Yes, we can confirm that he can indeed talk -- at great length and with some passion -- although you're unlikely to ever hear him do so. You might read Teller's spoken word in the occasional newspaper/magazine interviews he takes part in. You might even see him speak in Penn & Teller's stage show, but as this tends to take place to the accompaniment of extremely loud machinery, you can't actually hear him or be sure that he's not just lip-syncing.
Why doesn't he speak in the show? Here's an explanation from one of their official Web sites:
"When Teller first began performing at fraternity parties in his college days, he discovered that if he didn't speak, the frat boys would set down their cups of beer, remove their hands from their girlfriends' breasts, and pay attention to what he was doing." Fair enough.
The site goes on to confirm that he is capable of speech and, to be precise, "has a pleasant tenor voice with a Philadelphia accent." And this we can confirm, from personal experience.
The reason? A member of the QoD staff once conducted what she believes is the only television interview that the little guy has ever granted, for a series produced for The Learning Channel (TLC). The subject was the history of magic, about which he is something of an expert, the location was Penn and Teller's somewhat scary and industrial warehouse in Las Vegas, and the year was 1997. Getting Teller to agree to this historic event involved much correspondence with their L.A. agent, who was not in favor of the idea, but Teller had apparently been looking for just such an opportunity to share his knowledge and finally intervened to make it happen.
The reason the occasion particularly sticks in the mind of our staffer is that it was the first time she'd ever interviewed anyone for TV, let alone anyone remotely famous and with such a big and hairy scary partner, while surrounded by "CAUTION" tape and chainsaws. Turns out that once you get him chatting about something he cares about, Teller can really talk ... and talk: The interview lasted some three hours, during the course of which he actually broke down and cried.
For those who don't know about his background, Teller's a former classics teacher and a scholar of all things ancient Roman and Greek, and his emotional outburst stemmed from some explanation of his passion for Sophocles and Shakespeare, or some such. Still, it was all slightly unnerving for a young British TV producer, who was scared that Penn might decide to take some action against her for upsetting his buddy. Thankfully, he didn't and she lived to see another day. And Teller made a highly informed, erudite, and witty contribution to the project.
If you're interested in hearing Teller talk, it seems that "The Mysteries of Magic" series is still available (new and used) on Amazon.com, in both VHS and DVD format. It's a three-part series and if memory serves correctly, the "Death-Defying Feats" episode features the most of Teller, although he appears -- and speaks, on camera -- in all three.
