Standup comedian and magician John Edward Szeles passed away on February 22, 2022.
Szeles was 63 years old when he died after a long battle with heart disease.
John Szeles’ fellow comedian, Penny Wiggins announced he has passed away at 11.30pm on February 22.
Wiggins posted the news on Facebook and said, “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.”
In a 2014 onstage performance, Szeles announced to his audience, I was told I have a year to live.”
When the audience started to laugh, thinking Szeles was kidding, he paused and said, “Not a joke.”
Szeles later announced on his website that he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease that makes it difficult for a person’s heart to pump blood.
He defied the odds and began to recover from the disease, surviving seven years longer than doctors predicted.
As Szeles neared the end of his life, his wife Anastasia posted around 6pm on the day of his passing that he had become unresponsive.
“I’m so sad and feel like this is carving a hole in my chest,” she said, adding, “His decline was fast, but it also wasn’t. He is so strong. He has beaten the odds for so long.
“… This has destroyed me and thankfully I’m medicated with amazing support from home hospice nurses and appreciate the help offers, but need peace with him. Snuggles.
“The last week has been an absolute nightmare. I don’t think we thought this day would ever come because he is so strong and has beaten it so many times.”
Szeles was a comedian and magician who performed as The Amazing Johnathan and described himself as “the Freddy Krueger of comedy.”
He gained a following during his time on the mid-2000s show, Mindfreak, where he would perform occasionally disturbing stunts including sucking on his dangling eyeball, slitting his wrists, and putting a spike through his tongue.
His career entertaining the masses lasted more than three decades, two appearances on Comedy Central in One Night Stand, Lounge Lizards, and Premium Blend, while also getting his own special, Wrong on Every Level.
In 2001, Szeles took up residence at the Golden Nugget venue in Las Vegas where he stayed for 13 years.
John Szeles’ perception of life and death was questioned in a documentary that was released in 2019.
It was Ben Berman’s first experience directing a film, and he said working with the comedian was difficult.
Oftentimes, Szeles would cancel an interview, Berman said, but his commitment to finishing the documentary was greater than his annoyance with Szeles.
“Such a big theme of the movie is trying to determine what’s truth and what’s illusion,” Berman told The Guardian in a 2019 interview. “And there are still some things I don’t know. So I’m going to stay cryptic on that.”
He made the documentary, titled The Amazing Johnathan Documentary, four years after Szeles announced his imminent death and questioned whether his announcement was a publicity stunt.
After announcing the news, Szeles stepped off the stage for what appeared to be the last time and spent three years at home before returning to comedy.
His reemergence prompted Berman to create the documentary focusing on him overcoming a terminal illness and dealing with drug addiction.
A review of the documentary in The New York Times said, “Watching Berman persist is fascinating, embarrassing, and undignified, like a politician on Dancing With the Stars. Why, I wondered, is he doing this?
“Well, Berman’s mother died of cancer years ago. The film includes videos he made during her illness. His deduction? Maybe this is why Szeles so appeals to him: an attraction to death.”
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