Sixteen-Year-Old Colorado Magician Competes on Penn & Teller: Fool Us Reality Show

Three years ago, Liam Abner landed his first paid gig as a magician, getting $20 to do card tricks for a group of blankly staring children who were "not enjoying a single moment," he recalls.

On Friday, February 21, hundreds of thousands of viewers will watch Abner perform an original routine in front of the legendary comedy magic duo Penn and Teller as part of the world-renowned reality competition show, Penn & Teller: Fool Us. The episode will air on the CW Network.

"It's surreal. I never expected something like this to happen so soon," Abner says. "I still haven't really wrapped my head around just how special that is."

Earning an audience with Penn and Teller is a feat for any magician, but it's particularly impressive for a performer as young as Abner. The sixteen-year-old high school junior from Castle Rock has been practicing magic since he was ten.

He soon started watching Penn & Teller: Fool Us, dreaming of competing on the show. Abner says he'd long considered applying for a spot but never felt his acts were ready for the challenge. He finally spent three months designing a special magic trick, then submitted it in January 2024; he was selected to participate on his first try.

The show works like this: Magicians from across the globe perform original tricks in front of Penn and Teller. If the duo can't figure out how a trick was done, the magician gets the chance to perform as an opening act in Penn and Teller's Las Vegas show. They've had a residency at the Rio Hotel & Casino since 2001, making them the longest continuously-running headlining act in Vegas history.

Abner filmed his episode back in July. He's had to keep the results a secret ever since.

"I've been waiting in suspense. I don't know how I sounded, how I looked. I've done the trick 500 times but I have zero clue how it looks on TV," Abner says. "It's a new take on a classic trick, using the passions that I have. It involves a tuba, it's sort of like a stunt, too." Abner's school, Rock Canyon High School in Littleton, is sponsoring a watch party, complete with a magic show from Abner. Arc Thrift Stores will host a watch party as well, since Abner frequently works with the company's ambassador program to perform magic for employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Abner does similar shows with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and severe special needs programs at local high schools.

He is passionate about making magic accessible to all audiences, calling it a communal art form. Above all, Abner says, magic is a way of connecting to other people.

“It’s about bringing wonder to people’s lives," he adds. "There's no art form like it. For the minutes or hours that I’m with an audience, nothing else matters. There’s no stress and there’s no worry in the room. ...That's the true magic, really."

Abner first discovered magic at the Reinke Brothers store in Littleton. The shop's magician, Richard Nakata, asked him to think of a number, then "basically read my mind" and told him the number he was thinking of, Abner recalls. Nakata offered to teach Abner how to do it himself for $2.

It was money well spent. Abner has repeatedly performed the trick over the last six years, from his first gig at the children's birthday party to closing a recent show. These days, he does professional magic shows on a weekly basis at house parties, open mics and corporate events.

Next up, Vegas?

"You'll have to wait and see," Abner says.

Liam Abner's episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us (season eleven, episode five) airs at 6 p.m. MT on Friday, February 21, on the CW Network. Stream the episode on Hulu or YouTube with the platforms' live TV add-ons, or catch it on cwtv.com the day after it comes out.