Penn & Teller are forever between milestones. They are celebrating another, just as their 50th-anniversary tour is winding down.
The legendary comedy-magic duo has signed a three-year extension at the Rio, running through December 2029.
Penn & Teller announced the extension during a taping of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Monday night.
The duo also confirmed that “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” would resume its taping schedule in October. The show premiered on the U.K.’s ITV for one season in 2011. In 2015, it moved to The CW, where it is entering its 11th season.
P&T’s residency show at the Rio opened in 2001. The partnership of 71-year-old Penn Jillette and 78-year-old Teller has performed longer at a single hotel than any other headliners in Las Vegas history. The Penn & Teller show was featured for six years at the Celebrity Room at Bally’s (1993-’98) and then two years at the Hollywood Theater at the MGM Grand (1999-2000) before opening at the Rio.
Jillette has calculated how many shows the duo has logged. To use his term, it’s wicked impressive.
“I believe the number of live shows we’ve done is over 12,000,” the verbose member of the duo said during its triumphant run at the London Palladium in September. “We’ve now done more shows and The Beatles and the Rolling Stones put together. That is astonishing to me.”
Recently, the two have taken on separate projects. Jillette has booked a nine-show U.K. tour with Piff the Magic Dragon next September. Dubbed “Piff & Pop’s Magic Shop,” the series marks Jillette’s first tour without Teller since the act was formed in 1975.
Teller is the celebrity backer of the Third Street theater complex in downtown Las Vegas. The annex is formerly Downtown Cinemas, before that Art Houz Theaters and before that Eclipse Theaters.
The complex will include a 250-seat proscenium theater; a 150-seat black box; two 60-seat screening rooms; a 400-person event/rehearsal hall; and a full-media production studio. A 600-seat theater and large-scale production studio are planned the phase 2. Teller is promoting a $1.5 million “Ignite Third” fundraising campaign. The ultimate goal is $5 million.
Penn & Teller’s creative longevity is owed to high quality, consistency and an unsatisfied appetite for groundbreaking acts.
“All that has ever mattered to us is the show,” Jillette said that night in London. “We have never had any goals other than the show, and as long as we’re doing it, we’ll be very, very happy.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykatson X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.