Kriti Mehrotra
Although Piff the Magic Dragon is undoubtedly a world-renowned comedian and magician owing to his unique act and television appearances, the man behind it once didn’t feel that successful. It seemingly couldn’t sink into John van der Put’s mind that he is the reason Piff made it to ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us,’ ‘America’s Got Talent,’ and a long residency in Las Vegas, which is why his partner Jade Simone nominated him for Netflix’s ‘Queer Eye‘ season 9. Thankfully, with the help of Fab Five, he was able to realize all the bounds he has broken as well as the wonders he has achieved across all areas of entertainment, making him hungry for more.
John van der Put Has Been Performing Since He Was a Teenager
It was on June 9, 1980, when John van der Put was reportedly born into a middle-class household in South East London, England, only to develop an unwavering passion for magic when he was a teen. According to his own accounts, he had started thinking of dabbling into it upon seeing American-Scottish stand-up comedian and magician Jerry Sadowitz on BBC2’s ‘Stuff the White Rabbit,’ unaware he himself would fall utterly in love with this brand of showcases. Thus, he worked hard to hone his skills and actually ended up becoming a full-fledged member of The Magic Circle at age 18, as well as one of the youngest members to lecture there later on.
However, because of his parents’ well-intentioned insistence and the lack of extensive scope in the magic business at the time, John soon decided it would be best to have a backup career, too. That’s why he earned a Computer Science degree before landing a job in the IT sector, just for an acute pancreatitis diagnosis roughly two years later to bring him back to the world of magic. This health issue actually made him rethink precisely what he desired out of life, following which he decided to throw caution to the wind and enroll at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Little did anybody know this would soon result in John co-founding a theatrical cabaret company called Standnotamazed alongside his fellow alumni, just to then become its Artistic Director. This enabled him to incorporate magic in many of their shows, the success of which, combined with the support he was receiving from loved ones as well as fellow professionals such as Fay Presto (real name Letitia Winter), pushed him to become a professional himself. Yet, it wasn’t until 2008 that he donned the persona of Piff the Magic Dragon to give his deadpan and self-deprecating humor a visual effect before adding a dog into the act as another gimmick.
John van der Put Lost His Companion, Mr. Piffles, in 2024
John AKA Piff was assisted by a chihuahua named Mr. Piffles – dressed in a matching green, red, and yellow dragon costume – from almost the very beginning of his real, international career. While he found his own stage costume/name by sheer happenstance, it was when he was doing his very first shows in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 2009 that Mr. Piffles came into his life. The dog was actually a rescue whom the comedic magician had found at age five after realizing his show “could do something extra. A dragon doing magic isn’t enough; it needs something extra.”
John told The Hanover Theatre & Conservatory that he saw a girl with her chihuahua at the venue when he was already contemplating he needed more, so he “put her chihuahua in the show. It was such a big success, and the next day, we went and found Mr. Piffles.” This dog subsequently became such a significant part of his act that he was essentially just as renowned, which is why Jeremiah Brent made the Mr. Piffles Magical Playground during ‘Queer Eye.’ Unfortunately, though, mere days before his 17th birthday and farewell performance with Piff on November 13, 2024, Mr. Piffles passed away – he died of his age/natural causes on November 8.
John van der Put and Jade Simone Are Still Head Over Heels in Love
It was just prior to the mid-2010s when John relocated from England to Las Vegas, Nevada, for good so as to spread his wings in the magic entertainment industry, but sadly, to no avail. He had already been offered a show following his success on ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ season 1 in 2011 and his stint as a support act for Mumford & Sons in 2012, yet it closed down not long after. Hence, he felt as if he was stuck despite his audition for NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ season 10 being scheduled for the same year because he knew it would take at least six months to air.
Nevertheless, John stuck around and performed anywhere he could, only to meet comedian, dancer, as well as showgirl Jade Simone along the way and feel sparks like he had never felt before. The duo actually began dating right around the time they did their first show together, the success of which led him to ask if she would stick around and even accompany him for his audition. That’s when she became a permanent fixture of not just his act but also his life – in fact, she is the one who nominated him for ‘Queer Eye’ because she wanted him to see himself the way she did.
Jade didn’t particularly love the fact that John didn’t have much confidence outside his costume and worked consistently as if all his achievements would slip away if he stopped, so she asked for help. It did take him some time, but he finally realized he should live in the moment and take time to reflect on all he has done, which inadvertently drove him to take the next step with the love of his life too. The Englishman actually got down on one knee for his partner the night he was awarded the title of Best Magician of the Year in 2023, making the biggest night of his career the biggest night of his life. It’s unclear whether the couple has since tied the knot, but they are undoubtedly still together and residing in the beautiful home they share in Las Vegas with their two chihuahuas, including Mr. Piffles 2.
John van der Put is Flourishing in Every Sense of the Term
It was back in 2015 that John was hired as a resident performer at The Flamingo, where he has been assisted by comedian, showgirl, and his girlfriend turned fiance Jade from the first day. His success there has actually been to such an extent the establishment renamed its Bugsy’s Cabaret Theater to Piff the Magic Dragon Theater before moving them to a bigger venue in 2020. They were given the much larger Flamingo Showroom with a three-year contract, which was later extended till the end of 2024, meaning they have long broken the record for the most number of shows there.
As if that’s not enough, John has since even written ‘Piff the Magic Book’ (2023), where he opened up about his entire journey and even shared that Jade also puts a lot of work into the shows behind the scenes. Moreover, and more importantly, he has not only performed for over 500,000 audience members at The Flamingo in Las Vegas, but he also tours different cities across the nation. Plus, with his first YouTube special, ‘Reptile Dysfunction,’ having recently released, it’s clear this 44-year-old’s career as a comedic magician is only bound to have an upward trajectory for the foreseeable future.
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