Piff the Magic Dragon comes to Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre

‘America’s Got Talent’ star to include Mr. Piffles in local show|

Just because an individual is imaginary, it doesn’t mean they don’t still have bills to pay.

For the creature known to fans as Piff the Magic Dragon, best-known for his outrageous appearances on the 10th season of “America’s Got Talent,” an honest day’s work means appearing on stages around the world performing his own unique, off-the-wall version of magic and comedy, underscored by dry, slightly irritated audience banter. But dragons being dragons, Piff wants to make it known (having phoned in from his current home in Las Vegas), that he’s not pleased to learn that the Mystic Theatre, in Petaluma, has never hosted an actual dragon before.

“It’s offensive, that’s what it is. When I appear in Petaluma, as I understand it, it will be the first time the Mystic Theatre has had a genuine mythical creature on stage there, and what’s taken them so long, that’s what I’d like to know?” he says. “Apparently, fire-sneezing dragons aren’t given the same kind of reception that is given to mute singing clowns, it seems. And that’s sad. These are the sorts of stigmas I’ve been having to deal with all over the place, as a dragon. These are the same kinds of glass walls I’ve had to break through from the beginning. Wait, no … glass doors. Nope, still not it. Oh right. Glass ceilings. That’s what I meant all along. I got there eventually. Any more questions?”

Thus begins a fifteen minute chat with Piff the Magic Dragon.

According to certain non-?whimsical sources, the 39-year-old British performer was born John van der Put, and after making a name for himself as a magician and actor, began performing as Piff - the younger brother of the better known magic dragon …. Steve - in 2008. Through sold-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and other showcases of odd entertainments, he built a huge following, with the help of Mr. Piffles, “The world’s only magic performing Chihuahua™.”

“It’s actually trademarked, that phrase,” allows Piff, “though for some reason I can’t trademark ‘Piff the Magic Dragon.’ It’s a crazy world.”

Piff eventually found himself in Las Vegas, where his act added a few other characters: Jade Simone, “a genuine Las Vegas showgirl,” and Francis the Squire, who together have launched a popular podcast known as “The PiffPod,” a sometimes ribald three-way conversation/argument/verbal fantasia on the absurdities of life and whatever is annoying Piff at the moment.

Together, the team will be performing at the Mystic Theatre, on Saturday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m. Originally, there was to be an afternoon show, but it was forced to be canceled for “technical reasons.” Asked if the afternoon show was going to be a bit more family friendly, Piff suggests that it generally all depends on his mood.

“It’s the same show, basically, each time,” he says, “though it might be a little different in the evening, because I tend to get crankier the later it gets. We say that anyone from 8-years-old and up is a pretty good match for what we do.” In response to a question about whether he’s as grumpy with 8-year-olds as he proved to be with Howie Mandel on “America’s Got Talent,” Piff replies, “Worse. Much worse to 8-year-olds. They get the brunt of it, totally.”

It was May of 2015 that Piff made his first appearance on the aforementioned television talent show, initially baffling but quickly delighting the judges and viewing audience alike. The first time, he performed sans Chihuahua, but with four positive votes, he moved on to the Judge Cuts round, during which Mr. Piffles assisted with a trick involving a disappearing playing card that eventually showed up in a can of actual dog food. The next time they appeared, Mandel was recruited to select from four numbered boxes dangling high over the stage, one of which, Piff informed an apprehensive audience, contained Mr. Piffles himself. As Mandel nervously deselected boxes one by one (a clever reversal of his own “Deal or No Deal” game show) the boxes were violently destroyed. The third was dropped into a wood chipper, leaving the fourth to be opened, with a safe-and-sound Mr. Piffles emerging unscathed. The next and last time Piffles appeared on the show, he performed a trick in which Mr. Piffles was apparently shot from a cannon, after which Piff’s tenure on the show ended abruptly.

“Now, when people ask what my advice is should they ever get onto ‘America’s Got Talent,’?” he says, “I just say, whatever you do, don’t shoot a Chihuahua out of a cannon. That’s a quick trip to elimination.”

Though he fell just shy of winning the show, he did earn his way into a residency at Las Vegas’ Flamingo Resort, where he’s been performing regularly ever since. And earlier this month, he sat down with some Broadway producers to discuss possibilities for a future Piff the Magic Dragon Broadway show, which will feature original songs, a full storyline, and some world-class illusions.

But first, there are two shows in Petaluma to cross off the list.

“We do a mix of things in our current travelling show, some old favorites people might have seen on television and a bunch of new things,” he says, giving a sense of what audiences at the Mystic can expect. “The thing is, every time you bring somebody up on stage to be part of a trick, it tends to change things, sending the show off in all kinds of directions. So it’s always something new to see at a Piff show. In other words, everyone should see both shows, because even though they’ll be the same, they’ll also be totally different, and you don’t want to miss a minute of either one.”

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