Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006 | 7:53 a.m.
By the time she starts telling jokes onstage at Harrah's, Rita Rudner has already logged about an hour of work. Prior to each performance, fans carrying VIP tickets begin lining up to meet the Strip headliner and have their photos shot with a comic whose face must ache from smiling so much.
"Hundreds, every night," Rudner said as she waved to fans who had lined up in hallway off to the side of the showroom prior to her performance at Harrah's on Friday night. "When I look into an audience, they are not strangers."
The personal touch seems to be working. Friday's show was packed, even though the showroom at Harrah's seats about 300 more than did Rudner's former venue, the Cabaret Theatre at New York-New York. Rudner started at Harrah's on Oct. 2, and if there was a question about whether she would be able to fill a 700-seat theater, early indications are that she'll do just fine.
"It's been going great here, and I don't have to work under a rollercoaster," Rudner said, referring to the Manhattan Express that frequently rattled her old showroom. When I asked, "Figuratively or literally?" she said, "Neither. Everyone here has been wonderful."
The best of Rudner's newer material is a bit about the demands of caring for young daughter Molly, whom she and her husband/manager, Martin Bergmann, adopted in 2002. "This being Las Vegas, I have hired a Rita Rudner impressionist to take care of her ... and you know, he's really good."
Rudner's show has been described as free of profanity, but that isn't entirely true. She uses one, and without ruining the joke it is applied perfectly.
NoteMart
On Friday morning, hours before catching Rudner's show, the former Harrah's showroom headliner, Clint Holmes, was working in a far more intimate setting at a one-time lingerie shop at Neonopolis. Holmes, Kelly Clinton and Larry Moss were among those toiling away on his musical, tentatively titled "Breathe." Locating the old Frederick's of Hollywood boutique was not hard - you could hear the sounds of the piano throughout the mostly vacant shopping center (but there were a few customers a few doors down at Del Prado Jewelers) ...
More from downtown: George Clooney was spotted filming a scene for "Oceans 13" across the street from the shuttered 7-Eleven on Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard, so Neonopolis might luck into some product placement there ...
The Killers, part of this weekend's "Vegoose" music festival lineup, slipped to No. 10 in this week's Billboard Album Charts, as "Sam's Town" dropped four rungs and lost a third of its sales in a week ...
Pass the drumsticks: The drummer for Gordie Brown's band at the Venetian is Adam Shendal, brother of Four Seasons Las Vegas PR rep Adeana Shendal ...
Readers have asked about a reference I used last week for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute. That is the new name for the center originally named the Lou Ruvo Alzheimers Institute; the change in name is to reflect the institute's research and treatment of diseases other than Alzheimer's. The institute raised more than $55,000 on Wednesday night during an appearance by architect Frank Gehry (on behalf of his new line of jewelry for Tiffany & Co.) at the Bellagio's Fontana Lounge ...
Former "Mystere" acrobat Terry Bartlett was listening to the "Mark & Mercedes Show" on KXMB 94.1-FM recently when his ears perked at a contest offering a choice between tickets to "Mystere" and a show by the Black Eyed Peas. The caller chose "Mystere" over Fergie & Co. ...
And on this ticket tack, sometimes shows are reported to be sold out when they are not, exactly, sold out. "Love" at the Mirage was said to be sold out for three months, but on Thursday I asked about ticket availability and was told there were seats available Saturday, Sunday and beyond. So it's always good to double-check on even the most popular shows because, as "Love" spokeswoman Cara Luttrell explained, tickets often become available last-minute (which was the case this weekend). In any case, Luttrell said the show is playing to a "packed house" nightly, and rightfully so ...
Great moments in valet: A woman in a Chrysler Pacifica pulled into the valet at Harrah's wearing a black Jack Daniel's T-shirt, white chaps and jeans. She was also carrying a box, probably filled with some Jack Daniel's product, and had very long blond hair. Probably on her way to the yee-haw conga line that is Toby Keith's I Love this Bar & Grill ...
Only 2 percent of those eligible to donate blood actually do so. I report that so I can transition into this item: When I ran into Penn Jillette at Brown's VIP opening at the Venetian on Tuesday night, I reminded him of when we donated whole blood last year during Penn & Teller's 13 Days of X-Mas blood drive at United Blood Services on West Charleston Boulevard. Jillette said that on one of his recent visits he asked if he could watch an adult film while donating platelets. He was told he could, which almost sounds like a good idea. ...
Great line from someone (not me) at the Rudner show. As a woman worked the room snapping photos of those in the audience to later sell at obscenely inflated prices, it was noted, "Fran Deane should have got a job doing that." And the item Thursday reporting Deane's show on AllTalkRadio listed the Web site as www.alltalkradio.com; it is actually www.alltalkradio.net. Listen wisely ...
Colleague reports a vanity plate on a black Ford Explorer: PRYD4IT. We're thinking, "prayed for it." Or, maybe, "pride for it."
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