LaFong and Co. provide plenty of strong laughs

Joe Delaney

Friday, Dec. 4, 1998 | 12:36 p.m.

Michele LaFong and her "Funniest Females" revue has returned to O'Shea's, next to and really part of the Flamingo Hilton, hopefully for a long run after a successful fortnight there earlier this fall. LaFong is a multi-talented performer, standup comedian, impressionist and ventriloquist who first served notice that she had Las Vegas potential last year at the defunct Debbie Reynolds hotel.

New York's Barbara Singer opens the show with a brief turn, then serves as an emcee. There is an East Coast stridency that would not wear well in a longer stint. Her approach is the usual comedy club style. She has a personality and good moves, but the material is weak. The personality carried her; she is likable, a strong plus.

Boston's Joni Grassey finished her 10 minutes or so on a high, setting up LaFong's 45 minutes nicely. Grassey, a mother for the first time at age 40, contributes a life-story stream of consciousness, narrative-style, rather than setup and punch, with realistic content and more than her share of laughs. A fourth female, Shae Denin was absent, due to death in the family.

LaFong carries the show with standup comedy as a starter then, using props from an onstage cabinet, does rapid changes as she becomes a series of well-known personalities such as Joan Rivers, Bette Midler and a very clever Dr. Ruth, using a young lady from the audience, closing with an Andrew "Dice" Clay that merited a huge hand.

Michele shifted into high gear with a tribute to Senor Wences, now 102 years old, who taught LaFong to do his routine with Johnny, a hand puppet, really a fist for a face, sitting atop a two-foot dummy -- most effective, a worthy replica of the original. Paco, a puppet modeled after an old boyfriend, is her bread and butter closer, a tour de force of all the ventriloquist tricks -- multiple voices, voices from various distances, heavy stuff.

With one show a night, dark Mondays, LaFong could make the upstairs showroom a year-around winner with three strong females for a 90-minute show, but it would need full support from the Flamingo-Hilton. This could make the Magic Museum that takes up most of the second floor at O'Shea's even more successful. It is a worthy attraction.

There was half a house at the show caught. Those present had a good time and seemed to think their money was well spent.