Whoopi Goldberg flies in for Encore

By Jerry Fink

Friday, May 22, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Outspoken comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg will be the first headliner to perform in the Encore Theater, which was made dark by the sudden death this month of resident entertainer Danny Gans.

Goldberg brings her caustic, observational brand of humor to the room tonight and Saturday.

“I got a call from Steve (Wynn), who said, ‘Do you want to do the Encore?’ and I said, Sure, yeah,’ ” Goldberg said from her offices in Los Angeles.

In 2002 Goldberg joined an elite group of artists who have won a Grammy (“Whoopi Goldberg,” 1985), an Academy Award (“Ghost,” 1991), a Golden Globe (“The Color Purple,” 1985 and “Ghost,” 1991), an Emmy (as host of AMC’s “Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel,” 2002) and a Tony (as producer of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” 2002).

The others who have won all the major awards: John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Liza Minnelli (noncompetitive Grammy), Rita Moreno, Mike Nichols and Barbra Streisand.

She is well-known for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of children and the homeless and for promoting such causes as human rights, education and the battles against substance abuse and AIDS.

She can’t remember how long it’s been since she performed in Las Vegas.

“Many, many years,” Goldberg says. “I think it just wasn’t time for me to say anything. There wasn’t much I wanted to talk about or have fun with onstage. But now, I’m excited about coming back to Vegas. Maybe it’s time.”

Another reason she has avoided Vegas is a fear of flying, a phobia that plagued her for 10 years. The fear apparently stemmed from her witnessing a midair collision more than 30 years ago.

“I didn’t fly for a long time,” Goldberg says.

She has found many projects in Los Angeles to keep her busy, including hosting duties on “The View,” the hit morning talk show on ABC.

She’s been writing children’s books, including the “Sugar Plum Ballerinas” series. The first book, “Plum Fantastic,” was released last year. The second, “Toeshoe Trouble,” was released this month. She’s now working on a third.

Goldberg may have been motivated to overcome her fear of flying when she coproduced “Sister Act: The Musical,” which debuted May 6 in London’s West End. She couldn’t make the trip by bus.

And now, with the political changes in the country, she has things she wants to say.

So here she is.

“My performance is based on what’s going on with me at any given time,” Goldberg says. “It follows the course of what I’m thinking about on any given day. It’s about what I’m seeing, what I’m thinking about.”

What is she thinking?

“Well, not right this second,” she laughs.

What’s most on her mind may be the changes in the nation with the election of President Barack Obama.

“I’m glad to see a big change coming,” she says. “In America we don’t change small, we change gigantic. When we say we’ve got to make a transition, we don’t fool around. So we made changes and they surprised ourselves and other countries.

“We didn’t know what kind of mess we were in, but now we have a better idea and we’re going to do what we can do to change it. Is it all going to work out for (Obama)? Probably not, but some stuff is going to be really interesting. He’s freaking people out. A lot of stuff is going right and a lot of stuff is going wrong.”

She admits to being part of the problem with the country’s economy.

“I take responsibility for some of the mess that we’re in because I’m one of those people that’s in love with their credit card. I just love it, so I’ll probably talk about that onstage.”

She ridicules those who haven’t given Obama a chance to correct the problems that have been years in the making.

“We’ve given him a month already.”

Republicans seem determined to undermine his efforts.

“What I’m feeling for them, its not so much that they want to find the best way to help the nation, but what’s the best way to help their party,” she says. “That whole brainstem is going to have to shift.

And the Democrats, they’re going to have to actually do some work. They’re going to have to stop doing some of the things they have been doing. (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi can’t make outrageous statements anymore because people are going to say, ‘Prove it.’ The worst thing you can ever say to any politician is ‘Prove it.’ ”

Goldberg says she has thought about getting into politics, but decided she isn’t interested.

“I’m more interested in being an ambassador,” she says. “I’d like to be the ambassador to the Czech Republic or to Greece. That would make me happy.

“And I figure it will happen when pigs fly.”