when you
perform magic for black people, I don't know
if you've noticed this, but they run very far. -I've seen...
-But see, I-I was... I grew up with an opposite, because, you know, my godfather, you know, he-he's... he's, you know,
African-American, -Right.
-the whole thing, and... The whole thing.
I'm with you, yeah. And I would do magic to him
when I was little, and he didn't respond at all. My mother, Russian Jew,
was the polar opposite. I would do tricks to her that were, like,
simple card tricks, and she would go running away,
screaming. So it was like-- it was like... And I was raised
by a single mother, -Right.
-and anything I did to her was, like,
the ultimate reaction, so when I started doing magic, I started just looking
for reactions. -Right, right, right.
-So, now, one time, the early idea for the TV show,
which was called Street Magic... I was walking through this... And I was doing
a one-handed shuffle. I was in, like, uh... in Times Square, but when
it was, like, a dangerous area. -Right.
-And these... -It still is 'cause of Elmo,
but yeah, carry on. -Yeah. Yes. And these four guys saw me
doing a one-handed shuffle and just started,
like, screaming over a one-handed shuffle
and came over, and I started doing magic
to them, and the reactions
were incredible. So that was, like,
what drove me, but I-I started to realize that in order
to get really good reactions, you have to do things
that provoke people. -Right.
-Because, like, right now if I did something to you,
your reaction -in this environment
would be very muted. -Right. Because I'm trying to hide
that you freak me out. No. I-It would be muted unless I did something
that was crazy. (laughter) (laughs) (cheering and applause) And on that note... (laughter, groaning) Do you want to see the, um... "think of a four-digit number
that's important to you," or do you want
to see the ice pick? (laughter, groaning) Four-digit number, right? (laughter) -No, ice... ice pick.
-Well, that's really good because I actually
brought an ice pick with me. See? See, and this one... would probably... be hard
to not react too much to, but will you just check it and
make sure it's actually real? (clinking) -Yeah, that's real.
-Yeah? Another... (laughter) -Then I also... -I have tested
ice picks my whole life. That's real. I also brought with me
some alcohol, and this is... to make sure that my hand doesn't
just explode or blow up or anything weird. Oh, man. (audience members groaning) Um, see, so this is what
I do with this. By the way,
I started reading your book. It's amazing. (laughter, applause) Um, so now...
often people say that when I do this,
there's, like, some sort of tunnel
or something like that. So I'll let you-you kind of
pick the spot. (audience groaning, gasping,
laughing) -Yeah, so just... Yeah.
-Like, in-in... Sure.
Yeah, whatever you want, yeah. -Yeah, I-I would... -Maybe don't
poke it through a vein because then blood will
shoot out everywhere. -I think there. It looks...
-You think where? That looks like the safest
place. Like, -right ov... right over...
-Right in there? Really? -That's, like, the safest place.
-Wow. I don't know. I have no clue
what's gonna happen. You... Yeah, you... Well, I've never done this
where I just let somebody choose where
they're gonna shove this thing. Well, I'm not... I'm not...
I'm not choosing. I'm suggesting. (laughter) Let-Let's...
Here, I'll get it started. Let's just see. Here. -Oh, well, no.
-Okay. Maybe in... Here.
You know what? If you feel around, maybe... -Yeah, that's nice. That's safe.
-Yeah? -Yeah. See? -That's...
-(audience groaning) But see how it looks? Yeah. See that? See how it looks like it's
really starting to go in there? -NOAH (whimpering): Oh.
-See that? See that, Trev? Oh! See? NOAH (yelling):
Oh! -Oh!
-No. Right there? -NOAH: Oh!
-(audience yelling, groaning) -Oh!
-Trevor, there's no way to know if it's, um... -if it's actual...
-Ugh! until you see the other side,
Trevor. See, it would be this side. See, like,
when you do like that? (audience groaning) See here? (audience groaning,
exclaiming) NOAH:
Oh. (audience groaning, yelling) You know... Here.
You know, will you grab it from the bottom, Trevor? Yeah, grab it from the bottom
and just push. -Like that. Just push. There.
-(audience shrieking, groaning) Yeah. See how...?
Yeah, push. (audience groaning,
shrieking) NOAH:
Oh! (audience groaning, shrieking) See? See that? (laughter) See, that would be hard
not to react to. (laughter) Um... Trevor? This is for you to keep. (laughter) So can you just
pull that out? (audience groaning) Slowly. Yeah. Pull. Pull. (audience groaning) Pull. Pull. Pull. All right. (applause and cheering) For tickets... for tickets
to see David Blaine Live... -Wait, wait, wait.
-...go to livenation.com. David Blaine, everybody.
No, no. All done. (applause and cheering)
This gave me the hand-gasm I was looking for, thanks.
ok but how