Penn & Teller
At 2:10 Soames, or a perfectly credible impostor, shows up–and though Teller is typically a debunker of this kind of thing, he writes, “Surely this is not a mere living person. He is either the specter of a nineteenth-century poet on his way to damnation or an actor putting the finishing touches on a great literary magic trick. Not to stare would be rude.”
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At the Oriental Theatre, Penn & Teller opened with a classic switch. Bouncing out inside an oversize inflatable caricature of himself, Penn got right to work, dragging someone onstage to pick a card while bragging that shuffling with his oversize hands was the hardest trick we’d see all night. Meanwhile a parade-float Teller ambled out clutching a yellow balloon. Penn shuffled the card the woman chose back into the deck, then went offstage to get a gun so he could shoot the balloon and presumably discover the card. No one was very surprised when he missed and shot Teller; as the balloon wafted away, “Teller” deflated, and whoever had been inside disappeared. Penn eagerly stomped Teller’s body flat and shot the balloon, releasing the card, then revealed himself to be the actual Teller by hauling his way out of the Penn costume and taking a bow.
