James Randi Skepticon 3

[Music] and there's something that you don't know about dice it's a strange thing but a die you know it's supposed to have it it has two on this side and it has poor on that side no that's not the way it's going to be made to the four on that side the two on that side actually it's supposed to be a five on that side but it's not this is not made properly two on that side four on that side two on that side and five on that side you do [Music] people I am the amazing Rudolf and I will show you how easily a skilled magician can reproduce any of the so-called psychic tricks hi I'm James Randi I'm a magician that is to say I'm a fake watch this I'm going to do a little trick for you I'm going to bounce this pen on the edge of the table now I'll look away so you're sure I'm not blowing but I want you to look right into your TV set concentrate on it make that pen fall off the table let's work on it now come on concentrate stronger gee that was very good how did you do that June 7th will be offering $100,000 prize to anyone who can prove psyche we can do it on our program thinking of a pizza right no a small little rodent maybe a hat a hat no a clothespin Joshu Kazan time near my hammer no we're gonna get that money we're gonna make that money we're gonna make that money go get your money Randy you can be broke man you believe everything you see on the news how about a nationally reported story about a computer that determines the guilt or innocence of suspected criminals host James Randi professional skeptic and debunker of fraud takes us through the conception the setup and the payoff of these remarkable scams I'm James Randi and in this special presentation we look at the inner workings of some of history's most outrageous scams and the confidence men behind them now most cons follow a very simple set of rules the first rule is that the con artist always wins tonight on Nova James Randi magician and investigator of psychic phenomena though laughs is a science for 25 years Randi has explored the world of the paranormal and tested claims of supernatural powers now Randy journeys to Russia to challenge psychics never-before-seen in the West after decades of research can we finally discover the secrets of the psychics throw them up there on the stage you don't have to leave with those pills he had people who were on medication necessary medication like nitroglycerin tablets for heart attacks digitalis things like he had them come out of the audience and throw their pills up on stage throw them up there that's a blower defeat for the devil as you see it this is the real danger in all the faith healing it's one of the real dangers the other danger is emotional dependence on charlatans like this people who claim that they have an ability to tell you how to run your life and how to recover from disease [Applause] [Music] this week horizon is doing something completely different for the first time we are conducting our own experiment we are testing a form of Medicine which could transform the world should the results be positive this man will have to give us 1 million dollars do the tests prove that it works and when a Megan and psychics really sense what you can can the stars predict your future and thousands of nurses say their touch can heal I'll give them a million dollars that they can prove that tonight the supernatural exposed by an expert on the bizarre Randi and his foundation to put up 1 million dollars is a prize oh this is the one in fun to anyone who can prove they have paranormal abilities a million dollars it's in the bank we check if they say they can defy gravity step over to the window there and step out and if it if you don't fall hey you win you win hello ok another miracle of the Sun day of religious nature I'm so pleased oh my goodness to see such a good full house here this evening I I waited until all the seats were filled before I decided to go ahead that's my ego and it's my ego so I'll enjoy it now ladies gentlemen seriously there has been much internet chatter recently about the million-dollar challenge and I'd like to handle that right off the very top here first of all the million-dollar challenge is very simple and straightforward the James Randi Educational Foundation has on deposit with a financial house in New York City the sum of 1 billion dollars which makes us interest every now and then and we use some of that interest to operate the foundation by taking it off the top but it's always a minimum of 1 million dollars it's about 1.3 1.3 million I think it is a little more than that but it is always there it's quite secure and we are legally obligated to pay the money should anyone win it all they have to do is state three things in their application what they can do with what accuracy and under what conditions that's how the simple doesn't and yet one PhD in California a double PhD yet and we know these are very powerful intellects of course if they have two PhDs one is a nutus floor anybody but this fella had two and he was running a remote viewing agency in Los Angeles that means he teaches people to see things at a distance by just using their minds well he applied four and a half years later we were still dickering with him over what the protocol would be we finally got that arranged all signed and sealed notarized forms and early many changed his email address and his telephone number we haven't heard from him since I wonder why and I wonder why there's no crowd outside this auditorium wouldn't you think people would be lined up beating on the door wanting to win the million dollar prize oh there are hundreds of them out there thousands in the United States alone who say they have these mystical psychic powers okay one million dollars is waiting for it's guaranteed it's out there all right the other thing that amazes me is that we have said on our webpage repeatedly and in my books and such I always said if you want any proof that the billion dollars is really there all you have to do is pick up the telephone or get on email or whatever facts even would do tarot cards I don't care how you communicate with us but communicate with us and ask us for the evidence now every couple of months we get a statement from the fine full house and I go to a drawer in my office take out the forms that are already there about six of them and I replaced the form with the most current statement which gives the total as of that date I used to make six coffees I now only make one coffee and put it in the drawer because not one of the so-called psychics has ever asked to see the evidence and yet most of them will say when asked by a reporter oh there's no million dollars I checked up on it yeah no it's all he's a musician you know so he's born liar which is quite true actually but there is no million dollars but they don't want to see the proof they just don't want to know or bigger they're afraid to know now all this internet chatter about the million dollar challenge and it calls for me to make a definitive statement and this is just ill-informed gossip I will classify it that way so this statement should cover the matter the million dollar challenge is still in effect and it does apply to any and all religious claims that offer evidence that's the important word their evidence because most religious claims just ask you but that's the way it is in the Bible or the Koran or whatever and so we don't have to prove everything oh yes you do if you want the billion dollars all you have to do is have the evidence and offer it to us we will examine it and at the end of the examination we are compelled by law legally to award you that million dollar prize should you so women now it's difficult if not impossible to examine a claim about the existence of a deity any deity but we require a definition of quote God unquote so that by examining a specific aspect quality ability or influence of that so-called God we can design a protocol for conducting a test and that test should have a result which would be very very evident without the need for any voting or judgment for example on one of the programs that I did here in the United States Salah said that he could drop by a pardoning fly by flapping his arms not slapped by flying as I'm so fly by flapping his arms I'll be alright keep your seats and it was very easy I simply took him over to the window and I said there he looked down he said well I'll come back later you never came back now you see that's a test it doesn't require any judgment they don't require any affidavits or any decisions by a jury as to whether or not it works no that did not work it's that simple to decide you see and that's the way we design all of the tests for the so-called psychic powers and whatnot it might result in the awarding of the prize now I'm a little bit puzzled by well a little bit puzzled I'm enormous ly puzzled by by one thing here first of all as you've heard discussed earlier I believe even today that the the name skeptic on might be it might need a little bit of brushing up perhaps because this is largely a group of folks who are denying the existence of a god it's called atheism I'm sure you've heard of it and I certainly am very much in approval with of the work that you folks do but remember that atheism is skepticism about one specific subject god now that's a subject that covers a very wide spectrum such as the seven-day creation of the entire universe including all the galaxies the Milky Way the whole thing and that gives rise to many our cult supernatural and paranormal claims of all kinds of course it does all of which all of which I repeat are eligible for the million dollar challenge now some time ago two years ago I made an announcement that sometime in 2005 with mark in 2010 we would discontinue the million dollar challenge and I said you better get your your applications in quick the reason I said that folks was I think a practical decision it occupied most of my staff's office time just answering silly letters scribbled that couldn't be read and whatnot you see we ask for no more than two paragraphs to explain what your claim is it should be easy to do in two paragraphs he but they're long paragraphs okay but we would get as many as 30 pages of foolscap with cribbed handwriting on it that we couldn't read at all we sent each one of them back and said two paragraphs and then usually we didn't hear from them again because they want to go through the whole story of the life I was born in a very early age know this kind of thing they would go on like that making no sense whatsoever now these private claims right we are all eligible for the million dollar challenge and I've heard definitions of god this is true the-- that also say that God God cannot be examined oh really well that makes it ineligible immediately if it can't be examined we can't examine it you see I use logic now I must tell you a couple of adventures I've had in pursuing this business of trying to give away a million dollars Mensa as you know is this super IQ group that I've forgotten the names of the people who were involved in it but when I did my radio program back in the late 1960s out of New York City I got all kinds of visitors that would come on my panel which went from midnight until 5:30 in the morning and many of them were from men said I would have special Mensa programs where they would all sit around the table and we'd have interesting conversations on high IQs and section how they could manifest themselves and be examined and they kept after me he kept on saying mister Randy member of Mensa I think we should come and do the test and I said well I don't really have the time and it seemed to me to be a big ego thing and I wasn't terribly interested but finally I gave weight to pressure and I said I'd show up on a Saturday morning and do the test and they were using the stanford-binet IQ test as their standard that's a popular IQ test and it was interesting because as I sat there in this little classroom at a local school I saw a young fellow sitting beside me who was sweating away like crazy and he was answering the question they were all true/false questions or select one of the following answers kinds of thing very simple decide to make a check mark and a couple of the questions were orientation questions they were tests of psychological orientation but you could figure things out by examining him visually and it had a picture of the sole of a shoe this is a man's shoe it is seen from the bottom is this a right shoe or a left shoe for example and I saw the fella him fella sitting there he was doing this kind of thing looking at issue and I just went like that he looked over anything and he straightened up I was already putting them on of course but it was a very interesting test I finished a test and I handed it in they said oh we'll we'll let you know within a week or so whether you're accepted you have to come and the upper 2% of the IQ population of the United States of America oh boy and I don't know how many people can make it I really don't look if not everybody is trying to obvious it so I turned in the application and forgot about it two weeks went by I hadn't heard from them I got a call saying yeah mr. Andy uh I I hesitate to ask you but would you would you do us a favor and take the test again please and I said you know what happened you lost it he said well though there's there's a problem here you you scored unusually high I said this is that good and he said well you know you are a magician and we thought that maybe he gotten gotten to the the answers or something I said alright well sure I'll do it only couple weeks ago I finally got time to go and do it again and Friday they time they sent me my badge they decided that I was okay and I hadn't cheated now I was invited to meet Lee after that to give a talk to one of their gatherings and they were all thrilled to see me and I was wearing my pen you wear a little stick pen it's a bat pen actually and it's supposed to distinguish me somehow would I wore it just to amuse them and I stood up at the platform and about three minutes into my talk gentleman I was talking about psychic powers and whatnot and how we had been diffusing those claims fella stood up and he said I represent the I think was called the paranormal sig he called it it was a group of them that were investigating paranormal matters and he highly resented what I was saying and he said I object to this very strongly and he walked out and several other members of Mensa got up and walked out too because I had been bad-mouthing paranormal phenomenon phenomena you see I looked around and I decided okay I've had enough I took the pen out I stuck it into the podium like that I walked out never went back because apparently there's some really stupid people in mention now I've always admitted and I admit here again that I made my living as a magician that is to say lying yes I used to introduce myself by saying good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is James Randi I'm known as the amazing Randi and I have a liar cheat charlatan or fate but at least I do it with a certain amount of class which may evoke from you eventually well a certain amount of admiration and perhaps a round of applause or not you had to save it I'll be ready for it later I'll give you Q it'll be like this okay that was the beginning of my introduction of my talents and I meant it yes I'm a professional liar but then think of this I offstage I am NOT a liar no I am scrupulously honest that I go to my way to be quite frank and honest and I put this proposition to you exclosure in a in a strange town you've got an afternoon to yourself and it's a nice summer day and you're sitting on a park bench and news follow the side you're you don't know who he is and what not and you know there's a writing Academy not far away and you're sitting there enjoying the scenery and then you hear you turn to the fellow in the bench say oh that must be a horse there's a writing Academy right over the corner you know and he said yes I guess it is now that would be my reaction and I think it would be your reaction as well you would assume that sounds not like an old fellow sounding out of stage clucking your tongue but probably a horse you see but then we have a couple of other classes of people I call them the semi whoo-whoo it's a person who has only learned to accept something like homeopathy and perhaps Sylvia Browne or something but hasn't gone all the way that's the semi whoo maybe well just not a woman just a whoo I guess and that person might have a different answer for example he may turn to his neighbor after her oh here that that must be a zebra not likely in a Midwestern town in the United States or or maybe the zoo broke loose we don't know but it's not a likely solution to solving what that noise is but then you've got the dyed-in-the-wool the full scale all the way to the wall double whoo whoo oh yes and what would that person say that must be unicorn even more unlikely but you see when a fellow walks out on a stage acting the part of Hamlet for you I'm sure you enjoy the play if at the end of the play they all come out and take their vows you would be grossly insulted if the lead walks out there in his tights and takes off the blonde wig takes his vows and says ladies and gentlemen I have an announcement I want you to know that I am NOT just an actor I actually am the Prince of Denmark you would be grossly insulted by that comment you would resent him too trying to fool you like this but most people are not fooled at all by a fellow who has a newspaper column for example or puts ads in the in the National Inquirer or whatever saying that by studying the Stars and the planets among the stars and their movements he can predict your future and the name of your beloved did what not all sorts of things that that he will say he can do you're not terribly in something by that either your look at it to say yeah not likely but you don't get into high dudgeon as they say I love that phrase high dudgeon I've never been to a high dudgeon you have it I've never even seen one but you'd get all disturbed over that and rightly so but you don't seem to get too annoyed at some other people out there who are fooling you with all kinds of false advertisements and such now I try the oddest as I say but I have an admission a confession to make to you I lied to my grandfather on one occasion it was seven a very unique occasion and I think I can be forgiven for it please or pity or whatever I don't know I'm not too sure which way I'm going I'd like to my grandfather my paternal grandfather because I was called to his bedside in Montreal I was living in the United States at the time I traveled to Montreal and I was told that it was he was in his 90s after all in it it was his time and I went to see Gramps and I i sat by the bed and he was happy to see me and I kissed him and we had a conversation for a good 15 minutes or so and we had some glass - it was that kind of guy he was not worried about dying it was his time and I was very sad person and quite worked out and the attendant came to to look after him and asked me to excuse myself for the room and I said yes it's time for me to go anyway Gramps so I'm very happy to have seen you and happy I made the trip and he looked up at me you said before you go he was a religious man he never pushed it down my throat but he was a believer and in the Christian religion quite firmly even helped to build the local church with his own hands he was a carpenter and he looked at me straight the ID said Randy I know you don't believe in religion but tell me the truth now do you think I'm going to see Janie that was my grandmother she had died a few years before that and I looked him straight in the eye - and I buyed I said yes grams you probably are going to see Jenny so give her a kiss for me I turned to left the room and I never saw him again so I lied to my grandfather but it was justifiable there was no reason for me to give him any discomfort whatsoever I tried to make it a little easier for so that's that's my big lie that's the biggest lie I've ever told while I'm doing okay now adding to Joe Nichols excellent speech this morning and it was actual it was it not oh yes I will amplify a couple of things that he said there now he mentioned the Amityville Horror Story now that's that's quite a story and it developed on Janssen did a best-selling book on it made a fortune on it and gave talks all over the world about the Amityville Horror and as Joe told you it's total fiction everything was added to it everything was invented it was it was really something else and when I was doing my radio program both said shortly after the Amityville Horror Story had come out and one of the anniversaries came up I forgotten what anniversary was but I was called by w NE w television in New York and they asked me if they could drive me out to the site and set me up with some cameras there Olivia asked me do a short interview with me about what I thought of the Amityville Horror Story they knew I was very doubtful of it to say the least and so I agreed and I hopped into the limo and they took me out there and with me was a psychic and she was hired by the by W Bundy W to give her opinions on Jersey and we had a bit of a conversation on the way out but it was not very genial I can assure you and we got to the site and car pulled up to the curb and we got out and they put out some tripods on the sidewalk there folks the cameras and cleaned out some newspapers around the front lawn there and the light started to go on in the house and so I got into position they focused in on me I tested my microphone the whole thing you know and suddenly a gentleman opened the front door and he called out he says that could I help you folks someone's standing at a front lot and putting a tripod on it you know after all it would get his attention and they direct Ricardo yes we're the folks from WMTW we're here to do a little interview on the Milan he says why this law and I oh I told pregnant I got ahead in my story the psychic when she got out of the limo oh yeah I'm sorry pregnant I got messed up there she walked over it to the property and she looked you see link any the vibrations already I said yeah sure and she reached out if she put her foot on the property ah and fell on the floor and started to flail around and they picked her up and brought her back to the sidewalk she said oh just touching the property where it happened hi oh I got the terrible vibrations oh I see death I see blood I see I hear gunshots and she carried on like this and they got her calmed down and at about that point I was standing up to be focused on and marathon can't see the dirty said why this particular lon well this is where the Amityville Horror occurred he said no no that's two blocks down [Applause] but that didn't faze them at all we found the right place we did the thing and everything and it got on the air eventually but it didn't faze the psychic you talk except she didn't do her thing again she knew she couldn't really get away without it but maybe there's somebody else was murdered there so I have to give her the benefit of the doubt now Joe also told us about him the John of God miracle worker the miracle healer in Brazil and I'll add to that as well if I may I was called by ABC television oh this is just a couple of years back I think it was a 20/20 program I'm not sure I don't I don't quite recall but in any case they asked me to go into New York it was the middle dead middle of the winter very nasty weather and I was in between in between hospital visits so I had the time to go on and visit them and I flew up to New York and got off from a bit all the slush and such and I got into the studio and I I met her for the first time dr. Mehmet Oz do you know who that is funny chance well he's a total quack except that he is a leading cardiac surgeon someone to whom I would trust my cardiac care I assure you I even have a videotape of him in my files taken in the operating room where he is doing a cardiac operation on the patient leg on the table and they've got all these surgical tools out there and he's in the middle of the operation and the door opens and a woman dressed in in the proper surgical guard guard guy I'll be all right keep you safe gar but I'll be okay I'm going to be okay I swear garbe she walked over to the desk and and she said something to the doctor the doctor took his scalpel and held his scalpel step back on the patient she stepped in and she did this kind of a thing she was doing what they call Healing Touch it has nothing to do with healing nor does it involve touch but none of us it's called healing touch this is removing evil vibrations from the body and evening out the human aura really I can see how stunned you are but this woman was a Healing Touch practitioner invited there by dr. Mehmet Oz the cardiac surgeon in charge of the whole thing to even out the the the patient's human aura then she stepped back and she nodded and she left the room and he stepped back Kentucky scalpel again and went back to work I would insist on having no Healing Touch if he were operating on me I think the pause might be fatal but nonetheless he was there and he was going to be interviewed about the John of God episode as well and I we went into the studio we were interviewed separately they interviewed me for a good 90 maybe 100 minutes or so and I had with me all the evidence I had the evidence from a fellow who did the at what they call blockhead the business of sticking a nail up your nose because that's what John of God does he takes a pair of forceps and he pushes them all the way up your nose and then draws them back out again and people talk a little funny afterwards but it's okay doesn't hurt anybody it's it's a standard carnival stunt it's been done for years or decades now in carnivals a simple nail about that law in a big big slice stuck all we have to note because there is a passageway to go straight up and it if it went any further it would come up against the inner bone of the skull structure but it doesn't go quite that far quite all right don't hurt you at all it just makes you feel pretty weird I'm sure I had the charts with me I had the diagrams I had x-rays of it and such of the blockhead stunts and I had videotape of our good friend Todd that that Joel mentioned earlier who the carnival performer and does a wonderful wonderful demonstration of the thing they ignored all of that all the documentation I had they talked to me for all this time and they interviewed doctor remember Dobbs as well at that time I had left the studio and I was back to the hotel the eventual program took place with to our program dr. Mehmet Oz for a total of his involvement in the thing was interviewed for 19 minutes out of the two hours in this I got 19 seconds 19 seconds and what they broadcast was I was first of all announced they saw my picture come up on the screen and it had a heading underneath me or if we call it a the trade a slug that said James Randi prominent skeptic and I said this this my exact the exact quotation that they used there are no greater liars in the world than quacks except for their patients they cut away and they went on with the program but what they had taped of me actually was during that long long taping session that I spent with them has that prominent American philosopher Benjamin Franklin once said quote there are no greater liars in the world and quacks except for their patients so I was quoting Benjamin Franklin now the evil that poured in hundreds of emails from all over the country saying that was from Benjamin Franklin II you took credit for it no I didn't but they wanted me to look bad this is the media at work remember they had already written the bottom line of the story John of God is a miracle worker now go and prove it but be sure you get a skeptic and they got me the both prominent one in America they thought and that was their judgment now they used me but they disused me at the same time but that's what the media does so I'm just adding that to two was very very good comments to you earlier now another thing that I since gotten this speak to Joe about is that peter Popoff is still in business very much in business as a matter of fact Johnny Carson after his retirement used to call me Bob Oh every two weeks or so and my secretary always got very excited Johnny Carson's on the phone Johnny Carson's office and he would he would keep me on the phone for a good forty or forty-five minutes and then he would always end up with open brandy I know how busy you were you've got other things too as if I had other things to do than to talk to Johnny Carson when he called me this is after his retirement now I'd I'll give you another quick clue on it to what I used to call him at home he always answered that I would hear the phone lift up and you'd hear puddle just like that there was a good reason for it because he didn't want his voice to be recognized his phone never had gotten out you see and he was getting calls from all over the place and if someone said is that Johnny Carson wrong number hang up or anything but that's what he does he little might say hi John did to Randy oh hi how are you okay right everybody had to get affirmation who was on the other end now as I said Popoff is still in business and he said brother tone his act down somewhat and he's getting a bit older too I'm going to show you a bit of videotape that you may have seen before if not I hope you can go to youtube and distribute it to your friends make sure they see it I think it's rather entertaining I will see that videotape now with the aid of this technician sitting at my left now you've got a small piece of tape here we're going to look at would you tell us what we're going to see here and how you did this in order to support is supposed to show well we've researched peter Popoff very very well and mr. Popoff pregnant Reverend Popoff it's not going to be very happy with this I don't think you're going to see first of all a short segment of tape as you would see it if you are watching it at home this is what Popoff featured on his own room you will apparently see a healing now we went to Houston Texas and we discovered that the man was wearing of all things a hearing aid in his left ear and Emanuel heals the death Popoff themselves oh I see and a man who heals the Deaf and the blind isn't going to have much use for a hearing aid one would think if God is speaking to him maybe someone else is speaking to him so when we got to San Francisco we put this fella Alec you Jason as the next expert in electronics in a surveillance man and he put a scanner electronic scanner on it and we picked up something interesting but first let's look at the first cut of tape all right this is the tape as you would see it if you were watching the show okay watch the monitors court who is Harold I just believe that God is going to burn those cataracts off of your eyes right now three four seven eight eight Foothill Drive I'll tell you the Angels have got around about your home just take those glasses off and put your eyes if you've got cataracts if you've got glaucoma I want you just to put your hand over your eyes as I pray for these precious what sister you've got our problems to take your glasses off lay your hands on your eyes here it comes to God is going to give these precious ones divine surgery rock right now Jesus cut that's it that's the anointing of the Holy Ghost praise God praise God I tell you the anointing is flowing through this place thank you Jesus okay now let's recap what we've seen here right these two people who were there had not met papa that's right were there so and yet he calls out his name and then he called out a number or something he called out their address their address and is astonished to hear this because they didn't tell him but what you don't know is that his wife has been touring around the audience getting into conversation is Jesus going to heal you today I see where do you live this kind of thing and they filled out healing cards and advanced the program and had to defend their now back stage and someone is sitting at a transmitter backstage let's see that same segment again but now you will have the advantage of knowing what peter Popoff is hearing in his left ear through a hearing aid is it regen read with a woman he's praying for her husband Harold who is Harold who got cataract I just believe that God is going to burn those cataracts off of your eyes right now three four seven eight eight four Phil tried three four seven eight eight foot hill drive I'll tell you the angels of God around about just take those glasses off and put your eyes if you got cataracts you can I do you got glaucoma I want you just to put your hand over your eyes as I pray for these precious what sister you've got our problems to take your glasses off lay your hands on your eyes here it comes now God is going to give these precious was divine surgeon geez you know that is uh that's disturbing when you see it it isn't it you tend to laugh at it and yet these people obviously are so impressed with what's going all they're absolutely impressed you see people collapsed on the floor tears running down their faces believing that they're kids with drug addiction are gonna be healed now because he knew their name he says he's talking to God that God speaks directly to him because he's an anointed minister in one three things amazed me about that first of all it turns out to God's frequency I didn't know he used radio yeah is thirty nine point one seven zero megahertz and God is a woman obviously and sounds exactly like Papa's wife Elizabeth has he seen this tape from no he does not know about this until this very moment interesting okay we'll take a break [Applause] those of you who might have been passing up of me here sabe doubled over and laughter at a certain point there because to spot I recognized and the you wouldn't have seen to see that program that Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was always taped a few hours before the first broadcast of it went to the East Coast you see and it went across the country that way and they they did that in case they had to do some editing or sharpening up of things or insertions or whatever and they had to cut a piece out of that particular night because I had gone to see Johnny Carson's producer with the the audiotape of Popoff how that was Fred de Cordova and Fred listen to that he said oh wow he said we've got to do this tonight and he turned to his secretary he said you can bump those two actresses off the program would put them on tomorrow night just apologize for me but we've got to get this on tonight we've got to get to edit this you see and so he reached for the phone I said wait wait Fred don't call Johnny he said oh yeah I have to tell him because he doesn't like surprises I said Fred think for a minute to think of the expression on his face when he hears the second playing of that tape and this is Papa's voice come in comes in giving the information and Fred sat there for a minute said okay but it's on your head well it worked out very well actually so I didn't have to worry but Johnny was so surprised he's sitting in the studio my Brad they've got three audio circuits they got one for me they got one for John and they got one for the audience and what you don't know is that John used to smoke all that that's what took him away of entry the lung cancer the emphysema but he used to smoke all the way through the program from the very beginning earlier years he used to see him smoking because it was okay to do that but then it got to be out of style to be smoking on camera and he had always a lit cigarette the prop man would rush in and replace it with a fresh lit cigarette and a little holder just below the desk and he had a fan there and exhaust that and I would see him doing this kind of a thing and only you were up close we'll see what my eyes are doing here but he'd be talking to you and doing this every now and then he was glancing at the monitor because he wanted to see when the camera went to me so he could grab a quick puff blow the smoke out into the exhaust that and then put the cigarette back and then come right back into position again see and I see those things and all the broadcasts to rebroadcast that I see of the Carson show you can see him doing the eyes up to the monitor I trying to figure out when he'd get a puff but that's the sad thing about Johnny because it took him away eventually however with a with Johnny doing this sort of thing and getting getting away with it in front of the audience because they were always told please don't call attention to the fact that mr. Carson smoked all the way during the show and the audience was always very cooperative but there was spots there where they had to break up because when he first heard this is Popoff's voice he he reared back he said oh omitting he grabbed his mouth and did this to the audience to quiet them down if he and I know when that edit comes so that's why I always left at that spot I know how they saved the shot because they want to use the the cuts are not not the audio track from where he said oh because it wasn't picked up on the other ones you see and so that's my little laugh that I have whenever I see that program oh goodness and I miss him a lot oh well I'll tell you how much I miss him oh this happened a couple of years ago I was sitting in my office well no I shouldn't tell you that story I've got the time for a dinner waiting I'm going to run out of time but later you're going to after y'all I'll be happy to tell you now let me make another definitive statement if I may in response to a comment by John Kirby no earlier matter of fact this is my statement I'm saying this with a firm voice I'm totally saying well more or less and I will make this statement very firmly I believe that God does not exist though I cannot prove that non-existence I base my statement on the fact that I cannot prove a negative and being very careful about saying this word for word out and I'm not required to do that because I'm not making a claim the religious people make that claim and they are required to prove their claim not high now I'm often asked about how we can get critical thinking taught in schools oh my it's not as easy who you think parents generally speaking would be very very leery of that because the subject of God and religion might be brought up if the children were actually taught to think critically and ask the right questions I had an experience in Florida when I first moved there there's a school a very very classy school extremely expensive private school and a very classy place indeed and it's called the American heritage school I don't think there's very much American or heritage about it I found out I was asked by them if I would be kind enough to go over and speak to their student body one morning I agreed to do so without any fee or anything because it was a community service and I was very happy to do it I showed up and I had a question I want to ask because I had been noting every time I went by the school up on the tower clock now I keep the exact time right to the second I'm a radio person basically and I know what time it is that's one thing I don't know I don't know much else but I do know the time and I would always note that their clocks were set five minutes slow and I was very well exactly five minutes as a matter of fact on the button and when I walked into the school I looked at the clocks of the wall they were all set five minutes slow so I sat down with the Dean he welcomed me shook my hat and he looked a little uneasy and I said to him first of all he said denied before we go any further I've got to ask you what about the clocks they're all five minutes low and he explained to me he said yes we give that advantage to the students because penalties in the school are very heavy they could lose points their yearly points there they could lose points if they're late and we give them that advantage I said oh exactly like an employer when they graduate from school we'll be glad to give them too of course and he looked at me rather blankly I said in writing about let's not discuss this anything else we should discuss it he said yes there is a is one point we've had some of the parents came to see us for the lawyer and they want to make sure they they they have learned of your reputation they want to make sure that during your talk to the student body you wouldn't bring up religion and I said well I said I don't use it as a feature of my talk but if I should be asked or comments should be made about or have I've acted during the question answer period then I think about religion I will answer quite freely and quite honestly he said well I we we really couldn't couldn't count as that no you see they're waiting outside and they're they're looking waiting your answer and I had noticed some very serious people sitting serious looking people sitting outside the office when I walked into his office and I said well in that case I'm afraid I won't be speaking for American heritage school two that I walked to the door and I just heard a groan behind me and I walked by and I said good morning ladies young the morning and I walked by and out the door I never did lecture at the American heritage school that's the problem folks try to teach critical thinking in schools and let alone teaching atheism in schools that would be very unpopular with with the the parents very very unpopular and I have had near riots when I attended some high schools and I don't do high school talks but I've done it on certain special occasions when I've been asked to do so with the first question you get out of the audience the first person stands up and said you believe in God which God and the D God oh that God you mean Minerva no no no the God the God God and God Almighty Oh God Almighty that I go through a whole thing they don't realize there's more than one God there are thousands of them out there all over the place heaven must be very crowded then maybe under two I'm not too sure I don't know about those things but that's the problem about getting critical thinking into schools I don't think it's as easy as people think it should be now at the hotel right across the street by the way have you noticed DJ the card the sappy laminated card they left on the bed there it's full of prayers they're offering prayers up for you because you're staying in their hotel there must be a reason for that I haven't eaten in the restaurant I can assure you just in case now I'll end with this and then we'll have some questions and perhaps a mattress I'm repeating myself endo but I want to make this very clear to you I do not believe that there is a jealous capricious angry vengeful insecure cruel murderous critter named God up there or down there wherever I don't believe it's true the claims that this God exists but again I can't prove that he doesn't exist because I can't prove that negative but I'm not required to I know I repeat myself but I want to make that very clear to you I am an atheist yes and probably so I came to that decision because when I was sent to Sunday School for the very first time I was given the quarter sent off from the afternoon to the church and I sat in the basement of the other kids I started to ask questions and I was told oh you don't ask questions we read to you from the Bible and that's a fact and that's all there is to it I said how do you know it's true that stop that's all no more question so I didn't ask any more questions I went back to second week I was given a quarter again to put in the offering table and they threw me other Sunday school because I continued to ask the questions how do you know that and they threw me out and I made a great discovery ladies and gentlemen I discovered that that 25 cents at Purdue's trove store would buy a double flavor sundae ice cream [Applause] that was one of the greatest discoveries of my young life and I continued on for another six or eight months my parents never found out to this day that I wasn't going to Sunday school I went home and I lied to them and they didn't care much because they weren't very religious in a way they weren't really serious about it or they would have had me up against the wall you know with the weapon the whole thing and they didn't do that so that is my statement of fact I'm going to show you one more videotape this is well I hope you're not offended by the sight of blood this is another Carson show oh my do I miss Johnny Carson whoa I really do sincerely you're going to see this tape and you're going to recoil Pratt at the sight of the blood but the sight of the blood shouldn't shouldn't know you too much or just may you oh it's going to be a nice night after all the reason is that the blood that you see show up here actually came of all things from Carson's secretary the went to the nurse and had blood with drones rubber to use because artificial blood Deborah looks right particularly on live TV and with the color quality that you can now see in with a high resolution of course but so just don't be too squeezed when you see the blood appear I hope you'll be amused by this you'll you'll see that I make a joke in the middle of it that really convulsed the audience [Music] okay I want to find out again from who just might have joined it the people who might just have to and in a little word of warning here if you have a queasy stomach the sight of blood bothers you we suggest you don't watch this this is James Randi who's gonna give you an idea of what the psychic surgeons in the Philippines actually do on people who go down there and pay good money you all set and be all right have our patient it's all yours oh now this is the time to look away if you if you need to because it's trying to get a little gory from now on the thank you surgeons the Philippines are taping sounding okay everything's fine they're pretty heartless folks they just don't much care for the feelings of people they don't certainly care for their health at all and the curse they're not in any way trained to do this sort of thing they just put on an act as if they are trained now what you're about to see is a barehanded operation which appears to take place by actually penetrating the body believe me what you're seeing is strictly special effects it's sleight of hand and nothing more and this is the way it looks catch anything that gets down there we don't get it on your trousers repeating help it you see ah this is terrible getting worse and worse you second now hey - wow that doesn't come up a bonus that's a bit better just a second just one second man may be better for you you don't feel any better and the strange thing is after this operation is all over and I Elijah folks I want you to bear in mind please that people are showing this as if it were really serious as if it actually did take place and as if surgery really performed people do this they go to the Philippines they spend their money and they frankly return home in most cases to die it's a little bit funny to watch it perhaps and you say gee I know it's play-acting it's not play act when they go for the tens of thousands every year Sanford I want to thank you for being a wonderful volunteer I think you deserve a round of applause thank you thank you so much now we do have time I believe do we have time for questions and answers no no time oh well I regret that but I'll be around so grab me pinned me to the wall and ask me your questions thank you very much ladies and gentlemen [Applause] okay thank you good night

Channel: HamboneProductions

Views: 74,101

Rating: 4.8147368 out of 5

Keywords: James, Randi, Skepticon, hambone, productions, free, thought

Id: EVb03qX61B4

Length: 59min 36sec (3576 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 04 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/decaptcha]

He knew about the media.