Penn & Teller: Fool Us
Penn & Teller: Fool Us | |
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Created by |
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Directed by | Dennis Rosenblatt |
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Narrated by |
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Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 10 |
No. of episodes | 153 |
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Release | 7 January 2011 present | –
Penn & Teller: Fool Us is a magic competition television series in which magicians perform tricks in front of American magician-comedian duo Penn & Teller. Its first two seasons were hosted by Jonathan Ross, the third through ninth seasons were hosted by Alyson Hannigan and the tenth season by Brooke Burke. Fool Us was filmed at Fountain Studios in London, England (season one) and the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino (season two onward), located in Las Vegas. After each performance, if Penn & Teller cannot figure out how a trick was done, the magician(s) who performed it win a Fool Us trophy (since season 2) and a five-star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's show, also at the Rio Hotel & Casino.[1]
The tenth season premiered in October 2023.
Format
[edit]Each episode starts off with the introduction stating the purpose of the series. Penn & Teller come out and take their seats towards center stage, and hopeful magicians perform (6 in the pilot, 4 in season 1–present) their acts in front of them with a live studio audience (except for the second half of season 7 through season 9, when Covid forced them to perform in front of a virtual audience).
After each performance, Penn & Teller privately confer while the host interviews the magicians. Penn then reveals if they know how the trick was performed, typically using cryptic language, or they write down the method and present it privately to the magicians to confirm, so as to avoid publicly exposing the secrets behind the trick. Teller notes that the doublespeak helps teach people new techniques without spoiling the trick.[2]
If Penn & Teller are wrong, or cannot figure out how the trick was done, the magician wins a Fool Us trophy and the opportunity to later perform at one of Penn & Teller's Las Vegas shows. A backstage judge or judges, versed in the techniques of the magic industry and privately informed how the trick is done prior to the show, makes any necessary calls whether Penn & Teller were properly fooled. At the end of each episode, Penn & Teller perform a magic act of their own.
Production
[edit]The pilot of Fool Us was first commissioned by John Kaye Cooper, the controller of entertainment for ITV.[3] In February 2011, it was announced that due to good viewing figures, a series of eight episodes had been commissioned, and would be produced by September Films and 1/17 Productions.[4] The eight episodes were shot in a ten-day filming block, and began airing in June 2011.[5]
It was announced on 28 June 2012 that ITV had cancelled the show, despite averaging 4 million viewers, higher than the norm for the timeslot.[6] After finding moderate ratings success in running the ITV-produced episodes during the summer of 2014, The CW ordered a second season of original episodes to air in 2015.[7] The second season was a ratings hit for The CW, giving the network its highest ratings in that time slot compared to the previous five years.[8]
On 11 August 2015 the series was renewed for a third season by The CW[9] which premiered on 13 July 2016,[10][11] now hosted by Alyson Hannigan.[12] The fourth season premiered on 13 July 2017.[1][13] A special one-off April Fool's episode was broadcast on 2 April 2018 as a precursor to the fifth season, which premiered on 25 June 2018.[14][15] After another April Fool's episode on 1 April 2019, the sixth season premiered on 17 June 2019.[16]
In the summer of 2020 the show was renewed for a seventh season, which was set to begin filming in October 2020. Due to COVID-19 safety and travel restrictions, the second half of season 7 was filmed with a virtual audience, and international acts performed via video from their home countries. The magicians and crew were tested for COVID over 660 times, with every result negative.[17] On 20 January 2022, the series was renewed for a ninth season.[18] On 18 May 2023, the series was renewed for a tenth season, with new host Brooke Burke which was taped during the first weeks of July in the Penn & Teller Theatre at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The season premiered on 27 October 2023.[19][20][21] In June 2024, the series was renewed for an eleventh season.[22]
Episodes
[edit]Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
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First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
1 | Pilot | 7 January 2011 | ITV | ||
8 | 18 June 2011 | 28 August 2011 | |||
2 | 13 | 6 July 2015 | 5 October 2015 | The CW | |
3 | 13 | 13 July 2016 | 16 September 2016 | ||
4 | 13 | 13 July 2017 | 30 November 2017 | ||
5 | 13 | 25 June 2018 | 1 October 2018 | ||
6 | 13 | 17 June 2019 | 30 September 2019 | ||
7 | 28 | 14 | 22 June 2020 | 16 November 2020 | |
14 | 8 January 2021 | 16 April 2021 | |||
8 | 14 | 1 October 2021 | 4 March 2022 | ||
9 | 14 | 14 October 2022 | 14 April 2023 | ||
10 | 20 | 27 October 2023 | 26 April 2024 |
Performers who fooled Penn & Teller are listed in bold type.
Season 1 (2011)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code [a] | UK viewers (millions) [b] |
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1 | Pilot | "How to Saw a Woman in Half" | 7 January 2011 | 109 | 4.28[23] |
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2 | 1 | "Teller Sucks... Helium" | 18 June 2011 | 107 | 4.07[23] |
3 | 2 | "Stab a Card, Any Card..." | 25 June 2011 | 102 | 3.57[23] |
4 | 3 | "Solid Goldfish" | 2 July 2011 | 103 | 3.12[23] |
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5 | 4 | "Teller is a Blockhead" | 9 July 2011 | 104 | 3.27[23] |
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6 | 5 | "Penn Gets Nailed" | 16 July 2011 | 105 | 3.29[23] |
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7 | 6 | "The Magic of Polyester" | 23 July 2011 | 106 | 3.62[23] |
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8 | 7 | "A Bellyful of Needles" | 30 July 2011 | 101 | 3.22[23] |
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9 | 8 | "Water Tanks for the Memories" | 28 August 2011 | 108 | N/A |
- ^ As listed in U.S. listings
- ^ SD viewers only.
- ^ Although Piff, after being shown Teller's deduction, stated that he did not fool Penn & Teller, Penn later admitted in a blog post that he and Teller had gotten Piff's technique wrong but Piff played along with them, although this has not been mentioned on-screen.[24] Piff's subsequent guest appearances on the show in the episodes "Something Fishy This Way Comes" and "Penn the Magic Dragon" have been as a joint magic performance act alongside Penn & Teller at the end of each episode.
- ^ Although Penn & Teller saw Farquhar perform a deck switch, which they had previously decided would automatically mean a contestant did not fool them, they considered themselves fooled because they could not explain the essence of how Farquhar had performed his card trick.
- ^ Martinez presented himself as Cuban, but was outed as British by Penn & Teller following the conclusion of his act.
Unaired segments include:
Season 2 (2015)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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10 | 1 | "Phone-y Business" | 6 July 2015 | 202 | 1.66[28] |
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11 | 2 | "The Invisi-Ball Thread" | 13 July 2015 | 203 | 2.01[29] |
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12 | 3 | "Shoot to Kill" | 20 July 2015 | 201 | 1.81[30] |
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13 | 4 | "Knife of the Party" | 27 July 2015 | 204 | 2.24[31] |
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14 | 5 | "Mission Impossi-Ball" | 3 August 2015 | 205 | 2.06[32] |
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15 | 6 | "Now THAT'S Bunny!" | 10 August 2015 | 206 | 2.35[33] |
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16 | 7 | "Penn's Favorite Card Trick" | 17 August 2015 | 207 | 2.10[34] |
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17 | 8 | "Teller Plays with a Full Deck" | 24 August 2015 | 209 | 1.87[35] |
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18 | 9 | "Star Spangled Magic" | 31 August 2015 | 210 | 2.11[36] |
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19 | 10 | "Teller Deflowers a Shadow" | 14 September 2015 | 212 | 1.46[37] |
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20 | 11 | "Where There's Smoke There's Magic" | 21 September 2015 | 211 | 1.15[38] |
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21 | 12 | "Penn & Teller Ring Someone's Neck" | 28 September 2015 | 208 | 1.34[39] |
22 | 13 | "An Egg-Cellent Trick" | 5 October 2015 | 213 | 1.36[40] |
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- ^ Roth's award was given as an honorary award since Roth pioneered coin magic, and Penn & Teller stated that they only knew the tricks because they had read his books.
- ^ Although Paul Vigil did not fool them, Penn admitted that the only reason they know how his trick is done is because they have read it in Paul's books.
Season 3 (2016)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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23 | 1 | "Won't Get Fooled Again...?" | 13 July 2016 | 304 | 1.46[41] |
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24 | 2 | "Jesse Eisenberg Gets Carded" | 20 July 2016 | 303[citation needed] | 1.21[42] |
25 | 3 | "Have A Blast" | 27 July 2016 | 302 | 1.18[43] |
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26 | 4 | "Penn Plays With Fire" | 3 August 2016 | 305 | 1.42[44] |
27 | 5 | "You Dirty Rathead!" | 10 August 2016 | 301 | 1.43[45] |
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28 | 6 | "Penn & Teller Snake their Chances" | 17 August 2016 | 309 | 1.47[46] |
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29 | 7 | "Juggle, Juggle, Penn's in Trouble" | 24 August 2016 | 308 | 1.49[48] |
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30 | 8 | "Here's Moxie!" | 31 August 2016 | 303[citation needed] | 1.78[49] |
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31 | 9 | "The Great Escape" | 2 September 2016 | 307 | 1.28[50] |
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32 | 10 | "To Tea Or Not To Tea?" | 7 September 2016 | 310 | 1.54[51] |
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33 | 11 | "Penn & Teller Get Trapped" | 9 September 2016 | 311 | 1.41[52] |
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34 | 12 | "Penn & Teller Rip for your Pleasure" | 14 September 2016 | 312 | 1.38[53] |
35 | 13 | "Can Penn & Teller Fool Penn & Teller" | 16 September 2016 | 313 | 1.34[54] |
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- ^ Appeared in a previous episode where they fooled Penn & Teller.
- ^ Penn admitted that they do not know how he got the golf ball inside the jar, but the contestant agreed that he did not fool them, since they got all the other parts of the trick.
- ^ Although Coronel indicated during the initial broadcast that he had not fooled Penn & Teller, they confirmed in their "April Fool Us Day" special on 2 April 2018, that they had indeed been fooled.[47]
- ^ Performed as the magic duo "Hal & Kellar" parodying Penn & Teller.
Season 4 (2017)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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36 | 1 | "Penn & Teller Teach You a Trick" | 13 July 2017 | 402 | 1.62[55] |
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37 | 2 | "Penn, Teller and a Mind Reading Chicken" | 20 July 2017 | 401 | 1.72[56] |
38 | 3 | "Teller Flips a Bird" | 27 July 2017 | 403 | 1.56[57] |
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39 | 4 | "50/50 Chance" | 3 August 2017 | 405 | 1.64[58] |
40 | 5 | "Does This Trick Ring a Bell?" | 10 August 2017 | 407 | 1.53[59] |
41 | 6 | "Something Fishy This Way Comes" | 17 August 2017 | 412 | 1.49[61] |
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42 | 7 | "A Big Round of Applause for Alyson" | 24 August 2017 | 411 | 1.48[62] |
43 | 8 | "I Dream of Genie Tube" | 7 September 2017 | 410 | 1.42[63] |
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44 | 9 | "Penn & Teller Are Full of Hot Air" | 14 September 2017 | 413 | 1.48[64] |
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45 | 10 | "Monkey Business" | 21 September 2017 | 404 | 1.55[65] |
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46 | 11 | "Penn Does the Heavy Lifting" | 25 September 2017 | 409 | 0.92[66] |
47 | 12 | "Penn & Teller & Dracula" | 28 September 2017 | 408 | 1.66[67] |
48 | 13 | "Hanging Out with Penn & Teller" | 30 November 2017[d] | 406 | 1.14[68] |
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- ^ Appeared in a previous episode where they fooled Penn & Teller.
- ^ It was later revealed that Penn & Teller were only fooled due to the actions of one of the show's writers, Matt Donnelly.[60]
- ^ Outside of competition, performed in the magic act at the end of the episode together with Penn & Teller.
- ^ Scheduled 2 October 2017 airing of this episode was postponed following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Season 5 (2018)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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49 | – | "April Fool Us Day" | 2 April 2018 | N/A | 0.94[69] |
A special episode. | |||||
50 | 1 | "Penn the Magic Dragon" | 25 June 2018 | 503 | 1.35[70] |
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51 | 2 | "The Rematch" | 2 July 2018 | 502 | 1.34[71] |
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52 | 3 | "Penn & Teller Get Loopy" | 9 July 2018 | 504 | 1.29[72] |
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53 | 4 | "Here Comes the Magic" | 16 July 2018 | 501 | 1.39[73] |
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54 | 5 | "Psych!!" | 23 July 2018 | 508 | 1.45[74] |
55 | 6 | "Penn & Teller Against the World" | 30 July 2018 | 506 | 1.38[75] |
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56 | 7 | "Imagine (Magic) Dragons" | 6 August 2018 | 505 | 1.31[76] |
57 | 8 | "Here Lie Penn & Teller" | 13 August 2018 | 509 | 1.60[77] |
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58 | 9 | "Teller's Gambling Problem" | 20 August 2018 | 511 | 1.28[78] |
59 | 10 | "Penn & Teller Keep You In Suspense" | 27 August 2018 | 507 | 1.62[79] |
60 | 11 | "The Fool Us Zone" | 3 September 2018 | 510 | 1.34[80] |
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61 | 12 | "Never Trust A Magician" | 24 September 2018 | 512 | 0.89[81] |
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62 | 13 | "Let's Hear It For The Kids" | 1 October 2018 | 513 | 1.16[82] |
- ^ a b c d e Appeared in a previous episode where they fooled Penn & Teller.
- ^ Penn & Teller later revealed on their "April Fool Us Day" special on 1 April 2019 that in scenes deleted from the episode, Duvivier initially indicated that she had not fooled them, due to her misunderstanding Penn's cryptic language. However, after Teller went backstage and spoke with her privately about her techniques used on stage, he informed Penn that they had gotten their deductions wrong. They then called Duviver back to the stage and told her that they were indeed fooled by her, which was shown during the original broadcast.
Season 6 (2019)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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63 | – | "April Fool Us Day 2019" | 1 April 2019 | N/A | 0.74[citation needed] |
A special episode. | |||||
64 | 1 | "David Copperfield vs. Penn & Teller" | 17 June 2019 | 601 | 1.31[83] |
65 | 2 | "They're Baaack!" | 24 June 2019 | 602 | 1.10[84] |
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66 | 3 | "Penn & Teller vs. Inventors" | 1 July 2019 | 603 | 1.14[85] |
67 | 4 | "Penn & Teller Cure the Common Code" | 8 July 2019 | 604 | 1.15[86] |
68 | 5 | "Penn & Teller Hit the Streets" | 15 July 2019 | 605 | 1.18[87] |
69 | 6 | "Duck! It's Alyson!" | 22 July 2019 | 606 | 1.18[88] |
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70 | 7 | "Are You Better Magicians Than a 6th Grader?" | 29 July 2019 | 607 | 1.15[89] |
71 | 8 | "2nd Chance Foolers" | 5 August 2019 | 608 | 1.24[90] |
72 | 9 | "Magic Meatballs" | 19 August 2019 | 609 | 1.25[91] |
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73 | 10 | "Magical Moxie" | 26 August 2019 | 610 | 1.21[92] |
74 | 11 | "The Mind Noodler" | 9 September 2019 | 611 | 1.14[93] |
75 | 12 | "Magic is Bad for Your Health" | 23 September 2019 | 612 | 0.88[94] |
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76 | 13 | "Virtual Reality" | 30 September 2019 | 613 | 0.91[95] |
77 | – | "Merry Fool Us" | 29 November 2019 | N/A | N/A |
Season 7 (2020–21)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [96] | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) | |||||||
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Part 1 | ||||||||||||
78 | 1 | "Third Time's the Charm" | 22 June 2020 | 701 | 1.13[97] | |||||||
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79 | 2 | "Teller vs. Penn" | 29 June 2020 | 702 | 1.02[98] | |||||||
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80 | 3 | "Fool Us: The Home Game" | 6 July 2020 | 703 | 0.93[99] | |||||||
81 | 4 | "Teller Talks!!!" | 13 July 2020 | 704 | 0.94[100] | |||||||
82 | 5 | "Watermelon Surgery" | 20 July 2020 | 705 | 1.02[101] | |||||||
83 | 6 | "P&T in 3D...Glasses" | 3 August 2020 | 706 | 0.90[102] | |||||||
84 | 7 | "Penn's Stupid Rope Trick" | 17 August 2020 | 707 | 0.96[103] | |||||||
85 | 8 | "Brad Sherwood's Nuts" | 24 August 2020 | 708 | 1.01[104] | |||||||
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86 | 9 | "The Placebo Effect" | 31 August 2020 | 709 | 0.92[105] | |||||||
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87 | 10 | "Deep Fake Penn" | 5 October 2020 | 710 | 0.78[106] | |||||||
88 | 11 | "Say Hello to My Little Ball Pit Troll" | 12 October 2020 | 711 | 0.87[107] | |||||||
89 | 12 | "Lord of the Ring" | 19 October 2020 | 712 | 0.85[108] | |||||||
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90 | 13 | "Jaws of Death" | 26 October 2020 | 713 | 0.85[109] | |||||||
91 | 14 | "Magic With a Property Brother" | 16 November 2020 | 714 | 0.79[110] | |||||||
Part 2 | ||||||||||||
92 | 15 | "Penn & Teller Go for the Juggler" | 8 January 2021 | 715 | 0.73[111] | |||||||
93 | 16 | "Teller vs Penn: The Rematch" | 15 January 2021 | 716 | 0.76[112] | |||||||
94 | 17 | "Jedi Mind Tricks" | 22 January 2021 | 717 | 0.75[113] | |||||||
95 | 18 | "Teller Gets Smashed" | 29 January 2021 | 718 | 0.82[114] | |||||||
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96 | 19 | "Penn & Teller Go for a Spin" | 5 February 2021 | 719 | 0.83[115] | |||||||
97 | 20 | "Niagara Fools" | 19 February 2021 | 720 | 0.68[116] | |||||||
98 | 21 | "Back to the Future" | 26 February 2021 | 721 | 0.76[117] | |||||||
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99 | 22 | "P&T Get the Finger" | 5 March 2021 | 722 | 0.69[118] | |||||||
100 | 23 | "Turn That Frown Upside Down" | 12 March 2021 | 723 | 0.71[119] | |||||||
101 | 24 | "The Magic Toilet" | 19 March 2021 | 724 | 0.80[120] | |||||||
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102 | 25 | "Penn & Tarot" | 26 March 2021 | 725 | 0.74[121] | |||||||
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103 | 26 | "Teller's Wonderland" | 2 April 2021 | 726 | 0.69[122] | |||||||
104 | 27 | "Magic R App" | 9 April 2021 | 727 | 0.72[123] | |||||||
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105 | 28 | "Penn & Teller Double Down" | 16 April 2021 | 728 | 0.65[124] | |||||||
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Season 8 (2021–22)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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106 | 1 | "Penn & Teller's Worst Nightmare" | 1 October 2021 | 803 | 0.67[125] |
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107 | 2 | "Magic with a Wolf" | 8 October 2021 | 802 | 0.67[126] |
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108 | 3 | "Happy Birthday!" | 15 October 2021 | 801 | 0.74[127] |
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109 | 4 | "Monkeys, Donuts and X-Men" | 22 October 2021 | 806 | 0.65[128] |
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110 | 5 | "Teller Gets Whacked!" | 5 November 2021 | 804 | 0.67[129] |
111 | 6 | "Penn & Tizzle" | 12 November 2021 | 805 | 0.65[130] |
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112 | 7 | "Rock Paper Magic!" | 19 November 2021 | 807 | 0.69[131] |
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113 | 8 | "Magic Cubed" | 3 December 2021 | 808 | 0.73[132] |
114 | 9 | "Chocolate Magic" | 7 January 2022 | 809 | 0.89[133] |
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115 | 10 | "The Penn-Tagram" | 14 January 2022 | 810 | 0.86[134] |
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116 | 11 | "Stabba Dabba Deck" | 21 January 2022 | 811 | 0.91[135] |
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117 | 12 | "P&T's Super Bowl Halftime Show" | 28 January 2022 | 813 | 0.76[136] |
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118 | 13 | "Penn on Fire" | 25 February 2022 | 812 | 0.76[137] |
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119 | 14 | "Ghostbusters" | 4 March 2022 | 814 | 0.85[138] |
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Season 9 (2022–23)
[edit]No. overall | No. in season | Title [96][139] | Original air date [96] | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
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120 | 1 | "Single-Handed Three-Legged Twin Bullet Catch" | 14 October 2022 | 901 | 0.55[140] |
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121 | 2 | "Sleight of Foot" | 21 October 2022 | 902 | 0.75[141] |
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122 | 3 | "Four Fools and Counting..." | 28 October 2022 | 903 | 0.54[142] |
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123 | 4 | "Alyson's Smart Ass" | 4 November 2022 | 904 | 0.81[143] |
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124 | 5 | "Teller and the Big Dummy" | 11 November 2022 | 905 | 0.64[144] |
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125 | 6 | "Magic Socks Big Time" | 18 November 2022 | 906 | 0.78[145] |
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126 | 7 | "That (Bleeping) Teller!" | 2 December 2022 | 907 | 0.72[146] |
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127 | 8 | "Penn & Teller Animal Style" | 20 January 2023 | 908 | 0.72[147] |
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128 | 9 | "Tic Tac Time Travel" | 27 January 2023 | 909 | 0.73[148] |
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129 | 10 | "The Evil Magic Octopus" | 3 February 2023 | 910 | 0.69[149] |
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130 | 11 | "Full Frontal Magic" | 10 February 2023 | 911 | 0.62[150] |
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131 | 12 | "P & T Could Die Any Minute" | 31 March 2023 | 912 | 0.56[151] |
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132 | 13 | "Chicken Trickin" | 7 April 2023 | 913 | 0.62[153] |
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133 | 14 | "Alyson Might Throw Up" | 14 April 2023 | 914 | 0.62[154] |