Piff the Magic Dragon brings his show to JCCC this weekend

Piff the Magic Dragon. // photo courtesy the artist

Thanks to television appearances on America’s Got Talent and Penn & Teller: Fool Us, magician John van der Put’s alter-ego Piff the Magic Dragon has gone on to a multi-year residency at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, where he performs five nights a week in his own theater.

For those who can’t make the flight to Vegas, Piff last summer released his first special, Reptile Dysfunction, showcasing the magician’s comedy chops to folks who might only know him from brief clips online.

This Sunday, Piff the Magic Dragon appears at Johnson County Community College’s Yardley Hall, as part of a tour with sad clown Puddles Pity Party. We spoke with Piff by phone from his home in Las Vegas ahead of this weekend’s show about what to expect.

The Pitch: What does a man in a dragon suit have in common with a very tall singing clown?

Piff the Magic Dragon: The first thing is, we’ve both been on America’s Got Talent. The second is, we used to get to know each other from playing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and some festivals in Australia. We’ve been buddies for a number of years now.

Given that you’ve had your residence at the Flamingo for so many years, what does touring offer that a Vegas residency doesn’t?

In Vegas, people come to us from all over the place to see the show and it’s nice to sort of return the favor and get out and see people where they live. Also, we do a totally different show on the road, so it keeps our creative juices flowing, because we are developing two sets of material all the time.

One has to imagine that moving from the smaller theater to the big theater at the Flamingo also changed your show, as well. Is part of what keeps you doing this–the ability to change your show and adapt to different audiences?

Yeah, we’ve made up a brand new show for that. It’s a weird one because it’s not like comedy, where you can just go up on stage and try a new joke, and if a bit bombs, then no harm, no foul. In magic, you have to make it. You think of an idea, you have to make it, just to make the impossible idea happen and usually that involves a lot of hours and a lot of money. Only when you make the idea happen, can you then go out on stage and try it and so it can get a bit awkward when you spend all the time and money on an idea that then bombs.

Being on America’s Got Talent: what is that like for you as a performer, when you’re not just performing, but you’re competing?

It’s tricky. It’s certainly not what I got into the business to do. If I wanted to compete, I’d be an athlete, but it’s the nature of the business now that there are all these shows and the angle is this competition, so you just have to kind of accept that that’s the way it is and find a way through it. One of the things I did was I would like eat snacks while people were judging me and things. It helped remove the tension from the room.

Do you find that as a touring act, the perception you get from folks in different places varies somewhat or is it just like performing in Vegas where you get all kinds all the time, and therefore, it’s a little bit more of the same?

No, when we go out on tour, every city has a different feel, which is great. You know, New York is a little bit more pickier, maybe, but one of my favorite places we played was this comedy club in Lexington, Kentucky, and the crowd was just crazy. As soon as I walked on, they were crazy. So, you know, every audience is different. There’s a different set of challenges and different differences. There’s always a reason to love them.

Piff the Magic Dragon appears with Puddles Pity Party this Sunday, October 30, at JCCC’s Yardley Hall. Details on that show and tickets here.