Independent Lens

An Honest Liar

An Honest Liar is the story of world-famous magician, escape artist, and renowned enemy of deception James “The Amazing” Randi, bringing to life Randi’s intricate investigations that publicly exposed psychics, faith healers, and con-artists with quasi-religious fervor.

An Honest Liar - Trailer

30s

When famed magician James “The Amazing” Randi saw faith healers, fortune-tellers, and psychics using his beloved magician’s tricks to swindle money out of credulous people and destroy lives, Randi dedicated his life to exposing frauds with the wit and style he brought to his stage show. An Honest Liar is part detective story, part biography, and a bit of a magic act itself.

Previews + Extras

  • An Honest Liar: Exposing Peter Popoff: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    An Honest Liar: Exposing Peter Popoff

    S17 E12 - 1m 33s

    In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary An Honest Liar, magician-turned-debunker James "The Amazing" Randi acknowledges the power of performing illusions on a gullible audience. As magician Penn Jillette tells it here, it's to Randi's credit that he backed away from that power and turned it into a passion for exposing con artists.

  • An Honest Liar: Exposing Peter Popoff: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    An Honest Liar: Exposing Peter Popoff

    S17 E12 - 2m 36s

    In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary An Honest Liar, we find out how magician-turned-debunker of psychics James "The Amazing" Randi worked with an undercover surveillance expert to expose how popular televangelist and "faith healer" Peter Popoff was deceiving his audience into believing he was conversing with the Lord.

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