Penn & Teller -- The Mayhem In Their Magic Makes You Laugh - And Cringe

------------------------------------------------------------------ Comedy/magic preview

Penn & Teller, 8 p.m. Thursday, Paramount Theatre; $20.50-$32.50; 628-0888. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Penn & Teller are an acquired taste.

Like electro-shock therapy.

Like oral surgery without laughing gas.

The masochistic masters of magic and comedy seem perfect for the post-Reagan era. Their brand of entertainment is based on pain, meanness, greed, violence, retribution, suffering, humiliation and death. They represent the dark, dangerous elements of sorcery. They are the flip side of the cute, gee-whiz, camera-trick magicians such as David Copperfield, Doug Henning and Harry Blackstone Jr. Like Houdini, they dwell on the death-defying elements of their ancient craft. And they do it with enough black humor to make you laugh at their tricks, even while you cringe.

They - or, rather, the childlike, silent Teller, who faces most of the risks - do more than just narrowly escape drowning, impalement or suffocation. They seldom emerge unscathed. Often they are graphically, dramatically "wounded." When you see Penn & Teller, you are going to see blood - gallons of it, splashed across them and the stage.

Without these two sickos, there would be no Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (which, incidentally, plays the night after them, at the Moore.) They opened the door for gruesome, stomach-turning

entertainment, and made it legit with their hit shows on Broadway, appearances on Letterman, Larry King and PBS, guest shots on "Saturday Night Live" and "Miami Vice," and national tours.

But this is the first time they've played here. Their current 16-city tour is going by the mouthful of a title, "MCI Presents Comedy Central's 37% New Tour Starring Penn & Teller" (P&T are famous for recycling their most popular bits.) But here they're calling it "100% New," for obvious reasons.

The stocky, formal but menacing Penn Jillette and the short, wan, vulnerable Teller (no last name), usually start their act with prestidigitation, or sleight-of-hand. They do card tricks, one of which ends with Penn getting a dagger through his hand (spurt, spurt). They might do some juggling, with props like swords or chainsaws (more spurting).

They will probably do their popular "rack of drills" routine, with Teller tied to a rack and trying desperately to escape while buzzing power drills inch closer to him. Alas (I hope I'm not giving anything away), he doesn't make it (gush, gush).

And they will have to do their most popular routine, in which Teller is strapped into a straitjacket and lowered into a tank of water. You watch while he tries to get free, and his struggle seems to go on forever, while the seemingly unconcerned Penn cracks jokes. Again, I hope I'm not ruining it for you, but Teller is one of those people who can hold their breath for three minutes. It's a skill (which Houdini also had) you have to learn. Even knowing this, the trick is always a heart-stopper.

While Penn & Teller make gruesome fun of magic, they are actually well-regarded among their peers, such as James Randi, professionally known as the Amazing Randi, perhaps the most honored and respected magician in America.

They are not only fine practitioners of the art of magic but also historians of the subject. Just last month in The New York Times Magazine, Teller published what was described as an excerpt from a work in progress called "No Bunnies: The Dark Side of Magic." The article was about one Donna Delbert, a transvestite fire-eater from the 1940s who had a short career, then disappeared. The story is intriguing. But the pictures that accompany it look strangely like . . . Penn!

Could they have possibly fooled the prestigious New York Times?

Let's hope so!