DIRECTOR OF COVERT ACTIVITIES

Get an peek inside the secret workshop of the man that pulls it all together for Penn & Teller, "Director of Covert Activities" Nathan Santucci, in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun. Santucci began as a stagehand and was hired originally to set up the warehouse for P&T. The job has since evolved into the creation of magic props in spite of his general dislike of magic. He tells the amusing tale of a bit of the gallons of stage blood that he handles on a regular basis. While preparing a prop resembling a piece of a snake in Egypt, "

Santucci just needed to find condoms, paint, blood and offal. Stuff the condom ... ... the condoms turned out not to be of the finest quality. So there’s Santucci, in the bathroom of a hotel that is of the finest quality, stuffing condoms with blood and offal, only to have them burst — over him, over the sink, the floor and the walls.

And Santucci had forgotten to hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on his door.

Enter the maid. Exit the maid, screaming.

Enter security.

It ended well, after 15 minutes of arguing in pidgin English. And the prop worked OK on camera.

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