Penn Jillette | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Jillette at theYoung Americans for Liberty National Convention in 2016 | |
| Born | Penn Fraser Jillette (1955-03-05)March 5, 1955 (age 70) |
| Education | Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Known for | Half of the comedy magic duo known asPenn & Teller |
| Height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[1] |
| Spouse | Emily Zolten |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | pennandteller |
| Notes | |
Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an Americanmagician, actor, comedian, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magicianTeller as half of the teamPenn & Teller. The duo has been featured in numerous stage and television shows, such asPenn & Teller: Fool Us andPenn & Teller: Bullshit!, and is as of 2025 headlining inLas Vegas atThe Rio. Jillette serves as the act's orator and raconteur.
Jillette has published eight books, including theNew York Times Bestseller,God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales. He is also known for his advocacy ofatheism,scientific skepticism, theFirst Amendment, as well as previously identifying as alibertarian, a position he disavowed in 2020.
Jillette was born inGreenfield, Massachusetts. His mother, Valda Rudolph Jillette (née Parks; 1909–2000),[2] was asecretary, and his father, Samuel Herbert Jillette (1912–1999),[2] worked at Greenfield's Franklin County Jail.[3][4][5] Jillette became anatheist in his early teens after reading theBible. He was subsequently asked to leave the church, after asking questions in a youth group that purportedly also made skeptics of his peers.[6] Jillette became disenchanted with traditional illusionist acts that presented the craft as authentic magic, such asThe Amazing Kreskin onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
At age eighteen, he saw a show by illusionistJames Randi, and became enamored of his approach to magic that openly acknowledged deception as entertainment rather than a mysterioussupernatural power. Jillette regularly acknowledges Randi as the one person on the planet he loved the most besides members of his family.[7]
Jillette worked withhigh school classmateMichael Moschen in developing and performing a juggling act during the years immediately following their 1973 graduation.[5] In 1973, Jillette graduated fromRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.[8] In 1974, he was introduced toTeller by Weir Chrisemer, a mutual friend.[9] The three then formed a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society which played their first act together on August 19, 1975, at theMinnesota Renaissance Festival, and later in San Francisco.[5] In 1981, he and Teller teamed up asPenn & Teller, and went on to do a successfulOff Broadway and laterBroadway theatre show called "Penn & Teller" that toured nationally.[5]
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Jillette served as host and presenter of the first touring performance by avant-garde bandthe Residents in 1983. The performance (titledThe Mole Show and based on their "Mole trilogy" of albums) featured Jillette coming out between songs tellinglong and intentionally pointless stories. The show was designed to appear to fall apart as it progressed; Jillette pretended to grow angrier with the crowd, and lighting effects and music would become increasingly chaotic, all building up to the point where he was dragged off stage and returned, handcuffed to a wheelchair, to deliver his last monologue. During one performance, an audience member assaulted Jillette while he was handcuffed to the wheelchair. In later years, Jillette would contribute to two documentary films about the Residents.
Jillette was a contributor to the now-defunctPC/Computing magazine, having a regular back-section column between 1990 and 1994.
Jillette was the primary voice announcer for the U.S.-based cable networkComedy Central in the 1990s through the early 2000s.[10][11]
In 1994, Jillette purchased a house in theLas Vegas Valley and dubbed it "The Slammer".[12]It has been featured in dozens of television shows and articles and was designed by his friend Colin Summers. He formerly recorded music there, and conducted his radio show at the studio inside "The Slammer".[13][14] In 2016, he sold "The Slammer" so that his family could move to a less remote location.[15]
Starting in 1996, Jillette had a recurring role onSabrina the Teenage Witch as Drell, the head of the Witches' Council. He and Teller both appeared in the pilot withDebbie Harry as the third member of the council. The show was created by Jillette's friendNell Scovell.
For a brief time in 1997, Jillette wrote bi-weekly dispatches for thesearch engineExcite.com. Each column ended with a pithy comment identifying which of thePenn & Teller duo he was. (For example: "Penn Jillette is the half of Penn & Teller that's detained at airports.") Jillette 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, but have been republished with permission at PennAndTeller.com.[16]
Starting in 2003, Jillette, along with Teller, began producing and hosting the showPenn & Teller: Bullshit! onShowtime. In the show, the two analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths, criticize people and aspects of society they deem "bullshit".
In 2005 with actorPaul Provenza, Jillette co-produced and co-directedThe Aristocrats, a documentary film tracing the life of an obscene joke known as"The Aristocrats". It principally consists of a variety of comedians telling their own versions of the joke.
From January 3, 2006, to March 2, 2007, Jillette hosted, along with fellowatheist,skeptic, andjugglerMichael Goudeau, a live, hour-longradio talk show broadcast onFree FM. The show,Penn Radio, broadcast from hisVintage Nudes Studio in his Las Vegas home. The most notable recurring segment of the show was "Monkey Tuesday" and later "The Pull of the Weasel". On March 2, 2007, Jillette announced that he would no longer be doing his radio show. He stated that he is a "show biz wimp" and decided to stop doing the show so he could spend more time with his children.
During the 2006–07 television season, Jillette hosted the prime-time game showIdentity onNBC.
In 2008, Jillette was a contestant onDancing with the Stars, paired with professional dancerKym Johnson.[17]
During 2010–2011, Jillette did a bi-weekly show onRevision3 calledPenn Point.[18]
On August 16, 2011, Jillette's bookGod, No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales was released and made the New York Times Best Sellers shortly after, in the week of August 28, in the 14th position.[19]
An avid upright bassist, Jillette frequently accompanies jazz pianistMike Jones, who opens for the magician's Las Vegas show.[20] On March 16, 2018, Jones released a live jazz album with Jillette entitledThe Show Before the Show which consisted of ten tracks played by the duo at theRio Las Vegas. Jillette additionally performed at the famedGreen Mill Cocktail Lounge to coincide with the album's debut.[21]
Jillette was one of the contestants onThe Celebrity Apprentice season 5, beginning on February 19, 2012. He was "fired" from the show byDonald Trump during the Week 11 episode. Also on February 19, 2012, along with Michael Goudeau, he started the podcastPenn's Sunday School.
In 2013, he returned for theAll-Star Celebrity Apprentice season, where he successfully made his way to the finale, raising $663,655 for the charity of his choice, Opportunity Village.[22] On April 5, 2013, Penn and Teller were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the live performance category. Their star, the 2,494th awarded, is near the star dedicated to Harry Houdini.[23] The following day they were recognized by theMagic Castle with the "Magicians of the Year" award.[23]
Penn credits magician andskeptical activistJames Randi for his career. During an interview atTAM! 2012, Penn stated that "If not for Randi there would not be Penn & Teller as we are today."[24]: 1:40 He went on to say that "Outside of my family... no one is more important in my life. Randi is everything to me."[24]: 5:34
From 1987 to 1989, Jillette provided financial support to David andJad Fair of the art rock bandHalf Japanese for their record label50 Skidillion Watts. This allowed the band to release the albumsMusic to Strip By,The Band That Would Be King andCharmed Life. When asked about his assistance Jillette said, "anybody who listens to Half Jap becomes a fan."[25]
In July 1999, Jillette was grantedU.S. patent 5,920,923 for the "Jill-Jet", a hot-tub jet specially angled for allowing a woman tomasturbate against the water stream. The patent expired in September 2018. He has creditedDebbie Harry ofBlondie 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. Jillette liked the idea enough to pursue a patent application at theUSPTO under the patent title "Hydro-therapeutic Stimulator".[26]
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., theclitoris) of the female user when the female user sits in the seat."[26] An article in the June 2006 issue ofPlayboy shed additional light on the invention.[27] Originally, it was to be called the "ClitJet"; however, that name was disallowed by the government.[28]
On thePenn Radio show, telling the listeners about the photo shoot for thePlayboy article, Jillette mentioned that he has a Jill-Jet installed in a tub in his house, and that several of his female friends and friends' female spouses enjoy it a lot, but he is not aware of any other installations of a water jet in such a configuration anywhere else.[citation needed]
Jillette created a private recording studio in his Las Vegas home.[29] The addition, designed byOutside The Lines Studio and built by Crisci Custom Builders between October 2003 and June 2004 as part of his Las Vegas home,[30] was named Vintage Nudes Studios by Jillette forplaying cards that he had collected. The cards are displayed in the interior design in a manner which is meaningful tomagicians.[31] The studio was home to Free FM'sPenn Radio show, and was the home of thePenn's Sunday School stream and podcast until it was demolished in 2016, along with his former home, "The Slammer".[29][32][33]
Jillette is married to Emily Jillette, and they have two children, Zolten andMoxie CrimeFighter Jillette.[34]
Jillette has told multiple stories regarding the red fingernail on his left hand. In one, Jillette's mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands. In response to this, he had all of his nails painted red as a joke.[35] Jillette has also claimed that the red fingernail provides excellentmisdirection and is "just plain cool".[9]
In direct response to questions about his red fingernail, Penn has stated "People are asking about my fingernail. Wear my Dad's ring and my Mom'snail polish. Just for remembrance and respect."[36] On the podcastSkepticality in 2012, Jillette said that he was considering changing the meaning of the red nail polish, telling his child it is for them.[7]
Jillette says that he has anaddictive personality[37] and claims to have never had "so much as a puff ofmarijuana or a drop of alcohol" because he does not trust himself to do it in moderation.[38]
In December 2014, Jillette's blood pressure caused him to be admitted to the hospital. By his birthday, March 5, 2015, he had lost 105 lb (48 kg). He followsJoel Fuhrman's nutritarian diet, which means that he eats little or no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt.[39] Penn is featured inEating You Alive, a 2016 American documentary about food and health.[40] In an interview withBig Think in 2020, Jillette said he is avegan.[41]
Jillette identifies as anatheist. His cars' license plates read "ATHEIST", "NOGOD" and "GODLESS".[42] He later recounted: "Strangely enough, they wouldn't give me 'INFIDEL'".[42]
In 2005, he wrote and read an essay forNational Public Radio claiming that he was "beyond atheism," stating "Atheism is not believing in God... I believe there is no God."[43] His atheism, he has explained, has informed every aspect of his life and thoughts, and as such is as crucial to him astheistic beliefs are to the devout. Jillette encourages open discussion, debate, and proselytizing on the issue ofGod's existence, believing that the issue is too important for opinions about it to remain private. Jillette does not dismiss all who do believe in God: in a 2008 edition of hisPenn Says podcast, he expresses his appreciation for a fan who brought him the gift of a pocketGideon Bible after a performance because he realized that this individual sincerely cared enough about him to try to help him.[44]
In January 2007, Jillette took the "Blasphemy Challenge" offered by theRational Response Squad and publicly denied the existence of a holy spirit.[45]
In 2016, Jillette said that "every sane person is"agnostic.[46]
Jillette appeared in the 2019Church of the SubGenius filmJ.R. 'Bob' Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius, where he spoke positively of theparody religion.[47]
Jillette has previously identified as alibertarian, and stated in 2003 that he may consider himself ananarcho-capitalist.[48] He was a fellow at the libertarian think tank theCato Institute.[49]
In 2008, Jillette stated that there is not enough information to make an informed decision onglobal warming, that his gut told him it was not real, but his mind said that he cannot prove it.[50] As of 2014, he has changed his position and now believes that climate change is occurring.[51]
He stated in 2008 that he "always" votesLibertarian,[49] and endorsed Libertarian Party nomineeGary Johnson for president in 2012[52][53][54] and 2016.[55] However, he participated invote swapping in 2016 by voting for Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton in the swing state of Nevada, in exchange for "10 or 11" of his friends promising to vote for Johnson inblue states like California and New York.[56]
In 2020, Jillette distanced himself from aspects of libertarianism, particularly surroundingCOVID-19. In an interview withBig Think, he stated, "[A] lot of the illusions that I held dear, rugged individualism, individual freedoms, are coming back to bite us in the ass." He went on to elaborate, "[I]t seems like getting rid of the gatekeepers gave usTrump as president, and in the same breath, in the same wind, gave us not wearing masks, and maybe gave us a huge unpleasant amount of overt racism."[57]
In a 2024 interview, he said he renounced his libertarianism as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic after a libertarian group asked him to speak at ananti-mask rally. "The fact they sent me this email is something I need to be very ashamed of, and I need to change" adding "Many times when I identified as Libertarian, people said to me, 'It's just rich white guys that don't want to be told what to do,' and I had a zillion answers to that — and now that seems 100 percent accurate."[58]
In the2020 United States presidential election, Jillette endorsedAndrew Yang in theDemocratic primary.[59] In an op-ed forCNN after that year'sgeneral election, he stated that he "used to identify as Libertarian," but voted forJoe Biden.[60] In a January 2024 interview, he stated regarding the upcomingpresidential election: "I'm going to vote Democrat, maybe that's all you need to know. I will not vote for a third-party candidate."[58]
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