Performing[edit]

Main article: Penn & Teller

Teller began performing with his friend Weir Chrisemer as The Othmar Schoeck
Society for the Preservation of Weird and Disgusting Music. Teller met Penn
Jillette in 1974, and they became a three-person act with Chrisemer called
Asparagus Valley Cultural Society, which started at the Minnesota Renaissance
Festival and subsequently played in San Francisco. In 1981, they began performing
exclusively together as Penn & Teller, an act that continues to this day. 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.[14] The following day they were recognized by the Magic
Castle with the Magicians of the Year award.[14]
Voice[edit]
Teller almost never speaks while performing. There are exceptions, such as when the
audience is not aware of it; for example, he provided the voice of "Mofo the
psychic gorilla" in their early Broadway show with the help of a radio microphone
cupped in his hand. Teller's trademark silence originated during his youth, when he
earned a living performing magic at college fraternity parties.[15] He found that,
if he maintained silence throughout his act, spectators refrained from throwing
beer and heckling him and paid more attention to his performance.[16]
Other exceptions to his silent act include instances in which his face is covered
or obscured, as when he spoke while covered with a plastic sheet in the series
premiere of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!,[17] and when he was interviewed while in
shadow for the 2010 History Channel documentary, Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery,
[18] while Teller spoke at length in an NPR story on Houdini in 2010.[19] He was
also interviewed, with his mouth obscured in shadow, in the Nova ScienceNow episode
"How Does the Brain Work?" Teller appears to say "Science!" in a falsetto voice in
Penn and Teller's appearance on the television show Bill Nye the Science Guy,
episode "Light Optics," but it was actually spoken by Penn, using a ventriloquist
technique combined with the movement of Teller's mouth. Teller also spoke in his
1987 guest appearance in "Like a Hurricane," a fourth-season episode on NBC's Miami
Vice[20] and had speaking parts in the movies Penn & Teller Get Killed (he speaks
in the final scene), Long Gone and The Aristocrats. He gave voice to an animated
version of himself in two episodes of The Simpsons ("Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"
and "The Great Simpsina"), and voiced a series of cloned store clerks in "Zoey's
Zoo," an episode of Oh Yeah! Cartoons, as well as the English version of the 1988
animated feature Light Years (original French title: Gandahar), where he was the
voice of Octum. Teller speaks at length about magic performance and sleight-of-hand
in the documentary "Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour". Teller has been shown
screaming and swearing in the "Anger Management" episode of Penn & Teller:
Bullshit!. Teller has a brief speaking part in Atlas Shrugged: Part II, where he
advises Dagny Taggart (played by Samantha Mathis) to go out the side door of the
Taggart Transcontinental offices.
Teller did break his silence in his portrayal of Mortimer in the 1995 film version
of The Fantasticks, though almost all of his dialogue was edited out of the film's
final version (his "Dying isn't easy" scene is included among deleted scenes on the
DVD release). He appeared as a "cat" in the Dharma & Greg season 1 episode "The
Cat's out of the Bag". He also appeared in an episode of Tosh.0 giving "advice" to
a fellow magician. He stood staring at the gentleman for several seconds before
uttering "Practice once in a fuckin' while" while walking away. Teller spoke at
length during an interview on the Charlie Rose television program on January 27,
2014. During their performance in the series premiere of Penn & Teller: Fool Us,
Penn is rambling on and Teller yells out his name, Teller can then be heard telling
Penn to "shut up". Also, during their performance on the season 1 finale, he tells
Penn that he is okay after breathing helium and while he is in a trash bag. In
another episode, he says "Fuck, no!"
Teller's voice can be heard on season 13 of Celebrity Apprentice, "Episode 10: The
Mayor of Stress Town", when speaking with contestant Penn Jillette over Penn's
mobile device. He also spoke about Tim's Vermeer, the feature documentary he
directed, on KCRW's The Treatment.[21]
Teller plays himself, with voice, in Showtime's Dice season 2, episode 4.[22][23]