Apollo Robbins, The World’s Most Famous Pickpocket — Pickpocketing the Secret Service, Manipulating Attention, Famous Con Artists, The Psychology of Deception,

Table of Contents

“When we lose, we’re more curious. And when we win, we’re less curious about why we’re winning.”

— Apollo Robbins

Apollo Robbins (@ApolloRobbins) is often referred to as “The Gentleman Thief.” He first made national news when he pick-pocketed the Secret Service while entertaining a former U.S. President. Forbes has called Robbins “an artful manipulator of awareness,” and Wired has written that “he could steal the wallet of a man who knew he was going to have his pocket picked.”

Taylor Swift Isn't the Only One Who Made Travis Kelce Famous

Robbins’ entertainment credentials include the Warner Bros. film Focus, with Will Smith and Margot Robbie, along with appearances in Brooklyn 99, and the TNT series Leverage. He was a producer and co-host for National Geographic’s Brain Games, which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series. Robbins applies his expertise in magic and misdirection beyond entertainment, pulling back the curtain to show how the principles behind these illusions can enhance strategic thinking and decision-making.

His contributions to attention and perception research have been published in Scientiﬁc American Mind and Nature Reviews Neuroscience. He has delivered lectures at Harvard Kennedy School, MIT Sloan School of Management, and the Society of Neuroscience. He has been proﬁled by The New Yorker and featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Wall Street Journal. Robbins’ TED Talk, “The Art of Misdirection,” is ranked in the 20 most-watched TED Talks of all time and has been hailed by the TED editors as a revelation in the ﬂaws of human perception.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements, Sundays for Dogs ultra-high-quality dog food, and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Listen onApple Podcasts

Listen onSpotify

Listen onOvercast

#699: Apollo Robbins, The World’s Most Famous Pickpocket – Pickpocketing the Secret Service, Manipulating Attention, Famous Con Artists, The Psychology of Deception, Self-Defense Techniques, The Secret Language of Thieves, and More

This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.

Right now, you’ll get a 1-year supply of Vitamin D free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive your 1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive daily, foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole-body health.

This episode is also brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements! Momentous offers high-quality supplements and products across a broad spectrum of categories, and I’ve been testing their products for months now. I’ve been using their magnesium threonate, apigenin, and L-theanine daily, all of which have helped me improve the onset, quality, and duration of my sleep. I’ve also been using Momentous creatine, and while it certainly helps physical performance, including poundage or wattage in sports, I use it primarily for mental performance (short-term memory, etc.).

Their products are third-party tested (Informed-Sport and/or NSF certified), so you can trust that what is on the label is in the bottle and nothing else. If you want to try Momentous for yourself, you can use code Tim for 20% off your one-time purchase at LiveMomentous.com/Tim. And not to worry, my non-US friends, Momentous ships internationally and has you covered.

This episode is brought to you by Sundays for Dogs, ultra-high-quality dog food without the prep or mess! I want to give my pooch, Molly, the best of everything. This is especially true when it comes to the ingredient quality of her food. But most healthy dog foods are an expensive, frozen mess. They’re a hassle to thaw and serve, and the prep work eats up time I’d rather spend hiking with Molly. Sundays for Dogs solves my problem with air-dried, high-quality dog food I can store and pour right from my pantry.

The magic behind Sundays for Dogs is in their proprietary air-drying method. To lock in nutrients, they gently dry the meat, low and slow. Unlike other dry brands, which are filled with hyper-processed grains and synthetic vitamins, Sundays for Dogs uses only all-natural poultry and USDA-grade beef. And meat makes up 90% of their recipes. The other 10% are fruits and veggies, ingredients you’d find at the farmer’s market, not at the pharmacy.

Get 35% off your first order of Sundays for Dogs by going to SundaysForDogs.com/TIM or by using code TIM at checkout. Upgrade your pup to Sundays for Dogs and feel great about the food you feed your best friend.

Want to hear another episode featuring someone who sees the world through a magic lens? Listen to my conversation with World Champion of Magic Simon Coronel in which we discussed radical earliness, the Magic Castle, gauging audience perception and finding balance before a show, ugly crying through victory, hotbeds of magical innovation, why learning magic can be so daunting for a beginner, and much more.

#679: Simon Coronel, World Champion of Magic — Quitting the Day Job, The Delights of the Magic Castle, Finding Glitches in Reality, Learning How to Use Your Own Brain, and Worshiping at the Altar of Wonder

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Apollo Robbins:

Website | Twitter

SHOW NOTES

[07:51] Was Apollo a naturally dextrous wunderkind?
[10:26] The influence of Apollo’s blind minister father.
[14:10] Apollo’s slide toward agnosticism.
[17:24] Ben Stone enters the picture.
[21:08] Taking in orphaned animals as a youngster.
[23:31] An early lesson on the value of money.
[25:20] Bear in a box.
[28:19] Seeing magic as a ticket to the larger world.
[30:55] Shoplifting for fun, profit, and education.
[32:19] Equivoque magic and Jazz-based mentalism.
[38:09] A magic book club and a year-round Santa.
[44:10] Apollo’s first fateful trip to Vegas.
[52:14] A false accusation leads to a real job and a vampire code.
[55:27] Jimmy Carter and the Secret Service.
[1:03:44] The pros and cons of becoming legendary.
[1:05:39] Academic accolades.
[1:08:01] A sauce less secret isn’t necessarily less rich.
[1:09:28] Recovering when the reps get rough.
[1:11:12] Sheet music versus jazz.
[1:14:10] The introduction to — and enduring influence of — Apollo’s wife, Ava Do.
[1:22:27] Perception science perceived but not yet entered into the lexicon.
[1:26:16] The significance of Apollo’s silver ring.
[1:27:01] Meeting (and stealing from) Penn Jillette.
[1:29:10] Demonstrating the confidence of a con man.
[1:33:03] Hallmarks that differentiate Apollo’s style.
[1:40:14] Who has the advantage with arguments in the Robbins household?
[1:41:18] 40 Elephants in the modern world.
[1:42:52] Teaching kids about the cons — and pros — of deception.
[1:45:50] Paltering and puffery.
[1:49:14] Perceptual shaping and change raising.
[1:51:14] Slick re-thievery.
[1:54:01] Influential reading.
[1:56:38] Whiz Mob.
[1:59:22] How is a team of pickpockets organized?
[2:04:54] The pandemic of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
[2:08:37] Best practices to avoid becoming a target for theft.
[2:11:14] The Illusion of Knowledge Project.
[2:15:28] The Unsinkable Titanic Thompson and other noteworthy charlatans.
[2:19:06] Rod the Hop, Kevin Mitnick, and Whizmob Inc.
[2:23:11] How one word can make a difference to an impressionable child.
[2:26:38] Parting thoughts.

MORE APOLLO ROBBINS QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“When you can’t walk the same as everyone else, you end up watching everyone else. You become a people watcher, and there’s a lot of commonality between animals and people. You start to do a lot of what I call perspective shifting, of jumping into their head to think, ‘Why would they make that decision?’”
— Apollo Robbins

“‘Boring’ means that your imagination is broken. So you’ve got to find a way to do it, you’ve got to find something to do, and you’ve got to use your imagination better.”
— Apollo Robbins

“I found that lore can take you so fast so far, but also it can encapsulate what people think you are versus what you are. And it can be hard to underpromise and overdeliver when people have this expectation of what you can do.”
— Apollo Robbins

“When we lose, we’re more curious. And when we win, we’re less curious about why we’re winning.”
— Apollo Robbins

“Deception is a social lubricant. It happens all the time around us, from the moment we put on makeup to something else. So, whether it be a defeat for cancer by using decoy cells, there’s all these things that have a reason. But it’s about your intent, and that’s the big thing.”
— Apollo Robbins

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Related and Recommended

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it’s been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.

Tags: Business Plan

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Apollo Robbins, The World’s Most Famous Pickpocket — Pickpocketing the Secret Service, Manipulating Attention, Famous Con Artists, The Psychology of Deception,