This was my fourth time seeing Penn and Teller live, my second at the Rio in Las Vegas. I’m pretty sure no one was all that excited to see them again except for me. I’ve loved Penn and Teller since the mid-1980’s, so it is always a huge pleasure to see them perform live…even if their routines seem to seldom change. We had purchased discount tickets earlier in the day, and everyone decided to come along even though I would have understood if they didn’t want to. Our seats were up in the balcony and they were not all together – so Jimmy and I sat apart from Bob and Jimmy’s parents.
The show was unspectacular, considering I had seen most of the material before and we were so far from the stage, in contrast to our last visit to the Rio where we were in the third row. The first routine in which Teller comes on stage with his head in a block of cement was a new one to me. In this bit, Penn calls up a spectator from the stage and borrows their eyeglasses. Then he breaks open the cement block on Teller’s head and reveals that Teller is wearing the audience member’s spectacles.
The knife throwing skit was another one I had never seen before but had heard about. They also performed Teller’s fishbowl, mind reading from books, Penn’s juggling broken bottles, Penn’s fire eating, Teller’s chipper shredder, the saxaphone and the handkerchief, the burning of the flag, Teller’s shadow puppets and Penn’s hanging, and of course, the magic bullet. Even if the material seemed somewhat stale due to repetition, I always just enjoy being in Penn & Teller’s presence.
The highlight of an evening with Penn & Teller is getting to meet them after the show. They certainly must be one of the few remaining acts who will consistently come out after the show to meet the audience. In fact, you have almost no choice but to meet them as they are always ahead of you on your path out of the theater. Penn is actually rather quiet and usually responds with “sure, boss” when anyone asks him to sign something or get a photo. And yes, Teller does talk…and is actually quite talkative. I always like to give him something to talk about because I love listening to him. This time around, Jimmy and I asked him about an old routine that Jimmy had seen in the past, the MOFO the Magician sketch. I had both Penn and Teller sign the photo that I had taken with them from 2005 and one of my DVD covers of “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” Jimmy had them sign the card seen at top, which he gave to me, and I gave to Ashleigh.
Jimmy meets the bad boys of magic, too
The last three times I have met them, I have timed it so that I meet up with Penn first and then go to Teller and wait until I am the last one he signs for. Then I ask him if he will wait for Penn so that I can get a photo with both of them (they always stand quite a ways apart). This gives me the opportunity to chat with him while waiting for Penn, and always yields a great photo of me with the pair. Except for that mess of hair in Penn’s face…
Next up: Leaving Las Vegas and heading for Palm Springs…
Continue to my next meeting with Penn & Teller…
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