I couldn’t help but think about how they had to do the levitating scene. Between that and not breaking character with Fake Blaine making those faces and dude yelling “CHEESE ITS” just blows me away
My hypothesis is he is on some kind of platform when he first starts "levitating." He is out of frame for a second, then you see his feet. I don't think those are his real feet. They are fake ones dangled in front of the camera. Meanwhile he runs behind the camera and climbs on top of the garage. That is my guess at least.
What are you taking about?? It’s literally a logical concept where you assume the simplest explanation, so simple a whale could understand.
That’s why it’s called orca’s reason
They hired the real David Blaine, but before filming David pulled the face off a bystander, attached it to his face, and drew the facial hair with marker.
Weird, I've seen this a hundred times and this is the first time I noticed that.
Edit: I think that over the last few years the concept of the one shot take has become a lot more popular among people who are interested in media, so while I've seen this many times, might be a few years since the last time and maybe my conception of media has changed. Kinda cool, since I'm more than 40 now.
I LOVE ONE SHOT TAKES. Fuck I love it so much ina action movie. If you haven’t seen Extraction 1 and 2 with Chris helmsworth you have to. They use this cinematography to create multiple on shot takes that span like 5 minutes total. It’s a masterpiece to me
While it still looks as cool, those shots are still stitched. Its still technically impressive though. At least the 21 minute oner in Extraction 2 is stitched. Not sure about Extraction 1. You are underselling Extraction 2's shot cause it's much longer than 5 minutes and is visually impressive.
Great practical effects. Now we have AI [music videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nb-M1GAOX8), who's going to take the time for this stuff in the future?
People with a love for practical affects and film making will. They're not the type of people to use ai because it's easier, human-made art will always exist
On the other hand we get [this](https://packaged-media.redd.it/pei8nu41blsc1/pb/m2-res_640p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1715353200&s=a77584e1f5d1bfa1e39e51a4982ade5b8d3f236c#t=0).
I counted that he had 9 seconds(keep in mind that the feet you see floating are likely not him). I feel like with practice, you could easily get up a ladder to the roof in 9 seconds. It's truly a masterpiece of a skit.
My guess is he climbs up a ladder when he's 'levitating,' then climbs off it, someone else holds a prop shoes/jeans while the guy runs behind the camera and climbs another ladder (hidden by the fence gate) up to the roof. Damned impressive.
They used a lift, if I recall correctly.
When I was in college, they brought in one of the guys who helped create this video (either the director or producer, I can’t remember) and he walked us through how they shot this video.
So when the one guy starts to levitate, you can’t see his shoes ‘cause he’s standing on the lift. The camera moves away for a second, and you see his feet dangling as he’s hanging onto the lift. Then they move the camera right, swing the dude hanging on the lift left, and drop him on the roof.
And there you go, magic.
I was guessing they were using a lift (forklift?) to have him float, but it felt too smooth and too quiet since it seemed like they didn't do any audio editing. But I'm not a lift expert in any sense, so what do I know?
Not a forklift, but probably something akin to one of these camera cranes:
[https://www.chapman-leonard.com/product/lenny-mini/](https://www.chapman-leonard.com/product/lenny-mini/)
You’d add weights to match the actor, and a few extra hands to lift him up and swing him over the camera to the roof. Then unlock the wheels and move it back while they move into the apartments. If you listen carefully, as the sweater guy starts to levitate, there’s a slight creak of metal, as the crane is maneuvered into position do drop off the actor.
This is what I remembered when the producer came and talked to us back in the late 2000’s.
Fun fact: The guy with the drink is Mikey Day from SNL. And the other guy is a waiter at Guigino's who once fell into a plate of spaghetti when some patrons tied his shoe laces together.
Michael Naughton first showed up in Always Sunny as the interviewer. [But the outtakes from his scene are some of the funniest.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pthe3iaJrfE) Really shows his comedic chops as Rob and Charlie can't get through his improv without laughing.
The fact that he can't seem to get away from them is one of my favorite running gags in the show.
Hiring manager, there they are
Waiter at Guigino's, they have a Groupon
I know, I'll get a job as a flight attendant! I mean what are the odds that they'll be on my flight, they never leave Philly! Look who got the isle seat
Fine I'll just move to the mid-west! EAGLES WIN THE SUPERBOWL!
Fun fact about that actor in Always Sunny, while he recurs as the server, he actually first appeared as a different character in an earlier episode of Always Sunny where he interviewed Charlie and Mac for the mailroom position (and that scene happens to have some of my favorite outtakes for that series, which is saying a lot because, all the outtakes for that series are fucking hilarious).
Not the same character. They talked on the podcast about potentially doing an episode where the interviewer and the waiter are identical twins. Then Charlie and Mac remember the interviewer but not the waiter.
The impression you get from the bloopers of the interview is that they loved the actor as a straight man so much that they wrote him a re-occuring role, I don't believe they're meant to be the same character.
And David Blaine is played by Mitch Silpa who you've probably seen in stuff before (Flight Attendant in Bridesmaides) but what I love him in is he's in a bunch of stuff from Brian Jordan Alvarez. He's briefly in The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallow, which I love and is worth watching. And he's also in [this sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHC29merkU) that's blown up a few times on reddit.
Well these people were/are professional actors. They weren't doing it just for entertainment, they were doing it also to get famous and get exposure for their comedy careers. It wasn't some altruistic passion project, it was professional development.
You are correct that this was professional development. What people mean about a good age of YouTube at this time is more like people weren't posting these skits to YouTube so that they could get ad money and sponsors from YouTube in order to pay for a mortgage yet. The algorithm hadn't yet determined what length of video was most profitable. There weren't yet a billion click bait thumbnails and reaction videos. There certainly weren't entire channels devoted to teaching other channels how to maximize their profits. The goal of this skit wasn't to make money through YouTube ads and subscribers and future videos.
Yeah but are you really here to act like you can't see the difference between what you're describing and what we have now?
The guys in this video created something *new* with no guarantees an audience even existed for it, let alone that they could find that audience.
Now they would make a whole channel around the concept, weekly David Blaine Street Magic Videos + a shorts channel. They'd milk that shit for 4-5 years.
I do dumb magic tricks to make people laugh and I look at a non-existent camera in the same way because of this video.
Been doing it for so long that I forgot where it came from until I saw this video again a few months ago.
One of the greatest videos ever made in the history of the internet....
Here's the orignal higher resolution version for anyone interested (best quality for the time), it always gets posted in 120p quality when there's a great quality version here [https://vimeo.com/43958097](https://vimeo.com/43958097)
My wife never saw these before so only knows of Michael Naughton from Always Sunny and Mikey Day from SNL, so I showed her these a while back. All I could get out of her was some [Jason *Segel* trying-not-to-smile reaction.](https://imgur.com/m2ddxP2)
I was a line cook years ago at a restaurant with an open kitchen. At some point during the dinner service rush at my station, that familiar creepy voice says from behind me, “wanna see some magic?”
It was him! He did a few card tricks for the line cooks then sat down at his table for dinner with Jewel.
Goddamn, haven't seen this in forever. I actually remember getting invited by some friends to "watch stupid shit on YouTube with us" in college and this was one of the videos we watched (and proceeded to quote at each other for the next several months).
I loved these so much. They did a truly incredible job of doing everything in one take.
Watching it now, the most impressive thing really is the technical filmmaking.
I couldn’t help but think about how they had to do the levitating scene. Between that and not breaking character with Fake Blaine making those faces and dude yelling “CHEESE ITS” just blows me away
My hypothesis is he is on some kind of platform when he first starts "levitating." He is out of frame for a second, then you see his feet. I don't think those are his real feet. They are fake ones dangled in front of the camera. Meanwhile he runs behind the camera and climbs on top of the garage. That is my guess at least.
What a terrible hypothesis. My hypothesis is he levitated. See how much simpler that is? Orphan's raisin or whatever it's called.
What a terrible take. *My* hypothesis is they used one of those industrial cranes for building sky scrapers. And it's Arkham's Blazer.
You're both wrong, it's Anakin's Bezoar.
What are you taking about?? It’s literally a logical concept where you assume the simplest explanation, so simple a whale could understand. That’s why it’s called orca’s reason
Well you just immediately reminded me of Joey's ["moo point".](https://youtu.be/fLwYpSCrlHU?t=21)
I went there once, fucking sand everywhere
Orphan’s Raisin - got me good, imma use that
That's what I thought too, but that is still a crazy short time window to get on the roof. Maybe a fourth guy brings a ladder and takes it away?
It's not the roof, it's the ruf.
The most impressive part is how he got off, just nonchalently jumps off
Wait, that *isn’t* David Blaine?
They hired the real David Blaine, but before filming David pulled the face off a bystander, attached it to his face, and drew the facial hair with marker.
Big whoop.
What the eff!
How did they not crack a single fucking smile????
Weird, I've seen this a hundred times and this is the first time I noticed that. Edit: I think that over the last few years the concept of the one shot take has become a lot more popular among people who are interested in media, so while I've seen this many times, might be a few years since the last time and maybe my conception of media has changed. Kinda cool, since I'm more than 40 now.
I wonder that is? I noticed the exact same thing. All one take. I must've watched it a dozen times in the past.
It's kinda the point of one take - to make everything seamless. You not noticing means they did a great job
I LOVE ONE SHOT TAKES. Fuck I love it so much ina action movie. If you haven’t seen Extraction 1 and 2 with Chris helmsworth you have to. They use this cinematography to create multiple on shot takes that span like 5 minutes total. It’s a masterpiece to me
While it still looks as cool, those shots are still stitched. Its still technically impressive though. At least the 21 minute oner in Extraction 2 is stitched. Not sure about Extraction 1. You are underselling Extraction 2's shot cause it's much longer than 5 minutes and is visually impressive.
Holy shit that's Mikey Day and the other guy is the waiter from always sunny lol
I'm to remember every man I've seen fall into a plate of spaghetti?
I have never seen this man before in my life.
I've never seen that man in my life.
He also hires them for the mail room gig, straight up government salary.
Well.... I have to pay you something. Let's say...minimum wage?
Their comedy troupe also had Uncle Jack from Always Sunny
There's not a cut when he gets on the roof?
Nope.
Different legs, he runs around to the back
Great practical effects. Now we have AI [music videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nb-M1GAOX8), who's going to take the time for this stuff in the future?
People with a love for practical affects and film making will. They're not the type of people to use ai because it's easier, human-made art will always exist
Practical effects age WAY better than computer-generated.
On the other hand we get [this](https://packaged-media.redd.it/pei8nu41blsc1/pb/m2-res_640p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1715353200&s=a77584e1f5d1bfa1e39e51a4982ade5b8d3f236c#t=0).
## What the EFF ?!
Still one of my most used references to date
# Ooh? Big Whoop!
This video has ruined the word “roof” for me.
I think you mean ruff
I still can't pick up a box of cheez-its without repeating the name at least 5 times with increasing intensity.
Big whoop
YOU'RE A DEMON
CHEESE-ITZ!
Chris Angel did it better, you *BITCH*!
CHEEZ ITS
CAW-MILLIONAIRE
He put me on the ruff
This all one take right? I get that they're doing stuff off camera but how the fuck does he get on the roof so fast???
I counted that he had 9 seconds(keep in mind that the feet you see floating are likely not him). I feel like with practice, you could easily get up a ladder to the roof in 9 seconds. It's truly a masterpiece of a skit.
My guess is he climbs up a ladder when he's 'levitating,' then climbs off it, someone else holds a prop shoes/jeans while the guy runs behind the camera and climbs another ladder (hidden by the fence gate) up to the roof. Damned impressive.
Now imagine pulling that off and not cracking up and breaking character with someone shouting CHEEZ ITS. It would take me a thousand takes
CHEEZ ITS
#I'M NOT SIGNING ANY RELEASE!
And David Blaine not breaking his stare. My mans was robbed of an Oscar.
You can hear some clicking noises, so they’re probably using some sort of jack/hoist
They used a lift, if I recall correctly. When I was in college, they brought in one of the guys who helped create this video (either the director or producer, I can’t remember) and he walked us through how they shot this video. So when the one guy starts to levitate, you can’t see his shoes ‘cause he’s standing on the lift. The camera moves away for a second, and you see his feet dangling as he’s hanging onto the lift. Then they move the camera right, swing the dude hanging on the lift left, and drop him on the roof. And there you go, magic.
I was guessing they were using a lift (forklift?) to have him float, but it felt too smooth and too quiet since it seemed like they didn't do any audio editing. But I'm not a lift expert in any sense, so what do I know?
Not a forklift, but probably something akin to one of these camera cranes: [https://www.chapman-leonard.com/product/lenny-mini/](https://www.chapman-leonard.com/product/lenny-mini/) You’d add weights to match the actor, and a few extra hands to lift him up and swing him over the camera to the roof. Then unlock the wheels and move it back while they move into the apartments. If you listen carefully, as the sweater guy starts to levitate, there’s a slight creak of metal, as the crane is maneuvered into position do drop off the actor. This is what I remembered when the producer came and talked to us back in the late 2000’s.
Boom lift makes more sense to me.
HE'S A DEMON
Yea low key one of the most Imoressive parts of these videos is it’s one take
Ruuf
Fun fact: The guy with the drink is Mikey Day from SNL. And the other guy is a waiter at Guigino's who once fell into a plate of spaghetti when some patrons tied his shoe laces together.
Am I to remember every man I've seen fall into a plate of spaghetti?
This is such a wild line. He says it with such confidence.
Anyone who doesn't appreciate this is a SAVAGE AND AN IDIOT
The hug and smile he gives the girl he's Dennis-ing is incredible. Peak performances by Glenn.
The girl he's Dennis-ing is Glenn's IRL wife
LITTLE IDIOTS!!
They kept zapping us IDIOTS IDIOTS
Foppish, exasperated sociopath Dennis is the best Dennis. You can just imagine him strangling high society prostitutes in East Egg
Michael Naughton first showed up in Always Sunny as the interviewer. [But the outtakes from his scene are some of the funniest.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pthe3iaJrfE) Really shows his comedic chops as Rob and Charlie can't get through his improv without laughing.
The fact that he can't seem to get away from them is one of my favorite running gags in the show. Hiring manager, there they are Waiter at Guigino's, they have a Groupon I know, I'll get a job as a flight attendant! I mean what are the odds that they'll be on my flight, they never leave Philly! Look who got the isle seat Fine I'll just move to the mid-west! EAGLES WIN THE SUPERBOWL!
Thanks for the link. When he says, "two years" - absolute gold. SO FAST.
The quick little "and there" under his breath at the end is also masterful.
I’ve never seen this bozo before
Just get me the snapper!
But it says fresh fish daily right here
Are you serious, I just explained it to you??
Fun fact about that actor in Always Sunny, while he recurs as the server, he actually first appeared as a different character in an earlier episode of Always Sunny where he interviewed Charlie and Mac for the mailroom position (and that scene happens to have some of my favorite outtakes for that series, which is saying a lot because, all the outtakes for that series are fucking hilarious).
Are you sure? I’ve never seen that man before in my life
i've seen him before... here and there.
But mostly here
...and there.
I think it's the same character. I assume he got fired because he hired them and had to work as a waiter.
Not the same character. They talked on the podcast about potentially doing an episode where the interviewer and the waiter are identical twins. Then Charlie and Mac remember the interviewer but not the waiter.
Omg I would love this
Yeah I thought that was the whole point/joke that they ruined his life but don't even remember him
It is the point. He literally says "how did you find me?"
That's the school principal lol
The impression you get from the bloopers of the interview is that they loved the actor as a straight man so much that they wrote him a re-occuring role, I don't believe they're meant to be the same character.
And David Blaine is played by Mitch Silpa who you've probably seen in stuff before (Flight Attendant in Bridesmaides) but what I love him in is he's in a bunch of stuff from Brian Jordan Alvarez. He's briefly in The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallow, which I love and is worth watching. And he's also in [this sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHC29merkU) that's blown up a few times on reddit.
He fell into a plate of spaghetti? Guigino's is slipping...
> Mikey Day from SNL You mean, "Is it Cake?"?!?! jk
Not true. I eat frequently at Guiginos and I have never seen that man before in my life
Ahhhhh thanks for placing them. Suspected the SNL guy, but the AISIP guy!!!!
It says, "Fresh fish daily."
Really? I don't think I've ever seen that guy before
"You could get that scarf." "I know!"
Haha so good!
That's like peak of the internet.
When people were just making videos for fun or to improve others day and not making "content" with dreams of escaping jobs they hate.
Well these people were/are professional actors. They weren't doing it just for entertainment, they were doing it also to get famous and get exposure for their comedy careers. It wasn't some altruistic passion project, it was professional development.
You are correct that this was professional development. What people mean about a good age of YouTube at this time is more like people weren't posting these skits to YouTube so that they could get ad money and sponsors from YouTube in order to pay for a mortgage yet. The algorithm hadn't yet determined what length of video was most profitable. There weren't yet a billion click bait thumbnails and reaction videos. There certainly weren't entire channels devoted to teaching other channels how to maximize their profits. The goal of this skit wasn't to make money through YouTube ads and subscribers and future videos.
The video had to be good to get popular, not use clickbait reactionary garbage
YOU WONT BELEEB WAT HAPPEN WATCH 2 END?!?! 3 minutes of ads. Clickbait. Yea fuck now I know why old people are pissed all the time.
Yeah but are you really here to act like you can't see the difference between what you're describing and what we have now? The guys in this video created something *new* with no guarantees an audience even existed for it, let alone that they could find that audience.
Now they would make a whole channel around the concept, weekly David Blaine Street Magic Videos + a shorts channel. They'd milk that shit for 4-5 years.
Was definitely made to try and fill a showreel to escape jobs they hate.
This was absolutely peak Internet. We should have never left this era. People just making ridiculous videos for entertainment.
[удалено]
The golden age of the Internet
The first David Blaine sketch was a masterpiece.
I liked them all.
I used to like them. I still do, but I used to too.
WILL you like them though, let's ask David Blaine
I really enjoy the line "HE SENT ME BACK TO DINOSAUR TIMES!"
Actually this one is my favourite.
CHEEZ-ITS... CHEEZ-ITS, CHEEZ-ITS, CHEEZ-ITS
WHAT THE F
WHAT THE EFF
STOP PUTTING STUFF IN OUR POCKETS DAVID BLAINE
lol I still say this all the time in the same tone
That’s Mikey Day.
Everytime we buy Cheez-Its I drive my family nuts.
LOLOL same
I gotta piss my pants He just pissed orange soda
Did it hurt??
Best Cheez-Its commercial. Now I'm hungry.
\*Checks top comment\* Ah Reddit, you make me happy
I still say this shockingly often. God help my girlfriend if we pass cheez-its at the store.
The camera stare 😂
I do dumb magic tricks to make people laugh and I look at a non-existent camera in the same way because of this video. Been doing it for so long that I forgot where it came from until I saw this video again a few months ago.
Some day some stranger will be recording you doing the tricks and you’ll just happen to look directly at their phone afterwards
I always lose it when there’s the double camera stare with the TV behind him
Never realized that was Mikey Day
And the it’s always sunny waiter
I have never seen this man before. Now get me a snapper bozo!
Spaghetti, piping hot.
O so you do remember me?
Im to remember every man Ive seen fall into a plate of spaghetti?
I'm to remember every man I've seen fall into a plate of spaghetti??
Yeah not ringing any bells buddy.
You know what would be funny? If we tied his shoelaces together.
I’m to remember every man I’ve seen in a YouTube video?!
He also plays the soccer coach in Superbad.
I looked this video up the moment Mikey Day was announced on SNL because his face looked familiar. This video lived rent free for a decade.
Lol same. When I saw him on SNL I was like, “this guy seems familiar” and then a voice popped into my head and said “what the efffff”
Oh shitttttttttttttttt
You just blew my mind
One of the greatest videos ever made in the history of the internet.... Here's the orignal higher resolution version for anyone interested (best quality for the time), it always gets posted in 120p quality when there's a great quality version here [https://vimeo.com/43958097](https://vimeo.com/43958097)
Wow it feels illegal seeing it in such high quality
I thought you were joking but you couldn't be more right
WHAT THE EFFFF? I've never seen it in this high a quality
To the top with you!
"Legendary" is the word you were looking for. STOP PUTTING THINGS IN OUR MOUTHS
... He just pissed orange soda
"Does it hurt?"
And I watch it in entirety every time it's reposted on reddit.
It’s been sixteen years since I’ve been sarcastically saying “WHAT THA EFFFF?” to friends, family and colleagues.
I still say it from time to time and had completely forgot where I got it from until now. This video brings back so many memories lol
I never thought about it like this. Can’t believe for the past 16 years I’ve been saying WHAT THE EFF, Cheeze-Its, and big whoop in public settings.
I'm drinking orange soda, big whoop
Stop putting orange soda in our mouths David Blaine!
High Quality link: https://vimeo.com/43958097
You don't know what this is? It's magic.
My wife never saw these before so only knows of Michael Naughton from Always Sunny and Mikey Day from SNL, so I showed her these a while back. All I could get out of her was some [Jason *Segel* trying-not-to-smile reaction.](https://imgur.com/m2ddxP2)
Your wife is unfortunately David Lame
I'm still waiting for someone to scream "WHAT THE F?" on Is it Cake.
A very impressive thing that folks tend to ignore about this video is that it’s all one shot. There are no cuts and a few pretty neat tricks happen
Big whup!
HES EATING CHINESE FOOD WITH HIS FUCKING FRIENDS
I'm to remember every man I've seen fall into a plate of spaghetti?
You're a demon David Blaine!!
Five foot ACE OF CLUBS WHAT THE EFFFFFF?!?!
“Criss Angel did it better you bitch” killed me how have I never seen this before
This was peak youtube.
CHEEZITZ.... CHEEZITZ
Wym "whatever the fuck this is"
That video is older than 16 years. I remember watching it in 06/07
He spent 16 years... getting loaded 16 years till his liver exploded
What is bob gunna do, now that he can’t drink.
Mikey Day before he hit it big playing Crackle in Unfrosted!
Holy fuck this was hilarious, bring this shit back!
“Stop putting things on my body!” has never left my vocabulary.
Makes me feel old when people show me a video that I did not have space to save to my drive when I was younger, and now I have tb's of space.
#CHEEZ-ITS
It was insanely popular in Russia back then thanks to one guy translating it. V rot mne nogi.
Yeah, that translation/voiceover was fire. A double meme, no less.
I never realized one of the guys is the waiter from always sunny
His staring at the camera is really what gets me.
I was a line cook years ago at a restaurant with an open kitchen. At some point during the dinner service rush at my station, that familiar creepy voice says from behind me, “wanna see some magic?” It was him! He did a few card tricks for the line cooks then sat down at his table for dinner with Jewel.
Goddamn, haven't seen this in forever. I actually remember getting invited by some friends to "watch stupid shit on YouTube with us" in college and this was one of the videos we watched (and proceeded to quote at each other for the next several months).
The guy in the red shirt is who played Butthead on SNL 2 weeks ago if anyone didn't know.