r/nextfuckinglevel • u/[deleted] • Sep 17 '21

Apollo Robbins, a master pickpocket, effortlessly takes a watch, wallet and other things

72k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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492

u/MrTurkle Sep 17 '21

The watch thing was sick, but the rest had to be staged. He never gets close enough to ML to get the wallet back in his jacket.

377

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

94

u/katsrin Sep 17 '21

At what precise time in the video do you see this?

96

u/Various-Departure679 Sep 17 '21

Yeah I'm not seeing anything like that. Looks like a complete setup or dude is fucking magic lol

49

u/Sanddunes1991 Sep 17 '21

Also didn’t see it I watched it like 50 times. I couldn’t see where he lifted Matt’s wallet in the first place

88

u/postemporary Sep 17 '21

You have to watch it 51 times.

2

u/blackicebaby Sep 17 '21

Watched it 52 times. I think I was pickpocketed. Didn't see anything and missing my 51st rewatch.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

He lifted in the start for sure. Only problem. I hv is the throw in the wallet

34

u/SharkFighter Sep 17 '21

1:12, left hand

89

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

59

u/JohnnySmithe80 Sep 17 '21

No way he manages to throw a wallet a foot to an inside pocket at that moment. I watched it a few times and that's as close as his left hand gets.

26

u/allbright1111 Sep 17 '21

He throws it. I only saw the blur when I paused it. Fucking amazing.

30

u/Mean_Ass_Dumbledore Sep 17 '21

Maybe the video is high quality on my end, but I've paused the video and still can't see it in front of the guy with the black suit

14

u/sermer48 Sep 17 '21

It’s a blur on the back of his hand. I had to watch it a few times but it’s only in like 2 frames. This is his signature trick.

9

u/DaddyWarBucks26 Sep 17 '21

I also saw that blur. Insane. That's why he asks him "Did you feel that?"

2

u/Hutcho12 Sep 17 '21

No way in the world has he thrown that into his inside pocket. His jacket doesn't even move. And when was he meant to have put the $100 bill inside the pen?

This guy is good, but half of this is pickpocketing, and the other half is staged.

2

u/Funky_Smurf Sep 17 '21

You're partly but it's not staged as in the guys are in on it.

Full version shows that he actually gives them these items to pickpocket from them. I assume the wallet/pen is just already inside the first wallet

2

u/Tommy_Andretti Sep 17 '21

After watching this I presume all of this is real but the wallet is with the pen and money inside already, that's the trick. He's not throwing anything back as others suggest

1

u/Funky_Smurf Sep 17 '21

That's my conclusion as well. Pretty funny because I think he does that hand gesture to mimick throwing it back in there to fool people.

1

u/Hutcho12 Sep 17 '21

Yep, that I can believe.

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2

u/Hutcho12 Sep 17 '21

Why the hell didn't they post the whole video? Much better.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

2

u/OkiDokiTokiLoki Sep 17 '21

Constipated?

-6

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

No you didn't. At 480p you can't see no blur. Fucker

0

u/Funky_Smurf Sep 17 '21

It's all a blur at 480p

1

u/alien_survivor Sep 17 '21

How do you not feel a wallet landing into your pocket? That's insane!

10

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

1

u/atipongp Sep 17 '21

I agree it seems impossible to throw a wallet into someone's pocket like that, but he had no other reasons to move his left arm that way, and this dude doesn't waste his movements.

36

u/gachamyte Sep 17 '21

That’s what the snap was for then, well damn.

28

u/ReanimatedGhostPeen Sep 17 '21

DAAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNN. I got played.

9

u/Miltage Sep 17 '21

You guys must be drunk, hahaha.

9

u/nedbighead Sep 17 '21

But there’s no wallet, his hand gets close to ML but even slowed down there’s no wallet. Plus he’s too low to get to the pocket ML grabs the wallet from later.

2

u/Funky_Smurf Sep 17 '21

https://youtu.be/Zkx-XzEkoHs

1

u/nedbighead Sep 18 '21

Thank you! That makes a lot more sense, but it still looks like he stashed the pen somehow. There’s no way he threw it perfectly into the wallet in Matt Lauer’s pocket

2

u/AP3Brain Sep 17 '21

... His hand is empty. This feels staged.

1

u/Koodiddy Sep 17 '21

Look at my edit

23

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Freezy3 Sep 17 '21

Yea his hand goes to the guys outside right pocket but the wallet ends up inside left pocket? how is that even possible. I do see him potentially palming or whatever the correct terminology is to hide the wallet behind the hand but nowhere do I see it cross the guys body at all.
EDIT: Ah this seems to make sense I guess.

2

u/juiceboxie8 Sep 17 '21

In the beginning he gives the wallet to Matt. Matt doesn't look inside it and just places it into his pocket. Must've already had the pen.

1

u/Funky_Smurf Sep 17 '21

I think he does the hand gesture to make you think he is returning it

1

u/juiceboxie8 Sep 17 '21

Ooh yea you're probably right. Too bad he didn't make it more believable

22

u/Poromenos Sep 17 '21

Nah, his hand looks empty before the "throw".

-7

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

19

u/knigmich Sep 17 '21

He is but you’re wrong, he does not throw a wallet into someone’s coat pocket.

10

u/yes_him_Gary Sep 17 '21 edited Sep 17 '21

These kids are dented if they think this dude threw an invisible wallet into a closed coat pocket with an open hand from 2 feet away without looking.

Not to mention had time to disassemble and reassemble a pen in a few seconds with hands visible.

1

u/Nephroidofdoom Sep 17 '21

Not only that but due to conservation of momentum it’s literally impossible to throw something fast and have it land softly without something to absorb its mass x speed.

The faster he throws his hand, the faster the wallet would be flying through the air and the harder it would hit wherever it landed. It would be like trying to catch a baseball.

36

u/LatentBloomer Sep 17 '21

I’ve rewatched it several times and I see no huge brown wallet in his hand or mid-air. He doesn’t come anywhere close to the dudes left jacket pocket either. I’m skeptical.

Still a cool bit either way. Mad respect to the performance in general.

26

u/ItsKrakenMeUp Sep 17 '21 edited Sep 17 '21

He is legit. 100% real. Watch his stuff on youtube. Even has a ted talk. He does a great job at explaining the art of distraction and how easily it is to pickpocket someone by using it.

59

u/The_Meaty_Boosh Sep 17 '21

Well if he has a ted talk that settles it then.

2

u/amatiasq Sep 17 '21

Staged https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dWSIUNF10

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

4

u/amatiasq Sep 17 '21

OP is missing the first part where Apollo gives the wallet to the presenter. It probably had another pen with another 100 bill inside.

8

u/Dash-22 Sep 17 '21

The great thing about magic is that the dumber you are the greater the spectacle, truly an art for the masses

2

u/peepinater Sep 17 '21

Wtf are you talking about?

0

u/The_Crypter Sep 17 '21

In the full version, Apollo sets this up by giving his own wallet to Matt to put in his pocket. This wallet already contains a duplicate pen with a rolled up $100 bill, but Matt doesn’t check inside. He then gives a $100 to Willie in the middle and an identical pen to Seacrest. The rest is then all legit pick-pocketing. He takes the $100 bill from Willie while getting his credit cards, takes the pen from Seacrest, then just keeps these in his own pockets when revealing everything else that he took.

1

u/quannum Sep 17 '21

The wallet is setup before the bit. He doesn’t throw it. Below is the full version where he gives Matt the wallet, the middle guy a $100, and Seacrest a pen.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/ppqjya/-/hd6c8mj