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Penn & Teller (Penn Fraser Jillette and Raymond Joseph Teller) are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard throughout their performance. They specialize in gory tricks, exposing quacks and frauds, performing clever pranks, and have become associated with Las Vegas, atheism, scientific skepticism, and libertarianism.¹

Contents 1 Tricks 2 Television projects 3 Movies 4 Other appearances 5 Books 6 Awards and recognitions 7 Video games 8 References 9 External links

Tricks

Their tricks include Teller hanging upside-down over a bed of spikes in a straitjacket, Teller drowning in a huge container of water, Teller being run over by an 18-wheel tractor-trailer, Teller swinging over bear-traps on a trapeze, and knives going through Penn's hands. Many of their effects rely heavily on shock appeal and violence, although presented in a humorous manner.

Sometimes, the pair will claim to reveal a secret of how a magic trick is done, but those tricks are usually invented by the duo for the sole purpose of exposing them, and therefore designed with more spectacular and weird methods than would have been necessary had it just been a "proper" magic trick. For example, in the reveal of one trick, while Teller waits for his cue, he reads magazines and eats a snack. Another example is their rendition of the cups and balls, using transparent cups.

Penn and Teller perform their own adaptation of the famous bullet catch illusion. Each simultaneously fires a gun at the other, through small panes of glass, and then "catches" the other's bullets in his mouth.

They also have an assortment of card tricks in their repertoire, virtually all of them involving the force of the Three of Clubs on an unsuspecting audience member as this card is easy for viewers to identify on television cameras.²

The duo will sometimes perform tricks that discuss the intellectual underpinnings of magic. One of their acts, titled "Magician vs. Juggler", features Teller performing card tricks while Penn juggles and delivers a monologue on the difference between the two: jugglers start as socially aware children who go outside and learn juggling with other children; magicians are misfits who stay in the house and teach themselves magic tricks out of spite.

In one of their most politically charged tricks, they make a U.S. flag seem to disappear by wrapping it in a copy of the United States Bill of Rights, and apparently setting the flag on fire, so that "the flag is gone but the Bill of Rights remains." The act may also feature the "Chinese bill of rights", presented as a transparent piece of acetate. They normally end the routine by restoring the unscathed flag to its starting place on the flagpole; however, on a TV guest appearance on The West Wing this final part was omitted for drama.³

One of their more recent tricks involves a nail gun with blanked (missing) nails from its strip of nails. Penn begins by firing several nails (presumably real) into a board in front of him. He then proceeds to turn the nail gun on himself several times while suffering no injuries. His patter builds as he oscillates between firing blanks at himself and firing nails into the board. While performing he explains the need for pseudo-randomness in switching between himself and the board. The bit ends with a bit of prediction when audience members choose where the next shot will be aimed. The whole bit is explained during its performance, except for the prediction.

Television projects

• Penn & Teller Go Public for PBS (1985)
• Don’t Try This at Home for NBC (1990)
• Behind the Scenes for PBS (1992)
• The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller series for Channel 4 (1994)
• Phobophilia for Channel 4 (1995)
• Penn & Teller’s Home Invasion (1997)
• Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular for FX (1998)
• Magic and Mystery Tour (2003)
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (2003 - )
• Penn & Teller: Off the Deep End for NBC (2005)
• Dancing with the Stars for ABC (2008)

Movies

• My Chauffeur⁴
• Penn & Teller’s Invisible Thread for Showtime (1987)
• Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (1987)
• Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989)
• Fantasia 2000, introducing The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence.
• The Aristocrats (2005), a documentary film written and co-directed by Penn
• Hackers (1995) - Penn only, as "Hal" working in the Gibson room
• The Fantasticks (1995) - Teller only, as "Mortimer", who 'dies' for a living
• Toy Story (1995) Buzz Lightyear's TV Commercial (V.O. by Penn Jillette only)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Penn as a carnival worker, Teller behind him ⁵
• Michael Moore Hates America

Other appearances

• Miami Vice "Prodigal Son" (Season 2)- Penn only
• Muppets Tonight "The Gary Cahuenga Episode" (Season 2, Episode 10 - 1997)
• Saturday Night Live Episodes 1101, 1106, 1109, 1112, 1115, 1116, 1207 (1985–1986)
• Run DMC "It's Tricky" Music Video (1986)
• Ramones "Something To Believe In" Music Video
• David Letterman (1989)
• Pizza Hut Commercial
• Lois & Clark Illusions of Grandeur 1/23/94 Penn only
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Pilot, Terrible Things, Jenny's Non-Dream, First Kiss (1996–1997)
• Dharma and Greg - Cats Out of the Bag (1998)
• Babylon 5 - Day of the Dead (1998)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-Penn out front, Teller behind him (1998)
• Hollywood Squares Dates: 10/1/99, 01/08/01, 10/06/03, 10/07/03, 10/08/03, 10/09/03, 10/10/03, 04/05/04
• Fear Factor Episode 301 (2002)
• Las Vegas Episode 108 "Luck Be a Lady" (11/17/2003)
• The View Dates: 02/19/04, 10/31/05, 02/23/06, 10/31/2006, 6/24/2008
• Ford Motor Company Golf Commercials (2006)
• The Drew Carey Show
• The Simpsons in Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder
• Friends "The One With The Cuffs" -Penn only
• Criss Angel Mindfreak
• America's Got Talent (8/10/06 & 8/16/06)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast
• The Colbert Report- Penn only
• Celebrity Deathmatch in a fight against Siegfried and Roy
• The Colbert Report to debate the origins of various magic tricks in relation to the recent democratic takeover of the senate-Penn only (2006)
• The History Channel special "Nostradamus: 500 Years Later" (2006)
• While You Were Out Episode aired on March 21, 2004: Penn redecorates the backstage greenroom with the help of the WYWO crew while Teller is away!
• The West Wing #608 "In The Room" - Broadcast: December 8, 2004 - Presidential Daughter Zoey has a birthday party in the White House and Penn and Teller do magic tricks for her and the guests. And they do a trick that makes the guests think they have burnt an American flag inside the Bill of Rights (which was untouched). The press later hears about it and questions are raised about whether Bartlet was in the room when the trick was done.
• Car 54, Where Are You? both Penn and Teller appear as gun dealers in a bar.
• ¡Mucha Lucha! as themselves and El Malèficos assistants.
• Bill Nye the Science Guy
• Home Improvement (TV Series)
• Just For Laughs
• V.I.P. Episode 122 "Val The Hard Way"
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Books

• Penn & Teller's How to Play in Traffic (1997, ISBN 1-57297-293-9)
• Penn & Teller's How to Play with Your Food (1992, ISBN 0-679-74311-1)
• Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (1989, ISBN 0-394-75351-8)
• Sock 2004, ISBN 0-312-32805-2 (Penn Jillette sole author)
• How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard 2006, ISBN 0-312-34905-X (Penn Jillette and Mickey D. Lynn)
• When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours: Joe Teller -- A Portrait By His Kid 2000, ISBN 0-922-23322-5 (Teller sole author)

Awards and recognitions

• Visiting Scholars of MIT
• Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, 2001
• Richard Dawkins Award, 2005 for promoting atheism

Video games

• Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors 1995 - Absolute Entertainment for Sega CD & 3DO, Unreleased.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Penn & Teller

• Penn & Teller's official website
• Penn's "Hydro-therapeutic stimulator" (aka Jill-jet) patent
• "Penn and Teller Explain Sleight of Hand". You Tube. Retrieved on 2007-12-29. One of many Penn & Teller videos accessible on the internet.
• A man, a ball, a hoop, a bench (and an alleged thread)… TELLER!

v • d • e Penn & Teller Magicians Penn Jillette • Teller Television shows Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular • Penn & Teller: Off the Deep End • The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller • Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour • Penn & Teller: Bullshit! • Behind the Scenes Films Penn & Teller Get Killed Home movies Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends Video games Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors

v • d • e Famous Magicians Historical Magicians: Harry Houdini • Harry Kellar • Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin • Tony Slydini • Howard Thurston • Dai Vernon • John Nevil Maskelyne • Doug Henning • Alexander Herrmann • Harry Blackstone, Sr. • Charles Joseph Carter • Alexander • Theodore Annemann • Kuda Bux • Joseph Dunninger • Al Koran • Br. John Hamman • J.B. Bobo • Herb Zarrow • Max Malini Magicians around the world: Indian Magicians Contemporary Magicians: Penn & Teller • Criss Angel • David Copperfield • Jeff McBride • Pendragons • Siegfried & Roy • Lance Burton

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• This page was last modified on 8 January 2009, at 02:14.

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