Penn Jillette is corralled by a film crew following the cast of MTV’s “The Real World Las Vegas” during the United Church of Bacon fundraiser Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, at the Slammer.
Christopher Ammon, a cast member of MTV’s Season 31 of “The Real World Las Vegas,” is shown at the United Church of Bacon fundraiser Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, at the Slammer.
Kailah Casillas, a cast member of MTV’s Season 31 of “The Real World Las Vegas,” is shown during the United Church of Bacon fundraiser Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, at the Slammer.
Gaining followers as he sheds weight, Penn Jillette realized a vision in the desert Sunday afternoon: The Slammer, his famous first Las Vegas home, has become a fortress for atheist and skeptical philosophies.
That, and some unvarnished rock ’n’ roll.
The first fundraising event at the Slammer for its new tenant, the United Church of Bacon, drew 500 to 1,000 devotees. It was not easy to keep track of them all, for the various doughnut, bacon and couscous stations placed around the property.
But it was a generous and ebullient throng that included three members of “The Real World Las Vegas” cast (being filmed around town as they reside at Gold Spike downtown), a few “Jersey Boys” cast members (including the Singing Fentons), improv comics Paul Mattingly and Matt Donnelly, and even Jillette’s reunited No God Band (with Lon Bronson on drums).
In the spring, the Jillettes moved from the Slammer to a home in the Ridges in Summerlin. Rather than sell a property that has most recently been listed at $2.1 million, Jillette has in effect handed over the two homes and 10 acres that make up the Slammer compound to the Church of Bacon.
Founder and “Bacon Prophet” John Whiteside has established a four-year plan to raise $500,000 for upkeep and repair work on the property (the roof of the main house needs to be replaced, for starters) and plans to hold weddings and memorial services on the property and turn it into a community center.
At the culmination of that four-year timeline, Jillette would like to sell the acreage to the church. But until then, he is a “friendly investor,” as Whiteside describes. Jillette concedes that this is not a great real-estate boon.
“I have turned down some depressingly good offers out there,” Jillette said with his characteristic, high-pitched laugh. “There has been the temptation to renege, but it’s nice that we’re doing this. … I’m a landlord, I guess. I’m the kind of landlord who doesn’t get paid.”
The Church of Bacon is still working to secure proper-use permits from Clark County to begin hosting formal events. If Sunday’s turnout is an indication, there is a community in Las Vegas of like-minded atheists and skeptical thinkers who want a centralized location to convene.
“All the press says it’s an atheist church and so on, and there’s all of that, but we definitely want everybody to be welcome here,” Jillette said. “Atheists have been excluded enough. They don’t need to exclude others.”
More ruminations from the afternoon shindig:
Jillette likes Donald Trump … “… like I like Gary Busey,” Jillette said of his often-uneasy relationship with The Donald. “He’s a crazy person who is really interesting. He certainly shouldn’t be in politics, but the unfiltered thing is pretty wonderful. It’s pretty fascinating.”
Jillette went on to say that he understands Trump has watched Jillette’s appearances on Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC show, “The Last Word.” “My position on Donald has never changed, … I told Lawrence that I liked (Trump) on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ I liked working with him, it’s just he’s wrong on everything, and that made him crazy.”
Nonetheless, Jillette said the support of Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is understandable.
“There’s a lot to learn from this. We’re learning that people are so sick of the hype that they will go to the nut,” Jillette said. “Bernie and Donald — I don’t want to put them in the same category because Bernie is a real guy — show that America is not being fooled. The careful things being said by the press machines are just annoying. If people are just saying all the right stuff, you just don’t care.”
Jillette’s independent film “The Director’s Cut” is finished filming: “We’re looking for a distributor now,” Jillette said of the film directed by Adam Rifkin that was financed through an online campaign on FundAnything (the donations exceeded $1.1 million, surpassing the $999,972 goal).
Jillette has lost more than 100 pounds since the closing of filming and plans to use that coincidental change in appearance as a marketing tool for the film.
“It’s more weight than (Robert) De Niro lost in ‘Raging Bull,’ and I’ll be claiming that to all the press — including you — that I gained all that weight just for the role,” Jillette said, grinning, “and I will win an Oscar as a result.”
Jillette declined to support Al Franken’s Senate campaign: Franken himself asked Jillette for help in his first Senate campaign in Minnesota in 2006.
“I have known Al for years, and he got in touch with me and asked if I would support him,” Jillette said. “I wrote back and said, ‘I really like you, you’re a good guy, and we’ve had a lot of fun together, but I disagree with you on everything. He wrote back and thanked me.”
The Jill-Jet hot tub has not been moved: The Jacuzzi fitted for a female’s self-gratification (inspired oddly by a comment made by Deborah Harry of Blondie) is still in the backyard of the Slammer. Curious onlookers reached in to feel the custom-designed water jet, but no one actually climbed inside. As wife Emily Jillette remarked as she gazed at the tub, “It works instantly.”
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.
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