Penn and Teller Go Public

Penn and Teller Go Public.

This was the first TV (PBS) special by the dynamic duo, a filmed version of their off Broadway show of same name.  It was also the first show I saw of them. I was still so young that I remember being scared about the knife through the hand trick. I watched the show over and over as Dad and I recorded any magic related TV program. As Norway still only had one! channel back then the tape did not fill up so quickly, that is until they started showing Paul Daniel's series. Don't get me wrong I love Paul Daniels too, but there is a massive gap in style between him and Penn and Teller, and I was and some may say I still am closer to the dynamic duo's side of the fence.

In 1994 as part of a sweet little festival called Spontan Festivalen, (Spontaneity Festival) in my hometown of Haugesund I did a version (tribute... {on getting started, originality}) to Penn and Tellers straight jacket escape hanging from a tree having a friend reading a Norwegian poem. If you want to be good you got to take inspiration from the great. Hunter Thompson typed out the entire Great Gatsby, to feel what it was like to type a great novel...

What a killer first show! The routines they did back in 1985 already made them the most unique, eccentric and cool voice of magic.

"Penn reads "Casey at the Bat" while Teller escapes from a straight jacket, Penn does a not-wimpy card trick, Teller gives the illusion of reality with a cigarette, Penn eats fire, and the guys show you a trick you can do at home, if you don't mind taping over Masterpiece Theatre."