Penn Jillette and his performance partner Teller have been a double act since the late 1970s. Known for their challenging and often quite unsettling approach to magic and illusion, it would be fair to describe their work as iconoclastic. Their public personas are carefully tailored, with Penn being a voluble and talkative performer, in contrast to Teller, who is often completely mute when on stage.
The duo performed their first show together in 1975, and over the next decade they would work with a colleague called Weir Chrisemer, as part of a trio known as The Asparagus Valley Cultural Society. They performed mainly in California. By 1985, though, they were very much a duo, and were attracting plenty of positive attention for their off-Broadway stage show and their PBS TV appearances. In 1987, they appeared in the music video for Run DMC’s hit ‘It’s Tricky’.
They would become fixtures on TV during the late 1980s and early 1990s, making frequent appearances on shows like Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live, as well as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Their American tours throughout the 1990s would bring them even more fame and critical praise.
From 2003 until 2010, the pair’s career took a new direction, as they worked on a TV show called ‘Bullshit!’. This took a critical look at concepts like conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, religion and the paranormal. In many ways, this rational and somewhat cynical approach continued in their British TV show ‘Fool Us’. The concept behind this was that Penn and Teller would watch a magician perform a trick and then work out how it was done.
Their work has often mixed elements of horror with magic, as well as clever pranks that are either satirical or help to expose some kind of fraudulent or dishonest behaviour. Sometimes, tricks are presented as though they have been botched, to add an element of danger to proceedings. Many tricks involve cartoon violence, with Teller having been run over by a truck and submerged in a tank of water, as examples.
So this duo is not your typical magic act. Their Masterclass is clearly going to be an interesting adventure into the world of illusion. Let’s see just what you’re in for when you sign up for the Penn and Teller Masterclass course on the art of magic.