Penn Jillette, Jeff Solomon, Michael Weaver and Teller at the 10th anniversary celebration of Penn & Teller and their new three-year contract at The Rio on Oct. 26, 2010.
Carrot Top and Ron Jeremy at the 10th anniversary celebration of Penn & Teller and their new three-year contract at The Rio on Oct. 26, 2010.
Teller is something of a slob.
The Teller of whom we speak is the same Teller who is half of the comedy-magic team Penn & Teller, the one so prim and pristine onstage, so careful not to waste verbiage that during the act, he doesn’t even speak.
That Teller.
“As meticulous as I can be onstage, and I am a real perfectionist about the act, I’m really quite messy around the house,” Teller said Tuesday night at The Rio after he and Penn Jillette celebrated the dual occasions of their 10th anniversary at the hotel and a contract extension that carries the show through October 2013.
“It surprises some people who have seen the show to know that about me.”
This untidiness is not a benign characteristic. Teller says that one reason for the duo’s longevity, apart from complementary skills and a burning ambition to keep the act crisp and inventive, is that they no longer have to co-habitate.
When asked if there has ever been a moment when he and Jillette seriously considered pulling a Simon & Garfunkel to individually pursue careers, Teller paused.
Then he paused a little longer.
Finally, he said, “It would have been the time when we were living together, early in our careers,” he said. “This would have been years and years ago. I’d say we stopped that in 1979. But he’s very, very clean, and I am not. Over time that would have caused some problems among us, I don’t doubt that. I never want to subject others to my housekeeping habits.”
Teller says the two have occasional rows over the content of the show, saying, “We are both control freaks.” But working in The Rio’s vast showroom (today named the Penn & Teller Theater) affords the duo plenty of time and space to develop and perfect new segments before showcasing them live.
“It used to be you’d have to try things out in a very small space that was not where you were actually performing, then bring it out to a new space, live, and that can be very difficult,” Teller said. “At The Rio, we don’t have that problem. We can rehearse and fine-tune what we’re working on, make it right before we use it in the show.”
Sounds like a tenable process. Quite clean, too.
Show and party notes
More from the Penn & Teller party at the lavish Palazzo Suites at The Rio: Off in the corner, texting and cell phoning in a vain attempt at privacy, was adult film icon Ron Jeremy. He did not make the show, as his flight from L.A. to Las Vegas landed behind schedule. … A few feet away from Jeremy, and crossing corporate lines: Carrot Top (he of MGM Resorts’ Luxor, Penn & Teller of Harrah’s Rio). … A personal favorite bit from the show: Jillette bringing an audience member to the stage to pose with a cardboard cutout of Criss Angel, but not until throwing some “junk jewelry” over the effigy. P&T are friendly with Angel, so this is all in good fun. … Teller’s clipping-of-the-rose segment, where the flower is cut away from its own silhouette, dates to the duo’s earliest appearances as two-thirds of the comedy-magic act Asparagus Valley Cultural Society in the mid-1970s. … Nice touches: Two Styrofoam caskets floated in the Palazzo Suites pool during the after-party, and the cake was designed as a graveyard. … Seen on the scene, Channel 3’s Alicia Jacobs and her new boyfriend, Vince Neil. What this means, above all, is that I am one heartbeat away from double-dating with Vince Neil. … David Brenner, the comic who helped invent observational humor but rarely receives credit for such, had a lengthy talk with Teller at the post-party. The topic? Philadelphia, the hometown of each. … It’s always good to see Frank Lieberman, wonderful man and an invaluable treasure trove of information about Vegas yesterday and today, with his wife, Karen. Frank still wears his Elvis-issued “TCB” necklace, one of Vegas’ great artifacts.
Restorative power
Well, there’s no need to knock the rust off this show.
The series launch of “American Restoration,” which premiered in two half-hour installments at 9 p.m. Monday on The History Channel, drew 3.7 million viewers and 1.8 million adults in the coveted 25-54 and 18-49 demographics.
Impressively, the show was the night’s top-rated program on all cable channels (discounting sporting events) in its time slot. The show centers on tattered-shirted Rick Dale’s Las Vegas business, Rick’s Restorations, which is the first spinoff from the four-headed cable monster that is “Pawn Stars.”
Trop’s a-Bloom
Announced this week is that Jay Bloom’s Eagle Group Holdings has entered into a tenant agreement with Tropicana to stage shows at Tiffany Theatre. Eagle Group Holding also owns the Las Vegas Mob Experience at the hotel, set to open Dec. 17 (the Las Vegas Sun in involved in a promotional relationship with the Mob Experience, having provided archived photos and video interviews for use by the attraction in exchange for brand placement).
Bloom’s production company, ADD Productions, will be booking shows into the Tiffany over the next six months. I expect these shows to be great fun, too, starting with, “Yesterday: A Tribute to The Beatles,” which is, as the name implies, a tribute to The Beatles. Don Belezzo, a veteran John Lennon tribute artist, is bringing the show to the theater Tuesdays through Sundays at 5:30 p.m. The production played the Tropicana in Atlantic City for three years before embarking on the corner of Trop and L.V. Boulevard.
More announcements are to come, soon, about these other theatrical productions, and don’t be surprised to see a rotating group of headliners. More interesting, at least to me, is how and if Bloom’s group will factor into the long-discussed renovation of Tiffany Theatre, which is to morph it from a traditional Vegas showroom to a more contemporary, aisled-seat theater similar to the Luxor. That project was initially supposed to start when Wayne Newton finished “Once Before I Go” at the end of April.
And, contrary to popular belief, Tiffany has not sat dormant -- at least if you’re interested in Latin-themed entertainment. Since Sept. 25, “Salsero Saturdays,” starring Michito Sanchez and his Salsa Orchestra, have been held from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. at the theater. The dance floor has been built at the front of the stage, and salsa lessons are offered as part of the $10 admission (the lessons are from 10 to 11 p.m.).
Trop entertainment director Lee-Ann Groff-Daudet says the salsa nights, fitting with the hotel’s South Beach makeover, have been a “huge success.” More successful than a dormant theater, no doubt.
Also, a business partnership between the hotel and Ambhar Tequila has led to the renaming of Celebration Lounge as Ambhar Lounge. David Perrico Group (featuring Marley Taylor, late of Zowie Bowie) plays Wednesdays. Perrico is on trumpet and Steven Lee, who can really work those frets, is on guitar. Also in the Ambhar is Dragonfly, featuring Sanchez with accomplished musicians Jeff Ray (guitar), Cory Mason (drums), Blaise Sison (bass) and Angelo Arce (piano). Dragonfly plays Thursdays through Saturdays. Skye Miles, a member of “Menopause” at Luxor, joins the band Saturdays.
It’s busy, entertainment-wise and construction-wise, at the Trop, Las Vegas’ home to salsa and sawdust.
Peter "Big Elvis" Vallee and Amanda Lasham's wedding at Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon on July 15, 2010.
Details, Details
Reading matter: If you have a chance, take a look at the profile of Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon lounge performer Pete “Big Elvis” Vallee in the November issue of Details. The story tracks, colorfully, Vallee’s dwindling physique. The man who once weighed 960 pounds has used a sensible diet and exercise to drop to 450. His goal is around 200.
One piece of information disclosed I had not been aware of -- Vallee professes to have obtained some of Elvis’ DNA, and it proves that Elvis is actually his father.
Whoa. Checking on that claim.
The story praises Vallee, rightfully, as “a miracle to behold.” In short, writer Mark Winegardner says, “Most Elvis impersonators are just cheesy mimics. Pete -- now 45 years old -- never consciously tried to sound like Elvis. It just came out that way. He learned to sing as a boy, copying gospel-quartet LPs, and only later discovered that the real Elvis had done the same thing, with some of the same records.”
Vallee has lost the equivalent of two heavyweight boxers and is still doing the hunka-hunka thing each afternoon at Bill’s. For all his details in Details, go to the Details Web site. Big Elvis is easy to find, trust me.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
Previous Discussion: