Penn And Teller: Fool Us

[poliphilo]

I've always liked magic shows. Penn and Teller: Fool Us (awkward title)  is a magic show with a touch of the X Factor. Aspiring performers strut their stuff and if Penn and Teller can't tell how they worked a particular trick they get booked for Penn and Teller's Las Vegas show. The only thing I don't like about it is the compering of Jonathan Ross- who combines tastelessness (two jokes about wanking last night) with a grovelling need to be loved. Great comics never ingratiate.  Penn and Teller (who would still be a great double act without the magic) don't ingratiate. Penn is a blaggardy loud-mouth and Teller is a cunning imp. Paul Daniels (great British magician who used to be big on TV) was saying in an interview I read yesterday that he advises young magicians to learn from non-magic acts. Magic isn't enough. You've got to entertain around the tricks. Daniels himself took Bruce Forsyth as his model. With Penn and Teller you've got the classic big man/little man dynamic. They've learned from Laurel and Hardy, from the Marx Brothers, from the Three Stooges. They're dangerous.  They're unstable.  At any time Penn could explode with wrath or bombast or Teller do something really sneaky and mean.  

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Aw, but they're funny- and they do the most amazing tricks.

I don't care about Penn's atheism, I just think he's a brilliant entertainer.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I did not find them entertaining at all. They used to appear on Saturday Night Live, many years ago. I knew nothing of their politics and still found them simply awful. No offense, but to now find someone that actually enjoys their act is just bizarre.