About

Born and based in Halifax, The Amazing Mr. J (David Jolly) has performed for over 20+ years all across Canada (Nationwide Since 1999!), entertaining with Magic, comedy, and balloon art for kids, teens, and adults. (You can also let him entertain for YOU!)

The Amazing Mr. J loves adapting shows to YOUR audience, whether they’re for your: children’s birthdays, schools, campgrounds, festivals, malls, libraries, walk-around shows, weddings, libraries, PLUS house parties for adults, universities/colleges, high schools/Safe Grads, seniors, bachelor/bachelorette parties, weddings, and corporate groups (He’s even been hired by numerous celebrities! You can see pictures here in the celebrity section of the facebook photo galleries).

Having performed over 4000+ shows, from northernmost Newfoundland (Canada Day 2014 & 2015, in La Scie), to Toronto, even to Whitehorse, Yukon (at the 2016 Sourdough Festival along with beloved fiddling legend Natalie MacMaster), Mr. J loves our beautiful country of Canada, and all the truly amazing people who live here.

You may have already seen The Amazing Mr. J on one of his many TV guest appearances over years. (Most recently, in Summer 2021, Mr. J applied to perform on CityTV’s ‘Canada’s Got Talent!’).

You can read Mr. J’s story in print, since after facing The Dragons on CBC TV’s Dragons’ Den years ago, he luckily scored a deal with Kevin O’Leary! Kevin published Mr. J in his newest #1 international bestseller (pages 123-133) “Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids & Money”. (Thanks for publishing Mr. J, Mr. Wonderful!)

How did it begin? When Mr. J’s wonderful MOM & DAD bought him a wonderful little Magic Kit for his 5th birthday, he became hooked, performing his first ‘shows’ for parents right out of the box. When turning six, a second Magic Kit turned into a little show for all the guests at his grandparents house in Saint John, New Brunswick… sparking a lifelong love of performing. (So, parents, it’s always good to encourage that stuff in your children!) A few years later, those same perfect parents hired some magicians to perform at his house, forever expanding little Mr. J’s imagination. (Again, always a good idea, parents…you never know what long-lasting influence such a childhood experience can give your child!)

Inspired by Nova Scotia’s own world-renowned Magic talent Mike Robinson, Mr. J took a break from his school teaching career to attend Circus School in Toronto, where he also studied Magic at Browser’s Den (with super-cool owner Jeff Pinsky). After performing his first public Magic Shows in Toronto in 1999, and returning to NS, he then performed every day for two months over Christmas, at Dartmouth’s Mic Mac Mall, (right beside Santa!), where he learned the art of performing for large crowds…seeing firsthand the joy Magic can bring.

While still working as a schoolteacher, Mr. J used Magic tricks as a fun motivator for his students. He found he could actually incorporate Magic directly into his lessons each year, whether teaching Science, French, or even European History. Following some school Magic workshops, the demand for actual Magic Shows at events while he was still teaching became so great, that Mr. J finally left teaching for good in 2005, to pursue magic performing exclusively, nationwide, on a full-time basis. Seeing the wonderful reactions from kids, teens, and adults, the fully-grown David Jolly continues to try and share this joy and excitement with as many people as possible!

Today, Mr. J generally divides his time between Halifax, Truro, and throughout Atlantic Canada…plus regularly at his ‘second home’ in Toronto.

By day, Mr. J is a Magician, Landlord, Writer, and Bon Vivant. By night, he is also those things. That’s because he’s that good kind of workaholic: a goal-setting, practical dreamer. Mr. J speaks French, and loves Canada, cooking, nature, the outdoors, green living, exercising, hiking, sports, writing, poetry, film, the arts, CBC Radio, singing, playing guitar and piano, skydiving, new ideas, random adventures, traveling, board games, magic (of course), plus virtually all music, and literature. (Secret confession: Mr. J loves hosting retro parties!)

Mr. J loves children, and is writing an original children’s book, hoping to make it into a series. A couple books for adults are also in the works. (Keep watching your local bookstore!)

Mr. J is cosmopolitan and urbane, and (let’s face it), rather silly too.

(By the way, Mr. J never goes around talking about himself in the third person like this. That’s just an understood pretense when writing mini-bios like this…) 😛

Thank YOU for visiting this page, and for helping yours truly to live the dream as a full-time Magician and entertainer. It has been a sincere pleasure, and honour, to perform for you for over 20+ years, and to share so many fun-filled times, with old and new friends of all ages.

YOU are helping keep the Magic alive! Feel free to send your questions, heckles, marriage proposals, or really good jokes to: misterjmagic@hotmail.com

THANKS! Wishing you Joy & Magic.

-David Jolly “The Amazing Mr. J- Magician & Entertainer”
782-414-3612 (That’s a Nova Scotia number, Magic Friends! CALL anytime, for more info, and bookings). 🙂

The Amazing
   Mr. J ON

You know what's even cooler than kindness?🤔❓️UNEXPECTED, Out-of-the-Blue Kindness.🤗Just received this wonderful message, six months to the day after a Magic Birthday Show performed last April.🎩🪄🐰🕊❤️After a full weekend of Magic Shows on the road (see pics of those super-fun groups attached!), you would think one would be exhausted...but naaaah!☺️ It's amazing how a random thoughtful message takes away your tiredness.💪🙃😃Talk about Magic.🌠Would that we all take a moment to share such words with those whose awesomeness we appreciate.❤️👍(PS- My Annual Christmas card list is over 120 cards this year...hopefully You made the 2024 list...)😉🎅🎄👌"Hi Mr. J,It has been half a year since you came to our place in Wolfville to celebrate our daughter, Izumi’s 10th birthday on April 21st, 2024. My apologies for taking so so so long to send this message to you. (I bet 99.99% people would send you a thank you note right away.) Firstly, thank you so much again for your wonderful performance that made her milestone 10th birthday something special she will remember for the rest of her life. Everyone, both the kids and the adults, enjoyed your show and were talking about it even in the following week. You were so entertaining and brilliant with kids. Michael and I were wondering if our daughter Izumi had any idea that you were coming to the party, as we wanted to make it a total surprise to her, since she requested a surprise as her gift. She told me later that until she saw you, she was panicking a bit as she didn’t know what activities the kids were going to do at the party. Every year we set a theme and did home-made activities related to it, but this year she wasn’t involved in it, kept in dark. I told her that this year’s theme will be a Magic. When she saw you arriving at the door, she was like “I know this person, he’s Mr. J!, but what is he doing here…?, wait, what!, really!?”. So, she had absolutely no idea, which made your presence a perfect gift for her.Another funny thing was, you picked one boy to work with Izumi at the beginning of the show, and he was actually someone she really liked. You were teasing them, saying like “Are you like a boy friend and a girl friend?”, which they were denying, but Michael and I smiled to each other.I am not sure if you still remember there was an adult Japanese girl from Osaka at the party, to whom you also handed a gift. She told me that when she was in Lunenburg this summer she saw you performing there!Lastly, I think your brother’s bar is “Shaka Bar” in Nipponbashi, Osaka, and his name is Chris? Next time we are in Japan, we would definitely like to visit the bar.Thank you again, and we are all hoping to see you again in the future, hopefully soon." -Shoko, Michael, and Izumi, Wolfville NS (Show performed April 2024)🎩🪄🐰🕊❤️👍 ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook
Do you love LIVE THEATRE? 🎭🤔❓️If so, turn off the TV and treat yourself sometime!🤗'Tis Truly Magic🎩🪄 for Your Soul.🥰The talent on this stage tonight Blew. Me. AWAY. 😮‼️❤️❤️ (Seriously, I'm still blowing around with the autumn leaves🍂🍁🍃😋)After a full day of performing Magic Birthdays🥳🎂🎩, THEN sitting in the first row for this first class show...it felt wonderful to be able to WATCH Magic in action again, as an awe-filled and appreciative AUDIENCE member.🤗 Humbled by the stage presence💥, and energy⚡️ of all these amazing actors. Superb stellar stagecraft...heartfelt, passionate performances...marvellous music, and awesomely uplifting....seriously couldn't imagine a better production!🤩A big Thank You to ⭐️Mina Roe⭐️ and Windsor's 'Quick as a Wink Theatre Society'.🌠Tonight's "Tale as Old as Time" made this longtime Lover-of-the-Arts feel YOUNG again.😍🥰🤗 Hope YOU personally can also support your local actors and creative artists when You can...guaranteed they will have the same Magical effect on YOU.🎭👩‍🎨👨‍🎨🎨🤗🎩🪄🐰🕊👍#Magic #Arts #LocalTheatre #QuickAsAWink #TaleAsOldAsTime #BeautyAndTheBeast ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook
RIP😪 and thanks❤️ to ⭐️MIKE BULLARD⭐️, for his pioneering Canadian🇨🇦 late night talk show, his hilarious audience-interactive comedy, and especially for putting up with yours truly‼️, during my admittedly absurd appearance on his CTV show.😅 (Ridiculous Video of Mr. J on Mike Bullard, attached).🎥👌Did you also watch Mike's show, Friends?⭐️🤔❓️Y'know, as a schoolteacher👨‍🏫 back in 1999, (juuuuust about to embark on a new career as a Magician/Entertainer)❤️🎩🪄🐰🕊, I drove 19 hours from Nova Scotia, JUST to see and experience Mike live.🌠 Why🤔❓️His amazing spontaneous finesse with a live crowd helped inspire me to pursue an entertainment career.🎭 Grateful to have had the chance to tell him so, personally.🥰Literally making the random LIVE audience his 'material' every night, and taking live phone calls on-air, Mike regularly walked an exciting comedy tightrope on national television.If you personally remember tuning in to 'Open Mike with Mike Bullard' (1997-2003, on CTV) and 'The Mike Bullard Show' (2003-2004, on Global), you regularly saw a much funnier show than its American counterparts Leno, Letterman, and the rest (Within our wonderful Canada🇨🇦, Mike actually beat those U.S. juggernaut shows in the ratings!)‼️After some down years and personal turmoil, Mike finally seemed poised to make a comeback...recently touring extensively in Ukraine for several months on humanitarian missions. The Man was only 67😪, and was performing live stand up as recently as last week.🥲Friend and fellow entertainer ⭐️Mark Christian Walker⭐️ also appeared on Mike's show, as did many other talented, established, and up-and-coming acts, who Mike encouraged. As he did for me.🤗So here's a tip of the Magic Hat🎩, to a unique Canadian talent.🇨🇦🌟🙏⭐️FUN FACT⭐️: Six years after this ridiculous 1999 TV appearance, a girl I had just started dating mentioned Mike Bullard, and how she remembered "seeing some guy on there years ago, who drove from Nova Scotia to be on the show...he made our whole family laugh." After I realized she was (coincidentally, and unknowingly!) talking about me, I showed her the video you see here. She burst out: "OMG!! That was YOU??! I saw you on TV six years ago! You were that crazy guy on Mike Bullard??"😅‼️Seems you never know in Life how you are remembered. May we all move forward knowing we all can create positive ripples in the Universe. ❤️💫🌠Just like when Mike himself walked out on stage, interacting with random people on national television...you just know: 🥳ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!🥰Because Life, like Comedy, is MAGIC.❤️🎩🪄🐰🕊👌#MikeBullard #OpenMike #RIP #Magic #Comedy #ThankYou ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook
With your news cycle full of 'Hate, Hamas, and Hurricanes'🙄😬❗️, do you feel like some HOPE?🙏❤️ Maybe a reason to be...THANKFUL?🤗❓️Here's a HUNDRED!🥰🌠👍👍Look at all these excited, happy kids!🎊🎉😃‼️ Many of whom have physical and/or mental challenges😪❗️🙏, that often keep them from enjoying 'normal' trick-or-treating on October 31st.🎃👻🦇How to help them celebrate?🤔❓️Well, enter 'TREAT ACCESSIBLY', a special annual event for an entire (September!) afternoon, when this hard-working Halifax community of volunteers go all out with Hallowe'en decorations, spooky treats and costumed fun...to make these special needs children's world a little brighter.❤️❤️This Canadian Tire sponsored event runs nationwide, and it's always profound honour for ole Mr. J to perform Magic🎩🪄🐰🕊🌠, and create balloons🎈⭐️ for everyone, every year.👍Here's a tip of the Magic Hat to all the first class folks who make this happen.💪😎🎩👍As you know, your personal news feed doesn't tell you the WHOLE story.☝️ Unfortunate stuff going on in the world? Maybe so.😔 BUT! This weekend, feeling THANKFUL for the kindness of so many caring people...all more than willing to spread the Joy and Magic of Life.🥰"Magic is never one big thing- it's a million little things".🎩🪄🌠👌HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Dear Friends!😇 Feeling thankful for YOU.🥰#Thanksgiving #TreatAccessibly #Magic #Gratitude #Kindness ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook
Y'know, performing Magic🎩🪄🐰is easy at a Wedding👰🤵‍♂💒💍🔔...Magic is ALREADY in the air.🤗🥰👍Congrats to the two special shining stars: First-class couple ⭐️Kallyn DeGrace & Brady Leights⭐️, along with all their amazing friends and family. You folks know how to tie the knot in style.🪅🎉🎊🥳Thank you for inviting me to be part of your celebration🙏✨️...wishing you a Lifetime of Joy and Magic.🌠"To the world, you may be one person,But to one person, You are the World."🌎❤️👍 -Dr. Seuss(Photos credit: Emily Marie Photography)#Wedding #Magic #Love #Joy #Celebration ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

YOUR MAGICIAN to the STARS!

The Amazing Mr. J performs for celebrities at VIP events, and loves sharing stories! He’s faced the Dragons on Dragons’ Den, entertained for CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, Gerry Dee (Mr. D), Lionel Richie, Natalie MacMaster, NHL stars, Hulk Hogan, Stan Lee, and many more!

“HOW the heck did you do THAT? That… was… amazing!” – Stan Lee, Toronto, August 2010