My wife and I saw Penn & Teller’s show in Las Vegas. After a wonderful show, we are leaving the theater and my wife (not familar with Penn & Teller at all) tells me, “Hey Incubus, the short guy that doesn’t talk is right there!” And to my surprise, he was standing right there, signing autographs and posing for photos.
Not only does he in fact talk but he is really nice in person, gentle and calm. It was funny because even though everyone was really eager to greet him they didnt mob him and stood a respectable distance while he patiently greeted every single guest and posed for photos. I wanted to get a photo with Penn too but my wife’s camera phone died (as had mine hours ago). He was also a little more mobbed by people, perhaps because he’s a bit more loud and gregarious. I’ll definitely try to get a picture/autograph next time.
You do know that he, Teller, the usually silent one of the duo, is considered by many stage magicians to be one of the most talented performers of this era. His work on prestidigitation is (again according to the people who really know this art) groundbreaking in much the same way as Houdini’s escapes were in their time.
And, according to everyone who I know who has met him, Teller is a bright and pleasant fellow.
Penn is also a great stage performer, but Teller is a giant among the magicians.
I heard that. Someone once said that Teller was the “brains” of their act. His bits were great to watch, because his illusions are done with total silence, performed slowly, which makes it impressive to me since I know magicians will use anything and everything to distract their audience. He did a few “pop out of nowhere” appearances that were the best i’ve seen.
If you want to see what it takes to impress a guy like Teller, look on YouTube for episodes of their BBC show, “Fool Us.” It’s a contest for magicians who have to do a trick that P&T (really, T) can’t figure out.
My boyfriend took me to Vegas last Labor Day weekend for my birthday so I got us tickets for the Penn and Teller show. The show was FANTASTIC and we also got to say hello to Teller after the show. He took a picture of the three of us using my iPhone :). It’s cool how they do that meet and greet, and apparently they will stay until the crowd is gone.
Met the man many years ago. I felt he hardly stopped talking off the stage, but was warm, intelligent, and very friendly.
And he is such a skilled manipulator that most of the things you see him do on stage he really never did. (It helps the Penn takes up more psychic space than Great Cthulhu while performing.)
I met Penn during the intermission of their show in Princeton. Couldn’t meet Teller since he died right before intermission. After the show both of them were in the lobby and stayed until everyone got an autograph or talked to them. Both were in togas and covered in fake blood.
I’ve worked a few of their shows as a stagehand, getting to know them pretty well during their 1-2 week runs. During the performance Penn is the man, but during rehearsals Teller runs the show. He’s the one on stage, blocking out the movements and basically designing the tricks (“illusions, Michael. Tricks are for prostitutes”) while Penn is over at the craft services table hitting on the cocktail waitresses. They’re both really nice guys with very different personalities that mesh really well onstage. Teller’s brilliant and a really pleasant guy. I’ve hung out with them in their dressing rooms after the show while Penn boasted about some of the videos he has of various porn stars in his shower, and what not. They’re a riot.
Teller once wished my GF a happy birthday. Both of them were born on February 14th, and we saw their show on the 10th. She mentioned that they had the same birthday, so he wished her a happy one.
My wife and I went to their Vegas show in 2010 when she was about 5 months pregnant. She, of course, gets called up onstage for a tick. I was hoping they’d do the “saw in half” trick! We met both after the show.
I met both of them twice, in Philly in the lobby after the show during two different tours. I complemented Penn on the show and he seemed inordinately pleased and taken aback by the compliment. I guess no matter how big you get you still have self doubts.
I had the pleasure of meeting P&T and being in one of their tricks when they were filming their special Penn & Teller: Off the Deep End. I was underwater with Teller as they made a submarine disappear. Penn stayed top side the day I was there. Might have had something to do with the plethora of food and beverages on the boat.
Both were quite congenial, though after a few days of filming they were growing a bit frustrated at the technical difficulties of getting the underwater shots they wanted. Lots of waiting on air pumps and adjusting things to get the curtain of bubbles they wanted.
Best of all I was paid for my participation and even won a door prize (scuba regulator) from them. And I even got to see how the illusion worked.
