Finally I have gotten around to write another blog post. I have decided to review the most recent comedy show I have attended.Piff the Magic Dragon is the character of John Van Der Putt and is not a children's performer as you might expect from a character that sounds as sweet as he does. He is grumpy, slightly rude but rather awesome.
Anyway, Pifftacular was his Edinburgh show from last year. I had seen a preview of the show in June and it was good, but some things did need work. Had it improved since I last saw it? Lets see.
This show was pay-what-you-want, and you paid after the show. I paid £5 as I don't have a load of money and I treated it like a preview, which tended to be that price.
What was good? I loved the introduction before Piff came on. Him arguing with an announcer was classic. In general, his tricks were sharp. His card tricks are amazing. They blew my mind when I first saw them and they still did when I saw them again. I can't work out how he does them. I hope he does more of them in his next show. I also was perplexed by how he managed to get a Smirnoff Ice to appear, as it did not look like there was anywhere that it could come from. Also the appearing and disappearing bunnies. I took part in this trick last year and it absolutely mystified me then and it still does now. It is so cute as a trick, especially with the work experience penguin! Although I am anti smoking, I really enjoyed the tricks involving cigarettes.Some of the tricks in that bit worked really well and I didn't know how it was done, but other parts I could clearly see how it was done. This is due to partly being at the front but also I have read about the tricks in a book (Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends by Pete Firman, which is awesome, do buy!).The mind reading fish was also very good and confusing.
During the act, Piff has a dog called Mr Piffles. He is so cute and is used effectively as emotional blackmail for various reasons. I petted him on the way out. It is not just tricks that Piff is good at. His banter is excellent. He is naturally funny and deals with the crowd really well. Sometimes a little rude to people, but it suits his persona. Treating women like woodland animals, princesses and people to chop! What was different was that the women that he got up were actually quite feisty, one hip bumped him and joked about being taller than him; he is quite small.
The only thing that really annoyed me was the Malteser trick. Blowing through a straw to balance a Malteser then catch it in your mouth is not magic. And considering it took him ages to do it successfully, it was annoying. He was actually worse than the previous time! He joked that it was to extend the show and it is clearly what it is about.
Overall, the show was really good and I enjoyed it immensely. Piff gets bonus points by mentioning me and my sister the next day and thanking our attendance on Twitter and Facebook. Considering we don't talk about him that much, occasionally liking a status and commenting. I cannot wait to see his new stuff and think you should so go and see him!
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