Juggling

Magician and juggler Penn Jillette. He's one half of the comedy team of Penn and Teller. They are to traditional magic what the Rolling Stones are to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Penn and Teller revel in making fun of traditional magicians, whom they characterize as sleazy lounge performers. Their hit Broadway show was a mix of rock and roll, insults, self-injury and baffling illusions. When David Letterman invited Penn and Teller to "Late Night," the pair made hundreds of hissing cockroaches appear on Dave's desk.

World class mathematician and world class juggler Ron Graham talks to us about his two great loves. He works at the AT&T Bell Labs, and is one of the few people in America who can juggle seven balls at once.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone recently saw performance artist Michael Moschen's newest act, Moschen in Motion, which features expert and sometimes improvisatory juggling, as well as homages to abstract expressionist painters. Stone says she was awed by the end.

AKA Michael Harris on the Bob Newhart Show. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his character's developing love life. Scolari also juggles, a talent which will soon be featured on sitcom.

Magician and juggler Penn Jillette. As half of the comedy team of Penn and Teller, he's performed his macabre illusions on "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with David Letterman," and now Broadway. (Rebroadcast. Original broadcast Friday, June 19, 1987.)

Penn Jillette is half of the duo Penn & Teller, who bring a new, irreverent spin to magic shows. Well-versed in the traditions of the art, they aim to break old, familiar rules and conventions -- sometimes to the point of angering other magicians