Joan Rivers’ influence is felt in the careers of Frank Marino and Clint Holmes

By John Katsilometes

Published Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 | 6:35 p.m.

Updated Friday, Sept. 5, 2014 | 11:03 a.m.

Frank Marino and Clint Holmes are stars in Las Vegas but otherwise seem not to have a whole lot in common.

In his act, Marino dresses as a woman. Holmes … doesn’t.

But the two longtime Las Vegas favorites were boosted at crucial moments in their careers by legendary, groundbreaking comic Joan Rivers, who died today in New York at age 81.

Marino’s hilarious, richly costumed impression of Rivers is the comic thread between the acts of the drag-queen production “Divas Las Vegas” at the Quad. In May, Marino celebrated his 25,000th show on the Strip covering his five years at the Quad (and Imperial Palace before the hotel’s renovation and name change), and more than 20 years in “Evening at La Cage” at Riviera.

“We had our ups and downs, no question, but she was a figure in my life for 30 years, more than she ever knew,” Marino said in a phone conversation this afternoon. “Not a day went by in my household when her name didn’t come up. She was a constant presence in my life. She was like a second mother to me.”

In the mid-1980s, the ups and downs mentioned by Marino were prompted by a dispute over Marino’s material. In 1986, Rivers filed a $5 million civil suit against the cross-dressing comic demanding that he stop using her material in his act and instead write his own jokes. Though not the intended result, the subsequent national coverage of the dispute ignited ticket sales at “La Cage” and fired up Marino’s career.

As he joked at the time, “I was going to pay her the $5 million but was $80 short.”

Even as they worked through the legal dispute, Rivers helped Marino launch his career on the Strip.

“It was Joan who introduced me to the original producer of ‘La Cage,’ Lou Paciocco,” Marino said. “That’s how my whole career as a headliner in Las Vegas started.”

In a 2010 interview, Rivers said Marino and she had long ago reconciled the dispute and had been friends for more than 20 years. ”We’d say, 'Take stuff I don't use. We'll give it to you. Just don't use what we are using in the act. We had words, but that was 20 years ago. It's fine now. We're fine. I don't worry about stuff that happened 20 years ago."

Two weeks ago, Marino issued an ALS Association “ice bucket challenge” to Rivers just before she was to undergo a routine procedure on her throat. The procedure ultimately led to her suffering from cardiac arrest. The two had been in contact two months ago as Marino asked Rivers to provide a quote for his book “His Majesty, The Queen,” which is being reissued in October to coincide with Marino’s fifth anniversary at the Quad.

“She wrote, ‘You do me better than I do,’” Marino said. “She was always saying that.”

In his show Thursday night, Marino stepped onstage to robust applause, wearing a canary-yellow skirt and jacket, and said, to the audience, "We have lost someone dear to us today, and this is not going to be an impression of Joan Rivers, it's going to be a tribute. How about that?" The crowd roared again, and Marino said he'd thought of cancelling the night's show, but had been in contact with the Rivers family and associates, who told him, "Joan would have wanted you to go on, so I am."

Marino also said his thoughts are with Rivers’ daughter, Melissa.

“Melissa not only lost her mother, but her best friend,” Marino said. “Joan was the perfect mother.”

Holmes has built a strong following in Las Vegas since moving to the city in 1999, and he continues his open-ended headlining gig at Cabaret Jazz in the Smith Center. His long relationship with Rivers dates to his years as her opening act, and later, in 1986, when he joined her as sidekick and announcer on her short-lived Fox talk show “Late Night With Joan Rivers.” Holmes’ was the first voice ever heard on Fox, as Rivers’ show launched the national network.

Also in that 2010 interview, Rivers said of Holmes: “He's just amazing. Some people you work with, you knew they should be headliners. … Clint Holmes was one of those."

But Holmes was nearly passed over for that gig as network officials wanted to groom Olympic gold-medal swimming champ Don Schollander as Rivers’ sidekick. She wanted Holmes, who at the time was opening for Bill Cosby.

As Holmes tells the story, Rivers called him in Atlantic City and asked for him to audition in Los Angeles. Holmes did and was ideal for the role — except he also wanted to sing on the show. Rivers made no promises but did tell Holmes to stay in L.A. until a decision was made.

Meantime, Holmes called Cosby to ask for direction about his crucial decision.

“I asked Bill: ‘Should I go for it? Even if I’m not singing?’” Holmes said during a phone conversation today as he performs on a cruise through the U.S Virgin Islands. “He said: ‘Do you want to be on TV? If you do, then be with Joan.’”

Later, Holmes told Rivers that he had contacted Cosby to ask for advice about accepting the role.

“She said: ‘Oh, I know. I called Bill, too, before you did,’” Holmes said, laughing. “She told him I was going to call and for him to tell me to take the job. It was all a setup. But that was Joan. She had this image of being a really tough woman, but she had a huge heart, and she fought for a lot of people.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about all day, and I’ll always be grateful to her.”

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