say exactly what I mean. If I'm not
talking, the audience has to figure out
what I mean. There are little explo-
sions that happen when they get it.
"The first time that I tried this, to
my recollection, was when I was in
college and got it into my head that
lying without speaking sounded pretty
interesting. Basically, magic is lying in
the frame of the theater, and the lies
are interesting and entertaining."
For Penn & Teller fans, there will
be a lot of new little explosions corn-
ing to town: a psychic gorilla; a disap-
pearing bunny lost in a shredder; a
ladder of swords; a seance to bring
back the spirit of Houdini; and bal-
loons of stage blood.
"I believe that all of this is virtually
new to Detroit," says the Philadelphia-
born Teller, who has been performing
with Penn for 25 years. "I think the
last time we were [in Detroit] was
[with] the tour that we do with ani-
mal traps, and that was a whole differ-
ent set of material. I'm guessing it was
six or seven years ago.''
The two, who met after aspiring
performer Penn watched Teller do a
needle-eating trick, entertained at par-
ties and small clubs before moving on
to Renaissance festivals and theaters.
"We put a show together by fight-
ing," says Teller, who keeps his first
name a mystery. "We meet for lunch
and then go to our office in Las Vegas,
where we have a 5,000-square-foot
shop to build props. Penn kind of
slumps on the couch, and I sit on a
rolling typing chair. We have a white
board so we can make drawings, and
we have a cork board so we can
arrange things in order."
Once decided on routines, they let
audiences critique them through
applause or laughter or some other
form of visible reaction. They polish
their material each time they perform
live.
"One of the things that makes it so
interesting to work with one another
is that our backgrounds are so differ-
ent," Teller says. "There are so many
areas where we constantly learn from
each other.
"Penn is very contemporary and
likes cutting edge popular music, pop
culture and computer stuff. I was
trained in Latin and Greek, and I have
a background in classical music. I've
read the old Greek tragedies in the
original Greek."
Teller also learns through research
at the American Museum of Magic in
Marshall, Mich., the center for a col-
lection that includes props and bio-
graphical material. The author of three
books with Penn (Cruel Tricks for Dear
Friends, How to Play With Your Food
and How to Play in Traffic), Teller has
written magazine articles using infor-
mation obtained from the museum.
For the act, which has brought the
duo to talk and sitcom television as
well as variety shows, they have moved
far away from the skill-based enter-
tainment that launched Teller's career.
"In the early shows, I did a sleight
of hand classic called 'The Miser's
Dream,' where I pulled silver dollars
out of the air or people's hair, and
that's a pretty conventional trick,"
Teller says. "I don't think there's any-
thing in our show now that you'll see
other people do. The performances
have become a lot subtler. I used to do
a lot of exaggeration and face making.
Nowadays, I'm content to let the writ-
ing tell the story."
The James Randi Educational
Foundation, which investigates appar-
ently paranormal phenomena, is
important to Teller as well. He labels
its work "consumer advocacy" of ideas.
"I'm strongly biased in favor of sci-
ence, and I'm strongly biased against
the half-witted, supernatural claims
that so many people fall for, from
astrology to spoon bending to crystal
healing to aroma therapy," says Teller,
who, like Penn, serves as a visiting
scholar at M.I.T.
"It's offensive to me to hear about
people who have gone off to some lay-
ing-on-of-the-hands healer or people
who have lost all their money getting
advice from psychics on the telephone.
Because I'm involved in trickery and
strange psychology to make my living,
it appalls me to see people using those
same skills to brutalize and rob other
people.
Teller also does not accept religion.
With a Jewish background on his
father's side and a Methodist back-
ground on his mother's side, there was
sharp religious discord between the
couple's two families.
"The result was that there was not
much interest in religion in my par-
ents' household," Teller says about the
development of his cynicism.
"Religion served its usual function of
making people hate each other." PI
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3/12
1999
Detroit Jewish News
91