Act and success go on for magical duo

Penn & Teller are bumping up there with Vegas greats such as Tom Jones and Siegfried & Roy in the number of shows they have logged on the Strip. But next month, it's all about Busey.

"It's always all about Busey," Penn Jillette says. "If anyone thinks about 'Celebrity Apprentice' for even a moment in 40 years, all they will think about is Gary Busey. Nothing else will be remembered."

Jillette went back for a second dose of Donald Trump punishment, this time in an "All-Star" format that debuts on NBC March 3. It's one of many outside ventures for both Penn and Teller, but all of them lead back home to a show that celebrates 20 years in Las Vegas on Friday.

"We have an expression: It's not anything, it's everything" that pulls in ticket-buyers from different points of reference, Jillette says.

"It's kind of pathetic, but people think they know me from 'Celebrity Apprentice' because they spent so much time with me. The pathetic part is they're kind of right. You can't fake a personality for so long."

Penn & Teller debuted at Bally's in January 1993 and worked there as rotating headliners before settling into their current home at the Rio in 2001.

Neither of them waited long to move to Las Vegas.

"Teller just said to me, it started to seem to him like wherever you were when you were 50, that's where you're going to die," Jillette says. "He thought that getting old someplace warm would be more pleasant."

It would be quite the task to count the duo's total shows in Las Vegas and compare it to the likes of David Copperfield or Wayne Newton, or visiting headliners such as Jones, who worked the Strip several weeks each year for 41 years.

But no question Penn & Teller have cracked any short list of the most shows by a Las Vegas headliner (versus production shows that can be performed without specific people).

The duo arrived just when Las Vegas was starting to shed its image as an elephant's graveyard for has-been performers, and arguably helped quicken that shedding process.

"The general idea of Vegas is you get your act together, and you come here and do that same act until you die. That was not the Penn & Teller plan. The Penn & Teller plan was to come here and live and do what we do with our lives." ...

"Stripped - the Play" always sounded like a long shot, blending theatrical monologue with male G-string dancing, and doing that at midnight to boot.

Still, the reason the show is now on hiatus at the Saxe Theater is more dramatic than either of those business concerns. Steve Stanulis, the show's creator and star, said he fought off two assailants in a motel parking lot early Sunday morning, ending up with a broken arm and a knee injury.

Stanulis emails that he was getting something out of the trunk when a guy approached and asked him for directions. "When I told him I was from New York another guy grabbed me from behind, and the guy who asked directions took out a knife and tried to stab me.

"I kicked the knife out of his hands, we all went to the floor after the knife. Someone from the lobby yelled out (and) called the cops and they ran," says Stanulis, who brought to the fight experience from his days as a New York City cop.

"Stripped" producers have told landlord David Saxe they plan to reopen, and use their downtime to rework the show. Stanulis' injuries have not prevented him from going to New York to participate in a reality show he identifies as "Real Barmaids of New Jersey." ...

Why let that former "Phantom" theater just sit there?

On Friday, The Venetian hosts the first of four planned "HSN Live" concerts for the Home Shopping Network this year. The first is with Michael Bolton. Tickets aren't sold individually; the audience will be a mix of casino customers and those who bought vacation packages on the network. ...

Speaking of TV, two tube-branded live shows return to the Strip soon. "America's Got Talent Live!" goes back into the Palazzo Feb. 25 and "The Price is Right" returns to Bally's next month.

"Talent" had planned to return this winter after closing to make room for Mannheim Steamroller during the Christmas season, but lack of advertising put that return in doubt until the announcement this week.

"Seeing the audience reaction, I felt like we definitely had a show that works, in terms of putting the right mix of variety together," says Andy Felsher, producer for FremantleMedia Enterprises.

Returning acts include the Olate dogs, the trained pooches that won the TV competition last season, comedian Tom Cotter and the Lightwire Theater's glow-in-the-dark puppetry.

New director Mark Swanhart has a resume of local Cirque du Soleil credentials, and will incorporate new acts not necessarily seen on TV last season: the musical magic of Jarrett & Raja, teen singer Anna Graceman and the dance troupe of David Garibaldi and his CMYK's.

Fremantle's "Price" will return to Bally's in mid-March. Felsher says a new pricing system will keep the show well-positioned for afternoons. Corporate landlord Caesars Entertainment Corp. switched its ticketing services to Ticketmaster last year, resulting in higher service charges for show tickets.

Now, Price will be a $14.95 ticket to just watch the game. But a $24.95 ticket will get you a T-shirt and put your name in the hopper to be chosen as a contestant. Felsher says the service fees will be based only on the $14.95 price. ...

The lonesome Boulevard Theater - a stand-alone venue remembered by longtime locals as Club Utopia - will have a new tenant starting March 1. "Stars in Concert" is a "Legends"-like tribute show that's been at the Estrel hotel in Berlin for 17 years.

Las Vegas-based Jim Huntley and German producer Bernhard Kurz are the show partners. Huntley says living here gives him a realistic grasp on what will work here, and that he kept the show away from other venues known for a revolving door of titles.

"We felt this was a new, fresh kind of idea," Huntley says of the theater, which "Stars" will share with magician Tommy Wind. ...

Finally, the closing of Bill's Gamblin' Hall this week raises concerns about what will happen to the two real reasons to visit Bill's: Big Elvis and Cook E. Jarr.

Fear not. Big Elvis has been performing in the Harrah's Piano Bar since May, and Cook E. Jarr joins him there Saturday, performing Saturdays and Sundays from 4 to 6 p.m.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at
mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.