It’s hard to remember a time when Penn Jillette and Teller weren’t inextricably linked to Las Vegas; they’ll be celebrating 30 years here this year, most of it at their current property. All told, Penn & Teller have been at it for nearly 50 years total, and a big part of their success is that they’ve never rested on laurels; never phoned it in (more on that later). And a recent show illustrated just how committed they are to that philosophy. As Jillette said at the outset, it doesn’t matter if the last show you attended was last year, last month or last week—you’re going to see something different.
Not that they haven’t kept in some quintessential moments over the years—first and foremost the show’s intro, in which pianist Mike Jones plays smooth, relaxing jazz while Jillette plays bass (he departs shortly before showtime, with Jones joking to the audience that his bass player apparently has another job somewhere).
But otherwise, Penn & Teller constantly keep their audiences guessing at what’s going to come next. At a recent performance, they placed a large jar of jelly beans onstage (this one was new to me!), asking audience members by way of large signs to guess how many it contained before the show started. The “winner” of this contest got the jar—and the privilege of doling out a few jelly beans to every single audience volunteer as they went back to their seat. It set a fun tone that kept everyone laughing throughout the night.
The changes continued (at least from my perspective). Yes, these magic men are always tweaking their show, always keeping audiences on their toes, always looking for that needle in a haystack (more on that one later as well).
If you attended this performance, you got to see:
Egg bag, which is exactly what it sounds like, and about as basic as an illusion can be, although in the hands of Penn & Teller, the sleight-of-hand is mind-blowing. They make everything seem effortless, even though it’s the exact opposite;
A routine involving a large drill and saw, a block of wood and a very nervous audience volunteer, for whom the duo create a magic trick. They then demonstrate to her how it works, and obtain her promise that she’ll perform it for others once she leaves the theater. (A show that gives you homework? Only in Vegas.)
A trick that has instructions in Spanish, leading to hilarious manifestations onstage that are definitely not part of the act.
And, as referenced earlier, Penn & Teller take on both the notion of “phoning it in” (with Jillette onstage as a suit hanging on a rack and a monitor above it with his face) and “a needle in a haystack” (where you’ll learn more about different types of needles than you ever cared to). Because there’s no notion that Penn & Teller are timid to attack. The stage is like a laboratory—which would make them mad scientists, and us their more-than-willing test subjects.
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