I <3 Penn and Teller.
But I FUCKING LOVE this.

Waiting for that downvote QM. Don't you dare disappoint me!

Later in this episode a presidential hopeful played by Alan Alda says a great thing when he downplays them burning a flag. "you wouldn't see this trick in China, they don't even have a bill of rights."

boring! totally hammed up. juvenile. crap.

Hate the West Wing. Love this clip.

Brilliant at the end...brilliant.

I like Penn and Teller. I feel bad for Penn since he was totally infatuated with what's-her-face from Kill Bill, but he didn't get up in them guts.

I used to watch The Left Wing now and then. It's liberal lunacy where it belongs: in the make-believe of TV Land. ha ha ha ha ha.

ha!

Penn and Teller lost some points in my book with their recent episode of Bullshit! on the subject of "hating Walmart". But I still like 'em; they pick on issues on both sides of the aisle, and that I can respect.

Fun sift, also ;-D

That is SOOOOOO why I love West Wing....and Penn and Teller's BS too! True spirit! It ain't the nukes or the poor bastards in the 81st Airborne... It's ONLY because you have and can celebrate this kind of stuff that America is in any way great - don't you get it? Freedom is freedom; never plural, always absolute or it's nothing at all...

lol? what do usa have to do with freedom?

So.... Did they burn a flag in the White House?

Mgshadow, I think giving an answer ruins the intent of the trick, but...

...no, they didn't. Going by what I can figure out of their tricks and what I have read on the web, I think that the routine (which I think they do in their real-life Vegas act, too) goes a little like this:

The large misdirection is that Penn and Teller use two separate illusions for what they imply is the same trick repeated twice.

In the first trick, Teller looks like he puts the scarf into the cone, but actually he tucks the scarf into a fake thumb he is wearing (notice the weird hand movement when he holds the scarf), which I think he ditches as he goes for his wand. (I'm not sure about the glitter, I think he dumps it from his wand as he swirls it in the cone.)

In the second trick, Penn leaves a corner of the flag peeking out of the end of the tube, allowing Teller to grab the flag and ditch it into Penn's back pocket or pants when he passes the cloth/flash paper into the front opening of the tube. The flash paper is what burns, not the flag. (In fact, if I recall correctly, the flags in the White House are now flame-resistant.)

Now go forth, my magical patriots, go forth and spread the good word! Muahahahaha...

Hehe awesome, Thanks Rembar.