I went to see Penn and Teller this evening. It was awesome. They were hilarious. I loved it. And having been lurking on this tightcircle for a few months really helped in appreciating a lot of the bits. So, thanks guys! We had fifth row seats so we were right up close and could see everything. My friend Brian, who had stolen my aisle seat, got selected to be an audience participant in the Houdini summoning act. He tied knots, wielded a staple gun and witnessed the power of Teller. Although those of us that knew him were a bit worried when Penn handed him a staple gun and told him to "Go nuts!" :) I forgot to bring a pen to the performance so I'm sure I don't remember all the tricks they did. Stuff I do remember: they started with Inflatables, an abbreviated version of which I'd seen on the Letterman show. It was more fun live, though, of course. They did Teller, Master of Polyester. A cute kid named Sabrina, who was very bashful, was the Teller Acolyte of the day. The best part of the evening was when Penn completely lost it on stage during Mofo knows. He invited a kid on stage to be his assistant named Sullivan. Sullivan was not interested in being part of this trick. He wasn't interested in being on stage. He stuck his hands in his pockets and chewed gum. Basically, Penn had to prompt him several times for him to do anything. And he still wouldn't do it. Penn just started laughing because there was nothing else he could do. He started laughing so hard that he couldn't speak - he was squeaking out instructions in a high voice because he couldn't get enough breath to speak from laughing so hard. He left Sullivan in Mofo's hands for a second, went to the side of the stage to grab a drink of water and try to regain his composure. Mofo asked Sullivan to pick a number or something. Sullivan ignored him. And Penn spewed water halfway across the stage laughing :) Penn eventually caught his breath and made things work out, but it was hilarious. The other notable incident with Sullivan was after Teller handed Sullivan a set of blinders to put over Mofo's eyes. Teller walked off stage, picked up the microphone, and said (as Mofo) "Bring the blinders to me." So Sullivan walked right to Mofo, right past Mofo, and started to head off-stage to where Teller was, before they grabbed him and turned him around. The rest of the evening Penn sprinkled references to Sullivan's exploits. Actually, during the bit, Mofo made some reference to Sullivan not being a trained entertainment professional "despite getting more laughs than we do". :) Other bits in the first half were the barrel, with Penn inside, Teller smoking a cigarette, dropping it and stubbing it out with his foot, picking up a new one, lighting it, and then ending up with his original cigarette in his mouth. Penn narrated, describing the seven skills of magic, of which I can only remember a couple such as misdirection and concealing. Oh, and the knife throwing trick was hilarious. No busty blondes. Went beautifully :) Shadows is still one of my favorite tricks. It's just so beautiful. The wizard trick went pretty well, I thought. I wouldn't even know it was new unless I'd read it here. Penn even managed to work in a Florida joke when one of the volunteers miscounted. Penn said something like "25?! 25?! I demand a recount!!" The guy recounted his cards, with Penn staring over his shoulder and counting loudly through the microphone, and ended up with 26. Penn was pleased. I loved Flag. Penn taking a moment to speak seriously and straight from the heart, and expressing himself in the way he knows best. Very touching. And I don't have any clue on how Magic Bullet works. It's amazing. Afterwards, I got my program signed and told them both thanks for the time they'd spent on this tightcircle answering questions, since I'm not sure I did so before they left. Stuff I remember: Inflatables Polyester Houdini with Brian on stage Barrel Mofo knows - Sullivan. Teller smoking a cigarette - the seven skills of Magic: misdirection, conceal, etc. Knife throwing Teller doing his patter (which was drowned out by the chipper-shredder he had next to him. Poor bunnies!) Shadows Wizard Hand shadows? Penn hanging? Not sure. broken bottles flag magic bullet