Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 4:50 a.m.
Don't let Penn Jillette fool you.
At first glance the 6-foot-6 inch hulking comedian with the bushy ponytail, booming voice and a smile that lurks between sweet and sinister, can be intimidating.
But he has fears. In fact he preys on his fears -- and yours.
Jillette is the talking half of the comedy-magic act Penn & Teller, appearing at the Rio through Aug. 19.
The dark comedic duo have encased audience members in a plastic cylinder and filled it with live rats. They've pushed past typical magic tricks to make audiences consider their own phobias.
But there's more to Jillette than smoke and mirrors. He is a patriotic Boston-bred renaissance man who has penned political pieces for the Wall Street Journal.
He's not simple, he's definitely eccentric and he's always looking for a challenge.
While driving west on I-215 to his silo-shaped home in southwest Las Vegas, Jillette opined via his hands-free mobile phone about Las Vegas entertainment and the importance of failure:
Las Vegas Sun: How are you?
Penn Jillette: I'm just going home from the doctor's. My voice is funky. Living in Vegas and screaming like a nut for a living does have a downside.
Sun: What's next for Penn & Teller?
PJ: We did 10 or 12 weeks this year at the Rio. Negotiations are literally happening now. I believe we'll be there 14 weeks next year.
Sun: You've said you love Las Vegas audiences. Why?
PJ: If we have a bit that is doing really well here it means it gets a standing ovation on the road. I like that the Vegas audiences are a bit tougher.
I'm sad to say many of the shows that I see in Vegas play down to the audience, which is always a mistake. People who come to Vegas are the best-educated, most-open audiences that have ever existed in the history of the world.
These are people from mid-America who are just so astoundingly well-educated and open to new ideas. Feeding them garbage just because they are in the middle of this environment is just stupid. You can prove with shows like Blue Man Group, George Carlin, Tom Jones that you can deliver really high-quality, complicated, beautiful, serious art and Vegas audiences will go, "Hey, we like this even better than being force-fed circus (junk)."
Sun: Why are there so many magic acts in Las Vegas?
PJ: The reason that magic is going to be huge in a place like Vegas is because it's for an audience that doesn't see live theater all the time. Magic is something people know they can only see live. The proof of that is that even the really lousy magic shows -- and (Las Vegas has) three of the lousiest magic shows -- even those at least have people saying, "This is something I couldn't see on TV." I think you'll always have a lot of magic shows here.
There's no competition. People go to see Lance Burton and come see us the next night and vice versa. You've got Mike Close doing magic (in the piano bar) at Monte Carlo, and he's wonderful. We recommend everybody see Mike Close and he recommends people see us. There's nothing that sells another show better than a good show.
I try to see everything in Vegas. If I have a night off I go to a show. Robert Goulet, Eminem, it doesn't matter. Sam Butera, everything at the Blue Note. When I go to a show that is hard to sit through I'd rather have stayed at home and just played my bass.
Sun: You're very outspoken. How do you vent?
PJ: I'm actually writing a back-page column for a magazine called Regulation, which is a political magazine. The New York Post and several other people picked it up.
I've been on (the TV show) "Politically Incorrect" and Howard Stern and various things.
Although our (stage) show doesn't even mention who the president of the United States is, or any sort of issues whatsoever, there is a kind of deep commitment to rational thought and freedom that runs through our stuff.
But in my stuff that is not Penn & Teller, I do speak politically. I read a lot of political literature. P.J. O'Rourke, I think, is the finest political writer we have. P.J. kills me.
This may not be true, but I was told he was doing the back page of this magazine (Regulation) every other month and wanted me to do the other months.
I was so deeply flattered that P.J. felt that way. I was also so terrified because P.J. is so good. I didn't feel up to it. But whenever I'm really scared by something I have to say yes.
Sun: Why were you scared?
PJ: I knew that it would take everything I had to even be at his level for a moment. He's a really good writer.
I've done a lot of columns for the New York Times and Playboy. I write fine, but to write as good as P.J. on politics, I'm absolutely having to go at it 100 percent. You can't throw in the cheap jokes and bang it out in an afternoon. I like that, though. I always like to be on the edge of failure.
Sun: Is that why you picked up the upright bass?
PJ: I've been playing electric bass for 25 years. Only for a year have I been playing upright (bass).
I do a lot of magic, talking and a lot of writing. I wanted to really be a novice at something. I was sick of working at an advanced level at everything.
Playing the bass, it's very hard for me, so I get knocked out of my head. I can't think about anything except where my fingers go. I love it and I tell everybody who comes up to me to take lessons. Learn a language, an instrument. It's just so good for the heart, so much better than watching TV. Always be learning something.
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