Penn & Teller pick a famous friend to fill summer dates

The unofficial third member of the Penn & Teller production is taking over the duo’s theater this spring and summer.

Michael Carbonaro returns to the Rio from May 25-July 2. Penn & Teller will be on a three-week tour of the U.K. on those dates.

Tickets start at $59 and are on sale beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time Friday at Ticketmaster.com.

Carbonaro filled in for Teller for several shows in December as Teller recovered from open-heart surgery. The host of the prank show “The Carbonaro Effect” also took over the Penn & Teller Theater from May through July 2022 when P&T were on a tour of Australia.

At the time, Carbonaro joked about how he was picked to fill in for Penn & Teller. “Well, I threatened them. It was a blackmail situation. I’ve got some real dirt on these guys.”

In fact, Carbonaro has been friends with the magic duo for many years. Penn and Emily Jillette’s kids Zolten and Moxie CrimeFighter were also Carbonaro fans.

“I think when his kids started watching my show is when Penn started looking at me a little differently,” Carbonaro said. “And he said, ‘My kids love your show. You’re on all the time.’ I think that had a lot to do with it.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.