Carson’s ‘Tonight Show’ revisited at Frontier

Friday, Aug. 23, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

What: "On the Air, Tonight's Show."

When: 7 p.m. Saturdays through Thursdays. Dark Fridays.

Where: The New Frontier Showroom.

Tickets: $27.45.

Information: 794-8200.

Jeff Fairchild has been told for years that he sounded like Johnny Carson.

As luck would have it, just as Fairchild decided to capitalize on the similarity, producer Chris Davidson was looking for someone to play the part of Carson in a show he was putting together at the New Frontier "On the Air, Tonight's Show."

"I had never done Carson before," the 32-year-old native of Memphis, Tenn., said. "But for the past couple of years I have been doing different emcee work in Vegas, and whenever I would finish a job people would come up to me and say I sounded just like Johnny Carson.

"I heard that over and over, every single day."

Gary Anthony, who performs as Frank Sinatra for the "Our Way" Rat Pack tribute show at Tropicana, heard Fairchild and suggested Fairchild create a Carson skit.

"So I rented a couple of Johnny Carson videos and studied him," Fairchild said. "Then I went to a thrift store to look for a jacket like the kind Johnny Carson wore."

While at the store, Fairchild bumped into Frank Mendonca III. Mendonca is a Paul McCartney tribute artist employed by Davidson. Mendonca told Davidson about Fairchild, and since July 13 Fairchild has been wearing the thrift store jacket onstage in Davidson's fledgling production.

"Tonight's Show" is not an exact reproduction of Carson's "The Tonight Show," though there are similarities an opening monologue, skits and musical acts. But there is no Ed McMahon co-hosting, and no Doc Severinsen leading the band.

The guest stars are actually tribute artists who perform in other Davidson productions, including "Rock 'n' Roll Legends" and "Day Tripper" (both at the New Frontier) and "The King in Concert" and "I'm All Shook Up" (both at the Elvis-A-Rama Museum, which Davidson owns).

Fairchild, who has been singing professionally since age 13, not only was given the task of being Carson. He also wrote the show, relying heavily on Jerry Lewis tribute artist David Wolf, a native of Los Angeles.

Wolf has been doing a Lewis act at corporate events and various venues for more than 10 years. He has even appeared on the "Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon."

"The script was the hardest challenge because I didn't know what guests we would have on the show," Fairchild said. "How could I write a show and not know who the guests were?

"I met (Wolf) shortly thereafter and I thought, 'Wow. This guy's great.' So as I was writing, I decided when all else fails just throw him in there."

Heeeere's Jerry

Wolf, as Lewis, is an integral component of the show. He appears frequently in skits and other routines.

"Like the real Lewis, my character, in general, is all over the place," Wolf said.

Wolf looks a lot like Lewis, and has perfected the comic's mannerisms and vocal qualities.

"Growing up, I used to watch tons of Jerry Lewis movies," said Wolf, who is working on creating a tribute performance to the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy team.

The 34-year-old Wolf spent much of the '80s doing improv at Center Stage in his native Los Angeles. He did a variety of characters, including Desi Arnaz and George Burns, but he always had the most luck with Lewis.

"I did a lot of corporate events, celebrity golf tournaments, that sort of thing," Wolf said.

When Davidson called Wolf a couple of months ago to pitch "Tonight's Show," Wolf was still living in Los Angeles, though he performed all over the country. He didn't hesitate to move to Vegas.

"I love the format of the show," Wolf said. "There is a fantastic crew. Everybody is open-minded. There are no egos. Everyone is willing to work hard and to expand on what we are doing.

"The nice thing about Chris is that he allows the freedom of different ideas. We are actually able to bring the best of all our characters to the show, and to see what works best."

Davidson isn't a typical producer. He sort of backed into the profession.

"I really don't consider myself to be a producer," he said. "I struggle with technicians, with talk about sound and lighting. But I know money, and I'm able to spot good talent. We have incredible entertainers."

Davidson is a 37-year-old hyperactive businessman who throws himself into a dozen different projects at the same time; he has difficulty delegating authority.

All business

"I get so carried away in everything I do," Davidson said. "I take a hobby or something personal to me and turn it into a venture, a business venture.

"It's a positive, because it allows me to do so much. But on the downside, I've had high blood pressure since I was 25 years old and I have two blocked arteries. I have to make some adjustments. I'm on a collision course. The lifestyle I live today won't carry me much past 45 or 50."

That's one of the reasons he decided to sell the Elvis-A-Rama Museum on Industrial Road, which he started a couple of years ago (the asking price is $4.7 million). But Davidson won't be out of the Elvis business entirely -- he recently started a second Elvis museum in Laughlin.

Davidson's museum led to his becoming a producer.

"The shows started as a way to promote the museum without the overhead or rent on the Strip," Davidson said.

When "The Rat Pack is Back" closed in April, Davidson saw an opportunity to enhance his "Rock 'n' Roll Legends," which had performances at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the New Frontier. He reasoned that with two back-to-back performances, he was splitting his audiences, who could chose one production or the other.

"I was working against myself," he said.

He kept "Legends" at 4 p.m. and created a new show for the 7 p.m. slot.

Davidson wasn't impressed enough with "Rat Pack" to try his own version of that production, so he kept the Martin and Sinatra characters and added Lewis and Carson.

"It was a much greater concept," he said. "And I could throw in other people from our other shows."

It's a low-budget production with a lot of potential, Davidson says.

"We will build up our attendance counts and somebody at another property will pick us up," Davidson, always the optimist, said. "Somebody is going to need a show (at another hotel) and they will appreciate what we bring to the table.""

David Wolf

JERRY LEWIS TRIBUTE ARTIST