December 26, 2025

World's Greatest Con – A Conversation with Brian Brushwood (8th Layer Insights)

1 hour 4 minutes

This year, we're bringing you one of our favorite episodes from Perry's show "8th Layer Insights". Fun fact: this was the first time Perry and Mason collaborated together on a project!

Happy holidays from your friends over here at The FAIK Files! The original shownotes are below:

If you love learning about cons, scams, and tricks, then this is the episode for you. Listen as Perry sits down with Brian Brushwood, someone who has made understanding and teaching scams and tricks his life's work. Brian is the creator of Scam School, Scam Nation, Hacking the System, Modern Rogue, and more. For the past 20 years, he's toured around the world teaching and demonstrating everything from side show stunts, to sleight-of-hand magic, to the intricacies of con artistry.

Brian’s new podcast, World’s Greatest Con is a deep-dive into the stories and tactics behind the most intricate and interesting cons imaginable. In season 1, he told the story of Operation Mincemeat, a WWII plot devised by Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond) to trick none other than Adolf Hitler. Season 2 covers five different cons all related to the game show industry… it’s both entertaining and riveting in some very unexpected ways.

A big thank you to my friends over at the PodCube podcast for creating a custom skit for this episode. If you are a fan of sketch comedy, be sure to check out their show! (PodCube: The Future, is Yesterday™).

Guest: Brian Brushwood (Website) (Twitter)

Books and Resources

Brian's Website

World's Greatest Con podcast site

Scam School YouTube Channel

Modern Rogue YouTube Channel

Brian Brushwood Mistreats His Tongue

Brian doing psychic surgery on Penn & Teller: Fool Us

Brian doing the "hidden ghost" trick

Brian's Entire Bizarre Magic Stage Show

How to make a fake tongue (without using a deer tongue)

Operation Mincemeat -- Wikipedia

13 Unbelievably Fascinating Game Show Cheating Scandals That'll Shock Both Devoted And Casual Fans -- Buzzfeed

Project Alpha -- Wikipedia

Going Mental: A Conversation with Banachek -- 8th Layer Insights S1E7

PodCube Podcast

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors, by Perry Carpenter

The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer by Perry Carpenter & Kai Roer

Production Credits:

The opening skit featured the voice talents of Rich Daigle (a.k.a. Mouth Almighty), Hannah Trusty, Adriana Beals, and Rob McCollum.

Writing support for this episode's opening section from Terry Hicks

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

Want to connect with us? Here's how:

Connect with Perry:

Perry on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter⁠⁠

Perry on X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/perrycarpenter⁠⁠

Perry on BlueSky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social⁠⁠

Connect with Mason:

Mason on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/⁠⁠

Mason on BlueSky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/wickedinterest.ing

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By Perry Carpenter | N2K Networks

4.6

1818 ratings