Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.
VegasBeat appears Sunday through Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at [email protected] or at (702) 259-4096.
Based on the first three performances, the addition of Jeff Beacher's "Comedy Madhouse" as a headline show at the Hard Rock Hotel was a great idea.
The show is a wacky blend of coarse stand-up comedy, dancing girls, acrobatic midgets and audience participation.
Each performance has been a sellout, Beacher's stunt of jumping into a Rainforest Cafe fish tank garnered national attention, and celebs such as Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Nicole Richie, Vince Neil, Justin Guarini, Shannon Elizabeth and Paris Hilton have attended.
Saturday camera crews from "The Osbournes" caught Kelly and Jack Osbourne at the show, which plays monthly at The Joint.
The show has been such a success, in fact, that other hotels have taken notice.
At least two have called Beacher's manager, Hollywood heavyweight Benny Medina, about the show's availability, and there have been feelers from two others, according to a member of Beacher's production staff with intimate knowledge of the situation.
Medina -- the real-life inspiration for the hit NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" -- didn't return phone calls Thursday.
Medina, who currently also has Mariah Carey on his client roster, is well known for boosting the careers of Lopez, Will Smith and Sean Combs back in Combs' "Puff Daddy" days.
Beacher had little to add.
"I absolutely love the Hard Rock and am not planning on going anywhere," the corpulent comic told us via e-mail.
Calls to Hard Rock marketing veep Phil Shalala were not returned.
The next performance is scheduled for March 13.
Static
Reports elsewhere today that "Vegas Live! With Clint Holmes and Sheena Easton" had signed a deal to leave Las Vegas ONE (Cox cable channels 1 and 19) for the local Fox affiliate KVVU Channel 5 were not quite accurate, according to the show's producers.
"There is no deal right now," "Vegas Live!" co-executive producer Rick Garson told VegasBeat today.
"The bottom line is that we're in lots of conversations with lots of people relative to the show," co-executive producer Howard Lefkowitz said. "We're excited there is so much buzz about our show, and when there is something official to announce, we will do so."
In a last-minute scheduling change, today's episode was a rebroadcast of an old show, as was Thursday's.
Calls to KVVU Channel 5 General Manager Susan Lucas were not returned this morning, nor were calls to KLAS Channel 8 Vice President and Las Vegas ONE General Manager Bob Stoldal. "Vegas Live!" is taped at KLAS, which is a broadcast partner of Las Vegas ONE.
Phone fun
It's never happened to us, of course. But a friend reports that two women he met recently gave him the same phone number when he requested their digits after a bar conversation.
Turns out that the number -- 386-5397 -- is a new local "Rejection Hotline." Callers get an earful of a taped message, which concludes: "Do your best to forget about the person who gave you this number because trust us -- they've already forgotten about you."
Yellow brick
Elton John is now part of the foundation of Caesars Palace.
The pop superstar joined Caesars President Mark Juliano on Monday for a tour of the construction site of the hotel's new 949-room tower, which is set for completion in 2005. John autographed a special yellow brick, which will be added to the support structure of the building.
Also, Sir Elton is apparently a collector of bobblehead dolls. A recent visitor to his Colosseum dressing room reports that the room is filled with perhaps 100 of them.
Soon, John can add his own effigy to the collection. The Elton John store at Caesars is getting its first shipment of Elton bobbleheads next week.
Big brother
New York Daily News columnist Richard Chesnoff is coming to Vegas for a speaking engagement at the home of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on Thursday.
Chesnoff will talk at a reception in honor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Chesnoff is also a former senior correspondent for US News & World Report and was executive editor of Newsweek International.
"But my major claim to fame is that David Chesnoff is my younger brother," he told us in an e-mail note.
Chesnoff the Younger is one of Las Vegas' top barristers, and is now known for getting Britney Spears' quickie marriage annulled last month.
Me first
On Wednesday we reported that the Palms had plans to offer no-limit hold 'em with blinds of $1 and $2 -- so that "regular people" can play the popular game with a few hundred bucks rather than a few thousand.
But the Palms is not the first to institute such a proletariat policy. We got an e-mail from a Bellagio spokesman who said that the hotel initiated the no-limit hold 'em public table concept about a month ago, with similar $1 and $2 blinds.
"We have had a great response, as well as nonstop action," said a spokesman for the hotel's director of poker operations, Doug Dalton.
Loves Vegas
Wolfgang Puck is not one to rest on his laurels, or his international fame.
Before he judged the viewer cooking contest with Joy Behar and Robin Leach on "The View" on Wednesday, he said he will star in a new version of the popular "Iron Chef" on the Food Network in March.
VegasBits
In shape: Andre Agassi will be signing autographs at an appearance Monday afternoon at the opening of the 24 Hour Fitness Agassi Super-Sport Club at 2090 Village Center Circle in Summerlin ...
Art: The James Rosenquist show at the Godt-Cleary Gallery at Mandalay Place has its opening party tonight ...
Party: Cindy Crawford turns 38 today. Among other properties, her husband, Rande Gerber, has the Whiskey Bar at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino. Also, Vegas frequenter Charles Barkley is 41 today ..
From Sun wires
Puffin' stuff: Where there's smoke, there's steam.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff, in fact, is steamed at rumors the governor plans to tear up part of the Capitol dome to accommodate a smoking plaza for the stogie-lovin' gov.
Such rumors apparently have been spreading through the European media, and at least one American paper, The Washington Times, bought into it.
"It's absolutely ridiculous to imagine, let alone report, that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would remove California's historic Capitol dome so he can smoke an occasional cigar," said spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh, who has demanded retractions on the stories.
"He's no longer the Terminator. He's a respectable California governor, and the stories are patently false."
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