ous ways . Sometimes a dot was drawn on his mouth and he was set ablaze ( a full stunt body burn ). Sometimes we simply played it straight . One time we even pretended he got shot , rushed to the hospital . We had a real ambulance and all the fixings to go with it . The next day it was all over the radio , yet no one could locate the hospital he was at . Later that afternoon we called in to reveal it had been a hoax to gain publicity for that evening ’ s event , the real thing . The club was packed , standing room only .
We started to get the label of “ Daredevils ” and my bookings for my mentalism stage show through agents started to go down . Shortly after performing my first buried alive stunt on ‘ IN SEARCH OF HOUDINI ’, my partner and I parted ways . I then performed my version of the bullet catch alone . I used a preset vice and preset foot marks on the floor , the spectator who marked the casing , fired the gun in the vice , and the person who marked the head stood off to my left . All in all , I performed the bullet catch around 40-50 times . In fact , it was how I met my ( at the time ) wife , I did not get to perform the catch that night , but met the woman who became my wife instead , but that is a personal story and has nothing to do with the Penn & Teller “ Magic Bullet .” I only mention it because I quit performing the bullet catch shortly after . I think I performed it only one or two more times after that night .
On April 14th , 1994 Penn and Teller showed up at my house in a very large limousine . Thinking they had just come in from out of town and not realizing what big stars P & T were , and knowing how much I travel in cars , my nonmagical wife at the time asked if they wanted to take a shower or freshen up ? P & T were not taken aback , but I am sure that for a moment they wondered what James Randi had set them up for . ( Randi was the connection between P & T and myself .)
P & T had come to visit . We talked for quite a while about different ideas and in passing I briefly , about 2 seconds , mentioned the bullet catch and that I never performed it anymore . That night I spent with P & T at Magic Island . The next day I spent with Teller at my friend Charlie Randall ’ s House . I quickly came to find out what an amazing man Teller is . Very clever . As we talked I realized what great respect he and Penn have for each other and how they complement each other perfectly . Little was I to know at the time how ingenious these two fellows are .