Trivia / Penn & Teller: Fool Us

• Awesome, Dear Boy: Penn & Teller freely admit that the show is an excuse for them to be wowed by magic acts from all around the world. Meanwhile, the acts come on because they get to meet one of the greatest contemporary magic acts and flex the muscles in front of a global audience.
• Channel Hop: ITV cancelled the show after a single series even though it got better than average ratings for its timeslot. The CW rebroadcast that series and decided to pick the show up for itself once it saw that American audiences loved the premise. The original host, Jonathan Ross, also hosted the first season of the show's run on The CW before being replaced by Alyson Hannigan.
• Colbert Bump: The show's primary objective is to promote magic to a wider audience. Performers who come onto the show all receive a boost in popular interest and many report that their careers reach new highs after their appearances. To help with this, performers are allowed to freely post their appearances onto their personal YouTube channels to promote their acts.
• Playing Against Type: The Passing Zone surprised Penn & Teller (with whom they are good friends) when they appeared on the show with a magic trick, because they are professional jugglers known for elaborate passing routines and not magicians.
• Recycled Script: Some acts come onto the show with routines that were developed and commercialized by others. Most of the time, Penn and Teller will demonstrate their extensive knowledge of magic by politely mentioning who originated those tricks.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Dani DaOrtiz had no intention of appearing on the show but he happened to be in Las Vegas while tapings were being done. When producers got word that he was in town, they begged him to come on as a contestant.
• Wag the Director: Dani DaOrtiz doesn't like appearing on TV but the Fool Us producers begged him to make an exception for them when they found out he was in Las Vegas. DaOrtiz agreed on the condition that he wouldn't have to cut down his routine to fit into a tight time slot. The producers agreed and gave him ten full minutes to perform whereas most performers who appear on Fool Us only get around six minutes.

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