The Amazing Johnathan

John Edward Szeles September 9 1958 February 22 2022 better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan was an American comedian and magician His act was mostly composed of hijinks interaction with one specific audience member and a few legitimate magic tricks From 2001 to 2014 he was a yearround headliner in Las Vegas Selfdescribed as the Freddy Krueger of Comedy Szeles performed wearing his everpresent headband and his shows frequently used gore for example 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 helped him perform a variety of illusions most notably during three guest appearances on Angels Mindfreak Szeles was born in Detroit Michigan the son of Doreen and Edward Szeles34 In the 1970s he relocated to California where he began his career performing on the streets of San Francisco5 He first appeared on television in The 8th Annual Young Comedians Show in 1983 and later went on to become the host of the shortlived 1991 syndicated varietygame show Ruckus He appeared on various talk and variety shows from the mid1980s to mid2000s His only credited performance as an actor was The Obligatory Holiday Episode of The Weird Al Show playing the part of Uncle Johnathan He made several appearances on Late Night with David Letterman a record 24 appearances on Foxs Comic Strip Live and had several specials on Comedy Central including Comedy Central Presents Lounge Lizards and more recently his own onehour special entitled Wrong on Every Level He dedicated the special to his Uncle Eugene who showed him his first card trick which started this whole mess He appeared in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats Johnathan had success in Australia following appearances on Channel 9s Hey Hey Its Saturday Szeles also authored a howto 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 From 2014 onwards he was working on his memoirs with the working title of Drive It Like You Stole It although his declining health prevented him from finishing it Szeles died in his sleep of heart failure at his home in Las Vegas on February 22 2022 at the age of 63