Ben Seidman Breaks Down Pickpocketing

In August 2022, magician Ben Seidman did a video for Vanity Fair in which he reviewed scenes of magic and sleight of hand in movies like Ocean’s 8, My Cousin Vinny, and The Prestige. In this more recent video for Wired, he breaks down the nine levels of pickpocketing, from nabbing someone’s phone on a table (level 1) to stealing a smartwatch (level 5) to stealing a necktie (level 9).

It’s all very impressive stuff, and though Seidman makes it look incredibly easy, you’re obviously seeing the results of months, if not years of practice.

I first became aware of Seidman through his 2015 appearance on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, during which he presented his humorous take on a classic Tommy Wonder routine called “The Hold Up.”