Tag: penn jillette

Penn Jillette v. Clay Aiken — Does Art Beat Money?

Two weeks ago on Celebrity Apprentice, Penn Jillette had a fight with Clay Aiken about a fundraising task which involved Jillette’s very well-known Vegas friends and performers, Blue Man Group. In short, Blue Man Group agreed to donate eight thousand dollars, but they delivered it by popping a money-filled-balloon at the end of their performance, which resulted in some of the money being lost to random people on the street. Aiken was furious at the lost money, and he basically called Jillette ridiculous for the entire idea. After reading Jillette’s incredibly moving and well-written article on the Huffington Post about what happened, I’m officially in love with him. He described his love of art as more powerful than his love of money, and he detailed his struggle in explaining that to Trump and Aiken, saying, “Trying to explain to Donald Trump that beauty and art can be more important than money is like trying to explain to Donald Trump that beauty and art can be more important than money.” He also said that this was the “episode where Donald Trump understood that he didn’t understand me, and feeling misunderstood by Donald Trump and Clay Aiken is its own kind of joy.” Wow. Here’s hoping I can interview Penn Jillette one day.

Quote of the Day — Penn Jillette — Why’d He Do Celebrity Apprentice?

“It turns out that if you put a camera in front of anybody, not just a narcissistic amoral celebrity, but actually a good human being, if you put a camera on them for four, five, six hours and tell them to simply be careful what they say, not even in any particular direction but just weigh each word before you say it, and if you do that for like a bunch of hours without giving that person a break, that person ends up with their willpower depleted. They lose the same kind of governing that people get when they’re really drunk. It’s fascinating to watch people who are being careful about what they say and trying to come off very well lose that governing.” Penn Jillette on his choice to do Celebrity Apprentice, and what he learned about reality television and human nature from the experience.