Penn & Teller are the magicians that defy time. They even make it disappear. Some months ago, in what seems like just yesterday, I chatted with the guys separately backstage at the London Palladium.
The duo celebrated 50 years last year, and they mark 25 years at Rio Las Vegas this month. The residency is the longest unbroken run at a single hotel among headliners ever in Las Vegas.
I chat with Penn first, before the London show, then afterward with Teller, following the order of the Penn & Teller brand. I asked the magic question: How long will they continue to perform as a duo?
“How soon before we die? Is that it?” Jillette says. “I gotta tell you, this isn’t the correct answer, and it might sound cheesy, but all that has ever mattered to us is the show. We have never had any goals other than the show, and as long as we’re doing it, we’ll be very, very happy.”
A couple hours later, the same question to Teller. He is specific, and also dark.
“I would like, one night, for us to be doing a box trick on stage with me in the box,” the 77-year-old master magician says. “I’d like Penn to walk over, lift the lid of the box, look in and say ‘He’s dead! Show’s over!’
“That seems perfect to me, right in the middle of doing what you love.”
This is not the first time P&T have talked openly of not living. “Penn & Teller Get Killed” was their 1989 black comedy/thriller (the murder mystery was set in Atlantic City years before they ever played Vegas). But their act still maintains its strong pulse, performing a full schedule through its 25th anniversary.
Jillette has done a rough count of performances over the years. Even he is impressed.
“I believe the number of live shows we’ve done is over 10,000,” the 70-year-old Jillette says. “We’ve now done more shows and The Beatles ant the Rolling Stones put together. That is astonishing to me.”
P&T also remain active with individual projects.
The 25th anniversary is celebrated as Jillette has turned in a short-but-powerful role in “Marty Supreme.” Jillette is cast as a towering bumpkin wielding a shotgun to protect his farmhouse and someone else’s dog (critics have said Jillette is unrecognizable in the role; I say he looks just like Penn Jillette in overalls and no glasses).
Timothée Chalamet’s superb, Critics Choice Award-winning turn as the title character should shine a light on Jillette’s contributions to the film.
Jillette is also planning a nine-show U.K. tour with Piff the Magic Dragon next September in “Piff & Pop’s Magic Shop,” Jillette’s first tour without Teller since the act was formed in 1975.
Teller is active as the celeb backer of Third Street theater complex in downtown Las Vegas. The complex is formerly Downtown Cinemas, before that Art Houz Theaters, and before that Eclipse Theaters.
The complex will include a 250-seat proscenium theater; a 150-seat black box; two 60-seat screening rooms; a 400-person event/rehearsal hall; and a full-media production studio. A 600-seat theater and large-scale production studio are planned the phase two. Teller is promoting a $1.5 million “Ignite Third” fundraising campaign. The ultimate goal is $5 million.
Moving forward, Third Street will be part of Teller’s legacy in Las Vegas.
The two offer varying answers when asked about their off-stage relationship. Duos are often separated by more than an ampersand in the entertainment culture. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis spent more than two decades not speaking to each other after their partnership ended in the mid-1950s.
P&T’s manager for more than a quarter-century, Glenn Alai, says, “It’s very rare that one will say to acquiesce to the other. It is a true partnership where, if it’s on stage, they come to an agreement on it. If they do not agree, then they compromise. There have been intense conversations, but they eventually come together.”
Jillette has said it’s not a topic he often thinks of, focusing again on the duo’s collective vision.
“You know, if you woke me up in the middle of the night — please don’t — and ask me what I cared about, it would come down our bits in the show,” Jillette says.
The headstrong entertainers still create “constant conflict.” But as Teller says, “Neither of us would be able to tolerate the other if we didn’t have fairly thick skin.
The member of the act who is non-verbal on stage says two have formed a personal affection in their professional partnership. He recalls as examples his own health crises, and the birth of Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette in 2005.
“We say we’re business partners, that it is a business arrangement,” Teller says. “However, when I had that heart attack (in September 2022), who was there every single day at the hospital? And when Moxie was born, who was the third person to hold her after her parents?”
The answer is self-evident, the 50-year stage partner, who says, “So there is an unacknowledged, but very deep friendship.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.