Piff the Magic Dragon Celebrates 10 Years on The Strip

By Scott Roeben, on November 10 2025
3 min read 0 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Shows

One of the best comedy-magic shows in the history of Las Vegas is celebrating a decade at Flamingo Las Vegas.

It’s the one with the guy wearing an alligator costume. Not really, but Piff hates it when people say that, so we’re going for it.

Anyway, Piff the Magic Dragon has hit 10 years on The Strip, a remarkable accomplishment.

Jade Simone, Piff and a cavalcade of Piffles.

Piff, of course, is the lovable grouch John van der Put. He was British, but became an American citizen at some point, so his shows no longer need subtitles.

We’ll just refer to John van der Put as “Piff.” It’s like how people refer to Scott Christopher Thompson as Carrot Top. Or Raymond Teller as Teller. Or Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos as Criss Angel. Or Carson Newton as Wayne Newton.

Anyway, Piff’s show is a hoot. If you don’t like Piff, you will certainly enjoy his onstage counterpart and love of his life, Jade Simone.

If you don’t like Piff or Jade, you will definitely like Mr. Piffles II, the clone of the original Mr. Piffles, a chihuahua.

Mr. Piffles passed away in 2024 and we’re still sort of bummed about it.

Whoever does the P.R. for Piff put together a handy list of stats from his decade at Flamingo. We are sure these were measured scientifically, with no rounding up or down despite the fact some of the numbers are very, very round.

Piff by the numbers: 2,000 performances, 500,000 guests. 50,000 pounds of Jell-O, 24,000 showgirl feathers, 5,000 decks of cards, 4,000 jump splits by Jade Simone.

Look, P.R. is hard. Every day brings with it a new anniversary or official proclamation or whatever, and you’re doing P.R. and dealing with these social media “influencer” idiots, who has time to actually compile a list of actual facts? It’s not like local journalists are going to fact check anything, anyway.

We spent about 15 minutes trying to find the exact date Piff’s show opened at Flamingo, but the Internet just says November 2015. Then again, the Internet also says Piff is full of it when he claims Mr. Piffles II is an actual clone.

“There’s no evidence or credible report that Piff the Magic Dragon actually cloned his dog,” A.I. says.

This is not the first time A.I. has ruined everything.

Look, Tom Brady cloned his dog, Lua, and he’s the GOAT. Piff is the GOAT of magicians dressed like alligators, so let’s just give Piff the benefit of a doubt. It’s not like a magician would try to pull one over on anyone. Ahem.

Piff has told multiple news outlets that cloning his dog cost about $60,000. The claim has never been independently verified.

Tom Brady used Colossal Biosciences to clone his dog. That company acquired ViaGen Pets & Equine, the company Piff probably used if his claims are fact-based. We can’t believe you’re making us confirm this cloning thing.

Today we learned Piff will have a new podcast soon, “What Happened in Vegas.” It will feature behind-the-scenes stories and candid interviews with Penn Jillette, Dita Von Teese, Carrot Top, Donny Osmond and others. The first episode will debut on Nov. 26.

Note: Dita Von Teese on a podcast is like fireworks in Braille.

Oh, wait, the show will be on YouTube, too. Way to ruin a perfectly good simile, Piff.

Piff is an awesome oddball and we interviewed him on our podcast at one point.

Van der Put’s big break came from an appearance on “America’s Got Talent,” but he has made the most of what many assumed would be 15 minutes of fame. Here are some highlights or whatever the kids call them now.

A 10-year run on The Strip is an admirable feat.

Piff’s quirky, deadpan delivery and unique persona (along with the admiration of some of the world’s best magicians) have created an enduring legacy in the world of Las Vegas entertainment.

We can only hope Jade has set aside some of Piff’s genetic material in case anything ever happens to him. Just saying.