Michael Carbonaro is a magician by trade, but a prankster by heart. In truTV’s comedic series, The Carbonaro Effect, Michael performs baffling tricks on unsuspecting people in everyday situations, all caught on hidden camera. Posing as an ordinary bartender or a seemingly unremarkable salesman, Michael astonishes ‘marks’ by turning a tuft of hair into a puppy or pouring 12 pints of beer from an ordinary bottle. Whether the marks are alone or with their friends, everyone is left stunned and delight
Posing as a cashier, Michael makes a shopper’s face appear on a milk carton and tries to convince her that she really is a missing person.
Posing as a thrift store employee, Michael makes shoppers believe that a real waddling duck is just a lifelike decoy, and confuses clerks with a never-ending chain of hangers.
In a Mexican restaurant, Michael treats incredulous diners to a good luck serpent with their tableside guacamole, and makes salsa so spicy it melts metal.
Michael mystifies laundromat patrons by impossibly multiplying miniscule amounts of detergent, and makes one man’s day when he convinces him that he’s hit the coin machine jackpot.
Posing as a Pet Store employee, Michael sells customers on the novelty of pets that can hatch out of balloons, and convinces a hotel valet that he can park a car without even sitting in the driver’s seat.
In this special episode, Michael breaks the laws of physics with a multitude of tricks, and then introduces new technologies to some very accepting patrons.