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Penn Jillette is the talkative half of the illusionist duo Penn & Teller.  He is known for his illusions, comedy, and writing, but is he a dancer?  We will find out this season when he appears on “Dancing with the Stars” March 17th.

Penn Jillette was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts on March 5, 1955.  He and classmate Michael Moschen performed a juggling act for years before disbanding in 1973.  He was dissatisfied by traditional illusionists that treated their craft as real magic.  Penn saw illusionist James Randi (often referred to as the Amazing Randi) when he was 18 and liked Randi’s approach of letting the audience know the act was deception on his part, rather than some superpower he possessed.  Since then, Pen says Randi is the person he loves most on the planet outside his family.

After high school, Penn attended and graduated from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.  In 1974, he met Raymond Joseph Teller, who has since legally changed his name to Teller.  Penn and Teller began working on their act and by 1981; the two were in demand as an illusionist act.  By 1985, they won rave reviews for their off Broadway show and an Emmy for their PBS special “Penn & Teller Go Public.”  They have also appeared on many television shows such as “Late Night with David Letterman,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” and “Saturday Night Live.”  This year marks their fifth as headliners at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas.  Penn & Teller have also released three best selling books:  Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends, How to Play With Your Food, and How to Play in Traffic.

Never ones to shy away from controversy, their Showtime network show “Bullshit!” takes a critical look at psychics, religion, conspiracy theories, and the paranormal.  It also features segments on gun control, PETA, and the war on drugs.

From January 2006 until March 2007, Penn hosted a radio talk show called Penn Radio, which also featured fellow skeptic Michael Goudeau.  It was broadcast from Penn’s home in Las Vegas known as “The Slammer.”  He stopped doing the show to spend more time with his children, son Zolten Penn and daughter Moxie Crimefighter.  However, in 2006, he began appearing on NBC as the host of the television show “Identity,” in which contestants must guess a person’s identity just by looking at them.  Penn also has a pod cast called “Penn Says” on Crackle.com.

Interesting facts about Penn Jillette:

He is 6’ 6” tall.

The nail of his ring finger is always painted.  When his mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands, Penn had all his nails painted red as a joke.  He keeps the one red nail to honor her, but often tells people it is red because he shot a man for asking him personal questions.

He owned an oversized SUV called Pink Death with a license plate that reads “6Six6,” but sold it to raise money for the James Randi Education Foundation.

He plays the upright bass and has his own band called The Captain Howdy.

Lives in Vegas, but doesn’t gamble, nor does he smoke or drink.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Reality TV Stars.