Penn & Teller

Lore & Background

Penn and Teller were introduced to each other by Weir Chrisemer, and they performed their first show together at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on August 19, 1975. From the late 1970s through 1981, Penn, Teller, and Chrisemer performed as a trio called 'The Asparagus Valley Cultural Society'. Chrisemer helped develop some bits that continued, most notably Teller's 'Shadows' trick. The group disbanded in 1981 after Chrisemer quit show business, leaving Penn Jillette and Teller to work as a pair on a show called 'Mrs. Lonsberry's Seance of Horror'. By 1985, Penn & Teller were receiving positive reviews for their Off Broadway show and Emmy Award–winning PBS special Penn & Teller Go Public. In 1987, they began the first of three Broadway runs. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, the duo made numerous television appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live, as well as other shows. They have also made television guest appearances on Babylon 5, The Drew Carey Show, Hollywood Squares, Muppets Tonight, The Bernie Mac Show, Fear Factor, The West Wing, Home Improvement, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Las Vegas, The Simpsons, and the Futurama film Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder. took a skeptical look at psychics, religion, the pseudoscientific, conspiracy theories, and the paranormal. Penn Jillette serves as the act's orator and raconteur; Teller generally does not speak while performing, though his voice can occasionally be heard during live shows and television appearances.

Reader's Guide

Penn & Teller's significance lies in their long-running partnership that blends comedy, magic, and scientific skepticism. They have been influential in popularizing skeptical inquiry through their television series Bullshit!, which critically examined pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and paranormal claims. They credit magician and skeptical activist James Randi for their careers, with Penn stating that Randi's book Flim-Flam! was an early influence. Their legacy includes a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, and nominations for a BAFTA Award and an Olivier Award.

Did You Know?

• Penn and Teller performed their first show together at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on August 19, 1975.
• They appeared as three-card Monte scam artists in the music video for 'It's Tricky' by Run-DMC.

From Bay Area Sidewalks to the Big Top

Michael Goudeau was born in Louisiana in 1959 but raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a Christmas juggling book gifted by his father at age fifteen set his life on its current trajectory. He began performing for sidewalk crowds and Renaissance Fair audiences with a friend group that eventually became the Fly By Night Comedy Review. In 1979 he graduated from the Ringling Bros. His clown résumé also includes appearances on Romper Room and Chicago's Bozo the Clown. After a stint in Houston with a sketch comedy troupe that never became financially viable, Goudeau found himself in Canada juggling and balancing on a six-foot unicycle atop a surface he described as fake ice sprayed with vegetable oil. When his cruise-ship partner Frank was sidelined by a paragliding accident, Goudeau improvised a solo act that would eventually become his long-running Monte Carlo routine.

Building a Partnership with Penn Jillette

Goudeau first crossed paths with Penn Jillette while performing on San Francisco streets. After a Penn & Teller show, he introduced himself as a working juggler, and Penn was struck by the fact that Goudeau wore completely ordinary street clothes rather than a costume. Their connection deepened when Penn & Teller relocated to Las Vegas, where the two became regular lunch companions within the city's tight-knit variety-arts scene. Penn eventually offered Goudeau a role doing warm-up juggling for his act and comedy consulting on the television series Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular. The pair also explored a Sci-Fi Channel project called Penn Jillette's Fi-Sci, which the network ultimately passed on. Their most enduring collaboration came through writing for the Showtime series Bullshit!, where shared commitments to skepticism, atheism, and libertarianism naturally shaped the material.

Twelve Minutes of Fire, Knives, and Unicycles

The routine is a relentless physical spectacle: atop a unicycle, he juggles chainsaws, open flames, knives, and objects that seem physically impossible to toss, such as bean-bag chairs. His stage career has not been without mishaps. He lost twelve pounds over the course of the race, pedaling four to six hours daily without altering his diet. The physical toll caught up with him on stage: in front of an audience packed with casino executives, he lacked the energy to mount his unicycle properly and crashed. The crowd, assuming it was a planned bit, laughed uproariously.

Life Beyond the Stage

Offstage, Goudeau's life is as colorful as his act. He met his wife Theresa at the Folies Bergere in Las Vegas, and the couple later adopted two children, Joe and Emily. Their second wedding ceremony took place in a Vegas drive-thru church, with both mothers riding in the backseat of a Suburban, classical music playing on the radio, and Theresa wearing a Subway napkin taped to her head as a veil. Goudeau also channels his creativity into designing and selling novelty barbecue covers, a product he conceived while cycling with Penn, and he has a patent application filed with the US Patent Office. His media appearances extend well beyond the Penn & Teller orbit: he appeared on France's Le Plus Grand Cabaret Du Monde in April 2007, performed as a candle singer on The Tonight Show in May 2007, and demonstrated how to prepare shark tacos on BBQ with Bobby Flay.

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