When you get invited to the 8th birthday of a magic dragon, you envision the guest of honor perched on heaps of treasure, casually engulfing revelers in flames and smiling at princesses. But Piff's special day involved perching on a chair at Kuma Snow Cream in Chinatown, engulfing revelers in dry wit and smiling at children who were mesmerized by his shiny green skin.
That's also the color of the new dessert named after him at Kuma. The Piff is honeydew snow cream with a drizzle of condensed milk and generous rainbow sprinkles, M&M's and chewy bits of mochi. I was nervous that the M&M's would overwhelm the perfect melon flavor, but the snow cream's coldness made them a crunchy complement. While I left a few sprinkles behind, I found Piff the dessert to be a fun and unusual treat.
So is Piff the performer, who broke out locally in Vegas Nocturne, an entertainment smorgasbord that had a short but glorious run at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. In fact, I interviewed the magic dragon and his magic Chihuahua sidekick Mr. Piffles in R.R.L.’s bathtub, where we talked about what it’s like for him to be mistaken for Godzilla, the many charms of Mario Lopez and other important things. The show reportedly wasn’t sustainable, and when it ended suddenly last summer, I wondered what would become of Piff’s particular hilariousness.
Piff feeding Piffles one sprinkle. He's a diva, after all.
He filled me in at his birthday last week, starting with the part where he applied for a green card (he’s an English dragon). "It was granted however it takes three months from authorization until it arrives, and a week later Vegas Nocturne closed. So I was trapped! Unable to work or leave the country for three months," Piff elaborated via email, adding that by the time he could work again his prospects had improved. He opened locally for Motown group Human Nature throughout December, performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this spring, and made an appearance in his native U.K.’s famous Sunday Night at the Palladium variety show. Hoping to raise his profile, he auditioned for America’s Got Talent.
"My first audition on that has had over 12 million views online already. Round 2, judges cut, airs on Tuesday the 14th of July. Fingers crossed I make it through,” Piff said. “This time I bring out my secret weapon, Mr. Piffles. I hope we make it far, as I'm sure that will help us achieve the dream of our own show on the Strip and bring us one step closer to opening PiffLand.”
He didn’t elaborate about PiffLand … As for AGT, I watched him do his thing for Heidi, Mel, Howie and Howard, and let’s just say this dragon knows how to work the ladies and a deadpan banana gag. We’ll have to see how he and Piffles fare in the next round.
They're appearing right now in X Comedy at the Flamingo, and Piff just launched a Kickstarter to create “a completely custom totally badass deck of playing cards designed from the ground up to fulfill all your magical dragon desires.”
There are other things brewing that he can’t talk about yet, but Piff has taken a shine to Vegas. So have some extra sprinkles on your snow cream, and stay tuned.
