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Randi's "That's My Line" video

Tricky

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Tricky
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Who else has looked at the video in the Sept.22, 2006 commentary? What a treasure. The "mentalist" looked like a total doofus. I can only envision his racing thoughts during the time when Randi was demonstrating his trap about what excuse he was going to use. Almost totally overlooked was that Randi did the pencil trick with almost no effort. Of course, any idiot could see what the guy's trick was.

The only thing that disappointed me was that one of the judges, a professer of paranormal or something like that, while he had to grudgingly agree that the claimant had failed, he said something to the effect of "but there are documented cases of success". I wish Randi had replied, "Bring 'em on," or similar words.

I hate to say it, but I can see why the show was cancelled. That whole episode should have taken five minutes at most. Randi deserved a better venue to show off his skills.

***
Ed. The thread title should be "That's My Line", not "Life". Can't edit it though. Bugger.
 
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<sigh> I remember seeing that show well. That was the occasion that turned me from a believer into a skeptic.

Before that, as a young and naive man, I was heavily into Uri Geller, ancient astronauts, and the like. I had heard of some guy named Randi, but figured he was just some old crank who couldn't handle the truth right before his eyes. So I looked forward to this show with great anticipation.

First Hydrick did his bit, and I sat there goggle-eyed with dropped jaw. Surely even that ogerish cynic Randi would have to bow before such powers! Then Randi came out & demolished him, and I was forced to confront for the first time just how easy I had been to fool.

It's been a long road from starry-eyed believer to clear-eyed skeptic. But I'll always be grateful to Randi for starting me on the road.
 
Ah, yes. I remember this well. The next day, in seventh grade science class, I managed to wow my fellow students by moving my pencil on my desk without touching it.

I also remember there was a part not shown in the linked video where Randi demonstrated turning the page in the phone book by blowing on it. I wish it had been included because it's one thing to say you know how a trick was done and quite another to show that you can do it.
 
I hadn't seen this show until Mr. Randi posted the link but I was aware of Hydrick, 'though I didn't remember his name. I saw another, undoubtedly later, show debunk him even more forcefully. He came back armed with an inverted aquarium placed over a dollar bill folded lengthwise at about a 90 degree angle and balanced on a pin. He then proceeded to move the dollar much like the pencil. Someone on stage noticed that there was a tiny gap between the table and the aquarium and made sure that it was sealed off. Again he was unable to perform once that simple control was implemented. A small microphone that could detect his blowing had the same result. I remember that after his eventual confession he revealed that his skills had nothing to do with Shao-Lin training. He'd learned to do it while incarcerated.

Oh, and I too amazed some friends at school the next day.

Steven
 
What I noticed most, both in the "What's My Line" video, and in the one "Psychic Investigator" episode I watched, was that Randi was incredibly cordial and considerate of the people who's "talents" he was exposing. He never gloated, and made sure to point out that simply uncovering these frauds wasn't proof that it's all fraudulent. His behavior alone is enough to make rational people realize that all the yelling and whining about the unfairness of the JREF Challenge is... well, nothing but yelling and whining. Of course, that's preaching to the choir...
 
Tricky said:
Who else has looked at the video Of course, any idiot could see what the guy's trick was.
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I really do find it hard to believe anyone would be impressed by this guy.
Don't any of them think enough to ask the question, Why does the darn pencil need to be teetering on the brink of falling off the table before his amazing mental powers can work?
 
Hawkeye said:
I really do find it hard to believe anyone would be impressed by this guy.
Don't any of them think enough to ask the question, Why does the darn pencil need to be teetering on the brink of falling off the table before his amazing mental powers can work?
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He had another trick I saw in which he would roll a pencil back and forth on a table. It looked impressive because he was able to roll it away and then roll it back toward himself. It turned out that what he was doing was blowing on the surface of the table on the far side of the pencil and the deflected air pushed it back in his direction. In the expose I saw that included his explanation of his techniques he described how it took him some time to learn to blow subtly but forcefully enough to move objects without it being painfully obvious. What's sad to me is that he might have had a decent career as a magician had he gone the honest route. After all, Penn & Teller never claim to be performing actual supernatural feats, just acts that look supernatural. No one is calling them frauds or trying to debunk them because they aren't lying to anyone.

Steven
 
Foster Zygote said:
What's sad to me is that he might have had a decent career as a magician had he gone the honest route. After all, Penn & Teller never claim to be performing actual supernatural feats, just acts that look supernatural. No one is calling them frauds or trying to debunk them because they aren't lying to anyone.
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I have a pet theory: Urban legends are just stories that aren't funny enough to be jokes. That is, they aren't entertaining unless you think they really happened. In the same way, I think psychics and other woos are just performers that aren't talented enough to be stage magicians. That is, they aren't entertaining unless you think they really have mystical powers.

Nobody's trying to debunk David Copperfield because you know the Statue of Liberty didn't really disappear. It was a trick. You know it was a trick. You just can't figure out how he did it. That's the fun. Hydrick moved a pencil. Big deal. If he didn't dress like an idiot and claim he was really moving it with his mind nobody would have paid the slightest bit of attention to him.

It also occurred to me that Randi gives him an out in the show. When Randi is putting the styrofoam in front of the phone book he says that if the styrofoam moved as well it wouldn't conclusively show anything. If Hydrick was at all smart, he would have blown on the phone book anyway, scattering the styrofoam and then he could claim that his psychic powers can't be directed that precisely. He still wouldn't have won the ten thousand dollars, but at least he wouldn't have looked like a complete idiot.
 
tsg said:
It also occurred to me that Randi gives him an out in the show. When Randi is putting the styrofoam in front of the phone book he says that if the styrofoam moved as well it wouldn't conclusively show anything. If Hydrick was at all smart, he would have blown on the phone book anyway, scattering the styrofoam and then he could claim that his psychic powers can't be directed that precisely. He still wouldn't have won the ten thousand dollars, but at least he wouldn't have looked like a complete idiot.
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That occurred to me too. I also thought that a better control would have been to have him hold a pacifier or something in his mouth to prevent him from blowing.

Steven
 
creepy how he came out in his jammies with that cheesy high school mustache.

i would just say, if you're so special, why don't you move something big? open the phone book to page 102.

ETA. it's always the Chinese isn't it?
 
I'll_buy_that said:
ETA. it's always the Chinese isn't it?
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Back when this show aired, Eastern mysticism was very en vogue.

Not that it isn't popular today. But It's only "in". Then, it was en vogue.

I think it was because bad Kung Fu movies were so popular.
 
I'm curious as to the relationshjp between Bob Barker and Randi. Bob sounded as though he knew Randi previously. I thought the same when Randi was on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" and they thumped Uri Geller. Later I found out that Carson, a former magician, and Randi had a great deal of respect for each other. I have known for some time that Bob Barker has long been a serious animal rights activist and that he is serious when he urges people to get their pets neutered. I wonder if he has also been a serious supporter of skeptics?
 
If he is a serious supporter of skeptics, does he urge people to get their skeptics neutered too?
 
Hydrick apparently confessed later:

totse said:
Psychic powers, Confessions, and Power Contests
By totse
Oct 9, 2003, 10:31

MERE PUFFERY
THE CONFESSIONS OF A LEADING PSYCHIC



...snip...

SCS is pleased to publish here for the first time
excerpts from that rare and fascinating television interview with
confessed psychic James Hydrick.



...snip...

While Hydrick was fooling the gullible he was not fooling
magician and psychic investigator James Randi. As Randi recounted
the incident in the The Skeptical Inquirer (Summer 1981), "What
of the pencil and page tricks? Well, my jaundiced eye recognized
these as rather tired old tricks...Hydrick was simply blowing the
page over, and he spun the pencil around by the same means. Not
immediately evident are these facts, however: First, the blast of
air from a half-open mouth takes time to get to the props, and
Hydrick made sure he turned his head away from the pencil and the
page after giving a sharp puff of air, so that he was facing away
when the action occurred. Second, one blows not directly at the
prop but at the table surface."

...snip....

KOREM: You were on "That's Incredible" a few months ago and you
really tricked them.

HYDRICK: I tricked the whole world.

KOREM: Yes. What did it make you feel like?

HYDRICK: I did that to reach. It's like a hand reaching out for
recognition. I don't know...I just wanted to be known. I needed
to be recognized. All my life, I've been...I hate to keep going
back to the past, but I don't know. I wanted to do that because
it was different. I just wanted to see how open minded people
were. I wanted to see if these people who were so-called
intelligent and I was so-called dumb; I mean, surely I'm here for
a reason. My whole idea behind this in the first place was to see
how dumb America was. How dumb the world is.
...snip...
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Hi, I hope I'm not doing a bad thing by bumping this thread, but does anyone know how I could obtain a complete copy of this episode of "That's My Line"? A friend of mine is putting together a tribute to Bob Barker and his 50 years on television, and it would be a big surprise to him if I were able to get it. Can anyone help me? If so, please let me know.

Thank you!
Justin Aldridge
 
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GrandGame1440 said:
Hi, I hope I'm not doing a bad thing by bumping this thread, but does anyone know how I could obtain a complete copy of this episode of "That's My Line"? A friend of mine is putting together a tribute to Bob Barker and his 50 years on television, and it would be a big surprise to him if I were able to get it. Can anyone help me? If so, please let me know.

Thank you!
Justin Aldridge
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Hello Justin,

All I know is that the Hydrick segment on that video comes from the Solved Mysteries Workshop - Tape III, a lecture by Randi at the Skeptics Society Convention '98.

Hope this helps narrow your search.
 
I'll_buy_that said:
i would just say, if you're so special, why don't you move something big? open the phone book to page 102.
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You can't tell a psychic what power it is that he has. He tells you. Your job is find out how what he says he can do could be done by natural means and design an experiment that prevents him doing it this way. Of course, he could have claimed the styrofoam interfered with his powers, but he would still have looked an idiot.
 
BillyJoe said:
You can't tell a psychic what power it is that he has. He tells you. Your job is find out how what he says he can do could be done by natural means and design an experiment that prevents him doing it this way. Of course, he could have claimed the styrofoam interfered with his powers, but he would still have looked an idiot.
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Uri Geller claimed exactly that when faced with the same thing on (IIRC) "That's Incredible."

And yeah, he looked much akin to an idiot.
 
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