For a half-century, masters of the comedy-magic universe Penn & Teller have seemingly defied the physical laws of nature with many of their gotta-see-’em-to-believe-’em feats. But so far, the loquacious Penn Jillette and his silent (onstage, that is) partner, Philly-born Teller, have yet to find a way to halt the aging process.
The 71-year-old Jillette noted during a recent Zoom chat ahead of the pair’s May 14 and 15 visit to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City that some of their most beloved bits have been shelved. He suggested that’s not because of physical limitations imposed by the passage of time, but audience perceptions of what is age appropriate.
“There’s stuff which we can do, but which I feel that the audience doesn’t wanna see us do,” Jillette explained. “When you take a 25-year-old guy, tie him up, put him in a trunk and throw him in the river, it’s not only entertaining, it’s also a little bit sexy. But when you get to – I don’t know what the magic number is, 45, maybe – when you cross that, the audience (doesn’t want to see it). At least when I see it, I have a little bit of a ‘No, no, don’t do that to him!’
“We’re seeing this happen with (magician) David Blaine,” Jillette added. “He’s had to change his show, because a 25-year-old sticking a needle into his arm is different than a 50-year-old sticking it into his arm. When I was on Broadway the first time (in 1987), I jumped from the balcony box onto the stage.
“And even if I could do that now, the audience doesn’t want to see it.”
That doesn’t mean the team is coasting through its gigs, Jillette contends, including some 40 weeks a year at their own theater inside Las Vegas’ Rio Hotel & Casino, where they’ve been headquartered for that city’s record of 25 years.
“I believe,” he noted, “and I think I have to believe this even if it’s not true, that we’re doing braver, intellectual stuff than we’ve ever done in our lives, which is saying a lot.”
A recent injury
That’s not to say physical issues haven’t forced Jillette and the 78-year-old Teller to alter their game plans. In January, Jillette broke his ankle in two places. So what happened?
“It was either fighting ICE agents,” he kidded, “or I fell down the stairs. I don’t remember. It’s been tough. It was six weeks not being able to put any weight on it. And I was doing a bunch of shows in a wheelchair, and then I went to kind of standing in place and sitting on a stool … I did a show without even telling the audience I broke my ankle.
“So that was a big milestone.”
No fear of the future
Injuries or not, the time when Penn & Teller might have to call it a career is getting closer. But no matter how their remaining years play out, they face the future unafraid of what lies ahead.
To illustrate that point, Jillette told the following tale:
Sometime in the late-1980s or early- ’90s, the duo booked an engagement at the former Trump’s Castle Hotel-Casino – now Golden Nugget Atlantic City – when the casino lounge was hosting the comedy duo of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi. Their laugh-filled but dated act was a poor-man’s version of the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis pairing that dominated show business in the 1940s and ’50s.
Having arrived the night before their first show, Jillette and Teller were invited by Allen and Rossi to see them perform.
“So we went in, and it’s what I think many people would call sad, but that’s kind of the point of the story,” Jillette recounted. “We went in and there were probably 35 people in the room, and they came out and spent the first, I don’t know, two minutes reminding people who they were.
“They had a TV set up on stage playing clips of them on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show,'” Jillette added. “And they had (Allen’s wife Katie Blackwell) playing piano and singing or something. And then they settled into doing their old routines. And the audience’s reaction was good.
“But where the story goes – and maybe this is all you need to know about Penn & Teller – is that we’re watching the act and I leaned over to Teller and I said, ‘You know, this is us in a very few years.’ And Teller looked at me and responded, ‘I’m okay with that!'”
For Penn & Teller tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
