Johnny Thompson

the Irish cricketer

John Max Thompson (July 27, 1934 – March 9, 2019) was an American comedian and Las Vegas illusionist who performed under the stage name The Great Tomsoni with his wife, Pamela Hayes. They had a comedic slapstick act with the well dressed Thompson and his gum popping assistant, Pam, performing illusions while enduring a series of mishaps. Within the magician community, Tomsoni was considered a virtuoso, widely known as a mentor and teacher of magic, and a creator of tricks, as opposed to simply a performer. He worked behind the scenes with magicians such as Penn and Teller, Lance Burton, Criss Angel and Mat Franco. In 1999, he was awarded one of the highest honors in the magician community, a Masters Fellowship with the Academy of Magical Arts.

Thompson, who was Polish American, was born in Chicago on July 27, 1934. Along with his wife Pamela Hayes, he performed a slapstick comic magical act in which he played the role of a dapper but buffoonish vaudeville gentleman, with a gum popping assistant, and they endured various mishaps during their performance. One of his trademarks was producing pure white doves on stage, which were trained to play along with the act once they had appeared. He had been featured on many episodes of Criss Angel's Mindfreak, the "Hair" episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit!, and the film The Aristocrats. His wife and assistant, Pamela Hayes Thompson, was featured in the film Women in Boxes about magicians' assistants. He was the producer on the television program Penn & Teller: Fool Us. As part of that job, he was responsible for making the final call as to whether the performers were able to fool Penn & Teller.