Monday, February 23, 2009

INTERNET: What If Teller Screamed and There Was No One to Hear?

I have long been a fan of magic. I taped Doug Henning regularly when he was in his era of dominance on TV. I even went to a filming session of The Magic Movie in Toronto and figured out one of the tricks, thus turning the dreary art of movie-making enjoyable for me. For the record, I didn't work on THAT movie, but have been bored silly when on set at every other movie I've been on.

Henning turned into David Copperfield and Lance Burton. But lately, I have had a growing affection for Penn & Teller, the Vegas act that crosses traditional magic with a dare-ya-to-catch-me brashness that rubbed me wrong originally. I am a fan of their Penn & Teller BS show and I've found myself in agreement with Penn Gillette an awful lot in various other forums. (radio show, occasional blogging, essays here and there, etc.). Knowing I align with the duo politically seems to make them more ... forgivable for their occasional grossness as magicians. Their bits that result in spurting blood or consuming insects or ... well you get the drift ... aren't the kind of magic I enjoy. But they do so many other bits that I've come around.

Now, as I said, Penn's the guy that gets the attention. The man's a man-mountain afterall. Teller's the mute one. But here's a story from the Las Vegas Weekly that will change all that. Go read it.

Not tell me you don't want to see that red ball trick. In person. I defy you.

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