Report from the field: Las Vegas

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on August 3rd, 2004

Above are Carla Rea, Kathleen Dunbar and Traci Skene backstage at the Divas of Comedy Show at the Sahara in Las Vegas, minutes before showtime on Monday night, Aug.2, 2004! Tomorrow, we head to Laughlin. Tonight, we might hit the strip, surprise some comics and have a couple 75-cent Labatt Blues over at the Slots O Fun! Stay tuned.

Who is in town? Bobby Lee, Jim Connolly (we assume that’s James P. Connolly!), and Kenny Kane are at Improv at Harrah’s. Diane Ford, Shayma Tash and Tom Clark are at the Riviera. Kevin Knox, Eric Lyden and Chris Coccia are at the Comedy Stop at the Trop. While the listing for Sandy Hackett’s Comedy Club at the Greek Isles doesn’t list any specific comcis, it does promise “great creative comedy and funmaking.” Comics whose names and faces appear on billboards around town (who are either headlining permanently or in limited runs) are George Wallace (Flamingo), David Brenner (Westin), George Carlin (MGM Grand), Amazing Johnathan (Riviera), Rita Rudner (New York, New York) and oodles of comedy magicians and comedy hypnotists, as always.

“Royking kan redusere blodgjennomstromminga og fore til impotens”
–Warning on the back of a pack of Petteroe’s Original cigarettes, Norway’s finest smokes, found while waiting for an elevator.

From what we can tell, “royking” means smoking and “impotens,” well, that’s the same in any language! Vegas seems to be packed this week with a ton of what we usta call in the old days, “foreigners.” The forecast for the upcoming week is temps of 100 degrees or better and humidity in the 50 per cent range… it’s a dry heat, and it must be what is attracting all these folks from Europe… that and all this gambling. On our USAirways flight outta Philly, there were a bunch of people from Manchester (in England) whom, we assumed, were in the States to support their beloved Manchester United soccer team touring North America.

Our new favorite name is the one we found on the back of a lost Club Sahara card– Ashkon Batmanghelich!