Teller is best known as the smaller, silent half of those outrageous bad boys of magic, Penn & Teller. He's also the loving, only son of Joe and Irene Teller, two quirky artists who live in Philadelphia and who have devoted their lives to their only son, whom they call "Kid."
The recently published "When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours" (Blast Books, $24.95) is Teller's sweet and funny portrait of his father (a.k.a. Pad) and mother (a.k.a. Mam). Joe, 87, talks about his experiences riding the rails during the Great Depression, spending World War II in the Philippines and how he and Irene, 92, eloped and lived in garrets with wild canaries in Philadelphia.
The book also is filled with more than 60 cartoons Joe drew in 1939--in hopes of selling them to the Philadelphia Inquirer--and eight pages of his watercolors.
Teller, 52, is the co-author with Penn of "Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends," "How to Play With Your Food" and "How to Play in Traffic." A former high school teacher, Teller has seen his articles appear in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker and GQ.
During a brief stopover in Los Angeles from Seattle to his home in Las Vegas, the very talkative Teller discussed his parents over a hot dog at Patsy's restaurant in Toluca Lake. Teller then had his photograph taken at Forest Lawn in Burbank at a cenotaph he and Penn have there that's part of an elaborate card trick. On the cenotaph is an etching of the three of clubs and the phrase "Is This Your Card?"
Question: Before we talk about your book, I'd like to ask your opinion of magician David Blaine, who recently received oodles of publicity for his stunt in which he spent three days standing in a block of ice.
Answer: I am quoting Penn on this: "He can do something no other working magician can do--take off his shirt in public." I know him personally. He's a very nice fellow. I think that his television specials have been among the best magic TV specials I have ever seen. They create a level of reality, whether that reality is real or not is irrelevant. They create a feeling of reality which is a very fresh way of looking at magic. I have enjoyed the TV specials quite a bit. I am a bit perplexed by the idea behind the stunts. But he did accomplish what he wanted to do. He was trying to get his picture in the newspaper and, man, he got his picture in the newspaper.
Q: What was the genesis of "When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours"?
