You my remember back in January I appeared on the ITV1 show ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ and managed to fool Penn and Teller (click here for more details). As a winner on the show, I was awarded the opportunity to appear on the Penn & Teller show live on stage at The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. I flew out to Vegas on June 1st with the brilliant John Archer who also fooled Penn & Teller on the January show, and we spent the best part of a week with the ITV crew filming our trip and eventually, the show itself. Originally I was supposed to open their show…then it changed and I was closing.
The week was packed full of meetings and visits to some of Vegas’ best locations, we took a helicopter flight over the strip at night which was amazing, we hired a 1957 red Chevy and drove it to some of the coolest sights in Sin City, and then, on Saturday night, the 4th of June, I closed the Penn & Teller show at The Rio to a packed theatre. Leading up to the night, I was apprehensive – I am not a stage performer, and what I do best is perform up close and ‘in-the-hands’ so this would be a new experience for me, but when the moment finally arrived for me to take to the stage, I suddenly felt incredibly confident and as I waited in the wings backstage and I couldn’t wait to get up there and do my thing. Penn Jilette gave me a very warm and incredibly smooth introduction, which made for a great transition from their act to mine. I performed an advanced close-up magic set utilising a live camera feed which fed to huge screen above me, giving the audience a clear view of exactly what my hands were doing at all times. I called a spectator up onto stage to join me and demonstrated close-up exactly what I did on the ITV1 show which fooled Penn & Teller. The crowd loved it (well, they applauded ferociously which I took as a good sign) and the spectator, who was suitably impressed, went back to his seat. I then went on to do a complex card routine accompanied by some really unique music put together by a friend o mine who is an incredible music producer. As the music ended, the audience gave me a tumultuous round of applause, and I even managed to get a standing ovation from a large portion of the crowd which was unexpected and completely humbling. All in all it was a truly amazing experience, and having the opportunity to do it on a huge Las Vegas stage is one I will never forget.
“Ben Earl took our audience & killed them all deader than doornails!” - Penn Jilette
“Ben Earl was exquisitely virtuosic. What a show!” - Teller
The Penn & Teller show is without doubt the best magic show in the world, a fact agreed by magicians and lay people alike. Being in a position to close their show was an honour and a privilege which came with a lot of pressure and a certain amount of responsibility. After the show, Penn & Teller themselves gave me some fantastic feedback. Penn told his followers on Twitter that night, that “Ben Earl killed ‘em deader than doornails” and Teller said he loved my performance and that I was “exquisitely virtuosic”. These are great complements which mean a lot coming from not only experienced Las Vegas veterans but the best magic act in the world.
