According to Wikipedia, Teller’s silent act originated during his youth, when he performed magic at college frat parties. He found that if he stayed silent, then spectators would refrain from heckling and throwing beer at him and they would focus more on his performance.
Fair enough. My minimal words didn’t really encapsulate the relationship. having said that, though, Penn himself is usually equally as dismissive about his side of the act as I unintentionally was.
Penn has flat out said several times that when they first began their act, and they were basically street magicians, he was the huckster who would entice the crowd. It was a role he knowingly and consciously took on. He’s also flat out said that Teller is the technical magician. Their live show really does a wonderful job of highlighting Teller’s talents. He has several bits where he is alone on the stage and he’s simply unbelievable. I think he’s probably the most graceful person I have ever seen. Fittingly, he’s also extremely gracious (as is Penn who is, in addition, very tall).
I worked with P&T several times on extended gigs where they were rehearsing their stage act in advance of going on tour. I was a stagehand and our stage crew worked with them for a month or so at a time, on 2 or 3 different occasions. Typically, Teller is on stage with the crew planning out blocking, locations of the set pieces, discussing lighting and technical stage directions with the crew, etc. while Penn is at the craft services table chatting up the cocktail waitresses.
Which is not to say that Penn doesn’t contribute- it’s as if Penn is completely aware of everything Teller’s doing on stage even though it appears he’s a million miles away, lost in the waitress’s cleavage, or something. But then when it’s time for him on stage, he doesn’t miss a beat- he knows where he needs to be and when, and what to do when he gets there.
There’s nothing about Teller, voice or otherwise, to indicate that he’s gay. Or straight. We were always trying to figure out his persuasion, or if he even had one. They’re both really nice guys.
Oh, you mean Identity.
If I recollect right, he was the voice of Comedy Central in the late '80s/early '90s. Their subsequent announcers have been doing their best Penn impression since.
Teller sometimes talks on stage, but not as “Teller” his stage persona. I saw their act several years ago, and Teller provided the voice for Mofo the Psychic Gorilla, and the voice of the ghost of Harry Houdini in two routines. When he was Mofo, he just stood off to the side of the stage and spoke into a handheld mic, so it was no secret what was going on. As Houdini, he was hidden behind a sheet whenever he was speaking or singing.
And yes, I believe that when Penn and Teller were on the Simpsons, that Teller had at least one line.
P&T guest starred on an episode of Babylon 5, playing a comedy team. Basically, Reebo and Zooty were the same as P&T.
Interestingly only Reebo(Penn) spoke. But as the team were about to leave the station Zooty(Teller) took the captain aside and whispered into his ear. You couldn’t hear anything though.
The best part about that is that Reebo & Zooty were referenced a full season before when Ambassador Molari complained about not understanding humans and using the act of R&Z as an example (Zoot! Zoot! Zoot!).
No… you were right the first time.
And ISTR that Zooty told the captain either very important/wise or something very secret/funny that the Captain was very surprised about but refused to tell anyone about.
I’ve seen Teller break character at least once before, on Celebrity Fear Factor. Teller silently did all the stunts with Penn following along doing the commentary. After pulling off one particulalry awesome death-defying trick, he started jumping around in elation and shouting “Yes! Yes!” Penn smiled and said “You talked!”
See post #7.
P&T were on Joan Rivers’ daytime show once. They did the trick of suspending her between two folding chairs, then removing one of them. IIRC, Penn said, “Are you doing okay, Joan?” Teller turned his head away from the camera so you couldn’t see his mouth move and answered for her, “Yes, I’m fine.” I think that was the first time I heard him speak.
In my defense, that wasn’t up yet when I started on my post. My thumbs are broken, so I’m typing with my feet. Takes a while.
The first time I heard Teller talk was in their cable special Invisible Thread where he yelled something like “Hey Penn” into a megaphone. (His mouth wasn’t visible of course.)
While Penn did all the jive talking to try and save the planet it was Teller’s idea of using the Invisible Thread trick that worked. I assume that’s the way they work. Teller figures things out/does the work and Penn talks about it.
(BTW, check out that list of guest appearances.)
You should try using a pencil in your nose.
Or maybe in your mouth, but not after it was in your nose.
And in one of those odd moments Teller’s character had a box as part of his comedy routine that spoke but in this case it was the voice of Harlan Ellison.
It was James Randi’s suggestion to Penn and Teller that got the two together. According to the Amazing One he saw the potential in the act because they’re so different like Laurel & Hardy. The rest is history!
Just for the record, Teller speaks in character at the end of their movie Penn and Teller Get Killed