Joe Delaney

Fri, Jan 11, 2002 (9:15 a.m.)

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com

Steven Wright is conducting his very personal comedic seminars tonight through Sunday in The Orleans showroom ... Lanky, laconic Wright's approach is light years away from the setup and punch-line method of the majority of comedic cookie cutter-like practitioners working the comedy club circuit these days ... He paints sparse, Zen-like pictures, both mirthful and multidimensional.

Wright is a born and raised New Englander, hence his taciturn approach ... He works in a monotone, preferring to let his words do the work minus dramatic emphasis or physical punctuation ... He looks at the world askance, sees it as being askew and, at times, downright awry ... His observances are very funny and, upon reflection, also make good sense.

After graduating from Emerson College, Wright worked at a number of odd jobs, which was good conditioning for that "open mike" audition in the late 1970s at Ding Ho's Comedy Club and Chinese Restaurant, just off Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. ... In 1982 he made his debut with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" ... Carson had him return the next night.

This led to a series of HBO specials along with appearances with Carson, David Letterman and on "Saturday Night Live" ... A PBS anthology series with Tim Matheson and Catherine O'Hara led to concert dates and numerous big-screen roles in such films as "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Natural Born Killers," "The Swan Princess," and "Canadian Bacon," among others.

Wright's main subjects are the little things of life, average events, the insanity often contained in topics taken for granted ... He puts a twist on reality. An inveterate reader, he finds this is a stimulus to write, but the best lines come later, often during a live performance ... He is always adding new material and revising the old.

Don't waste time trying to analyze him ... Take someone you really like and enjoy an evening of observations by Wright ... You will not only laugh long and hard, but you will come away with a number of things to think about, ideas that may make you laugh even harder in retrospect.

Weekend wrap-up

We have long advocated the building of identification, performers or shows, with hotels ... Harrah's is a good example with long-term associations with Clint Holmes, evenings, and Mac King, afternoons, plus the Improv Comedy Club ... The Riviera is another, with "Splash," "An Evening at La Cage," "Crazy Girls" and the Riviera Comedy Club.

Sheena Easton established an identification with the LV Hilton, and the result is that she will perform in its NightClub Tuesday through Dec. 29, with occasional breaks for other commitments ... The Hilton has also made long-term showroom commitments, two weeks or more at a time, with the Commodores, the Righteous Brothers and the Smothers Brothers.

Rita Rudner has agreed to a three-year extension of her deal with New York-New York in its Cabaret Theatre ... Ronn Lucas, afternoons, and the Scintas, evenings, will continue through this year in what is now called The Rio's Masquerade Showroom ... This concept should be extended to include lounges. Let's build identification everywhere there as well.

An appreciation: Legendary jazz pianist Ralph Sutton started that final deep sleep on Dec. 30; he was 79 ... Andre Previn referred to Sutton as "one of the few jazz pianists who had complete mastery of the instrument" ... He ranked right there with James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith and Art Tatum as one of the great stride pianists.

Roberta and I stood for Ralph and his wife, Sunnie, when they were married in Las Vegas 36 years ago ... We remained close ... The Suttons hosted Jazz Weekends at the Marriott in Denver these past few years ... No word yet with regard to this year's festival ... He was the last of a vanishing era ... Rest well, Ralph.

See you next Thursday.