September is an exciting month for the duo as they celebrate their fifth year as headliners
in their own theater at the Rio All-suite Hotel & Casino, as well as two Emmy nominations
for their Showtime series, “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!”
And along the way, Penn & Teller have made
the hardest trick of all – a remarkable career that ranges from stage to television to three
best-selling books – look easy. And they’ve done it all on their own, distinctively
offbeat terms.
They call themselves “a couple of eccentric guys who have learned how to do a few cool things.”
Since first teaming up in 1975, when they combined Teller’s silent, occasionally creepy,
magic with Penn’s clown college education and juggling expertise, the two have created
an entertainment success story that went from the streets to small clubs to national theater
tours, and now to a current, multi-year engagement at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The first of more than 20 appearances
on “Late Night with David Letterman” soon followed, along with appearances on a
wide range of television: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Miami Vice,”
“Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Hollywood Squares,” “The
Today Show,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “
Friends,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Home Improvement,” and one of
television’s most honored rolls: animated guests on “The Simpsons.”
In 2005 Penn & Teller lent their version of the world’s dirtiest joke to the critically
acclaimed documentary, The Aristocrats. The film, produced and co-created by Penn, is now available on DVD.
Penn & Teller’s understanding of magic and their ability to relate to audiences
has also garnered serious academic attention. They serve as Visiting Scholars at MIT, that school’s highest
honor, and have lectured at Oxford University and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2001, they received
the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award.
And after three decades together, there are no signs of slowing down. Their latest project,
“Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” is in its fifth season.
The controversial show, which has received 11 Emmy nominations, including two in 2007,
and the 2004 WGA award for Outstanding Comedy/Variety Series, tackles the frauds
and fakes behind such topics as talking to the dead, alien abductions and feng shui.
Earlier this year, Penn served as host of the NBC game show “Identity” and hosted his
own nationally radio show on CBS stations across the country.
Penn & Teller appear nightly in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. |
They defy labels, and at times, good taste. They’ve performed together for 30 years; skewering
the genre of magic, their sold-out audiences, and themselves -- very often all at the same time,
within one mind-boggling evening. 
By 1985, Penn & Teller were receiving rave reviews for their Off Broadway show and Emmy award-winning PBS special, “Penn & Teller Go Public.” In 1987, they began the first of two successful Broadway runs. Penn & Teller had national tours throughout the 1990s, gaining critical praise from New York to San Francisco for bringing a fresh slant to an often-tired show business realm.
They also created their own television projects, including “Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular,”
“Penn & Teller’s Home Invasion,” the Showtime movie “Penn & Teller’s Invisible Thread,”
and the NBC specials “Don’t Try This at Home” and “Penn & Teller: Off The Deep End.”
Penn & Teller made their big screen debut in Penn & Teller Get Killed and were featured in Walt Disney’s Fantasia 2000 .