Penn is actually an esteemed author (both non-fiction and fiction) and columnist for many publications (New Yorker, for one) in addition to being a preformer. If you ever get around to seeing their stage show, which Penn & Teller both write themselves, and they preform their Flag Burning trick you'll see that they are both remarkably intellegent men.
You can also catch the trick on an episode of West Wing, which actually had an exchange relevant to this disscussion:
Penn Jillette: What if we burned a flag, not in protest, but in celebration of the very freedoms that allow us to burn a flag - the freedoms that everyone who has ever worked in this magnificent building has pledged to preserve and protect? <-- most of this was taken directly from their stage show
Josh Lyman: [taken aback] Did you go to law school?
Penn Jillette: No, clown school. <-- and that, amusingly enough, is true. The only college Penn ever attended was Barnum & Bailey's Clown College
By the way, don't think I'm trying to attack you or anything. I just think that you don't need a college education to be a success. Just ask Bill Gates.
