several characters, including his robotic female assistant, Nikki Terminator, his sidekick, Atom, and others. Two TV specials were filmed, in 1995 and 1996. Rudy Coby: The Coolest Magician on Earth (1995) This TV special was first screened in the USA on 21 May 1995. Coby's first show begins with a general display of magic, timed to music. Rudy then performs several tricks, some with audience participation, before "accidentally" cutting his assistant Nikki Terminator in half with a chainsaw. A lengthy plot ensues, in which Rudy, as Labman, searches for replacement legs for Nikki and a way to reattach them. He then attempts to "dethrone Harry Houdini" by performing "The World's Most Dangerous Card Trick". The trick is ultimately a joke, hyped up to humorous levels. Coby selects a child from the audience, gets him to select a card at random, and wires himself up to a cardboard bomb (telling the volunteer not to be "fooled by its cheesy cardboard-like appearance"). He tells the volunteer to detonate the bomb at an appropriate time, and after deliberately fudging up the times, gets set on fire but eventually produces the correct card, proving himself to be "The Coolest Magician on Earth". Rudy Coby: Ridiculously Dangerous (1996) This TV special was first screened in the USA on May 6, 1996. The show's highlights are Labman's superheroic struggles with crime. The show introduces a number of supervillains, including 'The Hourglass' – who turns out to be Labman's ex-girlfriend! Others include "Magic Dave", a thinly disguised parody of David Copperfield. Rudy deals with each of the supervillains by besting them in a magic trick. Notable illusions One device used in both shows is LabCo's "Hypnotron 2000", an animated optical illusion (designed by Jerry Andrus) in which concentric rings of black/white stripes rotate in alternating directions. Coby shows this animation for about fifteen seconds, and then instructs viewers to look at a photograph, or the back of their hand, to see the object they look at appear to distort in front of their eyes. This device is a well-known example of the motion aftereffect. The Hypnotron 2000 was reportedly so popular in the first show that Coby had to perform it again in the second. References External links Fan Site Bio at Patterson and Associates as "The Four-Legged Man" American magicians 1964 births Living people Television personalities from New York City America's Got Talent contestants