Piff the Magic Dragon
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John van der Put (born 9 June 1980) is a
magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
and
comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
from the United Kingdom who performs under the stage name Piff the Magic Dragon. A winner of multiple awards from British magic societies, he toured as a supporting act for
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and has appeared on '' Penn & Teller: Fool Us'' and ''
America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...
''. In June 2019, van der Put was named one of Variety's 10 Comics to Watch for 2019. Van der Put lives in Las Vegas and has a residency at
The Flamingo Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3, ...
.


Early life and career

Van der Put grew up in South East London. As a teenager, he was inspired to become a magician after seeing
Jerry Sadowitz Jerry Sadowitz (born June 1961) is an American-born Scottish stand-up comedian and magician. Notorious for his frequently controversial brand of black comedy, Sadowitz has said that audiences going to see a comedian should suspend their beliefs ...
on the BBC2 show ''Stuff the White Rabbit''. At the age of 18, he became a member of
The Magic Circle A magic circle is a ritually defined space in a number of magical traditions. Magic circle or Magic Circle may also refer to: * Magic circle (mathematics), an arrangement of natural numbers on circles such that the sum of the numbers on each circl ...
, and was one of the youngest members to have lectured there. His parents persuaded him to have a back-up career, so he completed a Computer Science degree, and began a career in IT. After two years, a bout of
acute pancreatitis Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a sudden inflammation of the pancreas. Causes in order of frequency include: 1) a gallstone impacted in the common bile duct beyond the point where the pancreatic duct joins it; 2) heavy alcohol use; 3) systemic disease; ...
caused him to rethink his life goals, and he quit IT to learn performance methods as a drama student at the
Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...
. With fellow alumni of the CSSD Alexis Terry, Maya Politaki, and Lucy Cullingford, he co-founded the theatrical cabaret company ''standnotamazed'', becoming their artistic director. The company's ''Love and Other Magic Tricks'', starring Politaki and van der Put and described in a ''WhatsOnStage'' review as "a show of subtlety and magic rather than drama and showmanship", won the
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Critic's Choice award as well as the 2009
Buxton Festival Fringe The Buxton Festival is an annual summer festival of opera, music and (since 2000) a literary series, held in Buxton, Derbyshire, England since its beginnings in July 1979. The 2020 festival would have run but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 cri ...
's award for Best Production, and was nominated for the Festival's Best New Writing award. Van der Put also had a supporting role in
Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem ''Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...
's 2008 operatic production of
Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.
's ''
The Burial at Thebes ''The Burial at Thebes: A version of Sophocles' Antigone'' is a play by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, based on the fifth century BC tragedy ''Antigone'' by Sophocles. It is also an opera by Dominique Le Gendre. Plot Antigone, the daughte ...
'' at
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. Van der Put credits
Fay Presto Fay Presto (born 17 May 1948) is the stage name of Letitia Winter, a British magician and member of The Inner Magic Circle known for her close-up magic. Career Winter's first job was as a lab assistant at an atomic energy research company, an ...
for enabling him to become a professional magician. Jobs included restaurant
close-up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long s ...
performances for tables of diners; cruise ship work; and corporate work including "product launches, PR stunts, tradeshows and internal presentations" for global companies.


Comedy vs. magic

Regarding his earlier pre-Piff magician career, asked whether or not it was a comedy act also, van der Put said "Not intentionally. It was me doing magic tricks. And then sort of people would say ridiculous things, like, 'Can you make my wife disappear? Can you do this? Can you do that?' And I would make a comment to them that I would think was funny, and a couple of people would think was funny, but most people would just get offended. So, the dragon outfit definitely helped make me socially acceptable." Regarding his comedic influences, van der Put said "It was the people who are a little more irreverent. It was people like
The Amazing Johnathan John Edward Szeles (September 9, 1958 – February 22, 2022), better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan, was an American comedian and magician. His act was mostly composed of hijinks, interaction with one specific audience member, an ...
,
Penn and Teller Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...
,
Harry Anderson Harry Laverne Anderson (October 14, 1952 – April 16, 2018) was an American actor, comedian and magician. He is best known for his role of Judge Harry Stone on the 1984–1992 television series '' Night Court''. He later starred in the ...
… and also if you look at some of the Copperfield stuff, like with the singing tie, he’s got amazingly funny routines as well. But obviously, the other stuff that Copperfield does is very straight and serious. And that was what I was reacting against." And when asked which is harder, doing the magic or getting the comedy right, van der Put said: "It is, without question, getting the magic tricks to work. That is the hardest bit. Because for the comedy, you can rewrite a joke pretty quickly, but to make a magic trick work it’s usually at least a month or two in R&D prototyping. And if it doesn’t work, then you have to really go back to the drawing board. Because now you spent all this time on something that nobody even cares about. So, you have to start again."


As Piff

In 2008, van der Put created his stage persona of Piff the Magic Dragon, dressing in a green, red and yellow dragon costume, with self-deprecating humour and deadpan delivery. He is assisted by "Mr. Piffles", a
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in a dragon costume. The Magic Dragon persona was created by happenstance, when he went to a costume party in a dragon outfit, and nobody else turned up in costume. "It was just me. And one of my friends who knew that I was a magician said to me, 'You should do this in your act. You could be
Puff the Magic Dragon "Puff, the Magic Dragon" (or just "Puff") is a song written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary from a poem by Leonard Lipton. It was made popular by Yarrow's group in a 1962 recording released in January 1963. Lipton wrote a poem about a ...
.' And I said, 'Wait, I could be Piff the Magic Dragon. You might have heard of my older brother, Steve.' And that's where that came from." When asked in an interview why he is a dragon, and not some other mythological being, van der Put responded: Piff the Magic Dragon has appeared regularly in shows at the
Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
, debuting at the 2009
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Festival with a solo show that broke the record for highest takings in one night, and being nominated for the inaugural 2012 Time Out and Soho Theatre Cabaret Award. His show at the 2009 Buxton Fringe won the award for Best Comedy Show the same year that ''Love and Other Magic Tricks'' won. He has had national tours of the UK and Australia, including runs at the
Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...
and
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
. Regarding the origin of Mr. Piffles, van der Put said: In 2011, Piff appeared on the first season of '' Penn & Teller: Fool Us'' with a phased transformation of incorrect card to signed card, a performance that according to
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saw him "steal the show" with a routine that would "have been as welcome on a small stage at a comedy festival as it would a Vegas stage". Although his card trick segment of the performance fooled Penn and Teller initially, the pair seemed to figure it out and were therefore "not fooled" by Piff's own admission on stage. Penn subsequently revealed the method they gave on air was "kinda sorta wrong" and Piff just played along. The duo rated the act their favourite of the season, and Piff "a stunningly good magician". The routine was subsequently voted onto Channel 5's ''
TV's 50 Greatest Magic Tricks ''TV's 50 Greatest Magic Tricks'' is a one-off list show that was produced by Objective Productions for Channel 5. The programme counts down the fifty greatest magic tricks – The Magic Bullet by Penn & Teller is the illusion at number one. Th ...
''. The next year, his routine was plagiarised by a Ukrainian magician on the Russian TV3 show ''Surprise Me!'' (russian: Удиви меня!). As Piff, van der Put was a support act for band
Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, key ...
on their 2012 Tour of Two Halves. The band first discovered him when they both appeared in the benefit concert ''
The Secret Policeman's Ball 2012 The Secret Policeman's Ball 2012 was the title of the show staged as a benefit for human rights organization Amnesty International at New York City's Radio City Music Hall on 4 March 2012, it was one of the long-running series of similar Amnes ...
'', and included him in their Galway ''Gentlemen of the Road Stopover'' and on the cover of their album ''
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''. Together with his other 2012 performances, these appearances made him the UK magician seen live on stage by the most people that year. Van der Put moved to Las Vegas to join The Cosmopolitan's ''Rose. Rabbit. Lie'' club and its 2014
Spiegelworld Spiegelworld is an American theater company. Spiegelworld began by producing shows for a heritage Belgian spiegeltent, made of wood and mirrors, which blurred the lines between cocktail party, live show and night club. Audiences were encouraged ...
''Vegas Nocturne'' show, having been headhunted while on tour in Australia. In December of that year, he opened for
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's December 2014 Christmas shows at The Venetian. In May 2015, Piff appeared on the 10th season of
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's ''
America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...
''. His audition, a repeat of his ''Fool Us'' routine with a phased transformation of incorrect card to signed card, was unanimously selected for the Judge Cuts round. In that round, a signed card reappeared in a sealed dog-food can, with special guest judge
Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...
using his Golden Buzzer to send Piff straight to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, three hanging boxes selected by judge
Howie Mandel Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian-American comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel voiced the character Gizmo in the 1984 film ''Gremlins'' and the 1990 sequel '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch''. I ...
were violently destroyed, while the fourth unselected box was revealed to contain Mr. Piffles. This received sufficient votes to send him to the Semifinals, where his revelations of three selected cards earned him standing ovations from judges
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,
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and Howie Mandel, and sufficient votes for the Final round. That week's act, which involved firing Mr. Piffles from a cannon and the reappearance of a signed bill inside a walnut, did not receive enough votes for him to win, and instead placed him in the Top 10. He returned as a guest performer on AGT's 2016 ''
America's Got Talent Holiday Spectacular ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global Got Talent, ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (company), F ...
'' and in 2017 during Season 12. In late 2015, van der Put became the resident performer at
The Flamingo Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3, ...
, and The Flamingo renamed its “Bugsy’s Cabaret” theater as the “Piff the Magic Dragon Theater". He is assisted by showgirl and real-life spouse Jade Simone. In October 2020, Piff's show relocated to the much larger (700 seat) Flamingo Showroom with a 3-year contract.


Consultant work

Van der Put served as consultant to
Penn and Teller Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...
, and helped develop the Vanishing African Spotted Pygmy Elephant Act. He also served as a magic consultant for the theater company Theatre-Rites, for their production of ''Mojo'', as well as to Heston Blumenthal, who said van der Put worked on magic water for his restaurant '' The Fat Duck'': "When two people ask for still and sparkling, we’ll pour it from the same bottle without any physical divide."


Religious beliefs

Van der Put grew up as an evangelical Christian, and performed Gospel magic when younger. When asked his opinion in an interview regarding the claim of some religious
fundamentalists Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
that dragons were actually fire-breathing
dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
, van der Put said: On the subject of religion, van der Put also said: "So, my joke with Penn illetteis always that at some point he’s going to be renouncing his atheism and jump on the God bandwagon. aughsBut the truth is that … you know, it’s that thing about the older you get, the less you know."


Awards

Van der Put won the 2008 British Ring Close-up Magician of the Year, while
The Magic Circle A magic circle is a ritually defined space in a number of magical traditions. Magic circle or Magic Circle may also refer to: * Magic circle (mathematics), an arrangement of natural numbers on circles such that the sum of the numbers on each circl ...
awarded him their 2011 Close-up Magician of the Year, 2012 Stage Magician of the Year (as Piff), and 2013 Carlton Award. In 2013, the Circle also inducted him into their Inner Ring with Gold Star.


References


Further reading

* * * * * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piff the Magic Dragon 1980 births English magicians English comedians English emigrants to the United States Fictional dragons Living people People from Las Vegas Las Vegas shows America's Got Talent contestants