Conan O’Brien performs during his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour stop at The Pearl in the Palms on Saturday, May 1, 2010.
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 | 12:12 p.m.
Larry King was a guest on Conan O’Brien’s nightly TBS talk show, aptly titled “Conan,” on Monday night. Naturally, the discussion veered into a debate over the seating capacities of two of Las Vegas’ best-known theaters.
The give-and-take began when O’Brien asked King about King’s recent foray into stand-up comedy. King said he’s scheduled to perform at The Mirage (we expect that would be Terry Fator Theater, though the venue was not specified). O’Brien appeared at Pearl Theater at the Palms back in May.
Larry King in suspended animation at the Encore Theater.
Interestingly, there is no listing at all for King at The Mirage, so he’s either dealing the info prematurely, or this is a corporate gig not open to the public, or he’s telling one of the fanciful yarns he’s famous for when he does take the stage.
Calls and e-mails are out to MGM Resorts officials who might straighten this out. They've not heard anything official yet about such a show, nor is it on any calendar listing for The Mirage. But we can confidently report that King performed at Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas in June 2009 (here's the column from that memorable appearance).
Regardless, the hi-jinks ensue about the 3-minute mark of the clip you can link to from this Time magazine blog.
Conan: Now, I’ve heard you say, publicly, that you might get into doing some stand-up comedy.
King: Not "might." Lemme tell ya, I’m going to do … a tour.
O’Brien: A tour?
King: I’m gonna do a tour all over the country, in theaters. I’m gonna be in Vegas, at The Mirage. I’m gonna be all over. I’ll tell stories, and the wife will sing -- my wife (Shawn) has sung on your show -- and we’ll have laughs.
O’Brien: I’m just curious, what’s a joke you like? You’re going to have some jokes in your act. What’s a joke that I might hear if I go to see Larry Kings at the Palms in Vegas?
King: OK, I don’t -- you got in the Palms. Pretty good.
O’Brien: That’s where I played. I thought I’d get in a plug for 'em.
King: I’m playing The Mirage. It’s bigger.
O’Brien: The Mirage is bigger than the Palms?
King: I think so.
O’Brien: Well let’s check into that!
King: Let’s check that!
O’Brien: You can’t tour on stuff like that without knowing! “I’m playing The Mirage, it’s bigger than the Palms!” You better know what you’re talking about!
O’Brien then shouts to one of his staffers standing off-stage: “Check into this! Find out which casino is bigger!”
After a commercial break, O'Brien is ready with the much-anticipated answer, not to which casino is bigger, but whether Terry Fator Theater at The Mirage is bigger than Pearl Theater.
“Well, this is interesting,” O’Brien says, smugly reading from an index card. “You’re going to be playing The Mirage, is that right? That seats 1,250 people. What’s this? Oh, I played the Palms, which seats 2,500 people!”
King winces, then counters, “Mine is $1,700 a seat.”
Unless … it isn’t.
More on that later.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
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