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Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, entertainer and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller. Known as Penn & Teller, the duo has been featured in numerous stage and television shows, such as and , and is as of 2026, celebrating 25 years headlining in Las Vegas at The Rio. Jillette serves as the act's orator and raconteur.
Jillette has published eight books, fiction and non-fiction, including the New York Times bestseller, . He is also known for his advocacy of atheism, scientific skepticism, the First Amendment, as well as previously identifying as a libertarianism, a position he disavowed in 2020.
At age eighteen, he saw a show by illusionist James Randi, and became enamored of his approach to magic that openly acknowledged deception as entertainment rather than a mysterious supernatural power. Jillette has frequently acknowledged Randi as the one person he loved the most besides members of his family.
Jillette worked with high school classmate Michael Moschen in developing and performing a juggling act during the years immediately following their 1973 graduation. In 1973, Jillette graduated from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. In 1974, he was introduced to Teller by Weir Chrisemer, a mutual friend. The three then formed a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society which played their first act together on August 19, 1975, at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, and later in San Francisco. In 1981, he and Teller teamed up as Penn & Teller, and went on to do a successful Off Broadway and later Broadway theatre show called "Penn & Teller" that toured nationally.
Jillette was a contributor to the now-defunct PC/Computing magazine, having a regular back-section column between 1990 and 1994.
Jillette was the primary voice announcer for the U.S.-based cable network Comedy Central in the 1990s through the early 2000s.
In 1994, Jillette purchased a house in the Las Vegas Valley and dubbed it "The Slammer". It has been featured in dozens of television shows and articles and was designed by his friend Colin Summers. He formerly recorded music there, and conducted his radio show at the studio inside "The Slammer". In 2016, he sold "The Slammer" so that his family could move to a less remote location.
Starting in 1996, Jillette had a recurring role on Sabrina the Teenage Witch as Drell, the head of the Witches' Council. He and Teller both appeared in the pilot with Debbie Harry as the third member of the council. The show was created by Jillette's friend Nell Scovell.
For a brief time in 1997, Jillette wrote bi-weekly dispatches for the search engine Excite.com. Each column ended with a pithy comment identifying which of the Penn & Teller duo he was. (For example: "Penn Jillette is the half of Penn & Teller that's detained at airports.") Jillette made a habit of linking many words in his online column to humorous websites that generally had nothing to do with the actual words. The columns are no longer available on the current Excite.com site, but have been republished with permission at PennAndTeller.com.
Starting in 2003, Jillette, along with Teller, began producing and hosting the show on Showtime. In the show, the two analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths, criticize people and aspects of society they deem "bullshit".
In 2005 with actor Paul Provenza, Jillette co-produced and co-directed The Aristocrats, a documentary film tracing the life of an obscene joke known as "The Aristocrats". It principally consists of a variety of comedians telling their own versions of the joke.
From January 3, 2006, to March 2, 2007, Jillette hosted, along with fellow atheist, skeptic, and juggler Michael Goudeau, a live, hour-long Talk radio broadcast on Free FM. The show, Penn Radio, broadcast from his Vintage Nudes Studio in his Las Vegas home. The most notable recurring segment of the show was "Monkey Tuesday" and later "The Pull of the Weasel". On March 2, 2007, Jillette announced that he would no longer be doing his radio show. He stated that he is a "show biz wimp" and decided to stop doing the show so he could spend more time with his children.
During the 2006–07 television season, Jillette hosted the prime-time game show Identity on NBC.
In 2008, Jillette was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, paired with professional dancer Kym Johnson.
From 2010 to 2011, Jillette did a bi-weekly show on Revision3 called Penn Point.
On August 16, 2011, Jillette's book God, No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales was released and made the New York Times Best Sellers shortly after, in the week of August 28, in the 14th position.
An avid upright bassist, Jillette frequently accompanies jazz pianist Mike Jones, who opens for the magician's Las Vegas show. On March 16, 2018, Jones released a live jazz album with Jillette entitled The Show Before the Show which consisted of ten tracks played by the duo at the Rio Las Vegas. Jillette additionally performed at the famed Green Mill Cocktail Lounge to coincide with the album's debut.
Jillette was one of the contestants on The Celebrity Apprentice season 5, beginning on February 19, 2012. He was "fired" from the show by Donald Trump during the Week 11 episode. The same day, along with Michael Goudeau, he started the podcast Penn's Sunday School.
In 2013, he returned for the All-Star Celebrity Apprentice season, where he successfully made his way to the finale, raising $663,655 for the charity of his choice, Opportunity Village. 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. The following day they were recognized by the Magic Castle with the "Magicians of the Year" award.
Jillette has credited magician and skeptical activist James Randi for his career. During an interview at TAM! 2012, Penn stated that "If not for Randi there would not be Penn & Teller as we are today." He went on to say that "Outside of my family... no one is more important in my life. Randi is everything to me."
The abstract of the patent explains that a "discharge nozzle is located within the tub and connected to the outlet, mounted to the seat so that the discharged water from the circulation pump automatically aligns with and is directed to stimulation points (e.g., the clitoris) of the female user when the female user sits in the seat." An article in the June 2006 issue of Playboy shed additional light on the invention. Originally, it was to be called the "ClitJet"; however, that name was disallowed by the government.
In direct response to questions about his red fingernail, Penn has stated "People are asking about my fingernail. Wear my Dad's ring and my Mom's nail polish. Just for remembrance and respect." On the podcast Skepticality in 2012, Jillette said that he was considering changing the meaning of the red nail polish, telling his child it is for them.
In December 2014, Jillette's blood pressure caused him to be admitted to the hospital. By his birthday, March 5, 2015, he had lost . He follows Joel Fuhrman's nutritarian diet, which means that he eats little or no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt. Jillette was featured in Eating You Alive, a 2016 American documentary about food and health. In an interview with Big Think in 2020, Jillette said he is a vegan.
In 2005, he wrote and read an essay for National Public Radio claiming that he was "beyond atheism," stating "Atheism is not believing in God... I believe there is no God." His atheism, he has explained, has informed every aspect of his life and thoughts, and as such is as crucial to him as theism are to the devout. Jillette encourages open discussion, debate, and proselytizing on the issue of God's existence, believing that the issue is too important for opinions about it to remain private. Jillette does not dismiss all who do believe in God: in a 2008 edition of his Penn Says podcast, he expresses his appreciation for a fan who brought him the gift of a pocket Gideon Bible after a performance because he realized that this individual sincerely cared enough about him to try to help him.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
In January 2007, Jillette took the "Blasphemy Challenge" offered by the Rational Response Squad and publicly denied the existence of a holy spirit.
In 2016, Jillette said that "every sane person is" Agnosticism.
Jillette appeared in the 2019 Church of the SubGenius film J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius, where he spoke positively of the parody religion.
In 2008, Jillette stated that there is not enough information to make an informed decision on global warming, that his gut told him it was not real, but his mind said that he cannot prove it. As of 2014, he has changed his position and now believes that climate change is occurring.
He stated in 2008 that he "always" votes libertarian, and endorsed Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson for president in 2012 Penn Jillette's 2012 pick: Gary Johnson , garyjohnson2012.com and 2016. However, he participated in Vote pairing in 2016 by voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the swing state of Nevada, in exchange for "10 or 11" of his friends promising to vote for Johnson in like California and New York.
In 2020, Jillette distanced himself from aspects of libertarianism, particularly surrounding COVID-19. In an interview with Big Think, he stated, "A lot of the illusions that I held dear, rugged individualism, individual freedoms, are coming back to bite us in the ass." He went on to elaborate, "It seems like getting rid of the gatekeepers gave us Donald Trump as president, and in the same breath, in the same wind, gave us not wearing masks, and maybe gave us a huge unpleasant amount of overt racism."
In a 2024 interview, he said he renounced his libertarianism as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic after a libertarian group asked him to speak at an anti-mask rally. In an interview with Cracked, he said, "The fact they sent me this email is something I need to be very ashamed of, and I need to change" adding "Many times when I identified as Libertarian, people said to me, 'It's just rich white guys that don't want to be told what to do,' and I had a zillion answers to that — and now that seems 100 percent accurate."
In the 2020 United States presidential election, Jillette endorsed Andrew Yang in the Democratic primary. In an op-ed for CNN after that year's general election, he stated that he "used to identify as Libertarian," but voted for Joe Biden. In a January 2024 interview, he stated regarding the upcoming presidential election: "I'm going to vote Democrat, maybe that's all you need to know. I will not vote for a third-party candidate."
Business ventures
50 Skidillion Watts
From 1987 to 1989, Jillette provided financial support to David and Jad Fair of the art rock band Half Japanese for their record label 50 Skidillion Watts. This allowed the band to release the albums Music to Strip By, The Band That Would Be King and Charmed Life. When asked about his assistance Jillette said, "anybody who listens to Half Jap becomes a fan."
Jill-Jet
In July 1999, Jillette was granted for the "Jill-Jet", a hot-tub jet specially angled for allowing a woman to masturbate against the water stream. The patent expired in September 2018. He has credited Debbie Harry of Blondie for suggesting the idea, as the two of them were once in a hot tub and Harry made a remark about changing the jets for a woman's pleasure. Jillette liked the idea enough to pursue a patent application at the USPTO under the patent title "Hydro-therapeutic Stimulator".
Vintage Nudes Studio
Jillette created a private recording studio in his Las Vegas home. The addition, designed by Outside The Lines Studio and built by Crisci Custom Builders between October 2003 and June 2004 as part of his home, was named Vintage Nudes Studios by Jillette for that he had collected. The cards are displayed in the interior design in a manner which is meaningful to magicians. The studio was home to Free FM's Penn Radio show, and was the home of the Penn's Sunday School stream and podcast until it was demolished in 2016, along with his former home, "The Slammer".
Personal life
Family
Jillette is married to Emily Jillette, and they have two children, Zolten and Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette.
Red fingernail
Jillette has told multiple stories regarding the red fingernail on his left hand. In one, Jillette's mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands. In response to this, he had all of his nails painted red as a joke. Jillette has also claimed that the red fingernail provides excellent misdirection and is "just plain cool".
Health
Jillette says that he has an addictive personality and claims to have never had "so much as a puff of marijuana or a drop of alcohol" because he does not trust himself to do it in moderation.
Atheism
Jillette identifies as an atheism. His cars' license plates read "ATHEIST", "NOGOD" and "GODLESS". He later recounted: "Strangely enough, they wouldn't give me 'INFIDEL.
Politics
Jillette has previously identified as a libertarian, and stated in 2003 that he may consider himself an anarcho-capitalist. He was a fellow at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute. Who's Getting Your Vote? , Reason magazine
Filmography
Film
1985 Savage Island Security Guard 1986 Off Beat Norman 1986 My Chauffeur Bone 1987 Tough Guys Don't Dance Big Stoop 1988 Gandahar Chief of the Deformed (voice) English dub 1989 Penn & Teller Get Killed Himself Also writer 1992 Twenty Twisted Questions Narrator 1993 Half Japanese – The Band That Would Be King Himself 1993 So I Married an Axe Murderer Wedding Guest Uncredited 1994 Car 54, Where Are You? Luther 1995 Hackers Hal 1995 Toy Story TV Announcer (voice) 1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Carnie Talker 1999 Fantasia 2000 Himself 2004 Michael Moore Hates America Himself 2005 The Aristocrats Himself Also director and executive producer 2005 ¡Mucha Lucha!: The Return of El MaléficoIMDB: Mucha Lucha: The Return of El Maléfico Various voices Video 2009 The Growth Dave (voice) Short 2009 Himself (voice) Video 2013 Tim's Vermeer Himself Also writer and producer 2014 An Honest Liar Himself 2015 Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents Himself 2016 Director's Cut Herbert Blount Also writer and producer 2017 Sandy Wexler Testimonial 2019 J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius Himself 2025 Marty Supreme Hoff
Television
1985 Penn & Teller Go Public Himself Produced by Community Television of Southern California
Aired on Public Television stations1985 Miami Vice Jimmy Borges Episode: "The Prodigal Son" 1987 Invisible Thread Penn TV short 1994 Darrin Romick Episode: "" 1994–1996 The Moxy Show Flea (voice) Replaced by Chris Rock for The Moxy & Flea Show sole episode 1995 VR.5 Mr. Orwell Kravitz Episode: "Pilot" 1995–1997 The Drew Carey Show Archibald Fenn 2 episodes 1996 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself Episode: "$20.01" 1996–1997 Sabrina the Teenage Witch Drell 4 episodes 1997 Friends Encyclopedia Salesman Episode: "The One with the Cuffs" 1997 Nightmare Ned Frank Grimes (voice) Episode: "Lucky Abe" 1998 Babylon 5 Rebo Episode: "Day of the Dead" 1998–1999 Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular Himself Also co-executive producer 1998–2004 Hollywood Squares Himself 1998 Dharma & Greg Vincent Episode: "The Cat's Out of the Bag"; uncredited 1999 Home Improvement Himself Episode: "Knee Deep" 1999 V.I.P. Himself Episode: "Val the Hard Way" 1999–2000 Mickey Mouse Works Pluto Devil (voice) 2 episodes 1999, 2011 The Simpsons Himself (voice) Episodes: "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", "The Great Simpsina" 2001 Just Shoot Me! Terry Episode: "The Proposal, Part 2" 2001 The Tick Fiery Blaze Episode: "The Big Leagues"; uncredited 2001–2003 House of Mouse Pluto Devil (voice) 2 episodes 2003 The Bernie Mac Show Himself Episode: "Magic Jordan" 2003 Las Vegas Himself Episode: "Luck Be a Lady" 2003–2010 Himself 89 episodes; also writer and executive producer 2004 Girlfriends Clem Valesco Episode: "Porn to Write" 2004 The West Wing Himself Episode: "In the Room" 2005 Listen Up Himself Episode: "Last Vegas" 2006–2007 Identity Himself (host) 2006–2017 Real Time with Bill Maher Himself 3 episodes 2006 World Series of Poker Himself 2008 Dancing with the Stars Himself Season 6 2008 Numb3rs Himself Episode: "Magic Show" 2009 Glenn Beck Himself 2 episodes 2007 Handy Manny Magic Marty Episode: "Halloween/Squeeze's Magic Show" 2010 The Defenders Ruben Charters Episode: "Whitten v. Fenlee" 2010 Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman Himself Episode: "You Can't Teach an Orange Dog New Tricks" 2011,
2015–presentHimself 173 episodes; also creator and executive producer 2010–2024 Hell's Kitchen Himself (with Teller) 6 episodes 2011 Penn & Teller Tell a Lie Himself Also writer and executive producer 2012 The Cleveland Show Magical Johnson (voice) Episode: "Brown Magic" 2012 Celebrity Apprentice 5 Himself 2013 All-Star Celebrity Apprentice Himself 2013 In Bed with Joan Himself 2014 Himself 2014 Chopped Tournament of Stars Himself 2014–2015 Wizard Wars Himself Also executive producer 2014 Celebrity Wife Swap Himself 2014 Alpha House Himself 5 episodes 2014 Camp Stew Himself (host) 2014 Penn Jillette's Street Cred Himself 2014 Deal with It Himself 2015 Modern Family Edward LeGrand Episode: "Fight or Flight" 2015 Lieutenant Colonel Stylo TV movie 2015 King of the Nerds Himself 2015 Celebrity Jeopardy Himself 2015 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Himself (with Teller) 2016–2018 Scorpion Dr. Cecil P. Rizzuto 4 episodes 2016 Billions Himself Episode: "Naming Rights" 2016 The Eric Andre Show Himself Episode: "Jesse Williams; Jillian Michaels" 2016 Code Black Johnny Prentiss Episode: "Sleight of Hand" 2017 Black Mirror Episode: "Black Museum"
Credited with story idea based on Jillette's "The Pain Addict"2017 The Late Show with Ewen Cameron Himself (with Teller) 2018 Crashing Himself Episode: "The Atheist" 2018 Deception Himself Episode: "Pilot"; uncredited 2018 The Grand Tour Himself (with Teller) 2019 Ridiculousness Himself 2019 Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Himself (with Teller) (voice) Episode: "The Cursed Cabinet of Professor Madds Markson!" 2020 How It Really Happened Himself (with Teller) Episode: "Siegfried & Roy Part 1: The Tiger Attack" 2020–2021 T.O.T.S. The Great Who Who Dini (voice) 2 episodes 2021 Nancy Drew Himself Episode: "The Warning of the Frozen Heart" 2022 The Masked Singer Hydra (with Teller) Season 7 2022 Himself (judge) 2022 Young Sheldon A.V. Episode: "A Clogged Pore, a Little Spanish and the Future"
Video games
Music videos
Music
Bibliography
Podcasts
External links
Categories: Www.pennandteller.com Official Website, 1955 Births, Living People, 20th-century Atheists, 21st-century American Male Writers, 21st-century American Novelists, 21st-century Atheists, Actors From Franklin County, Massachusetts, American Atheism Activists, American Writers On Atheism, American Atheists, American Game Show Hosts, American Humanists, American Magicians, American Male Comedians, American Male Film Actors, American Male Novelists, American Male Television Actors, American Male Voice Actors, American Skeptics, American Talk Radio Hosts, Cato Institute People, Comedians From Massachusetts, American Critics Of Alternative Medicine, American Critics Of Creationism, Judges In American Reality Television Series, Jugglers, Male Actors From Massachusetts, Participants In American Reality Television Series, People From Greenfield, Massachusetts, Pigface Members, Writers About Religion And Science, Writers From Massachusetts, Activists Against Circumcision
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