Dancing with the WHA?????

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Gord
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Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Gord » February 18th, 2008, 7:35 pm

The list of celebrities participating on this season's Dancing with the Stars has been released.
Let's see ... Shannon Elizabeth ... Steve Guttenberg ... Someone named Mario ... Oh yeah, and Penn Jillette???????????????????

Seriously, Penn Jillette????????

I'm still not watching it.

Gord

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Gord
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Gord » February 18th, 2008, 7:50 pm

And HERE is the official link.

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Pete Biro
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Pete Biro » February 18th, 2008, 8:26 pm

Well, last year's winner was a race driver that drove for a good friend of mine's team.

Agree with Gord, I won't watch it now.
Stay tooned.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Jenna Kissel » February 20th, 2008, 9:56 am

You are telling me, you aren't the least bit curious to see Penn, a very tall, broad shouldered kind of guy, move around the dance floor?

I can't wait.
Personnally I think he will need all the votes he can get. Nothing about Penn seems graceful to me.

I do wonder what made him agree to do the show. I really don't think this is his demographic or even people who might become his demographic.

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Gord
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Gord » February 20th, 2008, 9:59 am

Ok Jenna, you got me.
I will watch the show to see Penn dance at least once, but being from Canada I can only help him by sending my best wishes.

As for the man himself, he said on the People.com site "[Colleagues] told me that doing any dance training would be a very bad idea because you might learn stuff wrong, or in a different way that your partner wants you to ... And then they told me to take pilates, I think to get used to public humiliation."

Gord

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Mark Paulson
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Mark Paulson » February 20th, 2008, 10:05 am

Vegas odds makers have Penn at 30-1. On Thursday, all the contestants will be on Oprah.

As for the demographics, you'd be surprised. A lot of Adam Corolla fans (he's a radio host and former host of The Man Show on tv) is also a contestant.

People like Howard Stern and Jimmy Kimmel are huge fans of the show, so a lot of their listeners watch it, as well.

I've never watched the show, but with Penn, I figure I'll only have to watch one, maybe two, episodes before he's voted off.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby MaxNY » February 24th, 2008, 7:23 pm

So, today I watching a show on The History Channel on Nostradamus, and who do you think they cut away to get expert analysis from? Penn and Teller....No wait Teller didn't say a word, but he was communicating with raised eyebrows and wry smiles. They are like a package deal, "You hire me Penn, and I'll throw in Teller at no charge!" They have been together for over 30 years, why are they still doing cut-aways together? This should be interesting to see Penn alone. I don't watch the show, but do they match Celeb on Celeb? Cause I was thinking, with Marlee Matlin also announced as a contestant, I would have matched her up with Teller! That my friends would be GREAT television!

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Joe Pecore
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Joe Pecore » February 24th, 2008, 7:34 pm

I don't watch the show, but do they match Celeb on Celeb? Cause I was thinking, with Marlee Matlin also announced as a contestant, I would have matched her up with Teller! That my friends would be GREAT television!
No, each celeb is matched up with a dance pro.
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Gordon Meyer
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Gordon Meyer » February 29th, 2008, 6:29 am

Penn Jillette on Dancing with the Stars gives new hope to big guys everywhere. (Speaking as a guy who, if not for the hair, could be Penn's body double.)

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Lisa Cousins » February 29th, 2008, 11:02 am

Years ago my older son had a "GQ" type of magazine (possibly GQ) that featured a list of the rules of being a guy, and I remember this:

62. It's okay to be overweight.

63. If you can dance.

I've never watched the show, and may not this time - but even imagining it is pretty entertaining, and I'm glad Penn's doing it.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Brandon Hall » February 29th, 2008, 11:05 am

I have a feeling Penn is going to surprise a few people
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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Dustin Stinett » February 29th, 2008, 7:17 pm

Originally posted by Brandon Hall:
I have a feeling Penn is going to surprise a few people
He already surprised me. :rolleyes:

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Tom Gagnon » March 1st, 2008, 6:01 am

What a great, fun interview. As always--Eric once again delivers. Is there anything that Eric doesn't excel at? What a talent!

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Russell Davis » March 1st, 2008, 9:20 am

Charlie Miller was overweight-ish and was said to be quite the dancer.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Ian Kendall » March 2nd, 2008, 5:57 am

I would recommend _everyone_ to take a dance class, especially if you are larger than most. As well as being a fun way to get a good amount of cardiovascular exercise dancing has many benefits:

You get increased self confidence, and even if you lack it at first, being in a group of people in a similar situation will do wonders.

It's a great way to meet people.

Whatever style you choose, you will improve your balance and general 'smoothness of motion'.

Dancing releases endorphines, which make you feel good and can raise low spirits.

There's a certain amount of focus and discipline involved, which increases brain activity.

Once you start you'll get bitten, and then a whole new world opens up.

If that's not enough, remember the best motto in the world: Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's looking...

Take care, Ian

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Mark Paulson
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Mark Paulson » March 17th, 2008, 12:27 pm

Don't forget to set your VCRs or TIVOs tonight for Dancing with the Stars. It is on ABC from 8-9:32pm. If you plan on watching it, I recommend recording it and watching it later so you can fast-forward through all the 'celebrities' you've never heard of. After that, destoy the tape or erase the TIVO recording. Penn's dancing will be over with before you know it, and you can go back to whatever you were doing before. After that, we will never speak of this again.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Brandon Hall » March 17th, 2008, 2:20 pm

I'm gonna' have to bleach my eyeballs after this
"Hope I Die Before I Get Old"

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Jenna Kissel » March 17th, 2008, 9:45 pm

For those of you who didn't watch or just want to know, Penn did a good job tonight. Teller was cheering him on from the front row. He was out first for the night and his dance was the Cha-Cha. Penn obviously had a good time but he really needs to work on his footwork, his overall score for the night was 16 out of 30 and he is currently ranked second to last above Adam Corolla.
He talked back to the judges after every comment, he will probably want to stop doing that to be taken seriously. At the end of his dance he produced some flowers. My husband predicts that if he goes a few more weeks there might be a costume change in the future. I hope so.
Next week he is going to dance the quickstep where it will be very important that he has good posture otherwise the judges will give him a similar score from this week.
Tonight was men only dancing, tomorrow the women dance. Next week they all dance again on Monday then Tuesday a man and a women get voted off.

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Rennie
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Rennie » March 18th, 2008, 9:42 am

Penn actually did way better than I anticipated. Hope to see him stay on for a while as he has a great sense of humor, which never hurts.
I really think down the road the big winner is going to be Mario. Any other predictions ?
Rennie
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Gord
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Gord » March 18th, 2008, 10:25 am

I thought Penn did well, much better than I imagined, especially for such a big guy.
Didn't care much for Mario. Thought Steve Guteenberg was surprisingly good.
I can't wait for the women, especially Marlee Matlin.

Yes, I said it, I am going to watch a second episode of the show.

Gord

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Richard Perrin » March 18th, 2008, 6:22 pm

Wish I could watch the show but I work during the show. ARGHHHH!
Let us know how she dance and the result!
Thanks!

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby MaxNY » March 25th, 2008, 11:27 pm

Tonight Penn shuffled around, never looked like he was having a great time, he had too much of a stage smile.. At the beginning of a certain dance he did a very quick floating tie.... This past weekend I was working a Purim party and this guy walked up to me before, I could even set my suitcases down, and said " Hi, Do you know who I am? I am Sunny Sklar..." Now, how do you reply to that, except the old SNL bit "And, this is pertaining too...?" Turns out Sunny Sklar sold the rights to the Sunny Sklar Pop-up Tie to Louis Tannen some 68 years ago, or so I was told. It wasn't really his trick, he said it really belonged to Harry Rifus, but he was the first to show it to Lou. I guess he got about $100.00 and a set of Tarbell's (that he just gave to his Grandson). He said that Harry sold it to Robsons. So there you have the story (as far as I was told) about the Pop-up tie. I wanted to put this down into the "History" part of the Forum, and because Penn did it tonight, I thought I would let you in on just another "Small world" story that I love so much...

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Gord
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Gord » March 26th, 2008, 12:05 am

Penn was eliminated tonight.
It's a sad day in the world of magic.

Gord

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gberard
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby gberard » March 26th, 2008, 12:46 pm

Well I wouldn't say it was a sad day for magic. I think it is a good day for magic because Penn can now focus on what he is good at.

Gary

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Pete Biro
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Pete Biro » March 27th, 2008, 1:52 pm

Sad day? For who? Not me... I "accidentally" saw the segment... arghhhhhhh...
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 27th, 2008, 8:01 pm

I think the guy deserves credit for trying, and for willing to look foolish. That takes balls.
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Jenna Kissel
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Jenna Kissel » March 28th, 2008, 7:58 am

I was sad to see him go. Although I knew he wouldn't make it past a few weeks I didn't expect him to get kicked off first.
Anyway I noticed this on MSN this morning http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23835894/

Happy Friday everyone

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Pete Biro
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Pete Biro » March 28th, 2008, 12:57 pm

I have to be honest. I still don't forgive him for what he did at the WMS a couple of years back.
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Kurt Lee Flickner » March 28th, 2008, 5:43 pm

I'm with you Pete. I was not a big fan of his before his WMS stunt, but absolutely loathed him ever since WMS.

I never watch the dancing show, but my wife does, so she cued up the recorder so I could see just him dance(?), he most definatly deserved to be voted off. (not that I could have done any better)
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Edward » March 28th, 2008, 7:17 pm

What was it he did at the WMS?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 28th, 2008, 7:59 pm

Here we go again ...
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Kurt Lee Flickner » March 28th, 2008, 8:01 pm

I don't know how to link back to the thread, but it happened in Jan 2003.
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Jack Greenberg
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Jack Greenberg » March 28th, 2008, 11:00 pm

Interesting comment re Sunny Sklar, Harry Rifus, and that necktie. I saw the action by Penn the other night, and think it (the tie stunt) was lost among all the other "dancing" moves. Ask any non-magician if there's any recall of magic, and I doubt that he/she will remember that tie. The flowers (or feather duster) on the first night probably was more memorable.

At any rate, if I remember correctly, there was some significant controversy historically associated with the tie, which also was known as the "Pop-Up Tie." Wasn't there a Swiss magician named "Isely" who claimed patent rights on that effect, and who marketed it as his own? (Isely also claimed the rights to "Antigravico," the clever soda-bottle water suspension effect.) I owned both the tie and several "Antigravico" gimmicks, and I remember that there was a bit of nastiness associated with the ownership claims on at least one of them. I also know that Antigravico probably suffered more knockoffs than today's D'Lite. Still, Antigravico is a great effect, and probably is ripe for resurrection.

As for Penn's Las Vegas stunt of a few years ago ... I'd rather watch Penn dance. His recent dancing on TV generated many more honest laughs than that Las Vegas thing.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Jack Greenberg » March 29th, 2008, 12:20 am

Okay, I've written solely from memory about the Pop-Up Tie and Antigravico. That wasn't smart. Here's what Bart Whaley says about the Pop-Up Tie dispute, and it seems to address the conflict that Max reported in this Forum (re "Sonny" Sklar). As to what are the real facts? ... I dunno! :confused:

--------------------------

Pop-Up Tie (In Bart Whaley's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Magic):
Invented by Harry "Jack London" Rifas. Although basically a standard joke-shop novelty item, the gimmick has been adapted by magi (Hen Fetsch among others) as a utility device. First marketed to magicians in 1946 by London thru Tannen's but miscredited by the latter to someone named Sklar, the correction to London being made in Tannen's subsequent ads and in their first catalog (1949). A pet effect of Bert Allerton.
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As for John Isley (he sometimes used "Isely"), there's some question as to whether he was the originator of AntiGravico. He did claim rights, but the dispute never has been cleared. And what does AntiGravico have to do with Penn or his dancing? Nothing. :blush:

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 29th, 2008, 9:55 am

Penn could have used some "antigravico" to make him seem more light of foot.
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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Edward » March 29th, 2008, 7:02 pm

Sorry Richard, didn't mean to bring up sore points.

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Re: Dancing with the WHA?????

Postby Michael Close » March 29th, 2008, 8:53 pm

Just to get this topic back on track:

gberard wrote:Well I wouldn't say it was a sad day for magic. I think it is a good day for magic because Penn can now focus on what he is good at.

Gary


During the time Penn was getting in shape and rehearsing for Dancing with the Stars he continued to focus on what he is good at. He never stopped focusing on what he's good at. Four new pieces (actually three new pieces and an old favorite - Looks Simple) just went into the show. There are two more major new hunks in active preparation. Penn took on the requirements of the dancing show in addition to his work on the P&T show. He worked his ass off.

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