Show is UP: The Wayans To Leno

Enjoy this extra-long show! My L.A. Times profiles of Leno and Wayans can be found here and here respectively. Click on the date to hear it or right-click to download the show and listen whenever you want. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here:

July 3: The Wayans To Leno

Jay Leno has always been comfortably inside the lines of mainstream American comedy while Damon Wayans has built a family business out of going out on a limb. So what do these two comics have in common? For one, both are performing in Las Vegas this month. For another, they’re both on the show this week. Leno reacts to questions as about why he’s not more respected by the entertainment media while Wayans tries to explain the method to his mad career.

In Banter: Steve Wynn's cocktail, Steve Friess' drinking binge, Harrah's environmentalism, Penn v Angel and a George Carlin tribute.

Links:

Get tickets to Damon Wayans' Orleans show here
Get tickets to Jay Leno's Mirage performances here
Learn how to make Steve Wynn's favorite cocktail here
Check out the Downtown Cocktail Lounge here
Read Penn Jillette's diss Criss Angel here
Learn more about Noir Bar at the Luxor here
The site for Miles' would-be obsession, Clean House, is here
Steve's scoops on the blue tape and the Criss Angel delay is here and here
Read how the AIDS Rides turned out to be a scam here
Read Harrah's press release on their WSOP carbon-credit buy here
That 7/1 WSJ piece on Vegas casino debt is here
See the George Carlin clip we played on the show here
Watch the whole Wayans three-titties routine excerpted on the show here

The Strip is LIVE @ 7 p.m. PT w/ Leno + Wayans

Join us Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. PT in the chat room and listen to the webstream at LVRocks.Com for the live version of "The Strip." We've got a big show this week featuring comics Jay Leno and Damon Wayans. Plus, find out all about Steve Wynn's favorite specialty cocktail!

Come on down -- or wait till Thursday for the podcast. Your call. We love you either way.

Dear MGMMirage.Com Peeps...

I was looking up times for the Jay Leno Midwest flood-victim benefit shows on June 25 and June 27 for a piece I'm doing for the L.A. Times and look what popped up atop the pop-up window!


Brothers, Siegfried & Roy are gone. We, too, miss them sincerely. But it's been almost five years. It's time to fix your HTML. Really.

Try it yourself! Click here. Then click on "headliner tickets." Yes, it morphs a split-second later to something else. That's why this screen shot is so lousy -- I had to do it really fast. But still. Something tells me you're going to be much, much faster about purging all evidence of Danny Gans come the winter. Also, when was "O" ever at The Mirage anyway?

And, speaking of Bellagio, congratulations on finally shutting off that annoying music at Bellagio.Com and MandalayBay.Com. Now take care of that at MGMGrand.Com, too, will ya? Still, not so sure the whole "who-will-you-be" thing at MandalayBay.Com works. The voice cuts off rather abruptly, leaves users a little disoriented. I'll play with it a little more, though.

One final thing: Don't tease me! You know I love, love, love anything related to Las Vegas and podcasts. So when I saw that y'all had a "podcast" for the MGM Grand, I got all giddy. Until I subscribed and listened to them.


Huh? Twelve-second recitations of the names of your shows or acts? Five-second identifications of the chef at your restaurants? WTF? Why bother? You folks should be embracing this medium to provide news, tourist tips, giveaways, interviews with stars, chefs, executives... oh, wait. Never mind. Who would ever listen to such nonsense?

Respectfully,
Steve

Scenes from the Impersonators Convention

This is one of those times when pictures tell the story better than words. If you want words, you can read my New York Times piece on the celeb-impersonators convention and the Reel Awards. I'll just clarify for you that these are NOT drag queens. I'm pretty sure all of these imitators were the same sex as their subject matter. And most were really, really convincing.

Minnie Pearl chats with Marilyn Monroe with President Bush in the background.

Two Marilyns. One good, one not so much, huh?

George Burns and Donald Trump, with Tom Cruise and Jay Leno in the background.