Penn and Teller

8/14/2014

Perhaps you have seen these two perform their magic either by watching them on television or if you were even luckier - on stage.  Jeff and I loved watching their tv show "Bull ....".   They know have a new show called "Fool Us", where magicians perform their acts on stage and try or hope that they can stump Penn & Teller.  Most of the time, the P&T figure out easily how the trick was done, but not always.

There are two things about Penn & Teller that make me curious.  One is that Teller never speaks. The other is that Penn has one fingernail painted red.  Why?  You know me off to the internet to see if I can get answers for my questions.

Teller does not speak while performing although there are occasional exceptions, mostly when the audience is not aware that it is his voice that is being heard. Teller's trademark silence originated during his youth, when he earned a living performing magic at frat parties. He found that if he maintained silence throughout his act, people got bored with heckling him and stopped.In Las Vegas after one of their shows they had a meet and greet afterword. Apparently, Teller asked some lady in the crowd if she liked the show. and she freaked!  He told her "It's an act sweetheart" and walked away. 

As for Penn's one red fingernail, it's in honor of his mother. When he was first starting out, his mother told him to get a manicure because people would be constantly looking at his hands. As a joke, he had all of his fingernails painted red but now only has that particular one done. It looks good and is a way to create misdirection while he is doing his tricks 

So there you have it.  You may other "burning" questions, but these were the two I was curious about.

P