Magician David Kwong Talks Neflix’s ‘The Puzzle Room’ & More with Rich

David Kwong showed up with a folder of puzzles, a mind trick and a plan to "mind hack" Chris. By the end of the segment, TJ was ready to leave the building, Mike Del Tufo had not changed his confused expression once, and Chris was staring at a name he never said out loud.

Kwong, whose mentalism and puzzle show The Enigmatist has sold out theaters from Los Angeles to London, hosts The Puzzle Room with David Kwong, which releases Mondays on Netflix. This week's episode featured Rich and Suzy Shuster as his guests, and Kwong did not hold back on the review.

"Two of the best guests I've ever had," he said. "The dynamic between you two was great."

The dynamic, as Rich described it, had some spice. Kwong said Suzy brought more of it, though Rich provoked it. Rich explained that he knows how her brain operates and that she "gets blinded by the competitiveness," so he told her mid-game she had no chance. Rich also had a complaint about the scorekeeping. He said he rang in before her several times and Kwong just let her go. Kwong conceded she blurted out answers without hitting the button, roughly the first five times. Rich's one regret, he joked, is that he might be sleeping on the couch.

So how does someone end up doing this for a living? Kwong said he wears two hats. "I am a puzzle guy. I write New York Times crossword puzzles," he said. "And I'm a magician. I'm a mentalist." At some point he realized he could fuse the two into "this brainy, nerdy, cerebral magic thing." He had been doing it in living rooms and for companies, and the rise of the video podcast, where the game show and the podcast blur together, finally gave him the right platform.

Rich asked whether Kwong considers himself a rival of another mentalist who previously visited the show and hacked TJ's phone PIN, a moment that sent TJ off the set. Kwong called him a buddy and "top of the game right now," and said his own lane is the puzzle fusion. TJ said his choice back then was to "either leave or swing on him," so he left.

Kwong said The Puzzle Room is open to anyone. He has brought on brainy friends, brainy celebrities and reality stars who have never done a puzzle. Elizabeth Banks came on with John Michael Higgins to reunite the Pitch Perfect duo. "I like to think that I make it all easy and accessible," Kwong said, "and I let everyone know that they're smart."

Then he made the studio prove it, with Rich, Chris, TJ and Mike all invited to play along. The first game was "Making a Trade," where you change one letter in a word to get a player on a pro sports team. The answers came fast. A sentimental pendant in Houston: locket, Rocket. A Japanese noodle in Baltimore: ramen, Raven. A handgun in Detroit: pistol, Piston, which Kwong pointed out was a Michigan reference. Chris got on the board with Merlin and Marlin after somebody swung and missed with "Gandalf Dolphin," a guess the room refused to let go. Snow in Calgary became flake and Flame. The 18th president in San Francisco became Grant and Giant. An office building's entryway in Philadelphia became foyer and Flyer, while one player was stuck thinking "atrium."

When the dust settled, Rich insisted he was fine losing to somebody from New England, and nobody in the room seemed to believe him.

Kwong then sped through a second game, "Something Extra," where you add a letter to the first word to get the second. Trash in the place you park your car: garbage, garage. Annoy a male sibling: bother, brother. Former Bulls star Dennis from the capital of Italy: Rodman, Roman. A paper fastener and two-week-old bread: staple, stale. Bad-mouths a New York hockey team: slanders, Islanders. The tuxedo piece owned by the singer with the alter ego Ziggy Stardust became bow tie and Bowie. Kwong wrote the last one specifically for Rich: a potato pancake on Michigan or Superior, latke and lake. "I'm the only Jew in the room," came the reply.

Then came the real trick. Kwong asked Chris to think of a Hollywood celebrity, project him onto an imaginary screen and keep it to himself. Kwong read a man with wide shoulders, then a movie with a lot of movement and a lot of people in it. "I'm getting like Ocean's 11," he said. Chris confirmed it. Kwong then had him spell the first name silently, guessed it was under five letters, and worked through the last name.

"Can you say who is this celebrity?" Kwong asked.

"Brad Pitt," Chris said. It matched what Kwong had written down.

Then Kwong revealed the payoff. Every answer Chris got right in the "Something Extra" game hinged on the added letter. The B that turned garage into garbage. The R in bother to brother. An A, a D. The P from staple and stale. Then an I, a T and a T. Together they spelled Brad Pitt.

"Dude, that's stupid crazy," TJ said.

Kwong stressed that nothing was set up. He met Chris for the first time that day, did not touch his phone and had Chris write nothing down. "Your brain absorbs information," Kwong said. "You don't even know about it."

One voice in the studio still swore the two must have been colluding in the back. Rich, meanwhile, just hoped they could have Kwong back to play more puzzles. "Maybe we'll get one right," Rich said.