History Creator / PennAndTeller

* HiddenDepths: Because Teller is mute and the ButtMonkey, often a lot of magic skills aren't called out or noticed - it can even seem like he's a different take on a beauty assistant that other magicians have. (Assistants are also trained and an important part of their acts while trying to look like they're not.) But he is in fact a very talented magician in a great deal of magical disciplines. Penn has stated on multiple occasions that Teller is a much better magician than he is.

* OhMyGods: One of Penn's exclamations is "Jesus haploid Christ!", referring to the fact that since Jesus had a biological mother but no biological father, he would only have half of the normal set of chromosomes. (Note that Penn is most decidedly ''not'' Christian.} It also counts as ArtisticLicenseBiology, because ''if'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis#Mammals parthenogenesis]] (virgin birth) works in humans[[note]] Several animals, including bees and some types of lizard, are able to produce offspring from unfertilized eggs; theoretically this ''could'' be possible in humans, but it has never been observed in anything approaching a scientific study [[/note]], this is ''not'' how it would work and it could never produce male offspring as women have two X chromosomes whereas men have an X and Y

** The nail-gun trick is mostly a discussion from Penn to the audience about how the two avert this in reality, refusing to create or perform any trick in which someone could get hurt under any circumstance.

* HonorBeforeReason: A story element in the "Water Tank" trick; after the trick starts apparently going wrong, Penn tries to call it off and let Teller out of the tank, but Teller insists on continuing before he gave his word not to come out until the trick is finished. During his mock eulogy, Penn says that you have to respect a man prepared to die for what he believes in, even if the thing he believes in is just a dumb card trick.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Penn is quite a bit more soft-spoken and amiable in person than his stage persona would have you believe.

*** This is notable when you actually see their Bullet Catch trick, and pay close attention to how extremely careful they are. Teller ''will not'' let the gun out of his hands for even a moment, and checks it carefully multiple times while Penn is talking. Penn ''will not'' let go of the (dummy) bullet ''period'', even when an audience member marks it. If they try to take it from him in order to write on it with the marker, he ''very firmly'' tells them that he is going to keep holding on to it and they will write on it while he holds it. Teller does not take his eyes off the bullet when Penn walks over to give it to him, and both of them carefully observe Teller loading the bullet into the gun before Penn takes his position in order for Teller to shoot at him. There's a reason that the Bullet Catch is considered legitimately dangerous by magicians and only performed under the most rigorous of conditions. Magicians ''have been'' killed performing it.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Penn and Teller have been told they will never be offered membership in The Magic Circle, a century-old society of amateur and professional stage magicians, because they reveal the secrets of some of their tricks. That these are tricks ''they themselves'' invented, specifically to show how they're done (and they have dozens of others they've never revealed) doesn't seem to matter.

* CantGetNoRespect: Penn and Teller have been told they will never be offered membership in The Magic Circle, a century-old society of amateur and professional stage magicians, because they reveal the secrets of some of their tricks. That these are tricks ''they themselves'' invented, specifically to show how they're done (and they have dozens of others they've never revealed) doesn't seem to matter.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Some of their earliest appearances, notably ''Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends'', have Penn trying to hide his accent. To someone familiar with his distinctive voice, this can be ''very'' jarring.

* PullARabbitOutOfMyHat: In a 2015 appearance ''Series/TheTonightShow'', Penn talked about realizing that although it's a cliché, neither he nor Teller had ever seen an actual rabbit produced out of an actual top hat during a live magic performance, only watered down versions like a fake rabbit being produced from a handkerchief with a top hat printed on it. While Penn spoke, Teller produced a fake rabbit from a handkerchief with a top hat printed on it, then a real live rabbit from a real top hat.

*** This is notable when you pay attention to their Bullet Catch trick, and pay close attention to how extremely careful they are. Teller ''will not'' let the gun out of his hands for even a moment, and checks it carefully multiple times while Penn is talking. Penn ''will not'' let go of the (dummy) bullet ''period'', even when an audience member marks it. If they try to take it from him in order to write on it with the marker, he ''very firmly'' tells them that he is going to keep holding on to it and they will write on it while he holds it. Teller does not take his eyes off the bullet when Penn walks over to give it to him, and both of them carefully observe Teller loading the bullet into the gun before Penn takes his position in order for Teller to shoot at him. There's a reason that the Bullet Catch is considered legitimately dangerous by magicians and only performed under the most rigorous of conditions. Magicians ''have been'' killed performing it.

*** This is notable when you pay attention to their Bullet Catch trick, and play close attention to how extremely careful they are. Teller ''will not'' let the gun out of his hands for even a moment, and checks it carefully multiple times while Penn is talking. Penn ''will not'' let go of the (dummy) bullet ''period'', even when an audience member marks it. If they try to take it from him in order to write on it with the marker, he ''very firmly'' tells them that he is going to keep holding on to it and they will write on it while he holds it. Teller does not take his eyes off the bullet when Penn walks over to give it to him, and both of them carefully observe Teller loading the bullet into the gun before Penn takes his position in order for Teller to shoot at him. There's a reason that the Bullet Catch is considered legitimately dangerous by magicians and only performed under the most rigorous of conditions. Magicians ''have been'' killed performing it.

** This is notable when you pay attention to their Bullet Catch trick, and play close attention to how extremely careful they are. Teller ''will not'' let the gun out of his hands for even a moment, and checks it carefully multiple times while Penn is talking. Penn ''will not'' let go of the (dummy) bullet ''period'', even when an audience member marks it. If they try to take it from him in order to write on it with the marker, he ''very firmly'' tells them that he is going to keep holding on to it and they will write on it while he holds it. Teller does not take his eyes off the bullet when Penn walks over to give it to him, and both of them carefully observe Teller loading the bullet into the gun before Penn takes his position in order for Teller to shoot at him. There's a reason that the Bullet Catch is considered legitimately dangerous by magicians and only performed under the most rigorous of conditions.

* BigGuyLittleGuy: Penn is, in his own words, "stupid tall" (6'6") and Teller is average height (5'9"). He explained this once by saying that "Teller and [[SimonAndGarfunkel Art Garfunkel]] are normal. Penn Jillette and Music/PaulSimon are waving to each other from opposite ends of the Bell Curve."

** ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'', in which they helped explain light optics (Teller got to say "SCIENCE!")