Amazing Johnathan

Amazing Johnathan
Cover of Genii (2000)
Born	John Edward Szeles September 9, 1958 Detroit, Michigan
Died	February 22, 2022 (age 63)
Nationality	American

John Edward Szeles (b.1958-d.2022), better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan, was an American stand-up comedian/magician.

Biography

His act was mostly composed of hijinks, interaction with one specific audience member and a few legitimate magic tricks which often failed for comic effect. From 2001, he was a year-round headliner in Las Vegas. Self-described as the "Freddy Krueger of Comedy", Szeles usually performed wearing his ever present headband and his shows frequently used gore, such as pretending to suck on his own hanging eyeball, cutting his wrists, and skewering his own tongue. He was also good friends with fellow performer Criss Angel, and had helped Angel perform a variety of illusions, most notably during his three guest appearances on Mindfreak.

Szeles, who began his career performing in the streets of San Francisco, first appeared on television in The 8th Annual Young Comedians Show in 1983 and later went on to become the host of the short-lived 1991 syndicated variety/game show Ruckus. He appeared on various talk and variety shows from the mid-80s to mid 2000s. His only credited performance as an actor was The Obligatory Holiday Episode of The Weird Al Show (playing the part of Uncle Johnathan). He had made several appearances on Late Night with David Lettermen, a record 24 appearances on Fox's Comic Strip Live, and had several specials on Comedy Central including Comedy Central Presents, Lounge Lizards and his own one hour special entitled "Wrong on Every Level." (November 18, 2006), He dedicated the special to his Uncle Eugene, who showed him his first card trick which "started this whole mess". His only film appearance was the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats

Szeles also authored a how-to book on practical jokes titled Every Trick in the Book, a compilation of both classic practical jokes and plain magic tricks, along with his own original material in both categories. He was working on his memoir, entitled, "Drive It Like You Stole It," when he passed.

In March 2007 it was reported that Szeles was diagnosed with "a serious heart condition". The performer's website identified the condition as cardiomyopathy and went on to assert that, due to a combination of weight loss and blood thinners, he was doing well and decided to postpone retirement indefinitely.

In 2008, Szeles combined two of his passions (classic car collecting and drive-in movie theaters) to open the "Amazing Underground" a members only indoor drive-in movie theatre located within his warehouse facilities in Las Vegas.

As of 2011, Szeles was performing regular shows in Las Vegas at the Harmon Theater while also taking select dates at venues across the USA and in Australia. 2011 marks Szeles' third year of performing at the Harmon Theatre and Szeles' 11th consecutive year as a full-time Las Vegas headliner. He has won "Best Comedian" award from Las Vegas Review Journal, Comedian of the Year from Nevada Magazine, Top Ten Acts in Vegas (LVRJ) and is the longest running, most successful solo comic magician in U.S history.

Szeles died in his sleep of heart failure at his home in Las Vegas on February 22, 2022.

Appearances

• The 8th Annual Young Comedians Show (1983)
• Ruckus (1991)
• World's Greatest Magic 2 (1995)
• Cover Genii 2000 September
• Criss Angel Mindfreak, Season 1 Episode 15 (2005)
• Wrong on Every Level (2006)
• The Amazing Johnathan Documentary (2019)

External links

• Johnathan's site
• The New York Times: John Szeles, Comic Magician as the Amazing Johnathan, Dies at 63

References

This page incorporated content from Amazing Johnathan, a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License