COMEDY MAGIC: Prankster pushes limits

Amazing Jonathan will go to great lengths for a joke

April Fools' Day was surprisingly tame at the Southeast Las Vegas home of self-proclaimed prankster the Amazing Jonathan. While many reserve their shenanigans for the first day of April, that's the one day the comedy magician gives pranks a rest.

"That's amateur day," the Strip headliner said. "That's when the amateurs come out and play."

Every other day of the year, Jonathan's friends and neighbors are on their guard. When he's not blowing up trees in his back yard, he's building cardboard spaceships and trying to launch them down his driveway.

"Yeah, the neighbors know who I am. They come over now and ask for tickets all the time so the doorbell's always ringing," Jonathan said.

The comedian is so into pranks, he put together a book of them. He sells "Every Trick in the Book" at his show and then donates a portion of the profits to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. While Jonathan came up with most of the tricks in the book, he said a few were found on the Internet. Most of the pranks have been tested on friends, family and even strangers.

"I lost a wife because of that book," Jonathan said. "She was the guinea pig. A lot of them I tried out on her. She had a pretty good sense of humor -- at first."

Most of the author's friends are terrified of what he'll do next.

"I can scare people when I'm not even there. That's the beauty of it," Jonathan said. "They think I'm right outside the door waiting to set them up and I'm not. They live in constant fear that I'm up to something, then when they don't expect it, that's when I get them. I've got the best on both ends.

"I actually had somebody slide a toilet paper note under the bathroom door saying, 'I know you're out there.' I wasn't. I was in the garage working on something."

The prankster will go to any length or any expense to make a joke work. A friend asked Jonathan's assistant to detail a beat up BMW. The comedian paid more than $350 to have the whole car repainted.

"When he came back, there's my assistant still vacuuming and the guy's freaking out. 'What did you do?' he said. Adam just looked up and said 'I worked my ass off,' He figured it out after a little bit. It took him about 20 minutes, but it was worth $350," Jonathan said. "To me that was money well spent. My priorities are so whacked. Money is no object."

On what he thinks was his most elaborate hoax, Jonathan sent an e-mail asking a friend to send an autographed photo to a supposedly dying child. When the friend responded, the comedian posed as the boy's father who was upset because the child had already died.

A day or two later, Jonathan wrote back, again posing as the father. "I told him I'd found my son's diary and his dying wish was to have this guy perform at his funeral. I offered to send a plane ticket. He felt like dirt, so he agreed."

When the performer got off his plane, no one was there to greet him. He went to the funeral home and they told him they had "no clients by that name here."

"No clients. That was the funniest thing," Jonathan said. "That was pretty good."

Last year Jonathan blindfolded a friend and told him they were going out for a special birthday dinner. The comedian drove his friend in circles and then led the guy back into his own living room.

"He was so confused, looking around like he'd never seen his own living room before. I said 'Brian, it's a joke. It's funny.' He said, 'I don't get it.' He had to sit down he was so dizzy. It was great," he said.

Occasionally, the prankster's victims retaliate. But he said, "They don't try very often because they're fearful of retaliation."

The man who could get the comedian the best was former "Saturday Night Live" performer A. Whitney Brown.

"Man he could get me good," Jonathan said of his friend. "I was waiting at a corner once and he was supposed to come pick me up. He'd drive by and look all over for me, but not look at me. I'm like 'Oh, over here' and he'd go around the block again. He just kept doing it to me and then when he finally picked me up he said he saw me the whole time."

Another competing prankster was Rich Block, a magician working as Jonathan's opening act. Block filled Jonathan's water container with live translucent fish. When Jonathan took a huge swig of water during his act, he felt movement, like tissue in his throat.

"I held the glass up and there were still about 30 fish in it. I could see their ribs. I almost wretched. But I got him back."

At the end of each act, Block plays "Stars and Stripes Forever" and waves two tiny flags as a huge American flag unfurls behind him. Jonathan replaced the flag with a giant sign that read, "I'm a child molester."

"When he wasn't getting his usual warm reaction from the crowd, he turns around and he does a perfect double take. I've got it on video. It's so great," Jonathan said.

Many of Jonathan's best gags are never seen during his stage show at the Flamingo, they take place in his Las Vegas home. From his cow painting piped to dispense chilled milk to his barking dog painting, the comedian said his house is designed to poke the funny bone.

"This is such a cool house to work with," he said.

Jonathan enjoys the wary looks he gets from friends and strangers, but he said sometimes he has a hard time being taken seriously, especially during his act.

"It's hard to convince people of some pretty simple things sometimes, especially as a magician," Jonathan said. "I say, 'Put this in your hand. They're like, 'No!' I say, 'You have to, it's the trick.' They think they're going to get shocked or cut or something. And I can't convince them I'm trying to do a real trick. So my magic takes a little longer than most magicians. There's the whole convincing factor I have to go through."


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