Penn Radio

Penn Radio

Penn Jillette
Hosting	Penn Jillette Michael Goudeau
Updates	Daily
Debut	January 3, 2006
End date	March 2, 2007
Genre	Talk radio
Website	http://www.pennradio.com/

Penn Radio was an hour-long talk CBS radio show which ran from January 3, 2006 to March 2, 2007, hosted by Penn Jillette and Michael Goudeau and produced by "Happy" Jack Landreth and Patrick DiFazio. It was broadcast on the Free FM brand radio stations (usually) live, with theme music by Mike Jones.

Format

The show dealt with topics in the news regarding science, skepticism, religion, entertainment and politics. Jillette promoted his libertarian and atheist perspectives from the "nut point of view" to encourage listeners to call and email with their stories and opinions about the topic. Early shows tended to be without structure, with Jillette and Goudeau talking about whatever came to mind, taking the occasional caller and reading the occasional email. Later shows had tended to formalize around a current topic and a call-in talk show format.

Jillette and Goudeau would usually broadcast from Jillette's Vegas area home ("The Slammer"). The broadcast was done from Jillette's personal recording studio, Vintage Nudes Studio.

Celebrity guests, usually friends of Penn, often featured on the show. Guests included Criss Angel, James Randi (often with Paul Provenza), Mac King, Gilbert Gottfried, Trey Parker, Joe Rogan, Dennis Miller, Lisa Lampanelli, and Lawrence O'Donnell (nicknamed L.O.D. by Jillette).

Penn Radio was well-known for its special feature "Monkey Tuesday," which was discontinued in January 2007 (soon superseded by "Pull of the Weasel Friday").

Penn often requested people send him a "gmail" at PennRadio@gmail.com, or to call the studio. The phone number for the studio was +1-866-313-FREE, but as of June 2006 it changed to +1-866-570-PENN due to problems often experienced on the show with phone calls being directed from FreeFM's New York City-based call center. Penn tried to get a toll free number with 666 but was unable.

Regular features

Monkey Tuesday: Hosts Penn Jillette and Michael Goudeau read emails and took calls from listeners with stories about chimpanzees, orangutans and other primates, yet because monkey is a "funnier" word, all were referred to as monkeys.

Monkey Tuesday originated when Penn told a story of a party held at his house where he had invited Tarzan, a performing chimpanzee and Arturo, a dwarf, forgetting that chimpanzees fight for dominance with people of small stature. Goudeau had expressed surprise at Penn's naivety. "I thought you were circus," he criticized, informing Penn regarding the dangers of having both a dwarf and a chimp at the same party. After phoning Arturo to uninvite him but not having the heart to follow through, Penn worked out a compromise: Tarzan and Arturo could both be at the party as long as they were in separate rooms. As an added measure of security, Penn and a posse of trusted party attendees armed themselves with knives.

However, Tarzan and Arturo met poolside and predictably, Tarzan charged Arturo. Rather than jump into the swimming pool as planned as chimps hate water (Chimps, lacking buoyant body fat, sink like rocks in water), Arturo "hauled ass" into Penn's house. Tarzan pursued Arturo but got distracted by the other guests. The guests shuttled the chimp into various rooms to allow Arturo to move around, and later found Arturo a tall bar stool to stand on. Tarzan, confused, decided not to challenge.

On April 18, 2006, the first show where the phrase Monkey Tuesday was used, Penn read an email from a fan describing a childhood trip through a wildlife park where the fan and his brothers fed monkeys Certs through a car window. When the Certs ran out, the monkeys reached into the car and grabbed his brother. His mother sped up in an attempt to shake off the monkeys while at the same time his grandmother rolled up the back window, trapping the monkeys' hands. The window was lowered with the car still traveling at high speed, causing the monkeys to fall off the car and spit out mouthfuls of Certs as they hit the ground.

The tradition continued on May 9 when Penn read several letters and listeners called in with amusing monkey stories. There were enough monkey-related stories from listeners that one show a week could be devoted to them. Since both of the original stories were told on a Tuesday, Penn quipped they had inadvertently invented "Monkey Tuesday". The name and day stuck.

Layperson Penn: Penn Radio had occasional days called "Ask Layperson Penn" where Jillette and Goudeau provided advice and answers on any topic to callers, although the hosts constantly reiterated their complete lack of qualification and title. This feature was partially a jab at radio hosts such as Laura Schlessinger (who offers psychological advice as "Dr. Laura" though her doctorate is actually in physiology, not psychology) who give advice on topics outside their range of expertise. However callers were instructed by the call screener to address Jillette as Doctor Penn, and were invariably corrected by Jillette. In one show Patrick can be heard yelling into the studio "it's Doctor Penn!"

At times, when Penn and Goudeau needed a pre-recorded show to cover a vacation day, they would record an extended "Ask Layperson Penn" off air for later broadcast.

Libel Wednesday: On Wednesday, November 8, 2006 Penn asked listeners to call in and tell their "swear-to-god true stories" about their experiences hanging out with former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. After stressing to his listeners that their stories must be true, Penn and Goudeau proceeded to tell wildly fictional accounts of times they had spent with "Rummy" and listeners understood the cue to do the same. On the January 10, 2007 episode (also a Wednesday), Penn asked that anybody with advance knowledge of the 2007 State of the Union Address President Bush was to give that night to call in and let them know what it will contain, again stressing that the information must be true. Listeners called in and gave their own fabricated accounts of what would be in Bush's speech. The term "Libel Wednesday" was coined in an email by frequent emailer Christian (the Skeptical Atheist) and was an occasional feature on the show.

Pull of the Weasel Friday: The February 2, 2007 show featured a new Friday segment called "Pull of the Weasel". Listeners called or emailed Penn and Goudeau with stories where they successfully or unsuccessfully fought the "pull of the weasel". Penn describes the pull of the weasel as "You know something is wrong, but somewhere in your gut a little weasel is telling you to do it." The term came from the January 29, 2007 episode where Penn commented that his wife sometimes succumbs to the "pull of the weasel" and claims high value items in the lost and found that are not technically hers. On the January 29 show, Goudeau mistakenly referred to it as the "call of the weasel" and this seems to have become an alternative term/title, especially among the show's Goudeau-sympathizing faction.

Repeats

Penn and Goudeau turned down offers by CBS to run repeats to cover their vacation days. Typically Penn tried to do a remote broadcast if he was away from Las Vegas on business. Alternatively, Penn and Goudeau prerecorded interviews with comics headlining in Vegas and did extended "Lay Person Penns" for later broadcast.

Contests

• John Lennon Seance Contest: Penn preferred if listeners did not watch the pay-per-view John Lennon séance which aired April 2006. However he recognized this event would probably attract many viewers who simply wanted to jeer at the broadcast. To prevent this money from going to unscrupulous séance promoters, Penn had a contest wherein one listener would watch the show for the rest of the Penn Radio audience and then give a report. To be considered as a candidate, one had to be in Las Vegas when the TV show was airing, had to be a fan of The Beatles, had to have a knowledge of skepticism and parapsychology, and, most importantly, had to have a shapely buttocks that qualified as a "honky tonk badonkadonk". Many candidates with extensive knowledge of the Fab Four and parapsychology were, by their own admission, flat-assed and thereby disqualified themselves. Eventually Penn picked listener Garrett from San Diego to watch the John Lennon séance and recount the program on the April 25, 2006 radio show. Garrett's bid avoided any mention of his posterior but played up his ability to make light of the seance in song. For his efforts, Garrett was given a tour of Jillette's home, tickets to both the Penn and Teller and Lance Burton Vegas shows, $20 in gambling money, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
• Penn's 24 Marathon: Penn offered to let a listener join him and his friends at The Slammer for a marathon viewing of the fifth season of the TV show 24. Listeners had to write in and explain why they should be allowed into Penn's home and watch the show with him and his friends. Out of fear the guest would ruin the show's many suspenseful moments, candidates had to swear they had not actually watched any part of season five during its broadcast run. Unfortunately, Penn announced on the November 10, 2006 show that the contest was canceled when "the party fell apart" and a new financially lucrative network TV project (later revealed to be hosting the game show Identity) required Penn's attention. Two candidates in the running were an FBI agent and a Canadian who submitted his bid in verse accompanied by piano ("Penn Jillette won't you let me / watch 24 with you / Mike Goudeau don't you know / how much I love that show").

Music

The Monkey Tuesday theme, composed by Penn & Teller's band leader Mike Jones, debuted on the April 25, 2006 show. It quickly became the most requested piece of music in Jones' repertoire. Despite having published seven albums, he was asked three or four times a night by Penn Radio listeners at the Penn & Teller show to play the Monkey Tuesday theme.

The theme was played at the top of a Monkey Tuesday show. Also, whenever either Penn Jillette or a caller said "Monkey Tuesday" the board operator (Patrick) would play the theme. Penn sometimes would say "the Tuesday of Monkeys" to not invoke the music. The music was, however, not to be played for Michael Goudeau, although while he was away fill-in co-hosts such as Mac King were allowed to trigger the music.

Frequent callers/e-mailers

• President Mike: President Mike, a frequent caller, planned to one day run for president. He asked Penn to help him by mailing a postcard to every American stating his platform. Although a refreshing plan in a milieu of TV attack ads, Penn calculated the costs of mailing 300 million postcards would prove prohibitive.

• Vlad the Impala: Vlad was a regular emailer to the show; Penn frequently read his commentaries on the day's topic. Vlad was (as of 2007) a 40-something male who lived in Staffordshire, England and worked for Cadbury. Vlad was credited with suggesting the format for "Layperson Penn" (on the July 14, 2006 episode "Cancer Therapy Turndown Friday").

• Bob the Skeptical Christian: Bob was a regular emailer. He was a Christian although he was highly skeptical of many of the claims made by his Christian family and friends. There was also a frequent emailer who called himself Christian the Skeptical Atheist.

• Renee: Renee was Renée French, a comic book author who lived in Australia. She was a personal friend of Penn. She frequently bombarded Penn with multiple emails regarding the topic of the day.

• Natasha: There were three Natashas who regularly called in and emailed. Penn and Goudeau numbered them Natasha 1.0, Natasha 2.0, Natasha 3.0. Natasha 1.0 was known to be a skeptic and attended Randi's yearly The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas. Penn had said that Natasha 1.0 was his favorite.

• Big Frankie: Big Frankie, as Penn dubbed him, was a young man in Portland, Oregon who had weighed over 500 pounds (230 kg) (with a 64 inch waist) and was taking a year off from work to exercise 8 hours a day. Big Frankie listened to Penn Radio between two 4-hour work outs and called in, giving updates on his weight loss progress. As of April 28 2007, he reported via the Penn & Teller message board he was down to 290 pounds (130 kg) and a 38" waist.

External links

• A photo of Penn's cohost and Vegas juggler Michael Goudeau with Tarzan
• The unofficial Penn fan site's Monkey Tuesday section