The art of misdirection | Apollo Robbins | TED

Hailed as the greatest pickpocket in the world, Apollo Robbins studies the quirks of human behavior as he steals your watch. In a hilarious demonstration, Robbins samples the buffet of the TEDGlobal 2013 audience, showing how the flaws in our perception make it possible to swipe a wallet and leave it on its owner's shoulder while they remain clueless.

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[justinkase]

he protecc
he attacc
but when he says "what am i wearing"
we play the video bacc

[halflucan]

It’s especially great when things like this work on both and audience and the people watching the video.

[juanblanco]

"Do you remember what I was wearing" dropped my jaw. Holy crap.

[clarice]

This was one of the coolest, most fun TED talks I've seen

[leo-vbjq]

damn, he's almost as good as the school board, they took 12 years of my life, my happiness and my sleep.

[tunaparlar]

A guy in subway showed me this video, at the end I couldn’t find my wallet, anyways it was pretty cool

[ironocy]

4:49 is when he changes his shirt. It's a pull away type vest and tie that he releases a lever on and it gets pulled back into the blazer. Good trick, I didn't realize until the end lol. He made his point lol.

[clyax]

So he made it seem like the volunteer was being distracted and we as the audience were watching him be distracted while the magician obviously showed off stealing the volunteer's items, but in actuality *we* as the audience were being distracted while the magician did a quick change act. Wonderful way to prove the concept!

[akif]

“The easiest way to steal a man’s wallet is to tell him you’re going to steal his watch."
Leigh Bardugo
Six of Crows

[markthurman]

A ton of people dont believe me, but my grandfather was one of the first magicians Apollo first met and inspired him on the magical journey on what he is today. My father and mother hung out with him in missouri in the 90s. Really awesome to see this in action.

[lorens]

This was mind-boggling, had to replay several times just to understand what was going on.

Amazing live performance!

[JonComdy]

“What am I wearing?”
*furiously rewinds video*

[shiro]

“Don’t have to close your eyes this time. What am I wearing”

Me:.... *It’s rewind time.*

[Emily_Travels]

His sleight of hand is amazing though. Super jealous of how fluid his palming is as well, looks incredibly natural and the transitions are smooth. I did spot the double chip trick, but even on rewind I couldn't catch the first switch. It wasn't until the second switch I realised there were two chips: 5:45 takes out second chip, 5:52 places second chip on shoulder while Joe still has chip #1 in hand, at 5:52 can clearly see there are two chips: one on his shoulder and one in hand. Still very impressed by the first sleight of hand, insanely well executed. Oh, shirt switch was done when he handed the phone over when walking back to the stage. Every pause and movement is deliberate, though we sum it up to being human (taking pauses etc) but it's actually all intentional. Honestly, an amazing act. Much respect for this guy! And once again; amazing sleight of hand. This guy needs to go on Penn and Teller.

[Good.Vibe.Music.]

"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success."

-James Cameron

[ReverbNinja]

"Sorry Joe, while you were focused on the chip, I married you wife and raised you kids."

*EDIT*

Guys, just wanted take this opportunity to apologise for the henious errors in the original post. Please find a revised, more carefully considered version of the joke below:

"Sorry Joe, while you were focused on the chip, I married you're wife and raised you're kids."

That's better. No need for anymore fuss.

[jamess]

“Don’t find the shrimp, Don’t find the shrimp, Don’t find the shrimp”

[BraeSf]

Someone said: put 15 of these guys in a room and whoever comes out with most stuff wins.

[Hypehype-egyx]

"Do you have a wallet on you?"

"No"

"Well we'll find one for you" this dude is amazing hahahah

[guarino]

8 minute video and I've been on this for 20 minutes stole my time too....Damn you Apollo!!