Woodstock’s Joe Diamond to appear on televised ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’

For 20 years, mentalist and mind reader Joe Diamond has entertained audiences all over McHenry County, including sold-out shows at the Woodstock Opera House and countless performances at nightclubs, restaurants, theaters and schools all over the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, but on Feb. 2, he brings his unusual skills to “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” on The CW network.

The TV show currently is in its 10th season, and films at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All Suites Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. “Fool Us” is a reality TV competition TV series in which magicians and mentalists perform tricks in front of the legendary magician/comedian duo.

Out of hundreds of auditions a year, only 40 to 50 performers are featured per season, according to a news release. Due to the judges’ skeptical nature and disdain for psychics, very few of the contestants selected are mentalists or mind readers. However, persistence pays off, and after auditioning every season for more thn 10 years, Joe Diamond was one of the talented few to be flown to Las Vegas to perform for the show biz legends.

Diamond said he started performing magic as a child, and became interested in mind reading and psychic phenomena when a relative taught him how to read tarot cards. His parents took him to see David Copperfield’s show when he was 11, and when he was 20, he saved his money to fly to Las Vegas and sit in the front row of Penn & Teller’s theater to watch their famous Bullet Catch.

“To be invited to perform on that very same stage, with Penn & Teller sitting next to me at the card table, was a dream come true,” Diamond said in the release. “Things like this don’t happen to every kid born in a small town like Woodstock. I’m so incredibly blessed.”

This will be Diamond’s first network TV appearance. He’s been seen on Chicago and cable television many times, including streaming appearances on ABC-7, WCIU, WGN, Showtime, The Movie Channel and Netflix. He’s even done mind reading over the radio on national shows like “Coast to Coast AM.” He’s been seen by millions on YouTube channels such as the Modern Rogue, Whiskey Tribe and ScamNation. It was one of those videos that caught the eye of the television producers, and convinced them to fly Diamond to Las Vegas to try to read the minds of Penn Jillette and his show biz partner of over 40 years, Teller.

The upcoming installment with Diamond will be Season 10, Episode 11 titled The Youngest Act in Fool Us History. Other featured magicians will include Giancarlo Bernini, Rachel Ling Gordon and Mr Triton.

Later in February after the TV event, Diamond will do a talkback/Q&A about his onscreen appearance and will share behind-the-scenes secrets from performing in Las Vegas. Doors will open at 6 p.m., and the Q&A will begin at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at Stage Left Café at 125 W. Van Buren St. in Woodstock.

The event will be hosted and moderated by Anthony Barnhart, associate professor of psychological science at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Barnhart is a founding member of the Science of Magic Association, and has consulted on books such as “The Psychology of Magic” and “Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions.”

To learn more about Joe Diamond, visit www.JoeDiamondLive.com.