Roast Attendees Take Umbrage With Stunt By Penn & Teller -article on their sacrilegious stunt

Las Vegas Review Journal ^ | Jan 17 2003 | Norm Clarke

[Free ThinkerNY]

PENN and TELLER

[Phantom Lord]

Teller is the small one.

[demosthenes the elder]

"...walked out and raised cane(sic)."

[demosthenes the elder]

NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

[demosthenes the elder]

atheism is also a religion.

[Dan Day]

It's interesting to read Penn and Teller's books, then see their shows.

Their books are thoughtful, respectful, and mostly quite compatible with conservative views, other than the lack of religion. The impression I've gotten from their books has always been, "these sound like nice guys with their heads on straight".

Their shows, on the other hand, are calculated to be as outrageous as possible. Not "offensive", per se, although that's often one of the results, but outrageous in a "I can't believe they did that" sense. Their acts often involve making it look like Teller has died during a misfire of the trick, or has gotten his arm chainsawed off, and so on. Their entertainment niche is being gonzo magicians -- in a world full of suave, tuxedoed magic acts, Penn and Teller have decided to be the ones who set themselves on fire, act like freaks, go for the gross-out, and yell a lot.

Whether or not that's to your taste, my point is that one shouldn't take it too seriously, especially given how reasonable they seem to be off stage. It's like Alice Cooper, who looked/acted like Satan on stage, but has always been a decent guy.

Lots of folks are presuming that P&T were intending to insult their audience's beliefs, or insult Jesus. From all I know of them, I don't think that's the case. They do, however, enjoy "going over the edge" in order to shock, but the intent is more like playing the fools instead of thumbing their noses.

[EBUCK]

I was refering to the midget, the one with the phalic fixation...

[demosthenes the elder]

a fool and his money are soon parted.
caveat emptor.
more fool them.
"you knew what I was when you picked me up" said the injured rattlesnake to the softhearted farmer...

shall I continue?

PAT have been around for quite a while, and their schtick has not changed a bit.

[weegee]

The posters in the Usenet thread say that this is just them upping the ante and that it is tied to their atheism. This is from their supporters.

The response from the others is also of note.

[weegee]

Someone in Usenet pointed out that typo. I'll assume that Johnathan used the word correctly. Either the writer, his spell checker, or his news editor, missed it.

[demosthenes the elder]

spell-checkers are no substitute for literacy.

[holyscroller]

...and I wish Jim would attach a spell checker to FreeRepublic.

[TN4Liberty]

no there not.

or for capitalization.

[3catsanadog]

if christians are so dangerous, it doesn't make much sense to blatantly offend them. I'm sure by now, some dangerous christian leader has issued a death sentence on them. /sarcasm

If Christians were so dangerous, universities would require freshmen to read about the Bible, and school children would have a day when they would dress up like disciples and serve Holy Communion so they would understand, tolerate and appreciate the diversity of other religions.

[First Amendment]

Lots of folks are presuming that P&T were intending to insult their audience's beliefs, or insult Jesus. From all I know of them, I don't think that's the case. They do, however, enjoy "going over the edge" in order to shock, but the intent is more like playing the fools instead of thumbing their noses.

To say that their "act" was not intended to insult Jesus Christ or peoples' faith in him must be a conscious lie. How can you say that? If they made themselves look like your mother or someone else dear to you, and did that same shtick, would you still say it was not intended to insult your mother or your feelings toward her?

This kind of disgusting obscenity in the name of "art" or "humor" makes me want to be very very sick. People who think it's funny or harmless are just accessories.

[Down South P.E.]

You put it a lot nicer than I would have.

[ccmay]

if christians are so dangerous, it doesn't make much sense to blatantly offend them.

Insulting Christianity has become utterly trite and banal. Every so-called 'artist' worth his salt has done it. Mocking Judaism is just as clichéd, though not usually as mean-spirited.

No, the only remaining way these oh-so-daring, avant-garde, confrontational artists could challenge the conformity of modern life would be to insult Islam. Of course, since they are a sniveling pack of cowardly nancy-boys who hardly dare set foot outside Starbuck's, should we be surprised at their failure to do so? In the quavering words of a pusillanimous Seattle art critic, "Sometimes ideology goes out the window."

Any p**sy can insult Christianity in the serene knowledge that nothing worse will happen to him than an angry quote in the paper from Rudy Giuliani. It takes real guts to go the Salman Rushdie route.

-ccm

[mg39]

"a fool and his money are soon parted.
caveat emptor.
more fool them.
"you knew what I was when you picked me up" said the injured rattlesnake to the softhearted farmer...

shall I continue?

PAT have been around for quite a while, and their schtick has not changed a bit."

Indeed, but all I knew of them at the time was that they were supposed to be clever magicians.

Now, if I were to buy tickets for them again (which I'll do when certain four-legged creatures fly) then, as a certain Duyba would say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...won't get fooled again!" ;)

[weegee]

With the oral sex act in the show, it is doubtful that they would ever pull anything that approaches this on tv. Doubtful that they'd try to top this for blasphemy but they might.

That said, the press seems to be unusually silent on this. Consider the fraternity parties that have a "jungle" theme with kids in blackface. Those people get called on the carpet for their actions and their mugs shown on tv and in papers everywhere.

Is stupity/intolerance only permitted when someone is a celebrity?

[Erasmus]

Amazing Johnathan said he was aware that a number of "gospel magicians" walked out and raised cane.

Of course, the author means "raised Cain." And considering they're magicians and all, I presume literally.