Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton performs on opening night of T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, on the Las Vegas Strip.
Published Monday, April 11, 2016 | 3:11 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, April 13, 2016 | 6:05 p.m.
Hey, idea time: Wayne Newton and Jerry Lewis might be able to parlay their Las Vegas affiliation into some genuine notoriety.
It has been a whopper of a stretch for this pair of Las Vegas legends who see no need to cede the spotlight any time soon.
Newton has helped open T-Mobile Arena and is set for a pair of national TV appearances. Lewis, meanwhile, has celebrated his 90th birthday — a second time — with a star-laden tribute at the New York Friars Club and has a feature film due for wide release this fall.
Newton appeared before and with The Killers on Wednesday night at T-Mobile and follows with an appearance Tuesday night at 11:30 (KSNV Channel 3) on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” I understand Newton is to sit in with The Roots, Fallon’s fantastic house band, during the broadcast.
The Wayner also is booked on “The Wendy Williams Show” at 9 a.m. Tuesday on the CW (Channel 33). In both appearances, he will be talking of his upcoming “Up Close and Personal” production at Windows Showroom at Bally’s, which opens 7:30 p.m. April 21.
Meantime, in a celebration of his 90th birthday (which was March 16), Lewis was feted Saturday night at one of his favorite New York hangouts, the Friars Club. The Friars have honored the comic by naming its building the Jerry Lewis Monastery.
Comic practitioners and Lewis devotees Jim Carrey, Richard Belzer, Jeffrey Ross, Freddie Roman and Max Alexander were among the 200 well-wishers to jam the first-floor dining room to pay homage to Lewis. The event was arranged in a roast-styled format but played out more as a lengthy series of tribute speeches.
Robert De Niro sang “Happy Birthday ” to Lewis. Belzer showed off a tattoo on his right shoulder, which he ordered during his visit to Las Vegas for the 2010 Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon at South Point, which turned out to be Lewis’ final appearance as host of the telethon.
Lewis alternately laughed and wept during the ceremony, which also featured video messages from Al Pacino and Don Rickles. Those clips were also played during Lewis’ birthday celebration in Las Vegas on March 16 at Piero’s.
Also announced over the weekend was the theatrical release of the Lewis film “Max Rose,” which actually finished filming in 2013 and was screened that year at the Cannes Film Festival.
On Sunday the film was played as the final piece of a Museum of Modern Art exhibit titled, “Happy Birthday, Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90.” The film is to be released first in New York and Los Angeles in August and hits theaters across the country in the fall.
In “Max Rose,” Lewis plays an aging jazz pianist who unearths evidence that his late wife might have been unfaithful to him, and he sets out to find the truth during an exhaustive trek through his past. Kerry Bishe, Illeana Douglas, Rance Howard, Kevin Pollak, Mort Sahl, Dean Stockwell and Fred Willard co-star. Daniel Noah is the film's writer and director.
As part of Lewis’ party at the Friars Club, his friend Jack Jones performed “The Impossible Dream,” which drew a standing ovation. At 90, Lewis’ life and career have been something of a dream. But impossible? Not exactly. Not for this guy.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow Kats on Instagram at Instagram.com/JohnnyKats1.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy