{"id":46587,"date":"2025-04-25T01:36:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T08:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=46587"},"modified":"2025-04-24T18:54:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T01:54:41","slug":"beckman-gets-his-third-fu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/beckman-gets-his-third-fu\/","title":{"rendered":"Beckman gets his third FU"},"content":{"rendered":"

The big reveal: Vitaly Beckman fools Penn & Teller a third time with his illusion \u201cStill Life.\u201d (image courtesy Vitaly Beckman)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real privilege to be able to share something that was created from just an idea, and see how well it\u2019s received,\u201d Vitaly Beckman told the Independent<\/i> after winning his third FU (Fool Us) trophy on Penn & Teller: Fool Us<\/i> last month.<\/p>\n

With his characteristic charm and sense of humour, Beckman had the host of the show, Brooke Burke, arrange a pineapple, a pomegranate, a couple of melons and a clock (whose hands she set however she liked) either on a fruit stand or beside it. Beckman even invited her to move any item after her initial placement, which she did not. Then, he turned his attention to a covered painting that had been on stage the whole time. When unveiled, the revealed artwork depicted Burke\u2019s arrangement exactly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept might have been in my head for years,\u201d said Beckman, a member of the Jewish community who lives in New Westminster. \u201cI think I even had a sketch of the idea in my diary years ago. After I finished my off-Broadway run, I had some time to work on a few ideas, and this is the one I decided to pursue in 2019. I started performing it in Singapore and, right after that, the pandemic started, so only a few years later could I test it out some more on the road. So, while the illusion took a few months to create, it took a few years to polish and work out the kinks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beckman fooled Penn & Teller in 2016 and again in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing beats the first time,\u201d Beckman said. \u201cHowever, this was also very exciting because it is harder and harder to come up and stump them, especially after they know me already, but also the illusion I picked is more difficult to perform this time, and a lot more things can go wrong. So, because of that, the stakes were higher! Definitely exciting to be able to do it with all that in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his third attempt, Beckman considered several pieces from his current touring show, An Evening of Wonders<\/i>, and \u201cStill Life\u201d ticked a lot of boxes, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe illusion was telling a very simple story, in about five minutes, which is the optimal time for a show like Fool Us<\/i>. Yet, it was also very visually startling,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has inspirational elements, as my goal is not really to trick people but to inspire and uplift them. But then, of course, the mystery elements in it were also very strong. I knew that Penn & Teller would have a real hard time with it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Winners of the FU trophy get to perform in Penn & Teller\u2019s live show, and Beckman will join them in Las Vegas on April 26. To watch Beckman fool the duo, go to youtube.com\/watch?v=Z3hJA2I-Fig<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big reveal: Vitaly Beckman fools Penn & Teller a third time with his illusion \u201cStill Life.\u201d (image courtesy Vitaly Beckman) \u201cIt\u2019s a real privilege to be able to share something that was created from just an idea, and see how well it\u2019s received,\u201d Vitaly Beckman told the Independent after winning his third FU (Fool […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[24019,20387,20385,7435],"class_list":["post-46587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-an-evening-of-wonders","tag-illusion","tag-penn-teller","tag-vitaly-beckman"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}