The Bad Boys Of Magic

For 24 years, Penn & Teller have been entertaining audiences with their unique mix of magic and humor, reports CBS 'This Morning' Co-Anchor Jane Robelot.

Now they have a new variety series: Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, which premieres Monday at 9 p.m. EDT on the FX cable network.

In 1997, Penn & Teller were named two of the funniest people alive by Entertainment Weekly in its "50 Greatest Comedians Today" issue.

Part of the humor is their physical stature. The fact that Penn is 6 feet 6 inches tall and Teller is 5 feet and a few inches tall. Also, Penn does all the talking, while Teller does most of the action.

Penn & Teller were introduced April 10, 1974, by a mutual friend, Weir Chrisemer, in the Asparagus Valley region of Massachusetts. The three joined together and formed a small comedy troupe called The Asparagus Valley Cultural Society.

One of the troupe's first performances was dubbed "Asparagus Penn's Unicycle Jump For Life," in which Penn was to jump (Evel Knievel style) over several cars on a rocket-propelled unicycle.

After the event, Penn ended up in the emergency room - not because he got hurt performing the trick, but because, when it dawned on some members of the audience that Penn had never intended to jump the cars, they got into a fistfight.

From this experience, Penn & Teller say, they learned to always give the audience what they want.

Their career took off when they landed their own off-Broadway show and earned favorable reviews and more widespread publicity.

Thus far, they have had seven network TV specials and won two Emmy Awards for their PBS special, Penn & Teller Go Public. They have also written three books, Cruel Tricks For Dear Friends, How To Play With Your Food, and How To Play In Traffic.

They also starred in a movie, Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989).