Notes: Dana Carvey takes on Charlie Sheen; Macca books MGM Grand; Flavor Flav’s Riv pitch takes wing

By John Katsilometes

Friday, April 15, 2011 | 2:41 p.m.

Notes from afield and afar:

• Dana Carvey remains the man best known for his portrayals of such “Saturday Night Live” characters as the hyper-defensive bodybuilder in the Hans & Franz sketch, the Church Lady, Garth in “Wayne’s World” and his impressions of George H.W. Bush and Johnny Carson. But his latest, a twisted take (as if there could be any other) on Charlie Sheen is among his best. As he explained on this week’s episode of “Kats With the Dish” (6 p.m., 91.5-FM), Sheen is an amalgamation of Carson and Jack Nicholson.

“Jimmy Fallon and Bill Hader do it, and it’s brilliant. You start with Jack Nicholson,” Carvey said, using that great Carson voice, “And then you have Johnny, and you’ve got it.” Carvey doesn’t employ the Carson impression as much as he once did in his stand-up act but did dust it off in his most recent appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman."

“Johnny is Dave’s hero, so I did that for Dave,” Carvey said. Carvey is at the Orleans Showroom on Saturday and Sunday nights.

• This booking bloomed from rumor to fact in mere days: Announced today is that Paul McCartney’s “Up And Coming Tour” is making its first U.S. stop June 10 at MGM Grand Garden Arena (click McCartney’s Web site for sales info). There was a time, in 1989, when I thought we’d not see a McCartney tour again. Not so. Rock on, Paul, who turns 69 nine days after that show.

• News from the Strip’s culinary scene centers on Flavor Flav. Of course, you say? It has been reported this week, first by TMZ, that Flav met with Riviera reps -- including CEO Andy Choy -- to pitch a concept that would bring Flavor Flav Fried Chicken to the Riviera. There is even a photo of Flav, wearing an oversized blue football jersey (seems to be an Eli Manning No. 10 uniform top) and even more oversized clock, standing in a conference room with his fist raised.

It’s not quite a signal of victory.

“We are talking with one another,” Director of Marketing Tony Bender said in a phone conversation Thursday. “But nothing is in place currently. We have to take a look at the deal to see if it makes sense to us and if it makes sense at our property.”

What could make more sense than Flavor Flav at the Riv? This is a project to root for as the hotel works on a renovation project starting with its casino floor. No time frame is set for Flav, who, as always, has nothing but time. Just check his neckwear.

• For the first time in a very long time, I missed Vegas Dozen at Saks Fifth Avenue, the Nevada Cancer Institute benefit held Thursday. The party seems to have gone on, regardless, and it’s said it was one of the great events and lineups in the event’s eight years. Honored were: Patrick Duffy, chief experience officer, Diamond Resorts International; Chet Buchanan, host, Chet Buchanan and The Morning Zoo, 98.5 KLUC Radio; Steven Jackson, running back, St. Louis Rams; Myron Martin, president and CEO of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts; Neil Moffit, CEO, Angel Management Group; Jim Rogers, owner, KSNV-TV Channel 3; Carlos Santana, musician; Michael Shulman, philanthropist and blogger; Leonard Stone, attorney; Jerry Tarkanian, former UNLV Runnin’ Rebels coach; John Unwin, CEO, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas; and Dana White, president, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Any time you can get Carlos Santana, Steven Jackson and Patrick Duffy in the same room, you’ve got a winner. I’m told that Tarkanian’s acceptance speech left many in the room in tears.

• A good gauge of a show in VegasVille is to note how many entertainers are in the audience. By that measure, Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns never disappoints. In Monday’s audience were members of Recycled Percussion, Barry Manilow’s band, “Vegas! The Show” and Cirque’s “Zumanity.” The Lounge at the Palms was standing room only for all these entertainers and also for the NAB conventioneers who had heard about this weekly performance by one of the city’s best bands. As announced from the stage, Santa Fe is among the latest inductees to the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The guys are being honored at an event at Henderson Pavilion on May 1. Details to follow.

• Old-timers will tell you one of the great comics to play Las Vegas was Red Skelton. He’s being honored in a tribute show at Westin Casuarina beginning Tuesday and running Mondays and Tuesdays at 2 p.m. Titled “Remembering Red: A Tribute to Red Skelton,” the show stars comic actor Brian Hoffman and is said to be very funny and very lacking in profanity, the way the late, great comic would have preferred.

• A good way to close the Sahara would be with a performance by Louis Prima Jr. and The Witnesses at Casbar Lounge. I hope the talk I hear of Prima’s son sending off the famed lounge will lead to that apt send-off.

• Joined by radio co-host Tricia McCrone, I caught my first and (as it happened) last Wranglers game of the season, a 3-1 ECHL playoff loss to the hated Idaho Steelheads. My buddy and fellow Steve Martin fan, Wranglers President Billy Johnson, says that financially the team stabilized in the 2010-2011 campaign, the first under new owner Gary Jacobs. The crowd of about 2,700 was low for any event at the 7,000-capacity Orleans Arena, especially for a playoff game, but the team has always struggled to draw in the playoffs because of the short promotional time a postseason schedule allows.

I have embedded a video I took of Dish and I hacking it up with Johnson during the game, which is proof that I am learning my new iPhone 4G fairly rapidly.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.