Penn Jillette

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Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette
Born March 5, 1955 (age 52)
Greenfield, Massachusetts

Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955 in Greenfield, Massachusetts) is an American illusionist, juggler and comedian known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team known as Penn & Teller.

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[edit] Biography

Penn Jillette, the larger (6'6"/1.98 m and 300 pounds compared to Teller's 5'9"/1.75 m), more talkative half of Penn & Teller, became disenchanted with traditional illusionist acts that presented the craft as authentic magic, such as The Amazing Kreskin on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At age eighteen, he saw a show by illusionist James Randi, and became enamored of his approach to magic that openly acknowledged deception as entertainment rather than a mysterious supernatural power. Jillette regularly acknowledges Randi as the one person on the planet he loves the most besides members of his family.

Jillette worked with Greenfield, Massachusetts, high school classmate Michael Moschen developing and performing a juggling act, in the years immediately following their 1973 graduation. He met Teller in 1975, where they formed part of a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society which played in San Francisco. In 1981, he and Teller teamed up as Penn & Teller, and went on to do a famous off-Broadway show.

Penn married television producer Emily Zolten during an impromptu ceremony at a Las Vegas wedding chapel on November 23, 2004. Penn has alluded to living a polyamorous lifestyle while on the Adam Carolla radio show. Their first child, daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette, was born on June 3, 2005 and their son, Zolten Penn Jillette, on May 22, 2006. On a January 2006 episode of the radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Jillette explained that his wife suggested they use "CrimeFighter" because she herself does not have a middle name, people do not generally know other people's middle names, and they might as well "have some fun with it".

He occasionally notes with irony that he lives and works in Las Vegas, but he does not gamble (though he did lend his name to a book on how to cheat at poker) and claims he has never drunk alcohol or used recreational drugs. He is, however, an advocate of the legalization of all drugs and discontinuing the War on Drugs.

Penn is an outspoken atheist, libertarian (although he has recently stated he may consider himself to be a full blown Anarcho-capitalist [1] and skeptic. One of his car license plates reads "DOG ON" ("NO GOD" backwards).

[edit] Projects

  • Penn is the host of the NBC game show, Identity, which premiered in December 2006. The game show, in which contestants have to identify strangers just by looking at them, returned on March 16 on NBC and will air for seven weeks every Friday at 8 p.m. ET.[1]
  • Was the primary voice announcer for the U.S. based cable network Comedy Central in the 1990s. This was mentioned on an episode of The Colbert Report airing November 1st, 2006, on which he was interviewed. One of his earliest guest roles was on Miami Vice. He has also appeared in the TV Series Friends as an encyclopedia salesman.
  • Penn was also a regular contributor to the now-defunct PC/Computing magazine in the early 1990s, having a regular back section column between 1990 and 1994. True to form, the columns were often as much about Uma Thurman as actual PC computing issues. Penn and PC Computing parted ways over a dispute with a new editor. Penn felt the new editor was trying to tell him how to write his column and what topics he should be covering. Penn is unsure if he was fired or if he actually quit.
  • Penn is a Fellow at the non-profit libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute.
  • Penn appeared in a Cartoon Network show called The Moxy Show that began telecasting in 1995. He played the voice of Flea, who later became a title character in 1998. Flea's voice was replaced by an unknown actor in some episodes.
  • Penn appeared in the movie Hackers playing a system administrator for the "Gibson" super computer.
  • For a brief time in 1997, Penn wrote bi-weekly dispatches for the now defunct search engine Excite.com. Each column ended with a pithy comment identifying which of the duo Penn was. (For example, "Penn Jillette is the half of Penn & Teller that's detained at airports.") Penn made a habit of linking many words in his online column to wacky sites that generally had nothing to do with the actual words. The columns are no longer available on the current Excite.com site. However, one can view the columns [2] at Penn's actual site.
  • In July of 1999, Penn was granted U.S. Patent 5,920,923  for the "Jill-Jet", a hot-tub jet specially angled for a woman's pleasure. He has credited Debbie Harry of Blondie for suggesting the idea, as the two of them were once in a hot-tub and Harry made a remark about changing the jets for a woman's pleasure. Penn liked the idea enough to pursue patent application at the USPTO under the Patent Title "Hydro-therapeutic stimulator"[2]. The abstract of the patent explains that a "discharge nozzle is located within the tub and connected to the outlet, mounted to the seat so that the discharged water from the circulation pump automatically aligns with and is directed to stimulation points (e.g., the clitoris) of the female user when the female user sits in the seat."
  • Penn has collaborated with avant-garde musicians The Residents and appeared on a double album on their label titled Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special, as well as played the part of the narrator for the band's Mole Show tour and penned the liner notes for Eyesore: A Stab at The Residents, a tribute CD issued by Vaccination Records. Penn's own band is called The Captain Howdy. He was also a member of Bongos, Bass, and Bob, in which he played bass guitar. Penn is also the owner of the entire catalog of the band Half Japanese, headed by Jad Fair. He is featured in the Half Japanese documentary The Band that Would be King. Penn and fellow Clown College alumnus Steven Banks collaborated in writing Love Tapes – a romantic comedy stage show which premiered February 2005 at Sacred Fools Theater in Hollywood. As part of the preshow entertainment for his current Las Vegas show, Penn plays the double bass with pianist Mike Jones.
  • Penn Jillette, along with his partner Teller, produces and hosts Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which is currently in production for its fifth season. In the show, the two analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths, criticize people and aspects of society they deem "Bullshit," and generally have fun—with a bit of magic thrown in.
  • An article in the June 2006 issue of Playboy Magazine shed light on Jillette's patent for a hot tub with water jets strategically positioned to stimulate a woman's clitoris.

[edit] Remarks about Mother Teresa

William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, has accused Jillette of engaging in anti-Catholic bigotry after remarks Jillette made on his radio show after rumors began to spread that Paris Hilton was asked to star in a biopic about Mother Teresa's life. Jillette remarked on the April 5, 2006 episode of his show that Hilton shouldn't "lower herself” to play the nun, whom he believed had a "sexual kink" involving watching people suffer and die. He also said that Hilton should continue to make "good, wholesome, porno films", a reference to 1 Night in Paris.

After his remarks -- which echoed beliefs expressed in the "Holier Than Thou" episode of Bullshit! -- John London, another FreeFM host whose show followed Jillette's in many markets, offered listeners US$5,000 to "the person that kills Jillette", later upping it to 7,000 if he "suffers". Because of this threat London, his co-host Chris Townsend, and his producer Dennis Cruz were fired from FreeFM. Jillette, however, retained his job despite protests from the Catholic League.[3]

[edit] Trivia

Speculation arises from Penn's red fingernail on his left hand. From a FAQ from Penn & Teller's official website, there are three common answers:

  1. It means he once shot a man for asking personal questions.
  2. When Penn first began performing, his mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands. In response to this, Penn had all of his nails painted red as a joke. The one remaining red fingernail is in honor of his dear mother.
  3. It's just cool and can also sometimes provide excellent misdirection.

On the episode of Penn Radio which aired 29 November 2006, Penn related the real story behind his red fingernail. It began as a joke with his mother. When Penn was 18 years old, his mother advised him to keep his hands looking nice, since he was then working as a magician and his audience would be looking at his hands. Penn colored the single nail red and showed it to his mother. He has continued to paint that single nail to the present. The color he uses is Jelly Apple Red (#054) by Essie.

Penn's home in Las Vegas is called "The Slammer," and has been featured in dozens of television shows and articles. It was designed by his friend Colin Summers.

It was widely believed and reported on the Internet that he suffers from prosopagnosia (a rare impairment of the ability to recognize faces), although in truth, he does not. In an interview with TV Guide he stated that he has "a tremendously bad visual memory", and when asked about the prosopagnosia rumor, he replied, "I don't have that. I think I have what they call 'stupid'."[4]

In January 2007, Penn took the "Blasphemy Challenge" offered by the Rational Response Squad and publicly denied the existence of the holy spirit.

On January 15, 2007, on Penn Radio, Penn predicted that Columbus Day would go away (or be renamed to something like "International Discovery Day" or "International Meeting Day") within twenty years.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] Books by Jillette

  • Jillette, Penn (2004). Sock. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. ISBN. 
  • Jillette, Penn (2005). How to cheat your friends at poker: the wisdom of Dickie Richard. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN-X. 

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Steigerwald, Bill (2003-05-24). Dear graduates: Work for freedom. Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Retrieved on March 27, 2007.
  2. ^ [1] Patent publication at USPTO
  3. ^ CBS MUST FIRE PENN JILLETTE. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
  4. ^ Greg David (2006-12-18). Fountain Penn. [TV Guide]. Retrieved on January 24, 2007.
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