Winging it from L.A. with ‘Puppet Up!’; Penn & Teller have sweet 15 at the Rio

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 | 2:13 p.m.

LOS ANGELES — The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is Home Turf Sports Bar at LAX, not the club but the international airport. The purpose for this overnight-and-out-of-sight trip is to check out “Puppet Up! Uncensored,” a show set to open at Sands Showroom at the Venetian in the spring.

I caught the show Thursday night at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. The production drew a capacity audience, filled with comedy-puppet fans, for a show that is to take over the 9 p.m. slot six days a week at Sands. I am reliably told that this schedule would not interfere with the possible return of Human Nature to that room, and it’s one of a series of entertainment announcements expected by the hotel in the coming weeks.

The show has been created by Henson Alternative, a division of The Jim Henson Co. founded by the visionary who developed the Muppets and advanced this art form throughout the last half of the 20th century. Henson’s son Brian is the head of the family business now, and he worked with Base Entertainment and SPI Entertainment of Las Vegas, the show’s co-producers, to bring the show to the Strip.

“Puppet Up!” is a happy blend of the finer moments of “Avenue Q,” for its ribald humor and exposed human performers, and “Second City,” which played Bugsy’s Cabaret at Flamingo Las Vegas for a couple of years before closing in 2008. The performance is guided nimbly by six comic puppeteers who pull from a lineup of about 60 puppets onstage. Audience members shout suggestions to questions posed by host Patrick Bristow, who has appeared on a number of TV series, including “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld.” A sample: “A trend we’ve grown tired of!” And an audience member shouts back, “Man buns!” in reference to the hair trend of the moment, and members of the troupe move to the puppets and act out a scene that flays that hairstyle. A couple is brought onstage to recite their first date, and a pair of performers hoist puppets and act out what they have heard.

The show incorporates video panels at each side as the artists act out the scenes in the middle of the stage, playing to a camera and video monitor to spot their position. It is a fascinating process to watch comedy develop in this way, and a couple of old Jim Henson and Frank Oz (his creative partner in the Muppets and Sesame Street) pieces from in 1956 and 1965 are re-created. The show is adult in its execution and marketing, though the show Thursday night fell short of the kind of blue humor that Henson said would give the show an R-rating if it were a movie.

But this will be a 16-and-over production, filled with expressive and expansive improv and starring a series of puppets. These are not the famous Muppet characters, either. Disney now owns that family. But they come in all shapes and sizes, a guy who looks like Guy Smiley and hot dog puppets and assorted rodents and aliens and an albatross. They speak to us, for real and in their spirit, reminding of the high times of “The Muppet Show” and “Sesame Street” and the series of Muppet movies. It’s grown up, funny in a high-wire sort of way and imaginative like those stage shows mentioned above.

Sadly, those productions, inspired as they were, did not work in Vegas. “Puppet Up!” will need some intensified marketing and several months of patience to build a buzz. I am optimistic to know that the producers and creators of this show recognize that reality, and the early plan will be to ignite conversation about the show among its “influencers” and ride it out. Expect to hear a lot of “You need to see this show” in the discussion of “Puppet Up!”

• So Emily Jillette is a fan of “Puppet Up!” We seem to share the same taste in shows; she’s also a big backer of “Absinthe” and “Piff! The Magic Dragon” who is a frequent collaborator of Penn & Teller (Emily is married to Penn Jillette, to make that connection). Further linking these notes is that Penn & Teller sneaked in a 15th anniversary celebration Tuesday night (oddly enough, the theater’s video panels flanking the stage were out of order, this on a night with hundreds of CES attendees in the audience).

For the record: P&T opened at what was then called the Samba Theater at the Rio on Jan. 5, 2001.

The show Tuesday was filled, not uncommon for the unrelentingly popular duo. P&T’s TV show on FX, “Fool Us,” is a hit, as was their run last year at Marquis Theatre on Broadway. Rare is it that a Vegas act reaches both artistic and box-office success in New York, but Penn & Teller are now facing a happy dilemma: Should they return to Broadway? Probably not this year, as the run on Broadway took a physical and even mental toll on the guys and, not insignificantly, they make more of a profit selling out the Penn & Teller Theater they do filling Marquis Theatre.

Of course, the Rio is pro Penn & Teller staying, as officials there consented to their leading headliners leaving their theater dark for much of the summer. That is not an annual entertainment marketing strategy, trust me. And, the hotel has some appealing cross-promotion with “Rock of Ages” moving into the old Crown Theater, which is now renamed Rock of Ages Theater. Magic and mullets: Find it all at the Rio.

• Wayne Newton is in the mix for the Friars Club celebration of Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday on Monday at the Pierre Hotel in New York. The celebration comes a day short of a month after Sinatra’s birthday (Dec. 12, 1935), but so what? Larry King is the emcee, and the celebs scheduled to appear at what is billed as a series of speeches and a tribute honoring Sinatra, who was long a Friar’s Club “Abbot,” or Chairman of the Board (fittingly). Others on the bill: Dominic Chianese, Norm Crosby, Tony Danza, Robert Davi, Shawn King, Steven Maglio, Deana Martin, Frank Pellegrino, Steve Tyrell, Dionne Warwick “and other very special guests.” One of those guests should have the “Lewis” surname. We’ll see. Meantime, I’m dialing up “Sinatra at the Sands” and diving back into James Kaplan’s bio about Sinatra, “The Voice.” Just keepin’ it coo-coo, ladies and gentlemen …

• Here is one booking that raises one eyebrow: Morris Day & The Time at Sam’s Town Live! (Exclamation mark is part of the title, not necessarily to indicate my own zeal).

The band made famous in the Prince classic “Purple Rain” is performing a one-nighter Jan. 23 (show is at 8 p.m., tickets are $25 not including fees, and available at 702-284-7777 or at www.samstownlv.com). Day has played Vegas on a few occasions, at the Flamingo in summer 2008 and Golden Nugget’s showroom last year. “The Oak Tree,” Fishnet,” “The Bird” and “777-9311” are the hits being promoted, and I do recall that show at the Flamingo being a rowdy affair. We all need a Jerome in our lives, right?

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.