Are Penn and Teller Still Alive? Conspiracy Theorists Don't Think So

There’s nothing to make someone simultaneously in awe, entertained, and confused like a good magic trick, and Penn and Teller are the masters of it. The famed duo has been performing magic together since 1975, which has many of us asking if Penn and Teller are even still alive. Plus, while Penn is famously boisterous, Teller is equally as meek, although not any less daring.

For many, Teller’s silence and risk level have spurned rumors over the years that he died. He's even created somewhat of a Mandela Effect, which is when “a large group of people remembers something differently than how it occurred.” However, not only are Penn and Teller both still alive, but they are also still performing together, and we can see them in action from the comfort of our own homes.

Penn, now 65 years old, and Teller, 73 years old, are very much still alive and well. However, this doesn’t mean there haven’t been threats to their livelihood. Despite doing funny and friendly magic for over 40 years, Penn and Teller are still somewhat controversial because of their atheism and support for drug and porn legalization.

Because of their outspoken atheism, Penn has received death threats. Penn told British Magazine, “I’ve got hate mail where the police have been called in… There’s the macho thing that I used to do with Richard Dawkins and Trey Parker – we’d pull out death threats and compare them. [We would say] ‘Look at these people that want to kill me!’”

Not only have they received death threats, but Teller had to undergo back surgery at least three times in the past few years, a different type of death threat. He has aged quite a bit since the start of Penn and Teller’s act, and this meant that Penn had to do their Vegas show without his partner. In 2019, Penn told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “I’m scared, scared to death,” because he hadn’t even, “really thought of there not being a Penn and Teller.”

While they are still definitely both alive, there are some fun references in pop culture to the rumor of Penn and Teller being dead. The duo made their own movie, Penn & Teller Get Killed, in which their practical joking goes a step too far and lands them in a Romeo & Juliet-like demise. 

Plus, The Simpsons famously jokes that Teller has been replaced. Take all this, on top of the Mandela Effect created by people collectively thinking Teller died, and it’s no wonder people ask if Penn and Teller are still alive.

Penn and Teller have taken the world by storm with their magic act and have made themselves into household names well beyond typical magician fame. Not only have they had a Las Vegas residency for over 26 years, but they’ve also appeared in several television shows and now have their own show on the CW: Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Penn and Teller are still together on the show, and the show is still airing new episodes.

In Fool Us, Penn and Teller meet with a new magician who tries to fool them with a magic trick, and if the magician succeeds, they will open for Penn and Teller at their Las Vegas show. Although Teller doesn't say much, he has said to NPR that the key to the success of their relationship is that it’s a “business relationship,” so maybe the true magic behind Penn and Teller is the fact that unlike many showbiz duos, they are still alive and together after all these years.

Watch new episodes of Penn & Teller: Fool Us on the CW on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.