By 1985, Penn & Teller were receiving rave reviews for their Off Broadway show and Emmy award-winning PBS special, Penn & Teller Go Public. In 1987, they began the first of two successful Broadway runs. Penn & Teller had national tours throughout the 1990s, gaining critical praise from New York to San Francisco for bringing a fresh slant to an often-tired show business realm.
The first of more than 20 appearances on Late Night with David Letterman soon followed, along with appearances on a wide range of television: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Miami Vice, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Hollywood Squares, The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, The Drew Carey Show, Friends, Dharma & Greg, Home Improvement, and one of television’s most honored rolls: animated guests on The Simpsons.
They also created their own television projects, including Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular, Penn & Teller’s Home Invasion, the Showtime movie Penn & Teller’s Invisible Thread, and the NBC specials Don’t Try This at Home and Penn & Teller: Off The Deep End. Penn & Teller made their big screen debut in Penn & Teller Get Killed and were featured in Walt Disney’s Fantasia 2000 .
Penn & Teller’s understanding of magic and their ability to relate to audiences has also garnered serious academic attention. They serve as Visiting Scholars at MIT, that school’s highest honor, and have lectured at Oxford University and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2001, they received the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award.
Penn & Teller have written three best-selling books, Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends, How to Play with Your Food, and How to Play in Traffic; and penned pieces in outlets ranging from The New York Times to Playboy.
And after three decades together, there are no signs of slowing down. Their latest project is in its fifth season. The controversial show, which has received 11 Emmy nominations, including two in 2007, and the 2004 WGA award for Outstanding Comedy/Variety Series, tackles the frauds and fakes behind such topics as talking to the dead, alien abductions and feng shui.
Penn & Teller appear nightly in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
