Comments from Penn & Teller: Fool Us
With over 100K “Likes,” Richard Turner is among the few to fool the legendary magicians Penn & Teller.
Here is an entire deck of cards worth of comments from Richard’s appearance on the show. You can also download a PDF of this page!
ACE OF SPADES
“I think my favorite thing is that at no point do Penn & Teller try to catch him on any of his moves, because they already know ahead of time they’d never be able to. Even when Teller leans in close to watch Richard deal, I think he’s leaning in as a fan of magic being astonished by what’s happening, and not as a magician trying to dissect a trick. When Penn said it was an honor to sit at his table, he genuinely meant it. I think they’re both happier to sit at Richard Turner’s table than any magician is happy to perform magic for Penn & Teller.”
KING OF SPADES
“For those that don’t know, this is the single BEST card mechanic to ever live, Professor Dai Vernon (the man that fooled Harry Houdini) had literally taught him moves the way he wished they were possible, he believed that these things could never be done, and because of how obsessive Richard is he learned to do them the impossible way. The moves that Richard performs are literally impossible for anyone else to do (unless you also spend 10-20 hours a day for 40-50 years practicing.)”
“The really crazy part about this story is the man has gone on record saying that he has moves that he has not shown anybody yet. Moves that only he and Dai Vernon know which means Turner is the only man alive today that both knows of these moves and how to do them.”
JACK OF SPADES
“He is a well-known card mechanic. It’s not a trick. It’s pure skill. That’s why Penn says it’s an honor when he walks up. I don’t think He really fooled them as much as they know almost nobody else in the world has his skill.”
10 OF SPADES
“I just love this guy, he’s an absolute unit and a crazy good card mechanic. I would dare say he’s the best the world has ever seen, and I say that with confidence. He’s got a great personality; he’s got such control over the cards that anyone trying to compete against him is a fool in their own right.”
9 OF SPADES
“Just want ya’ll to know he learned from the man that fooled Houdini. The literal god of card fixing. This isn’t mere magic tricks, it’s literally 4-6 magic tricks to make the one move fast enough and make all seem-less. Then he did another 6 magic tricks to fix and set the next move. Literally said it was nearly impossible to do unless the person put the hours in and now we know he needed to be blind. It helped him focus the craft of touch etc.. And if he messed up once for Teller and Penn they’d see, but the tricks are too insane and slight for magicians to pick up all of them for a reason, to fix the game 100%. Some people know a lot of moves, Richard Turner knows them all. Because he is blind, he will never fall into other’s wrong dealings as well. Literally his curse became a godly gift for his craft.”
8 OF SPADES
“Penn “I’ve never seen moves like that never.” This guy has the best second deal in the world. He practiced literally 8-20 hours a day for over forty years straight to achieve such perfection. An incredible inspiration!”
7 OF SPADES
“Just like Terrence Malick… who had this guy trick Brad Pitt in Tree of Life.”
6 OF SPADES
“It is all part of his stage presence. Richard Turner isn’t a random blind dude who came to fool us once. He is a recognized performer who had multiple awards over a long magic career. Almost as long as Penn’s and Teller’s. As a blind person that was his main income. There is a reason Penn said “It’s an honor” when he approached him. He like any successful performer has his own team of stylists who dress him up before he goes on stage. He can read the time by not using his eyes but by using his sense of touch that’s much more powerful than the sense of sight of normal people. In one interview he said that he would be able to see things in a way that others can’t. And his fingers have all ten eyeballs.”
5 OF SPADES
“I now have 10 eyeballs” My god … Batman’s most dangerous enemy!”
4 OF SPADES
“Just watched the ‘DEALT’ film and I have to say this man might just be the most incredible human being I have ever come across, or indeed am ever likely to come across, in my procrastinatingly lazy life. Thank you Mr. Turner.”
3 OF SPADES
“This blind guy just called me very disabled. And then proved it.”
2 OF SPADES
“He’s totally right. We must overcome procrastination and laziness. I’m gonna start doing this… maybe tomorrow.”
ACE OF DIAMONDS
“I don’t understand. I’m legally blind. I have some vision, but it’s limited. In many ways, this is more impressive than what Shin Lim does. I can understand how he does the dealing of the second card, but I don’t understand how on Earth he got the deck back into order and then rigged it for Teller to win. He’s either a master at counting in his head, or he can somehow feel the print on the cards. I know I’m stretching here, but I’m amazed. Can you imagine him if he were a bad guy? Hold a private game and a bunch of marks laugh at the blind dealer and he cleans them all out! If he and Shin Lim joined forces, Voldemort would look like a first year at Hogwarts!”
KING OF DIAMONDS
“I caught a false cut on the final cut before dealing that pad hand. The whole time he’s false dealing and false shuffling. But by god its practically impossible to see. Every now and then we get true legends that surely can’t be surpassed. Richard Turner the real card mechanic. Dude would even be shuffling while pleasing his wife! I’ve watch all I can find on this guy short of the doc Dealt (it’s in the mail) and if ya love sleight of hand he’s the master. Amazing.”
QUEEN OF DIAMONDS
“I get disappointed when I see an act done with cards and the hosts sit down and discuss what they saw. And then in “code” tear apart the artist. In this case this AMAZING man does something so perfect that they never make it to their seats, Hell, halfway through, Teller was calling for the trophy to be lowered! Wonderful skill from a very gifted man. Thank you.”
JACK OF DIAMONDS
“I saw the biopic about him , “DEALT” tonight. It’s astonishing . The unbelievable skill and discipline and work and strength and humanity to this guy is just truly mind blowing to me…..It’s one of life’s terrific stories and incredibly unusual and heroic and world class in every way. It has made a huge impression on me about accomplishment and greatness of spirit and soul…….. Very inspiring…and wonderful…”
10 OF DIAMONDS
“One of the things he points out in the interview, is that he had a meeting with I believe a mobster that wanted him to run a game and control the output. Upon meeting that mobster, he knew that Richard never wants to shake hands with anyone, because of the grease that is on someone else’s hand aside from his own it messes with his talent, skill, and ability to feel what card he is handling and moving through the deck. You can see that in motion when Penn and Teller join him on stage, you can’t see him fist bump Penn, but you can clearly see him giving Teller a fist bump. Kind of a really interesting thing to see and witness.”
9 OF DIAMONDS
“They both knew they were fooled before they sat at that table. Mr. Turner is the best there ever was and most likely ever will be at what he does. He does things thought impossible until he came along. His teacher would purposely give him impossible tasks and he would do them anyway. A legend.”
8 OF DIAMONDS
Dear Mr. Turner, I’ve just seen your performance on an old episode of Penn and Teller “fool us.” And something you said in that really stuck with me. Procrastination and laziness are the biggest disabilities.
That simple sentence is simply life changing and I had to seek you out to say thank you (immediately and without procrastination.) So, to that end. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you.”
7 OF DIAMONDS
“He’s blind, functions like he can see perfectly and is absolutely jacked while a black belt? I think this dude is the real-life Daredevil.”
6 OF DIAMONDS
“I’m sorry but martial arts plus card magic = card ninja. That’s science.”
5 OF DIAMONDS
“Procrastination and laziness, give me blindness over that any day of the week”, said the blind black-belt-karate-magician. Ouch.”
4 OF DIAMONDS
“To top it off he could kick my ass if I wanted to do something about it….”
3 OF DIAMONDS
People always ask, “In real life, could Daredevil and Stick fight that well?” Richard Turner is a real-life Stick.”
2 OF DIAMONDS
“Undoubtedly, you are a remarkable technician and you have mastered a repertoire of complex techniques (false deals and false shuffles mostly). Nonetheless, your lack of humbleness towards other cardicians blocks you from enhancing your craft… Honestly, I don’t like your attitude because you have systematically belittled cardicians for many years. Master cardicians and card manipulators use and apply moves as intricate as the ones you do. Besides, you have performed the same act ad nauseam, and never have I seen you performing with decks handed to you by the public. I am fan of yours, but that doesn’t stop me from being objective.”
ACE OF CLUBS
“How can anyone give this a thumbs down…….obviously they don’t recognize amazing talent when they see it.”
KING OF CLUBS
“If you dislike this, it’s time to get an X-ray and see if your heart is missing. Beautiful performance, Richard! You are an inspiration to many people.”
QUEEN OF CLUBS
“He isn’t blind he is just pretending.”
JACK OF CLUBS
“He’s fully blind, you obviously are just attempting to make yourself feel better in life, as how did you screw yours up so bad when you can see…”
10 OF CLUBS
“You are sick saying that someone doing extraordinary things is a liar. try to turn your fingertips into color and force, oh, we might have to extract your eyes first.”
9 OF CLUBS
“He performed the same tricks blindfolded with silver dollars and duct tape over his eyes just to prove to idiots like you that he is really doing it while completely blind.”
8 OF CLUBS
“He studies acting and stage techniques, such as eye contact with people at different ranges.”
7 OF CLUBS
“Yes, they definitely know what he’s doing. It’s just incredibly impressive. He’s undoubtedly the best card mechanic in the world… by far. He actually does the things that magicians use sleight of hand to pretend they’re doing. It’s crazy.”
6 OF CLUBS
“It’s probably a huge rush to see magic they don’t know how they can do themselves or make theories about how they are done. I’d imagine at this point that’s a rarity. Plus, this guy is so charismatic, it’s hard not to get sucked into the act.”
5 OF CLUBS
“Turner said exactly what he was doing. If P&T didn’t catch that much, I’d question their sanity. What they couldn’t do (at least evidently) was catch him doing it. I don’t think they hammed it up at all, especially since he said, “This isn’t to fool you, yet,” and since P&T have never reacted so strongly to the “audience education” portion of any other act. Even if they did pretend, they might only get away with that once; but if they did that often, they’d lose credibility with the audience, and ruin the effect of the entire show. All it takes is for the audience to catch them in one deception in order to forever question whether their reactions are genuine.”
4 OF CLUBS
“Everything he does is unbelievable. But when he gets Penn to wash the deck and then still can manipulate the order is simply the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen done with a deck of cards.”
2 OF CLUBS
“His opening act for P&T’s Vegas show was even crazier. He had a volunteer shuffle between each time he put down a new card and still dealt a royal flush… ridiculous.”
ACE OF HEARTS
“I think this is the best one I’ve seen in the show. At least the one that has literally left me speechless. What an awesome human being (is he even human?)”
KING OF HEARTS
“I always love watching this clip. I was astonished the first time, second time, and the fourteenth time. I especially enjoy P&T’s astonishment too. This guy is incredible and for someone who is known to be the two things Richard loathes the most—lazy and procrastinates, this really is good medicine to kick me in the arse to get into high gear!”
QUEEN OF HEARTS
“I have never seen such an amazing act. Every act I watch, even when I don’t know how it was done, I can assume it was some sort of trick, either sleight of hand or something hidden from the audience. This one however, has got to be just magic. This guy has a 6th sense or something there is no way it was something anyone can learn.”
JACK OF HEARTS
“You can tell he’s living the high life because he can’t even see but he’s wearing a $65,000 Rolex platinum Daytona.”
10 OF HEARTS
“The thing I’m beginning to love and understand, came from something Penn said about another contestant, that it doesn’t matter that you know how the trick is done, or the mechanics, or the history of the feat, but how well it is performed. There’s been a few magicians, such as Mr. Turner, who do these tricks, which many people know how they work, as displayed in the comments of videos like these, but to catch it, to actually see it happen, and it passes right through your detection without a whiff on your senses to pick up – well, that’s the magic; that’s when you see Teller about to jump out of his seat with giddy excitement and Penn about to blow a gasket of frustration from a buildup of joy.”
9 OF HEARTS
“I can’t get over how chipper and happy he sounds when he says “Well, we did it then, Penn!” I don’t know there’s something about the way he says it that puts a smile on my face whenever I watch him say it again.”
8 OF HEARTS
“Talented, friendly, humble. Nothing but respect for this guy, I have great vision and I disappoint myself on a daily basis.”
7 OF HEARTS
“Wow came across this by coincidence. My father has been in show business for decades and is a good friend of Mr. Turner’s. My dad would always show me pictures of them hanging out and tell stories about some of the incredible stuff he does. One thing that always stuck with me is my dad told me you could have a stack of cards right by Mr. Turner and tell him any number between 1 in 52. And he immediately reaches over, grabs what appears to be a random number of cards and puts them right in front of you in 1 smooth fast motion and it’s always the exact amount you just said in cards. Amazing stuff.”
6 OF HEARTS
“This isn’t even a fraction of what this man can do. There is literally no other mechanic that matches him. Any pros know otherwise?”
5 OF HEARTS
“F**kin awesome how on every other fool us video there’s people picking apart the magic in the comments and going all “this magician’s better than this scrub, I could do this easy ass trick myself” but everyone’s in awe of the glorious Blind Black Belt Karate Wizard.”
4 OF HEARTS
“After watching one of his videos of how he does his thing, there’s very little actual sleight of hand and in this case no misdirection. He’s doing exactly what he says he’s doing but not telling all of what he’s doing and not quite in the manner you think he would. It’s very cool when Penn and Teller or Richard Turner tell you what they are doing and are still able to blow your mind.”
3 OF HEARTS
“Loved how Teller and Penn just made a u-turn back to get his trophy.”
2 OF HEARTS
“I would like to say that was the fastest fool us I’ve ever seen.”
JOKER
“8:20 the blind & the mute with a rush of endorphins and a spikey trophy, Teller nearly takes an eye out multiple times.”
JOKER
“This is literally the best act I’ve seen not only on this show, but in my life.”