Winner Piff the Magic Dragon

It is April. In celebration of this blogs three year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Piff the Magic Dragon

My introduction to John van der Put was like most of you through Penn and Tellers Fool Us. I couldn't believe the act. It was so nice to see not just another magician. No we got a magic dragon. A hilariously grumpy, dry humored, "punny" magic dragon. An act so off the beaten path that there is no guarantee that such an act would work.

The character of Piff is just two years old. Before that John was just a regular magician with a comedic attitude. If you look at his show reel you just see another magician. So the creation of Piff must have been a epiphany for John.

Take a look at 2007. John had the basics ready.


Now take another look of the same routine but this time with Piff instead of John.



This is a difference of day and night. Suddenly all seems to fall into place. He can ridicule his audience and magic, as he ridicules himself. We got a grown man in a dragon costume for crying out loud. This is the biggest, greatest elephant in the room I can think of beside the fact that we can't really do magic. Did I say elephant. I meant dragon. My bad. Just think of the implications of that one. Of course there is no magic. All is tricks. Dude, there is a guy in a dragon suit. Of course nothing is taken seriously. Therefore we celebrate every pun, a card stab and Piff. Thank you for leveling magic again.