Magician Teller Shares Why He Remains Silent Onstage

In 2015, legendary magicians Penn and Teller stopped by the Google offices in New York City for an hour-long interview with Google Creative Lab operations producer Cliff Lungaretti while promoting their eponymous limited-run Broadway show. During the interview, a surprisingly verbose Teller shared the specific reason why he always remains silent on stage.

When I was when I was a teenager I rebelled against the idea of magic patter because it always seemed redundant. I thought it would be interesting to drop patter so that people would have to put together what they’re looking at on their own …I say here’s a perfectly ordinary pack of cards you’re going to mistrust me if I say if I hand you the cards and go like this and you shuffle them then you’ll believe that that’s a real pack of cards even if it’s fake.

Here’s the full interview.