Catch A Rising Star settles nicely into new Excalibur home

Joe Delaney

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 9:09 a.m.

Catch A Rising Star is back in town, at the Excalibur on the second level in the Medieval Village. Unlike its competition at the other hotel comedy clubs, which feature three or four acts, this newest entry is offering two co-headliners, one doing approximately 30 minutes and the other 45.

The original Catch A Rising Star opened its doors in New York City in 1972. Tim Allen, David Brenner, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Chris Rock, Ray Romano and Rita Rudner are a few of Catch's famous alumni.

Catch was a presence in Las Vegas, starting in 1988 with an outlet at Bally's, and most recently at the MGM Grand before it closed in 1999 to make room for a show starring Rudner.

Through Sunday, Barry Friedman opens and Pat Godwin closes at Catch, in the 435-seat nicely converted restaurant (formerly the Nitro Grill). Eddie Peak, a longtime Excalibur regular, was at the keyboard, singing and entertaining the crowd for 30 minutes before each show and introducing each act. He had a large crowd for an early weeknight (shows are at 7:30 and 10 p.m. nightly) ready for Friedman's entrance.

Friedman is from New York and now resides in Oklahoma. His first few minutes covered familiar terrain, touching on gambling in Las Vegas. He moved the focus to Texas and to being a "token Jew in Oklahoma." There were brief references to President Clinton, Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias and prostitutes, each time painting visual pictures as comedic punctuation.

He continued with observations on losing weight, bad toupees, divorce, his wonderment as to how a woman can remove her bra without taking off a blouse -- and actually got someone up for a demonstration -- marriage, sex for the first time and Oktoberfest in Oklahoma. He got his share of laughs but seemed to be stretching a little to fill time.

Godwin established his Philadelphia Irish-American heritage early and had fun with it at various points. Armed with a guitar, his singing impressions included Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley's final performance and Bono of U2 were near-classic, as were the special lyrics on Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight."

Catch offers a service bar, but no table service. A customer left for the bar and Godwin asked him to bring back a beer. He did and it became a funny prop. An impression of Bob Dylan singing while driving home drunk turned into an audience sing-along.

Godwin closed with strong satires of Jefferson Starship, Alan Jackson, Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen. All of his impressions were funny, unique and apparently spontaneous.

Opening week attendance counts and strong audience participation and response augurs well for the future of Catch A Rising Star in its new location.