The Gazillionaire & Penny of ‘Absinthe’: They ain’t exactly Donny & Marie

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, April 1, 2012 | 2 a.m.

He is the well-financed producer with the golden shoes and matching incisor who pays his performers reluctantly and meagerly. He emcees his performances with all the delicacy of ballast tamper and regularly foists verbal abuse on the woman he handpicked to act as co-host.

She is, quite evidently, unstable and ill-tempered, cast in the show because she is affordable and willing to perform menial tasks not related to entertaining.

The Gazillionaire and Penny Pibbets might not bring to mind of the slick showmanship of Donny & Marie, but they are one of the city’s more remarkable performing tandems. He is the ceaselessly vulgar producer of “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace, she is the show’s emotionally erratic co-host, and together they have piloted the production to 500 shows over the course of one year. They agreed to take a few questions a few days before today’s anniversary performance at Spiegeltent at Roman Plaza at Caesars Palace:

I noticed during the show the other night that people were particularly offended during the puppet show. They seemed to expect the sort of puppet show you’d see at a kid’s show.

Penny: When I start doing the puppets, older people in front of me, you’ll see them, like, turn around, and they’re happy. But once I start going, they slowly turn around and never look back.

The Gazillionaire: We should take photos of the audience every night to get reaction shots of people in shock. Every night, someone is offended by the puppets.

Do you feel you’re now established in Las Vegas, no longer an underdog or unknown show?

The Gazillionaire: Yeah, the good thing is we’re still doing the same crap that we’ve always done. We haven’t made that many changes. We’ve changed the legal things in the tent, but it’s still crappy. I’m paying the cast the same amount, and they’re all doing the same kind of crap.

Is Penny compensated more than other performers because of her role as the co-host?

The Gazillionaire: If compensated, you mean “paid,” that’s not really happening exactly yet.

Penny: I get $25 a week for, like, per diem ...

The Gazillionaire: And a place to stay.

Penny: Yeah, and that $25 goes to my grandma. We live together.

What is the lodging situation like?

The Gazillioniare: You know the Las Palmas apartments? Off Paradise? You rent some furniture, there’s a good little kitchen in there so she can cook.

Penny: My grandma, she’s pretty neat. But she drinks, and she gets angry.

Are you worried about losing acts during the course of the show?

The Gazillionaire: Nah. The show is bigger than any individual, except for myself.

Penny: There was a guy from Fiji who offered to buy me, in exchange for gold.

The Gazillionaire: It was a lot of money. But I need Penny to do all of the crap jobs, too. Mopping the bathrooms, wiping down the bar, watering down the booze, stuff like that.

Penny: He was kind of creepy. I wasn’t sure if he was male or female. He was kind of, like, on the verge. … He kind of reminded me of my uncle.

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