Posted on 01/20/2003 3:07:38 PM PST by Houmatt
The magic-comedy team of Penn & Teller has performed a stunt parodying the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, offending some attendees of a major magicians' convention, reports columnist Norm Clarke of the Las Vegas Review.
The skit, performed last week in Las Vegas, included Teller, dressed as Christ on a full-size cross, entering the room on a cart. According to the column, a midget dressed as an angel "performed a simulated sex act on the near-naked Teller." Penn, in a Roman gladiator costume, unveiled the scene by pulling away a "Shroud of Turin" that covered the cross.
A group of people attending the event, billed as a roast of magician Amazing Johnathan, walked out in protest, says Clarke.
According to Rick Neiswonger, a longtime magician and marketing executive, said "the majority" of the 400 who attended the roast were offended.
"They (organizers) warned everybody that something offensive was going to happen, but my God, where do you draw the line? … This was beyond bad taste," Neiswonger told the Review.
One magician, Lance Burton, defended the stunt in an address at the finale luncheon of the conference.
"I told them, 'You were warned ahead of time.' It was a roast; it was held late at night (midnight)," he said, according to the Review column. "Penn & Teller are my dear friends and I would take a bullet for them, and you can write that."
Amazing Johnathan told the Review he was aware that a number of what he called "gospel magicians" walked out of the performance.
"This was performance art," said Johnathan. "I know that Penn is a practicing atheist, and I agree with him that Christianity can be dangerous. Look at the Trade Center. That was done in the name of religion."
Clarke said in his column that Penn & Teller declined comment.
Yes, of the Amazing Jonathan. Not of Jesus Christ.
This is outright blasphemy. I will never watch Penn and Teller, or any of their supporters, again.
The trade center was bombed by Christians? Or did he mean Islam can be dangerous?
I think he meant hyper-religious loons can be dangerous.
So9
I have lost respect for Penn and Teller and The Amazing Jonathan.
Nor I. Really, really horrible and gross and vomitous. Adieu, Penn & Teller. Go back to your hellish visions.
"It was a roast..."
Methinks he has yet to see a roast.
Hey Lance, you hang out with religious perverts.
What kind of practicing do you do as an atheist?
I know that Penn is a practicing atheist, and I agree with him that Christianity can be dangerous. Look at the Trade Center. That was done in the name of religionYeah, OK, but doctrinaire atheists are far more dangerous than any quasi-holy religionoid ever dared to be. Look at the Soviet terror famine of '33 or the Cold War or Pol Pot's Cambodia or the annexatin of Tibet. The Inquisition and the Crusades and the War of the Roses and the reformation and the counter-reformation all pale in comparison.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/818286/posts
Sexual perverts, too. Teller's a homo and I have an idea that Penn is omnisexual...
During the late 80's and early 90's FOX TV had a weekly comedy show called "Comic Strip Live." It aired on Saturday nights and would feature four or five standup comics. This cretin Amazing Jonathan would pop up every couple of months or so, and he did the same lame tricks over and over: pretending to shove the cigarette up his nose and pull it out of his ear, pretending to pull a string of bloody razor blades out of his mouth, and so on. When the emcee announced him, that was my cue to go to the kitchen and get a sandwich. He was always a talentless hack, and I'm stunned that he's still in the business. Are clubs that hard up for acts that they still hire this boob?
And now with those comments he also reveals himself to be utterly stupid (big surprise). I've already got him on my "Don't Watch" list, but now Penn & Teller are on there as well.
That may be what he meant. Only he knows for sure.
But it sure as hell isn't what he said.
They're very close to their tigers...
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