Las Vegas is a town made for showmen and those who crave life lived as an illusion, if only for a long weekend.
After all, the whole place is built in a desert yet boasts massive dancing fountains and canals complete with Venetian gondoliers. It's a place where someone can drop a quarter in a slot and immediately bankroll their whole trip—now that's an illusion!
And in a town built on sleight of reality, the masters of this illusory realm would have to be Penn & Teller, who hold court every night except Friday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, and who also conjure up a substantial number of corporate groups.
So when Meetings Focus West set out to get an insider's description of this American anomaly named Las Vegas, who better to reach out to than Penn Jillette, someone who bends reality—not to mention his partner Teller—for a living six nights a week?
Meetings Focus West: What makes Las Vegas a unique destination for tourists and meetings groups?
Penn Jillette: There is no other place on the planet like it, and at the same time it's such a great American city. It really is world-class in every sense: rooms, food, shows, shopping, spas. You can't beat it for a meeting destination.
Meetings Focus West: If you could pull any major act that's played Vegas in the past and incorporate them into your current show, who would he, she or them be, and what would you do on stage?
Penn Jillette: Oh, I'd have to say (the late) Tiny Tim. He played Vegas at Caesars Palace in the 1960s and that must've been great. We'd let him do whatever he wanted and then I'd get to talk to him for hours backstage. Penn & Teller & Tiny Tim. I can dig it.
Meetings Focus West: What was your first impression of Las Vegas the first time you went there?
Penn Jillette: I was here hitchhiking in the early 1970s and it was a bit surreal for an 18-year-old from western Massachusetts. I came back in about 1985 and thought I'd hate it and make fun of it, you know, visiting ironically. But, I saw Dean Martin at Bally's and that changed everything for me and my views on Vegas. Just a few years after that, we were playing that very same stage at Bally's.
Meetings Focus West: Any "insider tips" for neat stuff for people to experience in Las Vegas, such as unique/quirky places to see or great unheralded places to eat?
Penn Jillette: Lotus of Siam on East Sahara in one the seediest strip malls you'll ever drive into is often heralded as the best Thai food in the country. Also, the Atomic Testing Museum on East Flamingo is testament to science and how crazy (in a good way) Nevada can be.
Meetings Focus West: You guys are known to speak (at least Penn, anyway) your mind about topics that aren't entirely entertainment-focused, such as in your TV show. [The name of which is a commonly used expletive that refers to the, ahem, excretory function of male bovines—it's premium cable, people!—Ed.] Do you think that this keeps your public persona, and by extension, the act, on the edge and fresh?
Penn Jillette: It might have a little to do with that, but mostly it's the fact that we love changing the show and Teller and I are always writing new bits. Staying in one place, at the Rio for the last 10 years, has enabled us to write and put in more new material than any other time in our career.
Meetings Focus West: Is there any type of group you think wouldn't be a good fit to see your show, i.e., maybe some that are easily offended?
Penn Jillette: We are a very corporate-friendly show. Our live show is clean and fun and appeals to every age group. We sometimes get asked where all the curse words and nudity are. We leave that stuff for our pay-cable series. We've done shows for everyone from Wal-Mart to Target, Ford to Kraft, Microsoft to IBM. We are very popular in the computer/software/electronics industry....plus we use audience volunteers! We can embarrass Susie from accounting if you'd like.
In the end, an act like Penn & Teller, and the destination of Las Vegas itself, trades in excitement, a feeling that is so hard to define and means so many different things to different people that it defies the description of being an illusion. And that's no act.
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
www.riolasvegas.com
Penn & Teller
www.pennandteller.com
