(SIREN WAILING)
(BREATHE BY DELILAH PLAYING)
DYNAMO: Right now, I'm going to take you on a journey into my world.
(CROWD CHEERING)
In this episode, I go on an all-American adventure.
From the shores of Venice Beach...
Oh, no!
To the bright lights of the Vegas Strip.
Watch as I go on a road trip into magic's heartland.
I have never seen that before in my life.
And bring some amazement to the US of A.
Awesome!
My name's Steven Frayne, but most people call me Dynamo.
- I hear you're the best, man. - I'm the best.
I'm a master of pantomime mixed with robot.
Sick.
You're sick.
- Thanks. All right? - (CROWD APPLAUDING)
All right.
You showed me yours, now I've got to show you
- one thing real quick. - All right.
- You made this yourself, right? - Yes.
- Sick. - Big on style.
- That's a lot of money right there. - That's a lot of money.
Tell you what. Just grab hold of my wrist.
- With this hand? - Yeah. Watch.
You gotta be kidding me, man.
BUSKER: I'm telling you, this man is ridiculous.
Uh-oh.
Wow! Well he, you know, he could have just asked me for 50 bucks.
DYNAMO: Venice Beach, California. Despite its glamorous reputation,
this seaside town, which sits along the north Pacific coastline,
feels more like a meeting point for lost souls.
Among the buskers and tourists, the beach has become a refuge
for drifters, drunks and homeless people, casualties of the American Dream.
I had arrived in the States three days earlier after spending the past month
on the beaches and favelas of Rio,
which had been one of the most exhilarating experiences
of my life.
After my South American trip, {jumped on a flight to the US,
where I wanted to catch a glimpse of this vast country.
Route 93, Arizona.
I was heading towards Nevada and then on to LA
and was travelling through the Mojave Desert.
This was biker country, so I knew the locals would be hard to impress.
How are you doing? You all right?
- How are you doing? - Hey man, cool?
- Cool. - How's it going?
Not too bad, man. Not too bad.
Yeah, I don't need these out here. I'm going to try something a bit fun, yeah?
This could hurt me, won't hurt you.
Everyone, just all of you stand up.
Um, you look quite strong,
you look extremely strapping and I won't mess with you.
- All right. - All of you get in a line.
So if you stand there. If you stand behind him
and put your hands on his shoulders.
Yeah, stand like that and then you stand behind him and do the same thing,
put your hands on his shoulders. Yeah. Perfect.
Now, if you put your hands on my shoulders. Now, if you alone were just
to push me now, just give me, just push me. I'm going to go flying, right?
- You didn't put any effort in there. - No.
- I would have fallen over, yeah? - Right.
I'm going to try and resist all three of you strong guys trying to push me over.
- Okay. - Yeah?
One of two things can happen, I could get crushed, could die
or I could survive and we could tell this to people in years to come.
- Okay. - Now just put your hands on my shoulders.
On the count of three I want you all to push, yeah?
One.
Two, three.
(GRUNTING)
(SIGHS)
I've never seen anything like that and to be this close and see it,
don't have a clue. I figured we'd all be laying down in a pile
- on top of the little guy. - Gave it everything I had.
Everything I had. Pushed him as hard as I could. He wasn't budging an inch.
I didn't think there was any way he was going to be able to push back,
- so that was kind of surprising. - I would think it's impossible.
I mean one, of us against him, let alone three of us against him.
I should have knocked him over by myself.
- Right. - No question.
Well, you know the old saying, "Dynamite comes in small packages."
(LAUGHING)
Yeah, we're not far from Vegas, he should go to Vegas and maybe try that stuff.
I'll back him up. (CHUCKLES)
"DYNAMO". As I headed north, I came across a drifting school
in the middle of the desert.
I love driving and nothing seemed like more fun than tearing it around
on an abandoned highway.
I wanted to try something with the drivers
so during a break, I managed to grab some time with them.
Take out any card.
I want you to put your signature on there.
- Yeah, on this side, yeah? - All right.
And maybe do a smiley face or something so it's totally unique.
(LAUGHING)
Show it to everybody and show it to the camera.
(LAUGHING)
- I'll put it about halfway down, right? - Mix the carols up.
- Which one's your car? - The blue car.
- Oh, right in front of us. Perfect. - Yeah.
I want you to basically drive towards us relatively quickly.
Yeah, you're gonna drive past me, I'm gonna stand over there
and stop, you know, give it a little skid before you kill everybody.
(CHUCKLES) All right.
- Jump in your car. - All right.
- Don't worry, guys, he's a professional. - Good luck, everyone.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
- DYNAMO: And don't knock me over. - I'll try not to.
(ENGINE STARTING)
You ready?
Just roll forward a bit.
Stop.
(CROWD EXCLAIMING)
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
How does that happen?
(LAUGHING)
He told me to drive my car at everyone and do a little skid,
said he was going to do something with my card
but somehow he managed to place it on my front tyre.
I don't... I don't even know how that happened.
DYNAMO: I used to drift cars with my mates in a parking lot back in Bradford
but I wanted to learn from a professional.
So Eric agreed to take me out for a ride.
After getting some pointers from Eric, I wanted to show them what I could do.
So first off, I need to borrow a car.
Don't all come at once, you know, don't all throw your keys at me.
- You can borrow mine. - Thank you. Which one's yours?
- The red one. - Nice.
(WOMAN CHUCKLES)
So the rest of you guys, I want you to jump in your cars
and form a steel ring of cars around me and the car, yeah?
(ENGINES STARTING)
Yeah, and if you back up over this way.
You come further forward.
Can we get these in?
Around here, yeah?
Can we get a bit tighter here?
Stop right there. Quite a big gap there. Will you bring the truck in, yeah?
All right, cool.
All the cars are ready.
You guys are cool. Check this out.
DYNAMO: Coming up.
I have never seen that before in my life.
DYNAMO: I was on a trip across the Arizona desert on my way to LA,
but something told me I needed to make a detour.
Yeah, we're not far from Vegas,
he should go to Vegas and maybe try that stuff.
DYNAMO: I managed to hitch a lift with some bikers on their way to Vegas.
We headed down Route 93, a neverending highway that cuts through the Arizona desert
and is known as the loneliest road in America. I could see why.
Riding through this open wilderness, it made me realise how much of a celebrity life
is just an illusion, whereas the real world is a far harsher place.
We always hear about America's success stories, but for everyone who makes it,
thousands are left behind.
As dusk falls, the desert becomes pitch black
but suddenly, a city of fire rises out of the darkness, Las Vegas.
- Thanks very much, man. - You're welcome.
- Do any of you have any change or coins? - I have some change.
Can I have a look? Oh! Can we use the big one?
- Yeah. - Yeah'? Just get rid of that.
What's this, a...
half-dollar, yeah? All right? Watch.
How is this possible?
That is so weird.
Can we touch it?
- Yeah. - Oh, my effing gosh.
Oh, my goodness.
Honestly, you know...
How did that happen? I couldn't put my fingers through.
- Hey, where did he go? - No hole.
He put a hole in and, you know, stuck his finger, like, in the coin and...
- He violated the half dollar. (LAUGHS) - Yeah, yeah. Pretty much. Pretty much.
(LAUGHS) That's funny.
DYNAMO: I was staying overnight at the Venetian
on the east side of the Vegas Strip.
It's another great example of a Las Vegas illusion
and features a lifelike replica of Venice, complete with canals and gondolas.
To get a feel for the place, I took a ride with two of the hotel guests.
Can I have a look at your watch? Can I take it off?
- Yes. - All right. Let's have a look, yeah.
It's pretty cool. You see that? Do you know if it's waterproof?
I have no clue.
(LAUGHING)
Um... I guess it's not waterproof.
(LAUGHING)
- Right. Is it gone? - Was it expensive?
- Kind of. - (LAUGHING)
- Just a little bit. - A little bit.
Uh, tell you what, watch this.
Oh, God.
(SPLASHING)
(LAUGHING)
Is that your watch?
- That's a good one. - It is.
Pretty much, he took my watch off and he threw it in the water.
Um, we went about, I don't know, 10 seconds,
and he just reached his hand in the water and pulled it out and...
Trying to grab a fish, it seemed like...
And the watch was on his hand.
- Yeah. - And I don't, I can't explain it.
- It's crazy. You are really amazing, dude. - Thank you.
- This is, it was crazy. - That's crazy.
I have never seen that before in my life.
DYNAMO: As I walked down the Las Vegas Strip,
I started to think about all my friends and family back home,
so I stopped off at a convenience store
to pick up some postcards to send back to them.
So, where are you from?
- The UK. - The UK. You're from the UK? I'm from UK.
(LAUGHING)
- What's your name? - Becky.
- Becky, Dynamo. - Hello.
- Ian. - lan, still Dynamo.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Got some postcards. You take one.
You take one. I want you just to fold it in half, like this.
And then tear it in half.
Make two piles. Perfect, yeah. Take two piles of each.
And then the same with these ones.
So that's six postcards, we've all torn them up.
Give you a pile and you a pile. I want you to mix them up.
In fact, if you turn them over as well, so we can't see what's on the faces.
If you'd just place yours on the counter there. Thank you. Place yours down.
Yeah, if you just want to spread them out a little bit, that's better.
Yeah, so you can see the backs of all of them.
Um, just push any one forward.
Like that, and if you push one forward as well?
- Any one? - Yep.
- Like that? - Yep.
So out of all of these ones
that you've just both picked...
(LAUGHING)
...these two.
No way. (LAUGHING)
- That's pretty good. - That's really clever. (LAUGHS)
Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend or...
- No, we're married. - You're married? That explains a lot.
- (LAUGHS) - You know, being married, then,
you know, you're not so much individual
- any more, you're kind of more... - BECKY: No. (LAUGHS)
You're more of a unit, wouldn't you say?
(LAUGHING)
Yeah? I think I need to get rid of the tear mark,
I'm going to send it to somebody.
There. As good as new.
We need to send it to someone, though.
Yeah. Okay.
You know what? Just think of somebody, someone back home.
Uh, just think of their name. Yeah?
And now think of, maybe not give away their address
but think of the area that they're from.
- Got that? - Yeah.
And we need a message. So something simple, got a message in mind?
Yep-
Yeah.
(LAUGHING)
So for the first time, name the person out loud.
- It's Caroline. - And the name of the place that they're from?
Bridgend.
- And what area is... Like, where's that... - it's in South Wales.
So, Wales. And the message that you sent them?
Just "Hi from Vegas. With love from Vegas."
That's interesting, cause this is for Caroline, who's from Bridgend in Wales.
(LAUGHING)
And it says "Love from Vegas." Um, yeah.
(LAUGHING)
Tell her I said hello.
- Cheers. - (LAUGHING)
Brilliant.
- I told you. - He's awesome.
He's ridiculous!
Ridiculous.
DYNAMO: Coming up.
(LAUGHING)
Ah!
DYNAMO: The next afternoon I headed out on the SOD-mile journey to LA,
this time by car.
After a few hours of driving in the intense heat,
I took a break at a local diner just off the highway.
- Hey. - There you go.
- Our world-famous... - Thank you.
- ...fabulous, amazing burger. Okay? - Thank you very much.
Outstanding.
(SLURPING)
Hey! How was everything?
- I've decided it would be the best burger ever. - Did I did not tell you? World famous burger.
- The best burger I've ever had. - Thank you.
I hear it all the time. Thank you. Well, I'm glad you liked it.
- You want to sit down for a second? - Sure. No complaints, right?
- No complaints. - Okay, that's good.
No. No. You've been working hard, so you have to, you know...
- Oh, thank you. Yes. - ...sit down for a second.
Um, I want to try something. Do you have any, like, any dollar bills on you?
Oh, let's see.
I have a five.
- A five will be perfect. - Is that all right?
- Yeah. - Okay.
So I want you to just to take it and, yeah, if you could fold it in half?
- Okay. I think I can do that. - And then if you fold it half again.
- This way? - Yeah. Yeah, that's perfect.
- Okay. - And then fold in half one more time.
- Oh, this side, okay. - Yeah.
- Sure. - Perfect. But also, this glass,
check this glass out. So we've got your five right? Right there. Do you want to cover
- it with the glass? - Like, just cover it?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- So you can see your five right there, yeah? - True.
- Can't do anything with it? - No.
Watch.
- Just keep your eye on the five. - Okay.
Oh, my God!
- Take it out, that's for you. - That's my tip'?
- Yeah. - Oh, perfect. (LAUGHS)
Oh, my God. That is hilarious. How...'? Amazing.
- Put it in your pocket before I change it back. - Oh, yeah, right. Don't change it back.
I like it. Thank you. I'll take it.
(COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING ON JUKEBOX)
- Hey. How's everyone doing? You all right? - Hey.
I want you do me a favour right now. Just think of a celebrity,
who they might be living or dead, you know,
- somebody you think would like this place. - All right.
Yeah? I don't know if they've been here before, whatever. Have you got one in mind?
- I do. - Okay, just name that person out loud.
- Say it right now? - Yeah.
- Elvis. - Elvis. I think he'd like this place, right?
MAN: Yeah. You know, he'd love this place.
And you could have said anybody, right?
- It could have been anybody. - Can I move this'? Is that all right?
- Sure. - Watch.
This is going to freak me out, isn't it? It's going to be something weird, isn't it?
(LAUGHING)
- I'm just going to come in between you two. - All right.
Watch.
- You got to be kidding me. - Wow. Do you see it?
- Look at it. - I don't see it. Oh, wow. I do now.
Wow! That's really cool.
MAN: (LAUGHING) on, my God.
- That is cool. - That's awesome.
I don't even know what to say. I mean, that's... (LAUGHING)
FEMALE RADIO DJ: Good morning, Los Ange/es. It's a scorching day...
DYNAMO'. I'd arrived in Los Angeles. Every year, thousands of people
come to Hollywood with the promise of a better life.
It's a place where dreams are made and broken, waitresses become movie stars
and vice versa. Hollywood seems to bring out that childlike
wonder in people, a touch of magic, where anything is possible.
- Hello. What's your name? - Ladeinne.
- Yeah. That's good.
- And you are? - Kemeia.
Kemeia, nice to meet you. I'm Dynamo.
Hi, Dynamo.
Um, you got some sweets there?
- Yeah. - Can I have one?
- Okay. - All right?
Oh, you've only got two left, though, are you sure'?
Okay.
- Are you sure I can have them? - Yeah.
All right. You sure you don't want... It's your last ones.
You sure? All right.
Okay.
- Yeah, they really are all gone. - Yeah.
Do me a favour? Can you cup your hands together, like that?
Yeah, open them out like this, yeah? Perfect. Watch this.
(RATTLING)
Oh, my goodness!
- (LAUGHING) - Awesome!
Can have one? To see if it's real? (CHUCKLES)
it is real. Pretty cool!
(LAUGHING)
I think that belongs to you.
Oh, thank you. Now we eat all of those, put them in here.
Ooh!
That's amazing. There were no more left and then he clicked his fingers
and opened the box again. There was about five dozens of them.
DYNAMO: Baseball is America's national sport and millions of kids grow up
wanting to be like their sporting idols.
I visited a local Bat Cade, where young players
were training with the hope of one day hitting the big league.
So we've got two pitching machines here, yeah? And we've got a bucket of balls.
- What's your name? - Philippe.
- Philippe, Dynamo. - Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, man. Can you pick any ball out of there for me'?
- Sure. - That one there?
I've got a pen. I'm going to write my signature on here, yeah?
So...
And then, can you do your signature here?
- Mine? - Yeah.
On this bit, right? Perfect. And pass the pen, Philippe,
and if you want to finish off by signing on the, yeah, kind of across the middle there.
I'll take the pen and give me the ball.
I'm going to take the ball, drop it in there. See that? Yeah?
Now I want you to take the balls and give them to these guys and I want you
to make sure that the signed ball gets loaded into the machines, yeah?
You decide which one it goes into, yeah? Kids, maybe stay back there, yeah'?
I don't want the balls flying out at you.
Let me know when you've done that.
How many can I put in these machines?
How are you doing, Philippe? Are we good?
- Yep. - All right.
Just get yourself out of the cage, please, sir.
Yeah? All right. On three, let it rip.
One, two, three.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
Is that your signature?
- Yeah. - Is that his signature?
- Yeah. - Let me see it, the signature.
And that's my signature. I'm Dynamo.
How did he do it?
DYNAMO: Coming up.
- That was pretty cool. - What just happened?
- I don't know. - Ah!
Oh, no!
DYNAMO: It was my last day in LA, so I headed down to Venice Beach,
a seaside town to the west of Hollywood.
- What's your name? - Erica.
Erica. Nice to meet you, Erica.
- Nice to meet you. - I'm Dynamo.
- Nice to meet you, Dynamo. - I want to try something, yeah?
- Okay. - With you. Uh, you've got a bag there, right?
Yes.
What's in there? Have you got, like, have you got keys? Can I see some of your belongings,
- like nothing personal, just like... - Okay.
- What have you got in there? - Oh.
You've got your phone, you've got your cream.
- Yes. Camera. - And what's in this other part here?
What's in this middle part?
- Um... - Ah, you've got some mints.
- Mmm-hmm. - Can I use those?
- Sure. - Perfect. Do you want to take one out first?
- Okay. - You take one and I'll take one.
Do you still need my bag?
- No, no, you can put these back in there. - Okay.
So I've got one and you've got one, see that?
- Mmm-hmm. - Yeah?
Watch closely. All right?
Watch.
Ah!
(CHUCKLES)
Look at that!
(LAUGHS)
MAN: Hot babies. Hi, Mom!
Thank you!
DYNAMO: Venice Beach is a place that really captures the imagination,
from the eccentric buskers to the brightly painted buildings.
I wanted to see if I could turn someone's thoughts into a reality.
- What's your name? - Brady.
- Brady, I'm Dynamo. - I'm Mike.
- Mike. How are you doing? You all right? - Pleasure.
Doing good, man.
I've got a pack of carols here.
- Will you mix those up? - Yeah.
Perfect.
Now, I want to try something using your imagination. All I want you to do
to begin with, yeah, is imagine that you've just handled these cards, yeah,
imagine that you can't get them out of the box.
- Okay. - Yeah'? Like literally, just take hold there
with one hand and grab with the other hand and just try and pull them out there.
Now is that you imagining or is it that, can... They're not coming out, right'?
(LAUGHING)
- it's weird, right? - Yeah.
- Was there, like, a resistance? - Yeah.
And like obviously, you know.
- This time with you, actually, just... - Okay.
I'm going to pull them like this, just say stop.
- Stop. - Right there?
- Yeah. - Take them.
Wow. Yeah. That's... No, I don't.
- (LAUGHS) - What did it feel like?
It felt like they were glued in there. (LAUGHS)
Yeah. I couldn't go past where I told you to stop. They were stuck.
And like, if you were to, if I put them down like that, yeah, just lift that up.
- It's pretty easy, right? - Yeah.
Yeah? You know, if you like, if you just lift up, here. You can lift them up, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah?
This time what I want you to do is imagine, yeah, that say, something heavy,
but not too heavy, something you can lift.
- Okay. - But not too heavy.
- Okay. - Yeah'? So like, if I just put them down there.
Just think, what are you thinking about now?
- A bag of dog food. - A bag of dog food. Right.
Try to lift it like an inch and see if it feels different.
What the hell? (LAUGHS)
Does that feel like a bag of dog food right now?
(LAUGHS) It's not a deck of cards.
All right. This time, let's take it a step further, forget a bag of dog food, yeah?
I'm talking, like, a car.
- You can't pick a car up. - I don't know.
- Yeah? - I'm pretty strong.
- Try and pick them now. - (LAUGHS)
- You guys have got good imagination. - All right. That's cool.
Just try and pick it up now.
Whoa, whoa.
(LAUGHING)
- Wow. - Thank you.
(LAUGHING)
- That's just... I can pick these up. - That was pretty awesome.
That was interesting. That was pretty cool.
- What just happened? - I don't know.
DYNAMO: As I continued along the promenade, I came across a group of guys
setting mix tapes to passing tourists.
That's the Venice Beach Rock Choir.
Sick. All of you have different styles?
Yeah. We're all independent, bro.
Tell you what. Let me work out the best way to do this.
So, can...
can you hold this thing there? Can you come over this side?
- Back up some, back up some. - Yeah?
Yeah.
If you back up a little bit, yeah?
Now just, um...
- Do me a favour? - Yeah.
Grab me those scissors?
(LAUGHING)
Hey, crazy.
Oh (BLEEP)!
Oh! Oh, my God.
Oh, that's (BLEEP) up!
Y'all have to watch! (BLEEP)
(CHATTING AND LAUGHING)
He broke the wire and everything.
On, (BLEEP), that's real. I'm, like, seeing this (BLEEP).
- You're going to have to pay for that. - (LAUGHING)
Back up a little bit. Pull it a little bit taut.
- Oh, God, this is crazy. - No way. No way.
(ALL EXCLAIMING)
(ALL LAUGHING)
(BLEEP) no! (BLEEP) no!
How'd you do that?
(BLEEP) bro, God damn!
Wow, dog. How'd you do that, bro?
- It's what I do, man. - You won't tell us?
Some unbelievable (BLEEP) just happened.
I don't even know what just happened right now, man.
Dynamo, he's the (BLEEP) man, bro.
- He's got my respect. - Hey, I've seen a lot of magicians
- and that's crazy, bro. - He cut the headphone all the way in half
- and put it back together. - The wires came out of it.
- Check and see if it still works, man. (BLEEP) - (BLEEP) It's crazy.
(LAUGHING)
DYNAMO: It was my last day in the US,
and although I'd only seen a small part of this vast country,
I felt as if I'd uncovered some of the magic behind the American Dream,
the ordinary people who shape its landscape.
You know the old saying, "Dynamite comes in small packages."
How does that happen?
Ah!
Awesome!
DYNAMO: You're sick.
DYNAMO: Later that evening, I headed downtown to the Spring Street District,
which is home to the LA Times.
The area used to be the financial centre of Los Angeles
but during the 1980s, the district plummeted to become a neighbourhood
with a reputation for high unemployment and derelict buildings.
It reminded me of the streets I grew up in and how its reputation meant
we were cut off from the outside world.
So before I left, I wanted to give Spring Street a lasting memory,
something that would live with the area forever.
(SIREN WAILING)
WOMAN: What is he doing?
Is he jumping? Is he going to jump?
(SIREN WAILING)
WOMAN: Shouldn't someone, like...
(CROWD MURMURING)
WOMAN 2: Should we help him?
(ALL SCREAMING)
WOMAN: Jesus.
Oh, my God!
MAN: He's crazy. WOMAN: Yeah.
WOMAN: Oh, my God! MAN 2: Taking a stroll.
Oh, my God.
Wow. Oh, my God.
(INAUDIBLE)
WOMAN: That was crazy.
MAN 3: He walked right down there. WOMAN: That was totally crazy, right?
DYNAMO: Next time on Magician Impossible, I head back to the UK
and straight into a media frenzy.
(GASPS)
Oh!
(SCREAMING)
I don't know. It's freaky.
Bloody hell.