Fool Us’ Penn and Teller Reflect on Their Career: ‘Everything Else Has Been Kind of a Surprise to Us’

There are magicians, and then there are Penn & Teller. The stars of The CW’s long-running hit TV series, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, also remain one of Las Vegas’ most popular headlining resident acts.

In the 50 years since the pair began working together as buskers on the streets of Philadelphia, they’ve risen to heights that Harry Houdini couldn’t dream of. Beyond Las Vegas, they’ve appeared in movies, guest-starred on everything from Friends to Hollywood Squares, written best-sellers, sold out runs on Broadway and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“I don’t think so much about honors,” Teller, 77, exclusively tells Closer. “The thing that’s most intriguing for me is being able to work on new stuff.”

The performers admit they never expected to become so well-known or successful.

“We are very rare in show business, in that we thought we’d achieved all our goals by 1977,” Penn Jillette, 70, exclusively reveals to Closer of the moment when they realized they no longer needed day jobs. “Everything else has been kind of a surprise to us.”

How did you first get into magic?

Teller: I got terribly sick as a 5-year-old kid with toxic myocarditis, which is next order rheumatic fever. I had to stay home and there was this kids’ show Howdy Doody, which had a magic clown named Clarabell. He did magic tricks which I thought were fascinating. I was sucked in. The magnets of my brain connected with the magnets of magic forever.

Penn: I really didn’t like [magic]. I always wanted to be a musician and I do play upright bass, but I didn’t think I was talented enough. I thought that if I got to be a really good juggler — which is just pure practice — I might have a chance of being able to get a job in show business. So I practiced juggling.

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How did you start working together?

Teller: While I was in college, I met a very interesting fellow named Weir Chrisemer. Fabulous deadpan comedian. He was and is a dear friend. At one of his shows, there was a local kid who was a juggler who had gone to Ringling Bros. Clown College. So Weir was the pin which attached us because the kid was Penn.

Penn: When I met Teller and he said he was into magic, I just said, no, it sucks. Teller said that he felt magic could be done honestly and with respect for the audience.

Do you feel that is why your act is different than a lot of other magic?

Penn: Yeah. We don’t get people up on stage and make fun of the way they’re dressed. We don’t get women on stage and treat them badly. We get people on stage to witness tricks that we’re doing that are stated as tricks. It’s about exploring how we determine what’s true together.

Teller, you don’t speak in the act. How did that come about?

Teller: Oh, that originated long before I met Penn. I thought a lot about how magicians speak their lies to an audience. I decided to try to use no speech and no music and be the silent guy who is doing weird stuff. I discovered it was a very good way to discipline a rough audience. If they want to heckle you and you just quietly continue along your own trajectory, it’s very difficult to disrupt. Also there’s a tremendous intimacy that happens when you stand before a group of people and don’t talk. It feels like you’re touching soul to soul.

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What is your relationship like? Are you best friends as well as professional partners?

Penn: Over 50 years, you develop a deep respect that turns into friendship. We are very important to each other. I mean, we are who we talked to when our parents died. He is, in so many definitions, my best friend and yet we don’t socialize because so much of our life is intertwined. We work together and that’s where our entire relationship is.

How has your relationship changed?

Teller: We fight less. The first six years or so, we fought all the time. I mean, screaming matches. Stomping off the stage. We learned that if you want to keep a partnership going, politeness is the right thing. We still disagree, but in polite terms and rarely does either of us blow up at the other. I’m the one more apt to blow up.

Did you ever have a trick go horribly wrong?

Teller: There was a time when we were doing our water tank trick, where I’m locked in a tank — it’s like a big phone booth filled with water — holding my breath until Penn successfully finds a chosen card. We were traveling to Chicago, the truck hit a bump and the water tank got a big crack. So there I am, heroically holding my breath and the tank is leaking like a sieve. Our stage carpenter came out with bucket after bucket and kept topping off the tank to be sure I could successfully drown.

Has anyone ever gotten hurt?

Penn: One of the things I’m most proud of in my life is that no one ever gets hurt. I don’t think that people should ever be hurt for art, ever. They should not take chances. It should be like a roller coaster ride. Your gut should feel like you’re going to die and your mind should know that you’re safe. We tell the audience, it’s all tricks. We’re just lying and that’s the most beautiful part of art to me. When Teller and I are doing stuff on stage that looks insane, it’s because we’ve worked on it for months, in some cases years.

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How do you keep the act fresh?

Teller: At the Rio, we have a beautiful theater that’s been sort of tailored by us over the years. I don’t think anybody on the crew has been with us for less than 18 years. So we have a system of understanding where the ideas come from us, but everyone collaborates on everything. That collaboration is really, truly what I live for.

Do you guys ever imagine yourselves retiring?

Penn: No, we intend to die in office. I’ve known other magicians who say, ‘I can’t go back to playing smaller rooms.’ But if the Penn & Teller theater closes and you have forgotten about us entirely and we don’t happen to be dead, we’ll be playing someplace you’ve never heard of. And be very happy!