Dragon Slayed: Piff the Magic Dragon comes to Arlington
The tricks performed by Piff the Magic Dragon are amazing, but he truly slays audiences with his unique brand of comedy
Piff the Magic Dragon came thisclose to winning America’s Got Talent. And then he decided to lose.
“Piff should never win anything,” say the character’s real-life alter-ego, John van der Put. “He should always be the loser. He should always get within touching distance, and then something goes wrong.”
Besides, the London-born 37-year-old continues, “there’s nothing funny about winning. In Vegas, you get all these shows that [herald] ‘The Winner of America’s Got Talent!’ I thought it would be really funny to brand my Vegas show as ‘The Loser of America’s Got Talent.’ So, when I got to the finals, that’s why we shot Mr. Piffles out the cannon, just to ensure that we’d go down in flames.”
A bit of explanation may be needed, particularly if you didn’t catch Piff’s crowd-and-judge pleasing appearances on the NBC show the the Spring of 2015. He’s an expert magician who now has a standing show at The Flamingo in Vegas. He sports a ludicrous, shiny dragon suit. And he performs with a gruff, deeply disaffected demeanor that is as unique as it is drop dead funny. Oh, and he’s assisted by his pet chihuahua, Mr. Piffles, dressed in a matching (and incredibly adorable) dragon suit.
One of Piff’s signature tricks on America’s Got Talent featured the destruction of two of three boxes, one of which contained Mr. Piffles. “We did a dress rehearsal, and the boxes were falling over the stage. We were throwing boxes to each other, dropping the boxes on the floor, and when we ended it and opened the last box, Mr. Piffles would be in there. We came down after the dress rehearsal to get some food and people were not talking to us. People were really angry. I was, like, ‘What’s going on?’ Everyone thought the dog was actually in a box. Sometimes the magic can be too good.”
Van der Put says the public’s fascination with magic is not without irony. “Magic has a strange effect on people,” he says. “You go to Walmart, and the doors open all by themselves, and nobody ever goes, ‘Oh, my god! How did they do that?!’ Then, on stage, you make something move without touching it, and people freak out.”
When the subject of President Trump comes up, as it invariably does these days, van der Put gives his own spin. “He’s far better than most magicians at obscuring the truth. I think we could probably learn a lesson from him.”
Piff the Magic Dragon appears July 13 to 15 at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pike. Tickets are $25 to $50. Call 703-486-2345 or visit arlingtondrafthouse.com.
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