Penn & Teller, Holly Madison, Jabbawockeez, Jersey Boys, Hal Sparks, Rep. Berkley — it must be AFAN!

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, April 17, 2011 | 5:14 p.m.

The interview was supposed to last 20 minutes, no longer. Forty minutes later, I’m being poked, in a friendly but urgent fashion, and told, “We need to wrap it up!”

So it is with Penn Jillette, who was a guest on Friday’s “Kats With The Dish.” This particular interview, conducted in Penn & Teller’s “Monkey Room,” so captivated me that I didn't realize that we’d doubled our allotted time until the Dish jabbed me in the ribs and, mercifully, closed the show herself.

“What happened to you?” she asked later. Hey, I got spirited away. Maybe it was mental fatigue, or perhaps I was hypnotized by a monkey.

The uneasy result was that Penn was nearly late for a Penn & Teller performance at the Rio, hustling out of the monkey den at 7:50 for an 8 p.m. start (he says he made it in time, and I’m not one to argue). During our talk, he filled the air with intelligence, wit and well-founded opinion. That’s great, as I spent most of the interview going, “Uh-huh! Uh-huh!”

Since, Penn & Teller served as grand marshals for the 10th consecutive year in the 21st Annual AFAN AIDS Walk at World Market Center, where about 8,000 participants raised some $500,000 (an early estimate, anyway), with Penn & Teller kicking in an estimated $160,000 in matching money from their own walking team of about 1,600 volunteers. More on the event later in the column, we tease, but first a few quick tosses from the master juggler, bassist and ringleader for what has been called “The Longest-Running Good Show in Las Vegas”:

On his goals, or lack thereof, in Teller and he reaching 10 years of headlining at the Rio: “There are magicians who will tell you, in interviews and onstage, that all they have wanted to do was headline in Las Vegas. We’ve never made the venue the goal. All we’ve wanted to do was our act and entertain, and if it was in front of 150 people, fine.”

On the artistic freedom afforded the duo at the Rio: “We were doing the show off-Broadway, where you would think you would have all the artistic freedom in the world, but we had investors. We had to talk to these investors and explain to them what we were doing, and there was a lot of pressure to deliver for them. Here, we have someone who would be defined as our boss show up once a year and see the show and come backstage and say hello. Usually, when that happens, there is cake involved.”

On the duo’s motivation to continue to upgrade the show when there is no financial pressure to do so: “There is no reason, in terms of commerce, to improve the show because the audience always changes. But we want to dress a cow up as an elephant and make it disappear. Why do we want to do that? Because we would find it very artistically fulfilling. There is no other reason for us to want to dress a cow as an elephant and make it disappear. We’ve been working on this for three years, and we still haven’t mastered it.”

And we do have some color from the AFAN AIDS Walk. Here it is now:

• Monte Carlo headliners Jabbawockeez, the cast of “Jersey Boys” and Hal Sparks were among those who appeared onstage before the walk started. … The parking scheme needs to be improved next year, folks. Access to World Market Center from Grand Central Parkway, the street that anyone heading northbound on I-15 would take to get to the event, was unexpectedly cut off, and traffic circled through the Las Vegas Outlet Center parking lot until motorists figured out the route up Martin Luther King to the World Market Center garage. Getting out was no treat, either. … In a rare moment, both “Jersey Boys” cast members who portray Frankie Valli were at the same place at the same time. Rick Faugno is hinting at reprising his terrific one-man show that has played at South Point Showroom; Travis Cloer most recently expanded beyond the show to appear with Zowie Bowie at Green Valley Ranch Ovation showroom. … Rep. Shelley Berkley presented a commendation during the opening ceremonies, a rare instance that a sitting U.S. Congresswoman shares an event with Jabbawockeez, who also performed. … Caught in the traffic confusion was Holly Madison, who steered her fuchsia convertible Porsche into the parking garage before being informed she could park in the VIP area. … I enjoy seeing Sparks. We’re kindred spirits, tied by the Theater of the Bizarre that is Shimmer Cabaret. … This is the first of two charity events in consecutive weekends benefiting AIDS treatment, research and services. On Sunday, at midnight, at Planet Hollywood’s “Peepshow” showroom is the adult revue “Broadway Bares,” put on by the Jerry Mitchell-founded Broadway Cares foundation in New York. Broadway Cares first recruited Penn & Teller to lend their name and act to AIDS causes when the duo were performing on Broadway. … Sighting: Former Rep. Dina Titus, wearing a Chris Giunchigliani for Mayor button.

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