Penn and Teller

Unfortunately this picture is not worth 1000 words. Maybe two, dark and crappy.

Over the weekend some friends and I went to Vegas to celebrate a birthday. During our visit we went to see Penn and Teller at the Rio.

Not unlike this picture of the stage, Penn and Teller's show was boring. The snapshot here was taken before the show, when audience members were invited on stage to inspect the boxes that would be used in the first trick. You could move the boxes and fully inspect them.

Just like every other trick to follow in their act, way too much build up. Before every trick Penn would yammer on and on. Effectively encasing what little bits of magic the show had in a sleep inducing turd cocoon. People were actually falling asleep.

The Samba theatre has horrible acustics. Or the guy running the sound board really enjoys the way voices sound through a cell phone. Most of the time it was a strain to decipher what the big guy was saying.

There was an air of stupifaction after the show. But, people weren't trying to figure out how Penn and Teller each caught bullets, with their teeth, that they fired at each other. By the time the bullets were fired we were all just hoping the shots would stop those gums from flapping. The real question on our minds after the show was how they can charge $80 a ticket.

It is a shame because I really enjoyed the episodes that I saw of their show on Showtime, "Bullshit!" But, Penn and Teller at the Rio is not worth a look see. Yet it's still probably better than an Penn length list of Vegas shows.