Penn & Teller magic: Making folks appear at the Rio

I’ve often told the story, in recent years, of visiting the Rio for the Penn & Teller show.

The casino, nearly empty. The theater, nearly full.

The Rio experience has long been a misdirection act for the comedy-magic duo, making folks appear in a sparsely populated property. But the Rio is undergoing a revival under new ownership group Dreamscape Cos., taking over for Caesars Entertainment.

Around the Rio, the new entertainment/restaurant venue The Duomo, helmed by ex-Caesars Entertainment exec Damian Costa’s Pompey Entertainment company, is reinvigorating activity with a variety of shows. The Comedy Cellar continues to tap into top comics, under the able ownership New York comedy icon Noam Dworman. The Chippendales male revue seems destined to groove for eternity; Vinny Guadagnino is back again as guest host at the end of the month. And in another slice of magic, the splashy “Wow! The Vegas Spectacular” variety show has notched more than 2,000 performances in the showroom.

But Penn & Teller rule this roost. In July they signed to continue through 2026, which would carry the residency production to its 25th year at the property. P&T are on their eighth building wrap. Their stage show is being upgraded with a new curtains and a new set. They just banked their latest series of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” shows on The CW. Season 10 just finished taping Thursday at the hotel, returning to the network Oct. 27.

P&T have been fooled in the TV show, but are no fools when it comes to career navigation. Caesars Entertainment sought to move the show to such vacant venues as Jubilee Theater at Bally’s/Horseshoe and Paris Theater. But the master card manipulators said, “No dice.”

“We do everything out of the Rio, and I know it has changed hands, but that matters less than anybody whose hands its in wants to believe,” Jillette says during a phone chat. “We have this machine, and everybody knows what they are doing and where they are going. We’ve told the crew, ‘We’re getting offers from other theaters,’ and every one of them went, ‘Ooooh, we like it here. It’s so nice here.’”

Penn & Teller Theater is beautiful, with great “fly” space, suitable for TV tapings and high-rising routines. The duo is in control of the venue. They hand-pick the acts filling dates while they tour, as comic-magician Michael Carbonaro of “The Carbonaro Effect” has over the past couple of years. Vital to the production, P&T develop routines on the stage rather than in a separate rehearsal facility.

“When we really get down to it, we have the crew, and we’re sitting around in chairs on the stage. And we’re able to get up and say, ‘I’ll walk over here, this thing should sit about here,,” Jillette says. “When we want to put something in, we say to Erin, our stage manager, “I think it’s gonna go in tonight,’ and she says, ‘OK!’ That is the entire bureaucratic process of putting something new in our show.”

For Penn & Teller, a 15-year employee is a newbie. It seems no one leaves the show. But a new member of the stage team premieres in “Fool Us” this season. Brooke Burke of E!’s “Wild On!” and CBS’s “Rock Star” steps in as co-host.

“She nails the read on the teleprompter, which is a very big deal in a show like ‘Fool Us,’” Jillette says. “And she has this shocking superpower. She seems to be genuinely interested in magic, and magicians.”

At age 68, the 6-foot-7 inch Jillette continues to build on his already towering skill set. He learned Spanish to appear in a series of shows with the great Spanish illusionist Jandro (along with Helen Coghlan, the only magician to fool the duo four times). Two decades ago, Jillette learned stand-up bass, the goal being to play on stage with the masterful jazz pianist Mike “Jonesy” Jones before each P&T show.

Today, Jillette is on a proper recording with Jones and the great jazz drummer Jeff Hamilton. “Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You’re Doing?” is out now. Jones and Hamilton are simply among the best in the world at their respective instruments.

“I took up the upright bass, knowing I would never be great at it. But frankly, I’ve gotten better than I ever hoped I would be,” Jillette says. “Please don’t misunderstand me. I do not mean I’m, I’m at the level of Ray Brown or (Charles) Mingus or any of the greats. I’m not at that level and never will be. But I will say this to you, without qualification, that I could play well enough to be in that room.”

Facing 25 years at one hotel, and 48 (as of Saturday) as a duo, Penn & Teller are certainly a Vegas institution. Jillette once said Penn & Teller were not interested in being described as such, but such a distinction can’t be avoided.

“I was startled once by a call we got from a newsmagazine-type show, and they said, ‘We’re doing a piece on Vegas, and we can’t do a bit on Vegas without having Penn and Teller,” Jillette says. “At that moment, I kind of went, ‘Oh, wow. I guess you’re right.’”

“It’s like, growing up in Greenfield, Mass., it never crossed my mind to do a show in Vegas. But now I’m 68 years old. I’ve been living here close to half my life. And I’m really, really happy here.”

Cool Hang Alert

Remix Lounge at The Strat is busy with live entertainment Fridays and Saturday. Variation is up next at 9 p.m. Friday, In-A-Fect 9 p.m. Saturday. DJs take over at 1 a.m. No cover; intel at thestrat.com

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.