For example, I might ask them, now in your wallet that was American Express, correct? And now, as they think, did he have access to my wallet, and their mind starts thinking about that, I might take their glasses. ROBBINS: One way of doing that is simply asking them a question that's more important than that. ROBBINS: For me that's kind of Holy Grail and it's very difficult for me to do. How do you steal someone's eyeglasses from their face without them knowing? SAGAL: How do you steal someone - I was going to ask you about the belt but the eyeglasses are better. They think that it's just about the watch, but very quickly, they learn that I might steal their wallets, their belts, their cell phones, their tie, or the hardest thing for me is their eyeglasses. Do I have your permission? Once they say yes, I play a little game with them as I'm interacting with them and I steal their watch. If they have a watch on, I might say in three minutes, I'd like to be wearing your watch. ROBBINS: Usually I'll tell someone, for example, like their watch. So you invite someone on stage, I assume, or you'll walk up to somebody if you're working a room. And a lot of people think that that makes them safe, and hopefully I wake them up a little bit. ROBBINS: I think that's kind of my forte is that I tell people beforehand that I'm going to steal from them. The amazing thing is they know that's what you're going to do. ROBBINS: It's part of my community service I guess you'd say. Basically, you invite people onstage and you rob them blind while they're standing there. You do a show, and basically, we've seen you on video and we've read about it. But I had been exposed as a kid to my half brothers had been involved with some illegal activity and it kind of rubbed off. And I got invited to work in a show out in Las Vegas when I was 21. ROBBINS: But the long form, I started as a sleight of hand artist when I was an early teen, and I found that picking pockets was a little bit more lucrative. ROBBINS: The short answer is it's a family business I guess. How did you get your start as, well, a pickpocket? SAGAL: So we read about you in the New Yorker a while ago. Apollo Robbins, welcome to WAIT WAIT.DON'T TELL ME! He shows off his skills in Vegas and elsewhere, and as a consultant helps all kinds of organizations protect themselves from people like him. Speaking of extraordinary skills, Apollo Robbins may be the world's only professional pickpocket, or at least the only one who admits it. And now, the game where we look for people with extraordinary skills and refuse to let them use them.
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