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I was about 12 when I heard my first Lenny Bruce record. He was already dead. But it changed my life and really did change the world.

Penn Jillette

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Penn Jillette
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: March 5
Actor
Circus Performer
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Director
Illusionist
Jongleur
Magician
Musician
Novelist
Podcaster
Radio Personality
Greenfield
Massachusetts
Penn Fraser Jillette
Really
Records
Life
Already
World
Dead
Changed
Heard
Change
Lenny
Firsts
Bruce
First
Record

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It wasn't success, because Teller and I, by the time Asparagus Valley got together - within a year, we had achieved all our goals. I mean, our goal was to earn our living doing exactly what we wanted. Which is many people's goal.
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One thing you learn doing magic tricks for a living is how close every performance of every magic trick is to disaster. There are no robust magic tricks. They're all hanging from a thread - sometimes literally.
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When I was a kid, politicians wanted to avoid talking about religion if they could. John F. Kennedy couldn't duck the issue, being Catholic and all. So how did he address it? By reminding Americans that religion shouldn't be an issue, that he was concentrating on big things like poverty and hunger and leading the space race.
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Comedy is taken care of by a free market.
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If you spend a lot of time lying to people, you think a lot about what the truth means.
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TV networks are dying. The death throes of religion give us jihads. The death throes of television give us reality shows.
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The secret truth of 'Celebrity Apprentice' is that it isn't very hard... 'Celebrity Apprentice' is easy like junior high is easy. All the arithmetic, the creative writing and the history are super simple, but like junior high, you do that easy work surrounded by people who are full-tilt, hormone-raging bug nutty.
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For the most part, any serious magic show is not using very much technology newer than theatrical lights.
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I believe the fast track to atheism is reading the Bible. I've read it three times all the way through. It's a big part of our culture, a big part of our history. I don't just read things I agree with.
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That's the beauty of the Web: You can roll around in a stranger's obsession without having to smell his or her house. You can amscray whenever you want without being rude. The site gets its hit and you know more about our species' diversity.
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Behaving morally because of a hope of reward or a fear of punishment is not morality. Morality is not bribery or threats. Religion is bribery and threats. Humans have morality. We don't need religion.
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I'm an amazing mama's boy.
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World War II proves there's no God.
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I don't think I'm made of the right stuff to be a politician. I think I'm made to be a loose cannon.
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Counterintuitive actions prove we can trust real knowledge and do the opposite of what we feel makes sense.
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I like things matching. I have an upright bass, a drum kit and a grand piano that's the same color. I tend to overthink things.
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The whole world is pretending the breakthrough is in technology. The bottleneck is really in art.
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The first thing I said to myself on 9/11 was, 'There go our civil rights.' I found out by comparing notes later that George Carlin and I both said that at the exact same time. That's the first thing that popped into our head.
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Channeling is just bad ventriloquism. You use another voice, but people can see your lips moving.
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If you like the stuff I do, my chances of liking you go up.
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