600 Hours for 15 Seconds – adamtcroft.com

Paul Gertner is a famous, world class Magician.

I recently discovered his act much the same way that I assume many people here in the US have – via a TV show – Penn & Teller: Fool Us.

Long story as short as possible, Gertner has been on the show three times. The goal of the show is for the performing magician to execute their act so well that neither Penn or Teller (who are crazy famous, groundbreaking magicians) have any idea how it’s done.

Gertner’s current record is 2-1.

This story, however, is not about either time he succeeded – but about the time he failed.

The Act

The second time around, Paul Gertner’s act was his take on the “cup and balls” trick. There are plenty of variations of the trick, but the main idea is executing a number of flourishes and surprises – with numerous balls vanishing and appearing – through the use of misdirection and humor.

A traditional version of the act is done with squishy foam balls. Gertner’s is done with loud, solid, ball bearings.

First, you should watch the act here on YouTube.

It’s a pretty incredible routine.

Usually, this trick is solely about the visual effect. Gertner’s big twist is the use of an auditory component as further misdirection, and of course, the end where he pulls a freaking can of Coke out of nowhere.

What Gertner doesn’t say in the show is that he’s done this act plenty before. In fact, it’s a staple routine that he’s performed for forty years.

In truth, the only new piece is the Coke can.

Therefore, what’s truly happening during the performance is an extremely unique, extremely high caliber test of creativity and wills between three incredibly seasoned magicians – over maybe fifteen seconds of an act.

The during the rest of the performance, Penn & Teller are simply enjoying. We’re the ones being amazed the whole time.

Now, l love seeing and being impressed by magic. But the story behind this trick – specifically the ending with the Coke can – is by far the most fascinating part.

The Preparation

Another thing Gertner doesn’t tell you is that the Coke can idea started out as a beer bottle, not a Coke can. Even more truthfully, it started out as nothing – Gertner pitched the idea and story of the performance before he ever figured out how to pull off the illusion.

That’s right – he pitched a performance for network broadcast television before he ever even had the routine.

And they said yes.

Thus began a tale where a magically appearing beer bottle – the kind his dad used to drink – turned into a beer can. Then the network caused the beer can to turn into a Coke can. The Coke can itself almost turned into generic “cola”.

And that’s not even mentioning that Gertner had to figure out how to make it appear out of thin air.

And rehearse the act hundreds of times.

On camera, too, so he could analyze and scrutinize the performance.

All told, Gertner estimates he put six hundred hours of work into the act – including research, practice, coordination, and dress rehearsals.

That’s six hundred hours of work, for fifteen seconds.

And, he failed.

He didn’t fool Penn & Teller.

You can read his whole story about it in depth, here and here. I’d highly recommend it, it’s an amazing tale.

The Reveal

The casual, untrained, perhaps pessimistic onlooker will read this story and think to themselves something like –

“Well that was a huge waste of time – he failed! It wasn’t even worth it!”

But that outlook is, at best, missing the bigger picture.

I have no doubt that Gertner learned a tremendous amount over those six hundred hours – probably more than I can imagine. That’s part of what comes with the process of creating something from scratch.

What I care most about, however, was the unintended consequence of what his story ends up teaching us. It’s valuable lessons are numerous.

At the very least –

You need not have your performance or art completed, perfected, or even created to act. Action begets creation – much like Gertner pitched his illusion before he ever made it.
You will face roadblocks. From realizing the illusion needed to be tweaked, to fights with television producers, and lots and lots of practice and failed attempts – Gertner faced many, yet continued
Roadblocks are defeated by patience, persistence, and creativity.
The time required to reach peak performance is unknown and not measurable – I guarantee you that Gertner did not know at the start that his fifteen second finale would take six hundred hours of work.
Despite it taking six hundred hours, as far as I can tell – Gertner never balked about the cost. The cost of peak performance is what it is.
Failure is not the end. Gertner lost this round, but he came back again – this time fooling Penn & Teller for a second time.
Failure is not a sunk cost. As Gertner came back, I’m positive he used what he learned when he failed to improve his performance for the next show.
Failure still sucks. Watch the performance again, read Gertner’s posts – he was surprised he failed, undoubtedly sad and likely temporarily defeated. The key is he went back to work despite this.
Sometimes, fifteen seconds of peak performance takes six hundred hours of preparation.
Sometimes, after six hundred hours of preparation – you fail regardless.
Your failures and your successes do not define you, they are simply part of the story.
That story, including your failures, can still be incredibly inspirational.

If it’s not clear, I can’t count the number of ways Gertner’s failure is inspiring to me. I’m sure that’s something he never planned on.

Nobody wants to fail – and failure isn’t truly the point of this story – but the failure is what makes it wondrous to me. This isn’t just a story about a battle of wits between master magicians who’ve reached levels of skill impossible to reach for most humans.

It’s a story about a battle of wits between master magicians who are still human, still fail, are still working, and still learning every day – just like you and me.