Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
We all know about trick handcuffs that you can get from the toy store... but how hard is it to escape from 100% real, genuine police-issue handcuffs?
It turns out that with a little help from magician and escape artist Daniel Martin, it's not hard at all.
Daniel joins Brian for the first of several episodes teaching the real tricks and techniques used to escape from sticky situations. In this first episode, Daniel explains three different methods to escape from police-issue handcuffs.
Disclaimer: We're pretty sure it's not illegal to know HOW to escape from handcuffs... but we're 100% sure it's illegal to actually escape when detained by law enforcement (just sayin).
According to Daniel, the three best ways to pick open a pair of handcuffs are:
#1 - Key. This one sounds obvious, but most people don't know that just about all handcuffs use the exact same design of key. Just keep one in your back pocket, and you're set.
#2 - Shim. Smaller and much thinner than a key, a shim is easy to conceal and easy to use.
#3 - Paperclip. It's not just a cliché from action movies... you can use a garden-variety paperclip to escape from real handcuffs, and Daniel will show us how.
We all know about trick handcuffs that you can get from the toy store... but how hard is it to escape from 100% real, genuine police-issue handcuffs?
It turns out that with a little help from magician and escape artist Daniel Martin, it's not hard at all.
Daniel joins Brian for the first of several episodes teaching the real tricks and techniques used to escape from sticky situations. In this first episode, Daniel explains three different methods to escape from police-issue handcuffs.
Disclaimer: We're pretty sure it's not illegal to know HOW to escape from handcuffs... but we're 100% sure it's illegal to actually escape when detained by law enforcement (just sayin).
According to Daniel, the three best ways to pick open a pair of handcuffs are:
#1 - Key. This one sounds obvious, but most people don't know that just about all handcuffs use the exact same design of key. Just keep one in your back pocket, and you're set.
#2 - Shim. Smaller and much thinner than a key, a shim is easy to conceal and easy to use.
#3 - Paperclip. It's not just a cliché from action movies... you can use a garden-variety paperclip to escape from real handcuffs, and Daniel will show us how.
