Does he ever speak in this show? Contribute any points? What is the point of Teller in this show?
Are you familar at all with Penn & Teller, the stage act? They’re magicians. Teller’s shtick is that he doesn’t talk. One would not expect him to talk on the television show, either.
He CAN talk, and is quite well spoken and extremely smart. He talks on camera, even. Just not when he is acting as Teller Of Penn And Teller.
I see you are unaware of the Penn & Teller schtick.
Teller never talked during their magic acts (pre-Bullshit, though they may still do them—I’m unsure there) and Penn just did all the comedy and banter. I imagine they just kept the formula the same during the Showtime show, though I’ve seen an episode or two where Teller “talks” off camera (if I recall, he swore while being “branded” in the PETA show).
Penn & Teller have been together since long before Bullshit started up, Teller has generally never talked during their performances - just a gimmick that’s been part of their show forever.
IIRC, he did the silent magician bit even before he got together with Penn.
Brand name recognition. Who would watch Penn’s Bullshit?
Penn & Teller appeared on Fear Factor a few years ago. Penn just did his talk thing, while Teller performed all the various stunts. In one (involving a suspended glass case/elevator; don’t remember what actually he was supposed to do), Teller quietly said “Yes!” when Barry Williams failed to match his time. Penn, loudmouth that he is, confirmed my ears when he said, “Did you hear that? He just said ‘Yes!’”
Teller did not win, FTR. Keisha Knight Pullham of the Cosby Show did. (Description of that episode here.)
Teller is the real talent behind their act, and probably has a lot of input in the Bullshit! show as well. Penn is merely the loud abrasive frontman. He’s like the huckster showman at the carnival.
I have a documentary TV series where the two of them travelled the world looking at cultural magic acts, and Teller speaks about a trick he witnessed during one of those episodes.
Teller’s job on Bullshit is to do funny blink-or-you-miss-it sleights in the background while Penn yells at you.
There’s lots of interviews with him where he does talk (intelligently and at length) about magic. But whenever they’re performing as Penn & Teller, he keeps his trap shut. Or Penn will eat him.
That’s pretty dismissive. Teller is certainly a more talented magician, but Penn is a more talented comedian. Since they bridge the two genres, and it’s that bridge that made them as successful as they are, calling Teller the talent is just plain inaccurate. The “magic” in their act occurs in the meeting place between Teller’s mechanics and Penn’s patter
On a side note, Penn is also a pretty talented juggler, which they use to some effect in their act.
Didn’t he lend his voice to The Simpsons?
“I’m not the first Teller!”
Trivia: Teller taught Latin in a private school for boys before he became a full time magician. (Presumably he spoke, otherwise it must have been an interesting course.) He also did not know until he was middle aged that his parents were Russian Jews, though I don’t know the details of the situation (it was mentioned by Penn on his blog).
Rumor is that Teller’s gay- he doesn’t ‘speak’ to the issue obviously. The reason I mention is that I’ve wondered if his not speaking is because he has an effeminate voice. Today it wouldn’t be that big a deal (I don’t think anybody believed Siegfried & Roy were two “wild and crazy” bachelors, and in fact I used to assume David Copperfield was until he started dating models and getting sued for sexual harassment) but I can see how 30 years ago it would have been difficult- imagine being an effeminate gay magician working a room full of roughnecks- the fairy jokes would get really old really fast, and I can see how it would eventually just become such a part of the act that you don’t change what ain’t broke. This is only my own speculative wondering though- I’ve no idea at all if this has anything to do with it.
I like the idea of Penn is the huckster showman at the carnival… never thought up that image, but I like it.
Teller is involved in the writing… so while it may be Penn doing all the yelling, it’s quite possibly Teller’s words he’s yelling.
He doesn’t talk on the show much, but he does speak quite a bit elsewhere.
Teller gets quite a bit of dialog at the end of their movie Penn and Teller Get Killed. He also says “Hi, Dave” during one of the Letterman appearances, though this was okay since he wasn’t the real Teller but simply a lifelike Teller manikin, which Penn demonstrated when he used a pair of scissors to cut off “Teller’s” tongue.
Err, no.
He appeared on some sort of “History of Magic” show one one of the basic cable channels (TLC, A&E?) some years back, and talked quite a bit. I clearly remember him talking about practicing palming things, using a small wrench for an example, and saying that when he was in school, he would take a small object such as the wrench, palm it, and walk around all day with it in his hand, trying to make his everyday movements as natural as possible.
After their Vegas show, both Penn and Teller come out to the lobby, where they shake hands, sign autographs, and pose for pictures. Teller talks to the fans just like Penn does during these sessions.
Teller used to do commentaries on All Things Considered. No to the “effeminate voice,” yes to “He is the brains of the operation.” Penn is the unpleasant equivalent to a woman with big boobs in a sparkling suit, there to distract you while the dog’s work is being done behind him.
I know absolutely nothing about Teller’s private life, but he HAS spoken publicly in several settings, including “Penn and Teller Get Killed.”
I have no idea whether he’s gay, but he does NOT sound stereotypically effeminate. He has a pretty ordinary, unremarkable speaking voice.