Teller speaks(!) about duo's sort-of-magic act
Penn & Teller describe themselves as a "couple of eccentric guys who have learned to do a few cool things."
The suits and ties they usually wear on stage make them look more like bankers than magicians. Magic, in fact, is really only part of what their act is about.
"The bottom line is that it's theater," Teller, 52, said this week in a telephone interview.
"We don't draw a magic audience...Magic shows are not very smart, not very funny. They may be impressive, but they're usually empty."
A Penn & Teller performance, on the other hand, is 2-1/2 hours of highbrow trickery, entertainment and audience participation in which a child might be converted to "The Church of Teller," as Teller, using his ability to mend polyester with his mind, makes whole a piece of cut cloth.
Together since 1975, their show has been a long-running hit on and off Broadway. The duo keeps a busy touring schedule, performing live more than 100 times this year.
Not for those who equate magic with top hats, tails and glitzy high-tech trickery, Penn & Teller are the "bad boys" of magic.
Their routines are rife with sleight of hand, card tricks, spurting blood, fire, axes, knives, swords and lots of wisecracking.
"We open by entering in giant, inflatable suits that look like us--just like the kind mascots wear at ball games," Teller said. "We do an entire card trick with an audience member on stage with us while we're wearing the suits."
Teller, the silent straight man, is the butt of many of the jokes. Penn Jillette, 45, brash and bombastic, is the ringmaster, working his way through monologues, rants and sardonic explanations of the tricks, many of which are deconstructed in front of the audience.
The Seattle performance will include Penn as the "amazing rubber boy" crammed into a very small beer barrel, with audience members invited backstage at intermission to see how it's done.
Penn will juggle broken bottles and there will be a knife-throwing act with someone from the audience participating.
The show's finale will be what Teller bills as a "controversial and passionate piece," fitting for the current political climate.
"We explore our view of what it would mean to burn a flag, not as a sign of disrespect but as a celebration of freedoms we have under the Bill of Rights," he said. "Burn," of course, is defined in a Penn & Teller kind of way.
"Perhaps it's burned," Teller teased. "Perhaps it vanishes in a wave of patriotic flames."
Frequent guests on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Late Show with David Letterman," Penn & Teller are authors of three books. The latest, titled "How to Play in Traffic," is a collection of practical jokes, miracles and anecdotes.
Teller will be signing copies of his new book about his father, Joseph Teller, 87, titled "When I'm Dead, All This Will Be Yours," today, 1 p.m. at Borders Books & Music in downtown Seattle.
REVIEW