i am 16 and really into them, they're really intelligent, and very understandable in my point of view. i really look up to them *blushes
so yeah how old was everyone when they discovered Penn and Teller?

When I was 13. It's been 20 years now. Yikes.

When did Dr. Demento first play "Bacteria?"

Because it was right around then.

I grew up in Amherst, Mass, (also part of the "Asparagus Valley") and if I'd been paying attention I might have seen them juggling on the Common before that, but if I did I've forgotten.

13

(10 years ago)

I was around 15 or 16 as well. I'll be 30 in December, so after a +/- 14 year wait, I'm soooo excited to finally meet the guys on Friday!

I remember them from back in the 80's, I was probably 12 or 13. I loved the magic tricks that they did on TV. I didn't know they were Atheists until I started listening to Penn Radio, which endeared me to them even further. I completely credit Penn with ending my fence sitting about religion, and also for my becoming an activist for Atheism.

For me it was way back in like 1987 when I bought their video tape "Cruel Tricks For Dear Friends", and then proceeded with using the "Vidicopy" gag at a party with a bunch of drunk people.

Hmm, well the first encounter that I remember is watching The Unpleasent World of Penn and Teller on Channel 4 when I was a kid, that was 1994 so I would have been 10 I guess. Although I also remember watching Don't Try This At Home which was made before then but I'm guessing wasn't broadcast over here until after Unpleasent World was broadcast.

I've been kicking around this message board for many years though, since about the year 2000, back then it was sincity.com. this is one of the first websites I ever visited after being introduced to the Internet in school.

Cheers

Jamie

*The best song ever written goes G D A D.
You can figure out which one I mean.*

Last year, so I was 22.

It was late 2006, I had just turned 40.

****
Tressa
http://www.myspace.com/23tressa
****
Macbeth! Good Luck! (Whistle)

I became a fan back in the "Cruel Tricks..." days. I was in my late 20's then, so it's safe to put me in the 20 year bracket too.

when I was was 7, so ten years a P&T fan

I first saw them in 1979 when they were Asparagus Valley Cultural Society. I was 29.

I was five, and I saw "Don't Try This at Home". It was great, and it got me hooked on P&T. I remember my family and I talked about the truck trick and "King of Animal Traps" for a few days afterwards; we were all quite impressed by those stunts.

Last year 28. My birthday's in June so I'll be turning 29 this year. I wish I had heard of them (I was growing up in the 80s). My love of magic started by watching an old tape that had Doug Henning on it. There was something about Doug that I loved when I was little. In my opinion, Doug Henning is one of the greatet Canadians ever. Doug Henning is credited with reviving the magic show as a form of mass entertainment in the 1970s and popularizing it on television. Cool huh?

Well, I watched them without knowing it. Penn and Teller had both appeared in early episodes of Sabrina The Teenage Witch (Penn played Drell and Teller played Skippy). Penn was in more episodes than Teller though.

They've had a cameo on The Simpsons..

I love their appearance in the old video of It's Tricky by Run DMC. It's awesome. You can tell it was from the 1980s. Penn's hair is rather poofy but still looks good. I love Teller's smirk in one scene and both of their smiles as they see the band come to play the game since they think these are new people to "scam". Although Penn smacks Teller because the guy keeps choosing the right card. Teller also gets poked in the forehead at one point by one of the rappers. 80s rap was awesome.

Anyway, I have a DVD collection of P&T stuff Seasons 1-4 of Bullshit!, Penn & Teller's Magic And Mystery Tour and Penn & Teller Off The Deep End.

I want to add to my collection some of their earlier stuff. I'm hoping Penn & Teller Get Killed will be re released to DVD, soon I'll order the Grand Illusions; Magic DVD as well as Bullshit! Season 5. Yeah! It's coming out soon.

Oh, I don't even know. I was fairly young when I first saw them on the tele. Don't remember what show it was. Then I reckon I must've been around 12 or 13 when I really became a fan. And then in more recent years, I've become such a fan that I'm even watching Dancing with the freakin' Stars!

I first saw them on the Mike Douglas Show when they performed as the Asparagus Valley Cultural Society, but I figured they were too wonderfully strange to make it big. I'm glad I was wrong.

I didn't rediscover them until the mid-1980s. I went to my first P&T show during their Refrigerator Tour. But then I got way too busy with my career and I didn't re-rediscover them until the late 1990s.

I've hung around here ever since not just because P&T are so intelligent and fun, but because so are their fans.

I "found" P & T about a year ago, when I happened to see the Bullshit! episode on Feng shui/Bottled water. I was 21.
And since about last summer (when I really got into them) I've managed to see (and read) a good deal of their work. I'm really glad I stumbled upon BS; because of, um, geographical reasons, I probably wouldn't have found out what they were all about any other way.

I've always recognized them as "oh yeah, those guys" - then the first time I knew they were cool was their world-travelling series on CBC (the name has left me at the moment). I didn't have the real love until Bullshit (or, Bull's clap Hit), but I WOULD have if I'd been introduced to their books and other appearances earlier...

It's awesome how accessible they are. Both my husband and I saw their Vegas show at 2 different times, but we both had the feeling of almost expecting that they should know us and get right into a comfortable conversation - especially after listening to the radio show.

Whenever they were first on David Letterman... in the 80's. I saw them live the first time in 88 or 89, in DC at the theater were Lincoln was shot.

I'm 36.

About 11...or 12. i'M NOT old to say my age online, but almost an adult...

I'm new here, but...

First time I saw them: 5 to 7 years old. Whenever Don't Try This at Home screened here, as I can clearly remember falling in love with the Liftoff routine the moment it changed.

Current Age: 22 last month. I'll never get the chance to see the show (unless someone kidnaps me and sends me halfway across the world), but most of what I have seen from Penn and Teller just reinforces my respect for them.

I was about 12 or 13, and they were a big part off why I got kicked out of Catholic school. Atila The Nun found their videos and books in my room and was offended that I had "atheist writings" on campus. During this discussion, the nun became very angry and slapped me. So i slapped her back. I was promptly kicked out for reading atheist things, also for reportedly kissing another girl, but that was whack... though perhaps foreshadowing

My dad's side of the family is Catholic so they decided to send me, a great big fucking Jew, to a Catholic boarding school, which they said would be "lots of fun" for me. Yeah, I'd have more fun sitting naked in a lemon juice filled bathtub full of scissors.

When I met Teller, I told him this story and he was at the very least not unamused.

I thanked him for being part of my liberation.

I've been familiar with them since seeing the Invisible Thread when I think I was around 7. I also kind of remember seeing them on the Steven Banks show but that was a long time ago. I think I started really being aware of their awesomeness when the were on Letterman and SNL. I mainly remember seeing an add in the paper when I was 12 saying that they were going to be performing in Dallas. I think it was their first time there. I can't remember how it happened but I talked my dad into buying awesome seats even though we were poor. Then we got my aunt to drop us off (my sister was only 6!) at the theater by ourselves. We had a front table.. right where Teller did his upside down straight jacket trick (creepy up close). They used way more blood back then. I remember at one point (after some gruesome trick) Penn pointed at my sister and said, "and this kid will probably be scarred for life!". She loves that story. So now my sister has an extra year on me unless I live longer than her. Currently I've been a fan for 20 years and my sister is at 16 years. And I also can't believe we're watching Dancing with the Stars!

aslong as I can remember I have always been a fan, ever since I was a young pup. I didn't get as hardcore till I saw my first episode of Bullshit. But I'll say I've been a fan since I saw "My Chauffeur" so I'll saw 7 :-D

I probably was like 20 years old.

Yo LilMissZombie, what's up? I was about 20 yrs old. I was in college living with my GrandAunt in Philly. I used to watch Letterman every night, it was the only time I could smoke without upsetting my Aunt. The boys did the roach surprise on Dave & I was hooked after that...,
Take it easy, smokin' roaches, Jean O

High school in the 1980s. It's really hard to pin a time. Probably from their SNL/Letterman appearances. I remember Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989) at the theater but caught it on cable. I think my best friend was really into them and tried to teach himself to juggle. Then P&T dropped off the radar and then I picked up again when he started doing the back page column for the computer magazine. That was a gas. And then that went away. Then Penn turned up on Excite.com and I followed him religiously then. And then that went away. In Seattle I started magically getting free Showtime and started to watch BS! And then when I was in Seoul, I discovered the Penn Radio show. That was a sweet run, having the Penn radio show to listen to every day during my walk to the subway station.

Now I'm throwing Penn Says on my Cowon D2 media player for my bus ride in (puke) Windsor, Ontario.

I don't know how old I was.

Like Jim I have a very distinct memory of watching "King of the Animal Traps" on TV and being completely mezmerized by these guys.

I also remember renting "P&T Get Killed" in the video store and absolutely loving it!

I forget which came first . . but whatever age I was at that time was it.

Apparently now - I'm really old.

(That was for you St. Mike - I know you're lurking about here!)



****************
Daisy: Right, I'm going to the shops. D'you want anything?
Tim: Porn.
Daisy: Tim, I'm not going to buy you porn. You can get it from railway sidings like everybody else.
Tim: I can't, I'm an adult. I'm supposed to leave it there.

http://www.myspace.com/kimberlys_nyc

It appears I am the "oldest" P&T fan (as in I was the oldest age when I discovered them, 40) as well as the "youngest" (as in how long I've been a fan, found them the end of 2006).

****
Tressa
http://www.myspace.com/23tressa
****
Macbeth! Good Luck! (Whistle)

I think I actually win in that "youngest" category since I become hooked around April or May of '07. But, I do have a childhood recollection of their cups & balls routine.

It's funny to see how many of us were around 12 when we 'got into' P&T. That sounds a bit young, especially because of how much Penn swears during the shows! Not that it matters.

My uncle and grandfather brought me to the first show around age 12. But I was really psyched to see it and already a fan, though I don't remember how exactly. Perhaps I saw them on TV? Letterman, maybe. Oh, and my local library had Cruel Tricks and How to Play with Your Food, which I perpetually had checked out. My grandfather owned a video store at the time, and had P&T Get Killed and that other one...was it P&T Go Public or Cruel Tricks?...don't remember. Of course I 'borrowed' those for good. And my sister and I went as P&T for Halloween one year. I was Penn, she was Teller. Only 1 person recognized who we were supposed to be. Ah, memories. I'm 26.7 now.

i knew of them for a while, but didn't really seek anything of theirs out exclusively until a couple of years ago, so sometime in my late 20's.

i remember going to college in boston. penn and teller were playing nearby. i really wanted to go see the show, but i was lacking in coin, and i had a hectic schedule. i was standing on the corner of tremont and boylston when i realized there was a large presence next to me. (i'm only a little over 5') i looked up and saw penn waiting at the same corner. damn, he's tall. i felt even worse that i couldn't get to see the show.

it wasn't till i was at a conference in vegas a few years back that i just decided to see what show i could get into. i realized that penn and teller was on the list and made my decision easy.

ever since i saw their live show i can't get enough. movies, tv appearances, tv specials, books, and penn's radio show. last week i travelled to dc to see macbeth, and i'm hoping to get out to vegas again to see their newer show.

so, i haven't been really into them for long. . . but i love everything i've gotten my hands on in the past few years.

good question.

I don't know exactly when I got into Penn and Teller, but do remember watching "Sin City Spectacular" when it first aired on TV so at least since I was 14. Saw them live for the first time in 2002 and still have a signed playing card from the show.

I'm 30 and had known of them probably most of my life. I certainly can't remember when I became conscious of Penn & Teller.

My first modern introduction was the Conspiracy Theory episode of Bullshit. I think I was 27 or 28 at the time. I've since watched some of their old magic specials and all the BS eps available on DVD.

I had planned to see them in Vegas for my 30th birthday, but that fell through. It is now one of my life's goals to see that show!

I now have a bit of a crush on Teller. blush I'm even watching Dancing With The Stars to cheer on Penn.

I was 10 or so (now 33) at The Unpleasant World of.. time. I loved it intensely and followed it (I honestly beat up my brother over the TV once when it came on) but really didn't see much until BS went on. When I saw the first ad on showtime I bounced up and down pointing and excitedly telling my wife that's those guys that are really really cool magic guys. After that I started keeping an eye out, read Sock and Richie, played the sega game, watched the youtube, so forth..

Oh Tressa, I've just got to take that oldest title away from you. I'm 8 months younger than Teller (you can do the math) and I remember him first performing solo when we took summer grad school courses together. As for P&T, I first saw Asparagus Valley when they played upstairs at the Walnut Theater in Philly in a room that only held about 300 people or less!

When I was five or six. So it has been about 14 years.

Cara,
When you were 5 or 6?!? Your parents must kick serious ass.

--Paul

Deiphobe, when I said I was the "oldest" I meant that I was at the oldest age when I first discovered P&T. Most peopls here first saw P&T when they were any where from 5 to 25 yrs old. I discovered them when I was 40. If you saw them back in the Asparagus Valley days, and you were approximately Teller's age, you would've been under 40 yrs. old (as Teller turned 40 in 1988, well after the Asparagus Valley days), so I still am the "oldest" (as in the oldest age when one discovered P&T, not how old one is now or how long one has been a fan).

****
Tressa
http://www.myspace.com/23tressa
****
Macbeth! Good Luck! (Whistle)

I just recently discovered the guys. I'm 31 now so at about age 30. I too can't get enough of them and like the above poster have a crush on Teller too. (blush)

I can remember sneaking out of my bedroom and staying up very late as a child to watch them on HBO not long after HBO was first created, so I guess that's the late 70's or very early 80's. I was about 10 or 12 then.

The trick I remember most fondly from that time was "The Iron Comedian".

Hehehe, oh the iron comedian. I haven't seen that in ages. I should find it again . . I know it's somewhere . .

I had always wanted to be a magician, so I was a fan from the moment I heard about them. I didn't become a really big fan until I found out about Bullshit a year or two ago.

I got into them when I saw Penn and Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour (and when I just got back into them a few months ago, I immediately bought it off eBay)... so that would have made me about 14, but I have always recognized them.

I always sort of recognized them. "Those guys" was how I knew them. Sabrina the Teenage witch was likely the first thing I saw them on, although it didn't register at the time. It wasn't until I was 12 when I saw an episode of the Sin City Spectacular that I actually knew their names. The bit that caught my attention was the one where Teller decided to "show everyone how big Penn Jillette's heart really is."

I have been a devoted fan ever since. In the last decade I have collected hours upon hours of stuff on videotape that one day I'll have to copy to DVD before my VCR dies. I joined the Mofo Tightcircle in 2000 and was a regular there until damn near the end. I miss the tightcircle...

I'm not sure how old I was the first time I ever saw them. At the oldest, I was like 14 or 15...while the movie My Chauffeur was in theaters.

I didn't really "get into" Penn and Teller until I saw them live when I was 21...so it's been over 14 years for me.

Psycho - I miss the Tightcircle too. We had some great discussions. Hope life's been treating you well.

- Maureen "SpewHari"

Hi Guys,

The Tightcircle no longer exists but the group did move over. It would be nice to see some activity there again. It's Mofochat on google groups here..if you are interested.

http://groups.google.com/group/Mofochat


Sincerely,
Audrey



Webmistress:
The Web Home of Penn & Teller
Pennandteller.com

Oh . . I just joined . . I hope that is OK, since I wasn't part of the original Tight Circle . . .

Hi Kim,

Are you kidding me????

The more people the merrier..it would stink if you weren't there!

Sincerely,
Audrey



Webmistress:
The Web Home of Penn & Teller
Pennandteller.com

Yay!

I feel sooo loved