Interview: John Van Der Put as PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON at Southern Theatre

Sometimes clothes make the man.

Superman has his cape. The Lone Ranger has his mask. And John van der Put has a spikey green felt dragon costume. Yet once he slides into his outfit, he transforms from van der Put to Piff the Magic Dragon. The Las Vegas headliner will bring his magic show to town Sept. 10 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus).

Van der Put may look like he stepped out of a PBS Children’s program or an H.R. Pufnstuf episode but the way he transforms once he dons the dragon outfit is, well, magical.

“When I was performing as a magician without a dragon outfit, I’d be sarcastic and I’d get fired everywhere for being too rude,” van der Put said with a laugh. “When I found the dragon outfit, suddenly everything made sense. I got rehired again and everyone called it comedy.”

Van der Put discovered his alter ego in 2008 as the result of a practical joke at his expense. When he was a struggling magician in London, his friends invited him to a costume party. Panicked, he looked around the house searching for something to wear and found his alter ego hiding underneath his sister’s bed.

However, when he made his entrance at the party, he made an embarrassing discovery: no one else was in a costume.

“I was very upset and grumpy … for good reason,” recalled van der Put, who grew up idolizing Jonathan the Amazing and American magicians Penn and Teller. “My friend said, ‘You should do this in your act. You could be Puff the Magic Dragon.’

“I was like, ‘Wait a second. I could be Piff the Magic Dragon. You might have heard of my older brother … Steve.’ My friends thought that's quite funny and I should try that. I did. As soon as I tried it, I realized this is what I'm going to do forever. It was just one of those things.”

Magic itself was just one of those things that worked out for van der Put. He was inspired to enter the world of illusion after watching Jerry Sadowitz, a sleight of hand illusionist who uses dark comedy in his act, on television. His parents, however, convinced him to have a fallback job in case the whole magician thing didn’t work out. He earned a degree in Computer Science and was working in the unenchanted world of Information Technology for two years when he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis.

“I almost checked out,” he said. “That was a bad time but after that, I was like ‘Hey, you know what? We’re not here forever, so let’s get on with it.’ It gave me the kind of outlook of not sitting there waiting for things to happen. You must make them happen.”

Soon Piff was making the name for himself that van der Put couldn’t do without the costume. His shows are a cocktail of magic and comedy. Both assets feed off each other. If he were just a second rate magician or if he lacked that British humor, his show wouldn’t work.

Van der Put grew up loving the sarcasm and the dry humor of BBC programs THE BLACK ADDER and MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and adapted his deadpan delivery and his cheeky, self-effacing demeanor from them. Piff’s debut performance at the 2009 Free Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland broke the record for the highest takings in a single night. Later that year, he received the award for best comedy act at the Buxton Fringe festival. In 2012, van der Put was tagged for the inaugural Time Out and Soho Theatre Cabaret Award. 

During this time frame, van der Put met, wooed, and married his wife Jade, who appears with him on stage.

“She’s the sugar in the show. In magic, there's this awful term ‘magician’s assistant,’  which is ridiculous because often they're doing the most work,” van der Put said. “She's my co-star in the show basically.

“When we first got together, I said, ‘I can go away now and travel all over the place or you can come with me and we can do it together.’ She jumped on board and has been with me ever since.”

Van der Put also adopted Mr. Piffles, a wide-eyed chihuahua in a matching dragon suit who became Piff’s foil for many of his magic tricks. Piffles died in November 2024, four days before his 17th birthday.

“We had done about 5,000 shows together but no one lives forever,” he said. “He was integral to everything really. Fortunately, we got him cloned. We actually have Mr. Piffles the Second, who's 100% genetically identical.”

Van der Put’s break out performance was when the magician appeared on the first season of Penn and Teller’s show, FOOL US in 2011. Dressed as Piff, he surprised his idol Penn with a goofy card trick where he made a card change suits to match his pre-show prediction. “Even though you are wearing a stupid dragon suit, that was a really, really good trick,” Penn said. Penn and Teller later dubbed Piff the Magic Dragon their favorite act of the season.

Although he didn’t fool the hosts, van der Put’s act garnered enough attention to land him a spot opening for British folk rock band Mumford & Sons on their 2012 Two Halves Tour. The gig turned out to be a mixed blessing.

“It was amazing. I got to open for Mumford & Sons in all these crazy places,” he said. “It's funny because the crowd was not aware they're going to see a magic dragon show that night. Sometimes they're not best pleased when they realize they're at one. I remember playing Newcastle and 20,000 people booed me. The next night, we’re playing Birmingham and 20,000 people were going crazy for it. Talk about the best of times and the worst of times.”

Eventually, he made the jump to America when he was asked to be part of The Cosmopolitan's Rose. Rabbit. Lie club and its 2014 Spiegelworld Vegas Nocturne show.

However, the English native soon learned Las Vegas is good at making budding young magicians disappear.

“I love Vegas but seven months later, the show I was in imploded,” he said. “I didn't have anything.”

Van der Put was pondering leaving the United States when he earned a spot on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT’s Season 10 in 2015. Van der Put’s cheeky stage persona aided by his side kick Mr. Piffles, became a crowd favorite. He was one of 10 acts to reach the finals but failed to win. British ventriloquist Paul Zerdin won the competition. Comedian Drew Lynch placed second and mentalist Oz Pearlman took third.

One of the things that made van der Put’s act stand out was his relaxed, business-casual approach to the competition. While other contestants would be dripping sweat across their foreheads while the show announced their fate, the camera would find Piff carefreely munching on a sandwich.

That carefully honed image harks back to van der Put’s appearance on FOOL US when he nibbled on a banana and handed the peel to presenter Jonathan Ross while his idols critiqued his performance.

“You must stand there while people talk about your act,” he said. “(On FOOL US) it is not quite as bad because they're not judging you. They just say whether you fooled them or not. On these other shows, they're basically saying whether they like you or not. I didn't do this just to try, and have my fingers crossed (celebrity judge) Heidi Klum likes magic dragons. I thought, ‘Well, I'll just eat my way through it and ignore everyone.’ That's why I did it and I think it was the best move.

“What's funny on America's Got Talent is in the Golden Buzzer round, (guest judge) Neil Patrick Harris was talking about my act and I'm not really listening. I just heard ‘I know there was good magic there’ and ‘You’re very funny.’ Then he hits the Golden Buzzer (which automatically sends a contestant to the semifinals). I was genuinely surprised. I did not see that coming at all.”

Van der Put often refers to himself as “the Loser of AMERICA’S GOT TALENT,” but he walked away with some swell consolation prizes. He was invited back for the AMERICA’S GOT TALENT HOLIDAY SPECIAL in 2016 and was a guest performer during the show’s 12th Season in 2017.

Because of the exposure he received on AGT, he became the resident performer at the Flamingo in 2015. The casino even renamed their theater from “Bugsy’s Cabaret Theater” to the “Piff The Magic Dragon Theater.” After van Der Put was named as Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch,” the Flamingo moved him to the 700-seat Flamingo Showroom.

When he’s not at the Flamingo, van der Put is on the road, playing across the United States. He said his shows in Vegas are completely different than the ones he does on the road.

“After I went on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, I was able to tour all over the country and have my own show in Las Vegas,” van der Put said. “(Not winning AGT) was the biggest break in my career.”