“Bob Dylan never really did it, he never hopped a train, but I really did,” writes Poe Legette, the protagonist of Felony Juggler, a new novel from magician, upright bass player, and author Penn Jillette. Or maybe it’s Jillette talking. The line between Poe and Penn is blurry. The book draws heavily on Jillette’s years as a street performing juggler and self-described “carny trash” before he hit it big as the talkative half of the magic duo Penn and Teller. There are no TV shows or glitzy Vegas theaters here; this story takes place on street corners and at Renaissance fairs of the 1970s, any place a loudmouth with three clubs and a dialed-in routine could make a little cash.
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What happens in the early parts of the book is basically 100% true, except for the names, Jillette attests. The adventures are mostly very funny, as when he and a teenage friend get lost jumping trains in Canada, see a sign on the highway reading “Exit — Sortie,” and set about searching for the town of Sortie on a map. It’s such a ridiculous thing to make up that one can believe two small-town guys in the age before smartphones really did it. But Penn also makes his living with sleight of hand and entertainment, so it’s probably best not to worry too much about which parts are real, which are embellished, and which are completely made up.
There is one part of the novel that we can fairly trust to be the product of imagination, and that’s the felony murder part. Penn and Poe were at one point offered the opportunity to participate in serious, lucrative crime. Real-life Penn said no. Fictional Poe, somewhat against his will, says yes. The crime goes south, and someone ends up dead, derailing Poe’s career as a street performer and setting the plot properly in motion.
Poe needs a new identity and a new life, which is difficult when all you know how to do is stand outside yelling and juggling knives. He pulls it off, at least for a while. Of course, the story demands that his past catch up with him, and the book enters a noir phase. There’s a love interest, danger, and a MacGuffin. Somehow, the pacifist hippie juggler has to solve the mystery and stay alive.
I won’t spoil the plot, but suffice it to say that it’s an enjoyable romp. Poe is likeable, if not always honest, and libidinous too. The humor revolves frequently around sex, with jokes about women sitting on copy machines among the tamer lines in the book. Violence and dirty jokes abound. Jillette enjoys breaking the fourth wall throughout. Sometimes it works, sometimes it feels indulgent.
This is Jillette’s second novel with Akashic Books, and it invites comparison with his previous one, Random. The two are tonally alike in their delight in raunchiness, and slightly askew but ultimately good-hearted protagonists and unpredictable resolutions. Random explored a seductively dangerous and unexpectedly deep idea, letting rolls of dice determine one’s course of action to give expression to parts of oneself that might otherwise remain suppressed. Felony Juggler is comparably straightforward. If there’s a seduction here, it’s the appealing freedom of busking, traveling wherever the wind takes you, and making a living with nothing but your talent and charm to persuade an audience to part with some bills.
Or that’s the seduction for me, anyway. As a casual street performer myself, I read Poe’s adventures (minus the felony murder) the way Jillette read Dylan: as inspirational. Felony Juggler is perhaps the closest we’ll ever get to an autobiography from Jillette, documenting colorfully gritty adventures and making it as an itinerant performing artist in a time before so much of life got mediated through our phone screens. We’re fortunate that his real-life trajectory led to the brilliance of Penn and Teller. That his new work of autofiction leads into a fun crime novel instead is just a bonus.
Jacob Grier is the author of several books, including The Rediscovery of Tobacco, The New Prohibition, and Raising the Bar.