Columnist Joe Delaney: This time Teller talks

Joe Delaney

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 9:39 a.m.

PENN & TELLER, the big guy and the little feller, better known as The Mavericks of Magic, are in residence at Bally's Celebrity Room through next Wednesday. ... The big guy talks and the little feller doesn't. ... The little feller bears the brunt of most of what happens during their 90-minutes of mirth, magic and occasional mayhem.

Penn Jillette is both large and loud. ... Teller goes by his last name only. ... He is diminutive, quiet, yet quite eloquent offstage. ... Jillette was an unemployed clown-school graduate while Teller was a professor who taught Latin and, as a hobby, tinkered in magic.

They first met in 1974. ... Teller tells it this way: "When Penn and I first met, I was a schoolteacher and he was a bum. He was 19 and had hitchhiked cross-country. A mutual friend put us in the same show. There was not a great deal of compatibility back then."

Teller continues

"My background was Latin, Greek, classical music and theater. Penn's was rock 'n' roll, comedy and pop stuff coupled with esoteric things like Zen and existentialism. Penn went off with someone else and was living in the worst part of New York City in abject poverty. I had my schoolteacher's income and would drive into New York on weekends and buy Penn a few meals.

"I think that the fact that he began to associate food with my company is what really formed the basis for our friendship. It probably took us 10 years of working together, learning to stay out of each other's way, so each of us could do the things we do best.

"Penn does all the talking onstage and I am the action part. Even so, it is something that we do achieve together, a combined result. We no longer get in each other's way."

Teller concludes "We thrash through everything together beforehand. It can take months and months to come up with something new. We sit in our office and stare at each other for hours on end. If you've seen us, you know what we look like and how hard this must be. Sitting face to face is hard. Waiting for the idea even harder.

"All we've ever tried to do was stuff we really like, then come as close as we can to making it Penn & Teller stuff. For most of our early years, this didn't mean anything. Now it does. Blame it on erosion. We've been around long enough that people have finally discovered us.

"We believe completely in what we do. We absolutely insist upon artistic control. This is most important to us. Penn is concerned with plot and structure. My areas are themes and ideas. Our differences are really one of our great strengths." ... We add our "Amen" to this.

Penn's postscript

Finally, a comment from Penn: "If you think magic is Siegfried & Roy and David Copperfield, that is not what we do. I don't think you'll see anything we do in any other magic show." ... We guarantee that you won't, but we do guarantee that you will have a great evening. ... Their shows vary enough that you can see them more than once. ... It will be even more fun the second visit if you bring a friend. ... See you next Thursday.