John Edward Szeles, the standup comic and magician who delighted in shocking audiences for decades as “The Amazing Johnathan,” has died at his Las Vegas home on Tuesday after a long battle with heart disease.
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The self-described “Freddy Krueger of comedy” was 63.
His fellow standup comic Penny Wiggins, 60, posted on Facebook. “My heart is broken. One of my best friends, one of the funniest humans I’ve ever met. I loved him so very much and will never forget this wonderful, amazing, kind, funny, great person.”
The Detroit native’s widow, sideshow stuntwoman Anastasia Synn, confirmed her husband’s death just before midnight.
“The last thing I said to him was, ‘I love you, honey, I’ll be with you when you get up from your nap”.
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Szeles gained mainstream fame on Vegas headliner Criss Angel’s mid-2000s reality TV show “Mindfreak,” and often injected gonzo, faux-gore bits into his shows.
Signature shock value moments included pretending to suck on his own dangling eyeball, slitting his wrists, and spiking his own tongue.
The Bally’s casino star attraction and Comedy Central staple — who reportedly earned $3 million a year at his peak — was diagnosed in March 2007 with a serious heart condition.
The “alt-magician” gained further notoriety as the subject of a controversial 2019 Hulu documentary, “The Amazing Johnathan Documentary.” The film followed Szeles, then 60, as he mounted a comeback tour after defying his terminal illness diagnosis — and simultaneously dealing with ongoing drug addiction.
Szeles was reportedly in the process of writing his memoir, “Drive It As You Stole It,” before his health took a turn for the worse.
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