Magic has been around for hundreds of years and since the greats like Houdini, many more magicians have set about changing the face of magic. This is the list of the 10 greatest magic tricks ever televised. They are the writer’s own opinion and are based upon the idea of the trick, the execution, entertainment value, professionalism, and shock factor involved.
Richard Ross was a Dutch magician well known for his brilliant sleight of hand ability, as well as appearing to be almost as surprised as the audience by the tricks he was performing. This airing of the trick was in 1983. Keep a close eye on the rings as they intersect and come away from each other; while being a simple routine, it is, by any standards, flawless. If you like this one you will also like his Multiplying Clocks.
David Blaine is a well known illusionist and endurance artist, famous for his high – profile feats of endurance and numerous street magic series and television appearances. He has been hailed as the modern day Houdini. In this trick, he pulls a girl’s teeth out before making them reappear in her mouth when he blows on her. This will shock you.
Paul Daniels is an English magician who has had success through various TV performances, programs, and live shows. Chop Cup, is fast, interactive and incredibly entertaining. As Paul Daniels says in the clip, it took him near to 300 performances to get it right, and the effort shows. The sleight of hand is perfect and the work of a master.
Harry Blackstone Jr, son of Harry Blackstone Sr (also known as “The Great Blackstone”), sadly died in 1997. His father was born way back in 1885 and between them, the pair had been presenting magical performances for a long time. The clip is from his act ‘The Floating Lightbulb’, which shows a lightbulb, lit, with no means of electricity, floating around the stage and the audience for examination.
A master of magic, William Lance Burton now performs nightly in Las Vegas but his career has featured numerous television performances featuring brilliant feats of magic. He is an award winning magician from Louisville, Kentucky, and started performing magic at age 5. His dove act has been chosen for the sheer professionalism and skill with which he performs the illusions.
Criss Angel is the darkest magician on this list, famous for his television shows Mindfreak, Believe and Phenomenon. He is well known for his spin on the darker side of magic performing tricks such as pulling a woman in half, and getting himself run over by a steam roller live on air. In this illusion, he attempts to show a pool of people he can walk on water and does so whilst they watch and swim around and under him.
By magician’s standards, making an object disappear is either a simple case of deception, illusion, sleight of hand or misdirection. That’s fine for say, a card, or a piece of jewelry, but what about something bigger? Siegfried and Roy were made famous in Vegas for their vanishing elephant illusion but Copperfield thought he would take it a step further and make the Statue of Liberty in New York City, disappear. It has to be seen to be believed.
The Pendragons are a husband and wife team of magicians from America. They are well known for their fast and dangerous illusions. In 2006, Jonathan Pendragon fell on an arrow while rehearsing a dangerous bow and arrow trick. The arrow pierced his liver, stomach and heart, but since, he has made a full recovery. Their metamorphosis illusion is regarded as the fastest trick in history.
Featured before on Listverse, Penn and Teller’s bullet catch is not only incredibly dangerous but also incredibly brilliant. They mix Penn’s enthusiasm with Teller’s muteness perfectly and mix in subtle humor which makes the act highly enjoyable.
David Copperfield is officially the most successful magician in history, selling over 40 million tickets to shows and grossing over $1 billion to date. He has 10 Guinness World Records, has 20 Emmy awards, a Living Legend award and numerous others, as well as being the first living magician to have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. His success however, isn’t the reason he has bagged the number one stop on this list. His tricks are larger, more impressive and more dramatic than any other magician, and he has the on stage presence, charisma, and movements which has made him the archetype for great magicians all around the world.
Gotta love magic!
last one is amazing!
I enjoyed it, nice job!
Number 1 reminds me of the pi and the pendulum. from baltimore so gotta love the weird ways of poe
another crappy list.
congratulations kal…being first is truely a remarkable show of your brilliance, determination, and unfounding internet savvy….ug
ive seen 5 of these done live…..
i dig the list…..i enjoy the ones that are slightly different from the norm…
now, i know, i know….the title of the list is “…..blah blah ..tricks ever televised…..”
idea of the trick is usually consistant, but the authors’ other criterion, (“the execution, entertainment value, professionalism, and shock factor involved”)..often come across differently live than on television……
oh…and btw…the reason im taking this perspective is that i have always thought the showmanship was a big part of the magic show, and the only criteria that truely gets lost on tv…..
ive seen the rings (richard ross), the lightbulb (the great blackstone, doves (lance burton), water (criss angel), and the bullet catch about 3 times (and was involved in the trick once)(penn and teller)
most of what criss angel does is so trippy it is impressive, and he’s a fantastic showman….(even though the one where he laid down on broken glass and had a steamroller run over him came across a little better live)…the walking on water was truely weird…..the doves and the rings were interesting, but not set up very wel hence losing some of that showmanship….the light bulb actually *looked* fake from the audience, but i saw that a loooong time ago, before copperfield heightened the showmanship aspect to a new level.
the bullet catch is a complete mystery, and they both actually explained different parts of it at different times (yes, if you go to the rio, in vegas, after the show they do a meet&greet type thing outside the theatre, and will answer amost any question, and ray teller talks more than penn jillette does)
ive seen it from 3 different vantage points, and they set it up great, explain little parts of it so the audience thinks they are more ‘in the know’, facillitating a different level of involvement, and they leave the aspects that they want to remain a mystery, a mystery…
unlike criss angel, who often strives to keep a majority of the act mysterious (which works great for his shows), penn and teller do the opposite, and try to over explain it, and also answer any question you have (except for “how did you do that”)
very interesting
the bullet catch was really frightening..
great list btw…
Hrmpffff… a list like this without the GREAT Tommy Cooper is now worth looking into.
Looking him up on Youtube!
now=not ofcourse
absolutely fantastic. i have an annoying compulsion to google how they are all done.
I’m surprised Derren Brown isn’t included here considering the popularity of his acts compared to someone like Blaine. (Lottery trick for example)
Although honestly I don’t know how these mentalists are ranked. For example Fallon just recently had The Unseen whom I know nothing about and their act seems out there. Throwing a watch and handing it another guy when distance is great seems much more mind boggling than walking on water, doves and other things listed on this list.
shut up neophite! Walkin on water si less mind bogling than a watch appearing some distance away?
Angel dId that watch thing i..kindergarten! Forget swiming pool, he walked half mile on Lake Mead, then slowly disappeared under water(I mean, real slow, took 20 seconds) and then…3 seconds later he appeared on a ..boat, 1 mile away!! How that for your watch trick, my man? How about levitating between 2 hotels at 300 ft in the air, or levtating 50 people ina club, after hypnotize them first? Dude, Angel and Blaine are from aonother planet!!!
A list detailing how exactly these tricks were accomplished
would be interesting.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing list! This is the first every video list where I watched ALL the videos. David Copperfield, Chris Angel and David Blaine are the kings of modern day magic. Sometimes their tricks make me think “are these really tricks or do they indeed have some supernatural abilities?!”
Great list Nathaaan90!!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing list! This is the very first video list where I watched ALL the videos. David Copperfield, Chris Angel and David Blaine are the kings of modern day magic. Sometimes their tricks make me think “are these really tricks or do they indeed have some supernatural abilities?!”
Great list Nathaaan90!!
Criss Angel walks in the pool with the help of a table-shaped glass submerged underwater. It will be difficult to see the glass Criss walks on because of the glass’ transparency.
Way to ruin it! Everyone knows criss is an ILLUSIONIST meaning he obviously isn’t “magic” but there’s no need to stare exactly how he does his tricks! So please don’t say anything like that when it can ruin the experience for others!
Really? how about this, what glass did he use? You have no idea what you're talking about?
''Forget swiming pool, he walked half mile on Lake Mead, then slowly disappeared under water(I mean, real slow, took 20 seconds) and then…3 seconds later he appeared on a ..boat, 1 mile away!!
Explain that, 'genius'!
hi, some great illusions there Nathan – wonder how they did it?
Shame there is no Cyril Takayama on there.
i was waiting for criss angel to come up! hes my favorite! i was obsessed with mindfreak when i was younger!! I also used to love the “masked magician” but he told his secrets at the end of the program
This is new age movement and America is very proud of it.
Great list so far ! and going straight to my top ten lists list. My only remark is about criss angel’s walking on water; I don’t consider video editing to be magic. this trick was filmed on many takes, using scrooges. he is a great magician and showman, but i don’t agree with the moral line here.
I was sad not to see GOB Bluth as a bonus at the end for his “Aztec Tomb” trick.. I’m sorry, I meant “illusion.”
Nice list…
Too bad the Masked Magician revealed exactly how to do #10, #8, #5, #4, #3, #2, and #1!
Either way, it was fascinating finding out how the heck they do all those impressive tricks. It’s all smoke and mirrors… but very, very clever smoke and mirrors if I may say.
I always loved magic shows! (not the creepy clown types, though)
There was a show with the masked magician that came out a while ago that showed how all these tricks were done. It was pretty neat. It takes precision timing and flawless slight of hand to get it right. Kudos for all these entertainers who got it right.
Nice list, nathaaan90!
Great list-Great videos. Thanks!
Nice list – I had the pleasure of seeing David Copperfield in action once, magic shows amazing stuff.
@Kreachure [23]:
Hey do you have any link to one of those?
Great list!I dont understand how they come up with the ideas of how to do the tricks!thanks!
Interesting. Although I’m a bit annoyed at the inclusion of criss angel’s water illusion (he has many other impressive tricks, and the illusion is easy to explain), it’s still an interesting list. Love the statue illusion!
@alyssa : haha. aztec tomb was the best! GOB is certainly a master!
The Ashok: Well, here’s walking on water, which is one of the sillier ones, but I recommend watching the full episodes (especially the new series), they’re very entertaining.
Number 1 is soo easy to understand it shouldnt be that high at all. Its just two people, one the magican hiding his legs in the table supports and a stunt double doing the same but with his head in the table supports! All the other tricks are amazing but the first is just cheesy.
I completely enjoyed this list, although I really didn’t like Criss Angel’s walk on water, it wasn’t that impressive.
unlike other magicians criss angel uses "ringers" people who are in on the "magic"
Some of these are kind of dumb, but I like the idea of the list.
Shibby888 if you are just trying to simplify it that much you are totally missing the point. First off, thi8s trick is about presentation, it’s suppose to be an escape that goes wrong, seeing this live without knowing that would be such an enormous shock. Secondly, the stands are specifically set up to appear to be unable to have anything under them. the supports are 6 inches thick, not enough room for a torso, and any mirrors in there are clearly hidden well (the shadows off the damn things even matching, no light is catching the mirrors). You could look at every trick and just say pff, he had the bullet the whole time, or hes walking on a submerged piece of Plexiglas but your missing the point, and probably wrong.
@General Tits Von Chodehoffen [34]: the ones where they use stooges are the lamest but the ones where true skill is involved are kinda cool. But my favorite magicians are mathemagicians:)). Scientists in general. Thats the true magic. Peace out.
@Arsnl [36]: True. No matter how good the stooges are at acting it is still way to obvious.
A long time ago, there was a TV special involving trying to contact Houdini from beyond the grave. The actual seance was a failure. However, one of the show bits had the Pendragons doing the Houdini metamorphosis…perfectly. Then they tried to do their trick of doing it faster than Houdini. And it ended up going wrong. The trunk moved, showing her leg disappearing in the back. And something else went wrong…her costume got stuck. When the male went to have her stand up, she shook her head, and they had the end it there.
To me…that was proof enough that Houdini had dropped by.
I saw the bullet catch in vegas, and wasn’t that impressed. Watching it live you are able to catch the mechanics of the trick and I thought it was very easy to spot how they do it.
My favorite trick is when Penn and Teller wrap the american flag in the bill of rights. The flag is burned but the bill of rights is still there. I like the showmanship is cool and the political statement is dead on.
@General Tits Von Chodehoffen [37]: not just that. The point of a magic trick is for it to make you believe in it. Not some guy that got paid to say a lie. This way i could get my gf to tell you im a god between the sheets. But lets be real. We’d just be kidding ourselvs
I agree that Criss Angel’s water walk trick shouldn’t have been on here. He has a lot more impressive tricks. There was a great one with a cigar in Vegas. And David Blaine is just kind of a goof. But awesome list otherwise. I was floored from the beginning. The chop cup was my favorite. Amazing showmanship.
Cool list!
Even if most of the tricks have been revealed by the Masked Magician, there’s so much more to magic, as oouchan said.
You gotta admire the slight of hands, the ingenuity of ideas and the way those magicians present their illusions.
For those of you who love magic at its best, the one that throws you back to the first time you saw magic, let me recommend Cyril Takayama. Last time I check his cigarette trick has not been figured out yet.
I’d like David Blaine to do the teeth trick to me and replace them with better ones!
Just to let the admin team know – a Trojan appeared on my website as soon as I clicked on to the #9 you tube link on today’s list. I ran a anti spy ware check and resolved it but just for you to be aware….
@Sue [44]: Oh are you British? JUST KIDDING! Don’t bite my balls off.
@zappa [45]: and newton made a beautiful theory when an apple fell on his head. Why dont you go out there and do wonders.
I am also shocked that GOB Bluth didn’t make the list. COME ON!!!
The best tricks are the ones where you can’t work out how they’re done. That’s the problem with tricks like the floating lightbulb, they are visually impressive, but since there’s only one way they could have done it, there’s no mystery behind it.
Also, where’s Tommy Cooper?
Loved the list. Magic is great. Love the feeling of awe you get when you see a trick and don’t know how it’s done. Copperfield is one of my favorites, he charisma really makes for a good show.
hated copperfield, overpriced and a good portion of show was on tape! on a screen!
how…. HOW did copperfield’s flying trick not make this list. the statue of liberty doesnt even come close to him flying.
I have been a professional magician for 20 years here are a few thoughts on each trick on the list.
10. The linking rings is an excellent trick, but it is a common trick among magicians. I doubt that too many magicians would say it is head and shoulders better than other common magic tricks. Also Dai Vernon created the standard linking rings effect called the symphony of the rings.
9. David Blaine incorporates effects that involve turning the camera on and off. For instance in his first special in which he floated for people. The method of levitation he showed the TV audience would only work on TV. If you were there you would see the method at once. Many of his effects are similarly gimmicked and should not be considered magic tricks.
8. The cups and balls is a common trick among magicians. Dai Vernon wrote the standard on it. I do not see why it is better than any other well known magic routine i.e. card manipulation, multiplying balls etc.
7. Harry Blackstone was truly an amazing performer. But I do not see why his floating light bulb was superior to other floating tricks, including his dancing hankerchief. Evewn before Blackstone was born Harry Kellar was levitating his female assistant. Doug Hennings floating silver ball is a magnificant trick. Why is the light bulb so much above them?
6. You got it!!! Lance Burton’s gaslight routine is the closest thing to a perfect presentation of magic. That said there are others whose stand up routine to music is excellent i.e. Jeff McBride, Greg Pruin(?),
5. When television first began up to the present day magicians have an honor code that the the television audience will see what the viewing audience sees. Criss Angel and David Blaine routinely violate this incorporating effect (not magic tricks) that involve turning the camera on and off, judicious use of camera angles etc. This calls into question whether they should even be called magicians.
4. Give me a break, another judicious use of camera tricks!
3 I would be careful on this one. The metamorphosis is an outstanding trick and the Pendragons do the switch faster than any other magic team. That said magicians have come up with numerous variations on the trick that some might like better.
2. A great trick but head and shoulders better than so many other illusions? Is it really better than Houdini’s water torture escape, Mark Wilson’s Bump in the night, Doug Hennings Tiger Appearances, Siegfried and Roy’s vanishing and appearing live elephant. Franz Harray’s Helicopter appearance etc. etc. etc. etc.
1. An excellent illusion. Copperfield took the effect of Black Stone and Melbourne Christopher’s saw a woman in half effect and made it bigger. I can say that it was the largest illusion I have ever seen in a traveling magic show. II therefore agree that this is a good candidate for this list, the other eight (excluding Lance Burton) are a matter of strong debate.
I think the masked magician ruins the fun of some amazing illusions. I dont WANT to know how it’s done!
It’s good to see that certain people can still entertain us without the use of CGI effects. I agree with candi_sue, sometimes not knowing is more fun.
Years ago there was a kid in my town who was obsessed with magic. By the time he was a teenager he got very good at it. That town has a yearly fest. One year as part of the entertainment he made a firetruck disappear. It was parked in a huge field and had no place to “go to”.
He did that as a highschooler. I’ve been watching for his name to pop up as a well-known magician but haven’t heard anything.
I was under the assumption that the masked magician showed one POSSIBLE way the trick could be done..not necessarily the way it was done by the original magician shown doing the trick. I am not a fan of the masked magician.
I sincerely hope I’m being trolled by these entries, but…
Why post a list about something you don’t understand?
David Blaine and, even moreso, Criss Angel are NOT real magicians. Those are camera tricks with paid actors and can’t actually be done live.
Ever notice how any time one of them tries to do a live trick it either doesn’t involve magic or is a complete hackjob?
For example, David Blaine staying in a block of ice had nothing to do with magic, and his levitation trick using black balloons was sloppy and uninventive?
He wasn’t even man enough to fess up to how pathetic his balloon levitation trick was. He blamed it on the weather, as if that somehow would have stopped people from seeing a massive swarm of black balloons in the air. He can only actually perform basic sleight of hand and card tricks. The tooth trick is a proven fake (it can’t be performed live), as is Angel’s water walking trick.
I’d rip more on Criss Angel, but as far as I know he’s never even performed any significant tricks live. The only magician on his *****ty show is the poor vfx/special effects engineer that doesn’t get any credit.
@The Ashok [15]:
Suggesting that David Blaine and Criss Angel are even magicians, let alone on Copperfield’s level, is just about the stupidest thing you can say on the subject of magic.
Now go sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
Really? A list like this without Ricky Jay is almost a waste of time!
my 8th grade science teacher back in the day told us “magicians are people who know more about science than you do”