LAS VEGAS’S LEGENDARY magicians and comedians Penn & Teller have a penchant for clever pranks. Penn (Jillette) is the chatty one, whereas Teller, a former Latin teacher, generally employs mime during the act.
The duo got their start during the late ’70s in San Francisco. Things kind of took off from there with national tours, prime time TV, movies, off-Broadway shows and bestselling books. Penn & Teller hits the Massey Hall stage on Nov. 3. Post City Magazines talks to them about life, love and the art of magic.
Your show at Massey Hall is part audience Q & A. What’s the most shocking question you’ve been asked and what was your answer?
At Comicon this past summer, someone asked us about a show and a song we did over 30 years ago.We looked at each other surprised and, at the same exact time, sang the song in its entirety without forgetting a note. Don’t ask me to sing it now. I don’t remember it without starring at Teller’s face.
What Toronto-specific tricks are up your sleeve for your show in November at Toronto’s Massey Hall?
Well,Toronto will be in charge of that part.We do a lot of Q & A in this show, and the Qs have a lot to do with the As, so it’s up to ya’ll.We’ve packed a few new bits and a few classics.
You guys are celebrating 35 years of magic this year. How do you manage to keep the act fresh?
We always try to get better.We enjoy the Groundhog Day idea of trying to get better.We also write new stuff all the time and put it in. Just in Vegas over the past few years we’ve put in six hours of new material. One day, we want to do one long show of every trick we’ve ever developed.
Tell us about a time a magic trick went horribly, terribly wrong.
Things never go just the way we want.We’re always trying to get better. That having been said, we do stuff that’s supposed to look very dangerous and be very very safe.We have never had a serious injury of us, our crew or our audiences. That’s the way it should be. It’s a roller coaster: you should feel like you’re going to die and know you’re going to be safe.