Jonathan Burns on Fool Us, America's Got Talent and Fitting Through Toilet Seats at NBA Games

Magician and contortionist Jonathan Burns has an amazing act. Beyond the magic and stunts he performs, the most marvelous thing about his act is his personality.

Burns does crazy stuff for a living, like taking off his underwear without removing his pants and performing "cheese magic" with a stack of Kraft Singles. He also lacquers every performance with an infectious, over-the-top energy and the type of sense of humor that can fuel a joke long after you think it's done.

"My goal has always been to make a living doing this, so I've just been kind of riding that ever since I started doing it full-time and never having to get a real job," Burns says from his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Burns will be in Dallas on Tuesday, Dec. 27, to perform some of his contortion stunts during halftime at the Dallas Mavericks game at the American Airlines Center.

Burns' career came naturally; he was a hyperactive kid with a penchant for goofy behavior and a love for magic and sideshow performances. His signature bit, which he first tried when he was 19, involves squeezing his long, gangly frame through a toilet seat and other small openings — from his head to his feet.

"The first thing I tried to fit through is a toilet seat, and it was actually the first thing I figured out," Burns says. "It was a trip to Lowe's, and they had a wall of toilet seats you could choose from and I was like, 'I wonder if I can fit through there?'"

The other part of the act is how well he sells it to a crowd, something he has to be confident about while performing for a crowd of screaming fans in an arena. Burns blares '80s music and "Flashdances" (for lack of a better term) his way through bits that endear him to audiences.

"I'm always looking for stuff that I can fit through and use in the act," Burns says. "I've definitely been in stores trying to fit through things when one one's looking, like fitting into suitcases. I was at Michael's one time fitting through a frame when no one was looking and I realized I'm [sized] 11" x 14."

Burns' tricks first landed him on TV with appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show With David Letterman as part of his "Stupid Human Tricks" segment. He held a pack of matches in his mouth while his college buddy Mark Hayward lit them by striking the tips with a yo-yo.
Burns' biggest break happened when he appeared during the fourth season of the CW magic competition series Penn & Teller: Fool Us and on the 14th season of NBC's America's Got Talent. He says he gets recognized more for the Fool Us performances, but he made quite an impression on the AGT judges, who can be brutal even when the audience is on the performer's side.

"It's strange," Burns says. "It's not just me putting up my thing there, and then you can decide what you think of it. There's someone discussing it immediately after. That's always been an odd part of that." 

Fortunately, the AGT judges gave him a big thumbs up, and the fans who watched helped him blow up as much as his phone.

"I didn't realize how big the show was until after my first appearance on there went really well and with social media, you get like an immediate idea of what's going on with the show too," Burns says of America's Got Talent. "My phone was shutting down because it got so hot from all the various notifications I kept getting."

Burns has gotten even bigger now that he's performing at halftime shows for the Dallas Mavericks for the second time and during halftime shows for other teams like the Portland Trail Blazers and the Orlando Magic.

"I think they're trying to do different things, and I am definitely something different," Burns says with a laugh.