Michael Karl on Penn & Teller: Fool Us // Subliminal Messages

[Music] [Applause] welcome back our next magician is ready to take a crack at confusing pen and teller take a look i was born and raised in queens new york i always wanted to be a magician but i got a weird start my mom taught special ed tough kids they taught me juvenile delinquent sleight of hand how to pick locks escape from handcuffs hide razor blades in your mouth i was nine if i hadn't switched to magic i might not have survived i realized i was onto something when i did a mind-reading bit and a woman started screaming that was inside her head they had to stop the show i thought okay this needs to be explored i fooled a polygraph test when i was just a kid that's when i knew the power of the mind is an actual force pulling a polygraph is one thing fooling pen and teller it's gonna be a bit harder they're like human lie detectors that specialize in magic please welcome the mental magic of michael carl in the 1940s and 50s subliminal messaging became very popular amongst advertisers trying to sell you their products without you even knowing it most notably you would see this in movie theaters where they would flash text on the screen so fast that you didn't see it with your eyes but it hit you on a subconscious level and you're just sitting there wondering why you suddenly had a craving for popcorn to this day advertisers spend tons of money trying to manipulate our attention and influence our decisions but we don't typically call it subliminal messaging anymore we refer to it as social media now this is going to be my test today my challenge is to get the three of you to make the exact choices that i want you to so if you could just focus your attention now on the giant screen behind me and i have an experiment set up with three tests each designed for each one of you now first we're going to start with allison now allison the first test for you is the seven colors of the rainbow so the seven colors are going to flash on the screen one at a time i just want you to focus on the video and when the video stops just name the color that stands out to you which stood out to you the most violet violet great choice that's perfect now do you think i could have predicted violet no not sure right possibly i mean you are on the show so i should probably see yes that's a good point that's a very good point allison now tell her the next experiment i made specifically for you now i believe that your creativity is visual that objects inspire you more than words so for you i have a test with a bunch of images that are going to flash on the screen but since we're in vegas i up the ante here and you're going to have twice the amount of choices so just focus on the next video and when you're done choose the image that stood out to you the most [Music] what image would you like teapot that's an interesting choice now pen for the last experiment this one is specifically for you and your love of language now you're a very well-read and linguistic individual and i know that so for you i have a set of words for you to choose from again we're going to up the odds and double the amount of choices that you have so just focus on the video and choose the word that stands out to you [Music] him which word stood out to you most phobia phobia that's a great one does that feel like a free choice phobia it did it did okay it's supposed to feel that way that's how subliminal messaging works so before we started this allison the producers put my number in your phone do you have their phone handy and can you please call me now these were all free choices that the three of you made perfect and now just to recap allison you chose the color violet tell her you chose the teapot right and then pin you chose phobia hi you've reached mentalist michael carl sorry i can't answer the phone i'm performing on penn teller's full list right now if this is allison calling my phone it's probably because we're doing an experiment this is not so much prediction but more about influencing your thoughts in real time if i did this right then i influenced allison to choose the color violet i also influenced teller to choose the teapot and miraculously i got pen to pick the word phobia now if this isn't alison calling my phone then none of this makes any sense to you so just leave a message after the beep good job ladies and thank gentlemen so much this is really impressive thank you that worked out really well what's the wildest trick you ever came up with the wildest might be this one if i actually fooled penn teller i have to say that would be the top they were my biggest inspiration as a kid so this is a dream come true to be here oh cool so do you feel like your magic is like theirs at first you know i tried to emulate them a lot but then when you start feeling who your character is and who you are then you kind of develop your own authentic self but then i got into mentalism in college because i thought it was cool if i could read and understand people if i could influence them to make decisions then i'd influence someone if i'm on an interview to hire me for a job was that a turning point for you it made me realize that this is something that i should stick with that this might really be something yeah yeah let's see if the boys have figured it out let's see let's find out hey michael hey you know that book subliminal seduction about the 70s i remember both teller and i believing it completely that is such a well seductive idea to believe that people are controlling us in that way and flashing stuff on the screen and every once in a while there comes a study that backs something up but of course you're on a magic show doing a magic trick and it's wonderful to use that kind of um uh holcomb from the real world as kind of a basic magic wand for how tricks are done a really nice performance i love seeing someone come out with just a a stool in the backdrop behind them and do a nice act like that but i have got a list of words but i'm going to read off to you and i just want to see if any of those words jump out at you particularly yeah provide bench friend password node unlawful recording temple intention foster policy technology journal throw habitat arrow distort press person compact paragraph punch enjoy so what do you think michael did you pick up my uh subliminal message i think i got your messages i think you got this one but it's been a pleasure to be here oh thank you so much well you didn't fool them but you sure got into my head i'm glad i did thank you so much thank you michael carl we have one more magic act for you and lucky for us it's our two hall of famers penn and teller perform right after this

Channel: Michael Karl

Views: 81,386

Rating: 4.7235494 out of 5

Keywords: #influence, #speaker, #keynotespeaker, #mentalist, #mentalism, #magic, #magician, #subliminal, #subliminalmessage, #subliminalmessages, #foolus

Id: vDbSDl5-JR8

Length: 8min 8sec (488 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021