Piff the Magic Dragon brings his present to JCCC this weekend

Piff the Magic Dragon. // picture courtesy the artist

Due to tv appearances on America’s Received Expertise and Penn & Teller: Idiot Us, magician John van der Put’s alter-ego Piff the Magic Dragon has gone on to a multi-year residency on the Flamingo in Las Vegas, the place he performs 5 nights every week in his personal theater.

For many who can’t make the flight to Vegas, Piff final summer time launched his first particular, Reptile Dysfunction, showcasing the magician’s comedy chops to of us who may solely know him from temporary clips on-line.

This Sunday, Piff the Magic Dragon seems at Johnson County Group School’s Yardley Corridor, as a part of a tour with unhappy clown Puddles Pity Occasion. We spoke with Piff by telephone from his house in Las Vegas forward of this weekend’s present about what to anticipate.

The Pitch: What does a person in a dragon swimsuit have in widespread with a really tall singing clown?

Piff the Magic Dragon: The very first thing is, we’ve each been on America’s Received Expertise. The second is, we used to get to know one another from enjoying the Edinburgh Fringe Competition and a few festivals in Australia. We’ve been buddies for quite a lot of years now.

Given that you just’ve had your residence on the Flamingo for thus a few years, what does touring supply {that a} Vegas residency doesn’t?

In Vegas, folks come to us from in every single place to see the present and it’s good to kind of return the favor and get out and see folks the place they reside. Additionally, we do a very totally different present on the highway, so it retains our artistic juices flowing, as a result of we’re creating two units of fabric on a regular basis.

One has to think about that transferring from the smaller theater to the massive theater on the Flamingo additionally modified your present, as effectively. Is a part of what retains you doing this–the power to alter your present and adapt to totally different audiences?

Yeah, we’ve made up a model new present for that. It’s a bizarre one as a result of it’s not like comedy, the place you’ll be able to simply go up on stage and take a look at a brand new joke, and if a bit bombs, then no hurt, no foul. In magic, you need to make it. You consider an thought, you need to make it, simply to make the unattainable thought occur and normally that includes a number of hours and some huge cash. Solely whenever you make the thought occur, are you able to then exit on stage and take a look at it and so it could actually get a bit awkward whenever you spend all of the money and time on an concept that then bombs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HybdQUCepFw

Being on America’s Received Expertise: what’s that like for you as a performer, whenever you’re not simply performing, however you’re competing?

It’s difficult. It’s definitely not what I obtained into the enterprise to do. If I needed to compete, I’d be an athlete, however it’s the character of the enterprise now that there are all these reveals and the angle is that this competitors, so that you simply need to form of settle for that that’s the best way it’s and discover a means by it. One of many issues I did was I would love eat snacks whereas folks had been judging me and issues. It helped take away the stress from the room.

Do you discover that as a touring act, the notion you get from of us elsewhere varies considerably or is it similar to performing in Vegas the place you get every kind on a regular basis, and subsequently, it’s just a little bit extra of the identical?

No, after we exit on tour, each metropolis has a special really feel, which is nice. You already know, New York is just a little bit extra pickier, perhaps, however one among my favourite locations we performed was this comedy membership in Lexington, Kentucky, and the gang was simply loopy. As quickly as I walked on, they had been loopy. So, you understand, each viewers is totally different. There’s a special set of challenges and totally different variations. There’s at all times a cause to like them.

Piff the Magic Dragon seems with Puddles Pity Occasion this Sunday, October 30, at JCCC’s Yardley Corridor. Particulars on that present and tickets here.