“No one really likes a head somewhere, but a head somewhere in a dragon outfit is funny.”
That's what he says Piff Magical Dragonknown as John van der Put, a performer whose act has garnered awards for Best Comedian, Best Magician and Best Las Vegas Chairman and a nine-year residency at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas that shows signs of extinction. Working together with his assistant, Mr. Piffles – the world's only magical performing Chihuahua™ – the dead dragon has earned a devoted following of superfans, including Penn and Teller and David Copperfield, who calls him “a true original.”
I met the self-described “loser America has talent“Via Zoom at an hour that seemed reasonable to this New York-based interviewer, but was perhaps a little earlier than a Vegas performer would prefer. We talked about how he built his empire, touring his new.”It cost $60,000 to clone my dog and now I have to pay it back.” and his advice to anyone hoping to pull success out of a hat.
You are in your ninth year of residency in Las Vegas and have done 3,000 shows. Did you foresee all this when you first started?
yes. I had a vision board and number one was talking to you from my locker room at the Flamingo at 7 o'clock in the morning or whatever horrible hour it is. That's the only reason I got into the game, Dan.
How did it all start?
When I was a child, I saw someone perform magic up close. This is magic happening right under your nose and it's impossible. No matter how tired you may be, you're like, “Wait, how did that happen?” So I liked it. I started practicing but my parents said I should do one reserve career. So I dutifully went to university and got a degree in computer science, which, as you can tell, hasn't been very useful.
How did you make the transition from computer science to magic?
I was doing magic part-time and it was good, but I wasn't giving it my full focus. About 30%, you know? But if you want to do something well, you have to give it at least 100%. And then you have to start forgetting how the math works and start adding up those numbers. I actually got really sick when I was in my mid-twenties and was out for two years. And over two years, I thought, What am I doing with my life? I'm doing what I want to do as one side hustlebut without any kind of commitment. So when I got better I went to drama school to learn how to walk on stage. Then I went out and started doing all this.
And did you have instant success?
I wasn't. I was doing close up magic for all these rich and famous people at parties and I got fired everywhere I went because I have this whore face that gets fired. And there's nothing I can do about it, Dan. Imagine you're getting married to the love of your life, and you book this guy to do some close-up magic, and he looks like Eeyore moping around. I started running out of options and I was at the last couple of concerts and my friend said, “Hey, do you want to come to my party? It's a costume party.” I had nothing to wear, so I talked to my sister and she said, “Yeah, I have a dragon outfit under my bed.” Now, I didn't ask any more questions, Dan.
So I go to the party dressed as a dragon, right? And no one else is in a costume. No one. It's just me. Oh my God. This is a nightmare. Everyone says, “Why are you a dragon? This isn't Christmas.” So I was talking to my friend and he said, “Hey, you can do this on your show. You can be Puff the Magic Dragon.” And I said, “Wait, I might be Piff the Magic Dragon. You might have heard of my older brother…Steve.” It took me three or four months to do that. Now, here's the thing: All this time, I had all the techniques and tricks—I just didn't have a socially acceptable way to do them. But doing it as Piff, suddenly, instantly, everyone liked him. Because no one really likes a head somewhere, but a head somewhere in a dragon outfit is hilarious.
You have been fooling people for a very long time. What's the secret to getting people to do what you want?
Oh, oh yes, of course. Let me tell you all my secrets now, Dan.
Okay, I'll rephrase that. How do you get people to actively engage with you?
Someone said that magicians are the most honest people you'll ever meet, because they tell you they're going to lie to you, and then they do. But you have to interest people. Let's say it's a card trick. They will choose a card and you will find it again. That's not that interesting, really. Unless they have $100 for it. Now they're watching your every move, and then you make a mistake, and they think they won $100, and then you rip the bill in half, and inside is their playing card—suddenly, they're hooked. When I see great entrepreneursthey may sell laundry detergent, but the big ones have one HistoRy with which they connect me. And suddenly, I'm on Instagram spending $432 plus shipping on a new laundry detergent. It will change my life, Dan. I will be happy!
You have a pretty famous co-star, Mr. Piffles.
Yes, he is 17 years old. He has done 3000 shows with me. I got him when he was about a year and a half old. He's a rescue dog who is, um, freer.
And I heard you asked science to give him a few days off.
yes. Time is running out and we wanted to give it a little break. So a few years ago, we got a second dog named Twoey, number two. We got Twoey from eBay, another rescue dog. He looks identical but has stage fright and when the lights hit him he just starts shaking. It was terrible, so he just became a friend to Piffles. Then we went to a breeder and got Threeodore. He was stage perfect and the same size as Piffles, but then he kept growing. Mr. Piffles is about four and a half pounds; Threeodore is now 15 pounds. So he's out; he's too fat to get into props. So it was time to take drastic steps. i had heard Barbra Streisand cloned her dogand I said, “Well, buckle up. That's what we're doing.” Everyone said it was a terrible idea, but eight weeks later, this puppy came and as he grew up, he was not only identical, but he was so easy to train and started doing the show just like Piffles. It's called Fourtune because it's the number four and it costs a fortune. He is also known as Mr. Piffles 2.0.
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Let's talk about preparing for big moments. When you were waiting in his arms America has talentwhat was going through your mind?
The first time I went on America has talentI wasn't that nervous. I watched every magician that had ever been on the show, wrote down every question the judges asked, and had a funny answer for everything. I was prepared. And I knew the trick inside out because I had done it 2000 times or whatever. I wrote everything I could, so when I moved on, I could get into that gear. To be successful, the best thing for me is to have good preparation. Then things tend to go well. Not always, but it tends to go well. But when I go out there without that preparation? Oh man, it's brutal.
Successful people often talk about how failure it's a good thing. But it feels terrible. Do you subscribe to that philosophy?
It's easy to say, and it's hard to do. That's basically what I've been doing for 15 years. I failed as a magician because I had all these stupid rules and ideas when I started the act. For example, I wanted all my props to fit into one bag so it would be easy to travel with. But then, a few years later, I did a gig with someone who ended the show by producing a live chicken, and they just crushed it. And I realized that I was holding myself back with this self-imposed rule, and I decided to do whatever it took to succeed. I agree with that aspect of failure as a learning tool. But if you fail because you're bad at things? In this case, you need to go outside. I went to drama school and knew in the first week that I was never going to be an actor. Being a lead actor is not in my wheelhouse. But the role of a grumpy dragon? That I could do.
See Piff the Magic Dragon and Mr. Piffles live in Vegas or on their national tour — ticket info here