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Chris Morris
Published Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 | 3:21 p.m.
Updated Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 | 5:11 p.m.
A Blackened bio clip
Comedian Lewis Black.
Comedian Lewis Black.
Jason Alexander and Carrot Top backstage at Peepshow in Planet Hollywood in November 2009.
Funny is funny. I’ve been reminded of that comic tenet, over and over, during the past few weeks while observing Scott Thompson refine and execute his act as Carrot Top. Thompson’s contemporaries Terry Fator and Frank Caliendo say that all the time, of course. They’re comics; they know the funny.
But Felix Rappaport, who is not a comic, also made that point. Rappaport is important because as president of Luxor, he helped forge the four-wall deal to keep Carrot Top in place at Atrium Showroom through 2015.
Consider the climate at Luxor when Rappaport took over in 2005, shortly after MGM Mirage purchased the famous replica tomb as part of its acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group. Luxor had just lost the reliably popular Blue Man Group to The Venetian, forcing Rappaport to consider appropriate shows to fill the void left by BMG. One of the entertainment options at the Atrium at the time was a 4D IMAX pirate movie starring Leslie Nielsen, which was interesting but not exactly Blue Man Group.
Favoring live entertainment, Rappaport turned to Carrot Top, who was known regionally for his regular appearances at MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre and nationally for his AT&T collect call commercials, which were as lame as his live act was inspired. Carrot Top still fights a reputation, put forth mostly by those who have not actually seen his show, as a dumb prop comic who hauls out several trunks of junk and spews whatever comes to mind. Not so. As I found during the hours I spent with him in all sorts of environs, Thompson’s mind is a home entertainment center of ideas and concepts. He requires those trunks of props to fully realize his imaginative and far-flung thoughts.
“He has always occupied a strange place in ranks in the world of comedians, because some of them don’t give him just due because he uses the props,” Rappaport said. “But funny is funny. Lots of things make you laugh. I don’t think any is more elevated than any other. … I know people who have seen his show who are laughing so hard they are crying.”
Funny is funny.
Last night, I caught a performance by the anti-Carrot Top, Lewis Black. A self-described aging Jewish guy, Black also uses props -- if you consider a couple of bottles of Evian water and his eyeglasses as such. Nonetheless, Black and Carrot Top are alike in that their delivery of material is nonstop, and the laughs hardly cease. Even jokes that don’t quite work are treated to a quick onstage post-mortem. An example from Black in his show at The Mirage, where he’s back onstage at the Terry Fator Theater tonight. “I was recently in Wendover, which if you don’t know where it is, is on the Nevada-Utah border. It’s there so the Mormons can sneak across the state line to Nevada and gamble!” The joke was met with a low murmur. Black pounced.
“That joke deserved a lot better response than you gave it!” Black snarled. “Think about it! It’s true! It’s not some sort of gross exaggeration. Wendover was built so Mormons could gamble. I know this, because I saw them coming across the border, and they were in covered wagons!” As Black speaks, his fervor flourishes, his escalating ire his only true prop.
Last night, Black told a story that lasts about 10 minutes. By the 10th minute, the audience response was a tidal wave of laughter.
The bit centered on Black following country music superstar Vince Gill to the stage during a USO show in Afghanistan. There were 8,000 troops in attendance, and, as Black said, “They were all just crazy about Vince Gill, who is a country western legend. Let me tell you something about country western music: A lot of it is, well, s---! Even people who are country western music fans have to admit that a lot of it is, well, s---! Some of it’s good. The rest of it is based on old episodes of ‘The Jerry Springer Show.’ ”
Gill opened his 30-minute set with a song.
“Thirty seconds into this song, I had a feeling come over me that is the same feeling I get when I am taking a bath and the water temperature is just right,” Black said. “The song was that (effing) beautiful.”
Gill then told a story.
“The story was funny! So, he’s funny, too. And he was clean,” Black said. “The son of a bitch can sing, he’s funny, and he’s clean. I’m offstage, going over my material, taking out all the profanity. I’m left with 4 ½ minutes of stage time!”
Gill then brought out his wife.
“If you don’t know who Vince Gill is married to, then you should be,” Black glowered. “His wife is Amy Grant, the most beautiful Christian singer in all of Christiandom. She sings like an angel, she is beautiful, and she is filled with cream! With these two onstage, being angelic and basking in their angelic Christian love, I was willing to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, just to get the crowd behind me!”
Gill then sang a song inspired by his father.
“Vince Gill wrote this song in tribute to his dead father,” Black called out. “Now, who isn’t going to like this song about his dead father? Nobody! I thought, ‘I’m screwed. I don’t have time to go out and kill mine!’ The title of this song is ‘It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long.’ Face it, that’s (an effing) funny title! And we have a profanity we can use: ass! Oh, hee-hee! Vince Gill has established the one profanity I can use. Great!”
With the troops roaring, Gill and Grant finally left the stage.
“So now it’s, ‘Let’s hear what the aging Jewish guy has to say!’ ” Black shouted. “I only wanted one thing: for the person who decided I should be following Vince Gill to appear onstage, too, so this person can share this experience with me!”
As he reached the end of the story, Black’s hands shook, and he gulped quickly from the Evian bottle. The guy next to me was laughing to such a degree that there was no break in sound -- all that was coming out of him was, “Aaaaaaaaaah!”
After the show, I was in text mode with Thompson, who was saying he and Jason Alexander had been dragged onstage by Aubrey O’Day and Holly Madison during “Peepshow” earlier in the night. I told him I’d seen Black at The Mirage. His response was, “I love Lewis Black!”
Take it from the prop comic, talking of the prop-less. Funny is funny.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
Lewis Black is THE MAN!!!
I never miss a chance to see him.
Lewis Black...the master of the controlled "rage"
The guy is the chalk!
Lewis Black is an intellectual & hilarious comedian much the same as George Carlin was. The guy's great.
Another good article. I've watched a couple of Lewis' specials and find myself absolutely howling with laughter. I love the angry Jewish rage he portrays. He yells stuff out that the rest of us just don't have the stones to say.
I am sorry but you can not use lame Carrot Top and the brilliant Lewis Black in the same story unless you are comparing talent with non talent.
I don't think we will ever see Carrot Top on the Emmy winning Daily Show doing satire on politics. Does he know who the president is?
Perhaps if Carrot Top spent less time with his plastic surgeon and his Dr. Feelgood and practiced the craft of making people laugh, maybe in three lifetimes he could be funny. Perhaps.
You text him? Oh, Jesus! Text? You serious? You two boys text? Life must really suck.
Caroll, remember to breathe, OK?
Wow, he really doesn't like CT, hunh?
lewis black is very funny; carrot top ,ive only seen the lame commercials.
Caroll seems to dislike the Topper a lot, and yet for some odd reason you seem to comment on (and therefore I assume read)the stories John writes. Funny is an all encompassing thing. Many styles can be funny. From Lewis Black, to Dave Chappelle to Russell Brand and yes, all the way to Carrot Top. Funny is funny, lady! Just 'cause you don't like it doesn't mean you get to knock it!