Block party: Penn & Teller headline big holiday weekend at the Shore

THERE'S NO question Atlantic City has pretty much followed Las Vegas' lead the past decade or so when it comes to casino-industry business. But there is at least one way in which AyCee set the pace for its desert counterpart: Recognizing the singular brilliance of Penn & Teller, the one-of-a-kind comedy-magic act that tonight checks into Harrah's Resort Atlantic City for a holiday weekend run.

Years before Penn Jillette (the hulking, leather-lunged one) and his Center City-born-and-bred silent partner, the mono-monikered Teller, became Sin City royalty with their still-thriving residency at the Rio casino, the pair were regular headliners at Trump Plaza and, later, the Claridge (now part of Bally's Atlantic City).

"That was everything, Atlantic City was a very big deal for us," Jillette said during a recent phone call from Vegas. "It was the first gig where we realized a few more people might be interested in us."

Jillette explained that before the late 1980s, when Joel Fischman, then the Plaza's entertainment director, first brought them to town, Penn & Teller were strictly a cult attraction playing mostly on the East Coast to relatively small, but very hip, audiences.

Ever the skeptic, Jillette doubted the team's brand of edgy, off-beat entertainment would fly in a town whose entertainment choices in those days were dictated by bus-riding, slot-playing senior citizens.

But Fischman, who went on to play an instrumental role in the duo's Vegas success, still offered a six-night run.

"We said to [Fischman], 'Oh, we're too smart and too hip,' " recalled Jillette. "He said, 'You can do your smartest bits. If you don't like it, I'll pay you for the rest of the week, and you can split.'

"We were trying to do the stuff we thought the audience wouldn't get, but the audience turned out to be smarter than we were, and they shut us the f- - - up."

They also set P&T on a path that led them not only to fame and fortune as a live act but also as cable TV stars. Their Showtime series, "Penn & Teller: Bulls- -t!," in which the pair debunk all manner of popularly held notions (political, occult and otherwise), is one of the premium cable channel's most popular series.

It also has earned a boatload of Emmy nominations, as well as a couple awards from the Writers Guild of America.

The show is also the excuse Penn used to explain the team's years-long absence from Atlantic City.

"The plan was, we would work in Vegas 46 weeks a year, and the weeks we weren't working, we would go to Atlantic City, Boston and New York," he said. "But 'Bulls- -t!' wound up being so successful. It fills up the weeks we have off."

One good thing about P&T not playing here for such a long time (this is their first visit of the 21st century) is that fans will likely see a good many new bits (assuming they haven't been to the Vegas shows).

"There is a lot of new material," Jillette said. "We have about five hours of stuff we use in Vegas. I believe about 2/3 of the [Harrah's shows] will be stuff we've never done on the East Coast."

The signature trick in which Teller catches a bullet fired from a gun between his teeth isn't on the agenda, though, thanks to local firearms laws. "You can't do guns in Atlantic City," Jillette lamented. "Even bribes couldn't [help]. They get very jumpy about .357 Magnums in Atlantic City."

Perhaps Penn & Teller's greatest trick is that they've managed to stay together an astonishing 35 years - a tenure pretty much unmatched by an unmarried team in show biz history. So, Penn, what's the secret?

"I would say by being partners in art and not falling in love," he wrote in a follow-up e-mail. "[John] Lennon [and Paul] McCartney, and [Dean] Martin [and Jerry] Lewis fell in love. We wanted to do a show.

"So we never tried affection, just art." *

Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, 777 Harrah's Blvd., 9 p.m. today through Sunday, $75, $65 and $45, 800-736-1420, www.ticketmaster.com.