Penn & Teller

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Address: 3700 W Flamingo Rd.
Date: March 2003
Website:  www.riolasvegas.com/shows/penn-and-teller.html

  During our first visit to Las Vegas we purchased tickets to see Penn & Teller at the Rio casino.   Penn & Teller are illusionists who always mix their magic with a little comedy, brains and danger.  Penn is the big, talkative one and Teller is the smaller one who never says a word.  You may have seen them perform together on Saturday Night Live or in one of their various specials throughout the years.  Penn once appeared on an episode of Friends and sells Joey one volume from an encyclopedia set.
  Our evening began when we decided to walk from the Bally's casino to the Rio.  The Rio is off of the main strip but, like everything in Vegas, looks closer because of the sheer size of it.  As we walked along Flamingo Road we left the crowds of Las Vegas Blvd. and soon we were the only pedestrians on the street.  As the sidewalk crosses the Las Vegas Freeway it becomes entirely enclosed by a cage, and fortunately we did not come across anyone else as we felt just a little bit trapped.  Not put in a clear box and then locked into a wooden box trapped, but a bit uneasy.

  We did eventually arrive at the show and took our seats.  On stage was a clear box and a wooden box which the audience was welcomed  to come up and inspect.  Later Teller was placed in the clear box and then locked into the wooden box.  Penn gives the audience an option to either close their eyes and be amazed or keep them open and see how it is done.  Anyway Teller's escape is not so much an illusion as it is purposefully constructed boxes.
  Another highlight of the show is when two audience members write something onto bullets.   One bullet is put into a gun and given to Teller, the other handed to Penn.  Pieces of glass are placed in the middle of the stage between them.  The two illusionists line up their shots from opposite sides of the stage and fire.  They both flinch back a little bit, then reveal that they have the opposite bullet between their teeth.  The glass in between has shattered and has holes through it to prove something passed through.  How did they do it?  While Penn & Teller are known to often reveal how they do a trick, this one they kept a secret. 

  After the show there was a meet and greet with the two performers.  One of us had their ticket signed by and picture taken with Penn and the other did the same with Teller.  We are sort of a mix of their stage personas as one of us is tall and quiet and the other is small and talkative.  We paired up based on height.

  We really enjoyed the show and now it was time for us to perform one final daring escape act of our own.  We headed back into our sidewalk cage in a darker, later, Las Vegas night.

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Map of Our World
Penn & Teller

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Post # 18