How Piff the Magic Dragon Conjured Success [Video]

“No one really likes a dickhead, but a dickhead in a dragon outfit is hilarious.”

So says Piff the Magic Dragon, aka John van der Put, a performer whose act has conjured up awards for Best Comedian, Best Magician and Best Headliner in Las Vegas and a nine-year residency at Las Vegas’s Flamingo Hotel and Casino that shows no signs of vanishing. Working alongside his sidekick Mr. Piffles – The World’s Only Magic Performing Chihuahua™ — the deadpan dragon has earned a devoted following of superfans, including Penn and Teller and David Copperfield, who calls him “a true original.”

I caught up with the self-described “loser of America’s Got Talent” via Zoom at an hour that seemed reasonable for this New York-based interviewer but was perhaps a bit earlier than a Vegas performer would prefer. We talked about how he built his empire, his new tour, “It Cost $60,000 To Clone My Dog And Now I Need To Make The Money …