On August 1, 1973, Johnny Carson welcomed Uri Geller—an illusionist claiming to have both psychic and psychokinetic powers—onto The Tonight Show. Up until that point, Geller’s big claim to fame was demonstrating his so-called “ability” to bend spoons with his mind. Carson, having been an amateur magician in his early years, suspected Geller was a phony and decided to test out his theory in front of a live audience. But what Carson didn’t tell Geller beforehand was that this appearance was only intended to expose Geller’s lies to the masses.
You see, prior to the show, Carson safeguarded all the props Geller would be using with the help of former magician and scientific skeptic James Randi (a.k.a. The Amazing Randi). This way, Geller wouldn’t be able to tamper with anything ahead of time. Among the items Carson provided for Geller that evening were aluminum canisters—one of which was secretly filled with water—and, of course, a spoon.
From the moment Geller got a look at the objects in question, he told Carson, “This scares me,” and immediately started making excuses about having to be in the right mood to show off his alleged powers.
Johnny Carson Secretly Set Up a Self-Proclaimed Psychic to Fail on ‘The Tonight Show’
Geller proceeded to take up about 20 minutes of airtime, all the while failing to do anything that was asked of him and trying to explain why he wasn’t having any success. He spent roughly six minutes attempting to narrow down which of the ten aluminum canisters in front of him contained water, and only managed to eliminate three in the process. When Carson suggested that they move on to another experiment, Geller said, “This one is not over yet.” Without missing a beat, Carson responded by saying, “No, it’s sure not.”
Geller then tried his hand at his famous spoon-bending, with the assistance of fellow guest Ricardo Montalbán. And although Montalbán pointed out a hardly-noticeable bend in the spoon afterward, the camera hadn’t clearly shown what it looked like earlier, so it’s impossible to confirm the assertion. When all was said and done, Carson summarized the uneventful display by telling the crowd, “We have three empty canisters there. And we have seven over here.” Geller took that opportunity to remind Carson of the bent spoon, to which Carson sarcastically replied, “And a spoon that’s got a slight bend in it.”
Years later, Geller told author Mark Malkoff that he was “humiliated” and “devastated” by the experience as it was his first major booking on U.S. television. You can check out his full 1973 appearance on The Tonight Show above.
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