We on "The Strip" never did manage to ascertain what act was first to earn $100K a week in Vegas, but thanks to the exclusive dinner I attended this evening at the Hilton, I can tell you who the new $100K-per-show performer is: Terry Fator.Uhh, who? Fator is the 42-y/o ventriloquist who won NBC's "America's Got Talent" contest and $1 million this summer. He was promptly pegged to do a show at the Hilton in October that sold out instantly, as did the second show they added. Now he's doing a third gig in December, then New Year's Eve and then 15 dates through May.
In a rather unusual move, the Hilton released his salary, which is $1.5 million for the 15-show package. That's a nice chunk of change. Fator seemed like a very affable guy, extremely awestruck that after all these years of toiling in obscurity he's a Vegas headliner now. He gave a brief performance for a group of about seven journalists tonight and, yes, he's quite good, but I'm a sucker for this stuff. Also, he seems savvy enough to duck the answer to this question I asked: "So, just how drunk was Hasselhoff during the show?"
Did any of you watch "America's Got Talent?" Would you pay $49-$149 a seat to see him? Is he the next Danny Gans now that Gordie Brown seems to have turned out not to be?
5 comments:
You're right Steve, Terry Fator is pretty good. Did you check out the Johnny Vegas routine?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CuoR6OM6KxA
Later.
John
Heather and I do not have tv at our house but we did catch the show one night in a hotel room. The show was a train wreck. Absolute crap. Everyone on the show was crap. Just embarassing to live in the same country as these clowns and that the rest of the world may be watching this show think it is a typical cross section of America. "This is your "talent"? Put your "talent" in a tank or fighter plane and we will destroy you" Pretty scary and sad. I truly hope this guy is 100,000 times better than what we saw on the show otherwise he wouldn't be worth $4.95 even if they threw in a free drink.
I watched a few clips of Mr. Fator and I rather enjoyed them. Yes I would be more than happy to check out his show but $150? No, I do not see him on the same level as 'O'.
I agree that the whole talent show was embarrassing and just down right awful. I like Terry Fator tho. His talent with voice impersonations, plus his characters is a blast to watch. I stick more to the 49 dollar tickets tho.
yeah - mike weatherford did an analysis in the r-j this past week and figured that the hilton almost can't break even on this deal and must be banking on the foot traffic in the casino. Sort of the old model. But I suspect there'll be half-price seats to this one. we'll see...
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