Columnist John Katsilometes: Comedy Festival up to more funny business

Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005 | 10:03 a.m.

On his breakthrough 1977 album "Let's Get Small," Steve Martin said of Las Vegas entertainment: "There's a million people onstage and everything's moving real fast and you can't understand a word they say but it doesn't matter and you just sit there and go, 'Wow! Look at the (breasts)! I'll bet there's 57 (breasts) up there!' "

(So long ago was that routine that Martin bemoaned Las Vegas' high ticket prices -- "$15 to get in.")

As Martin and many other comedians have noted, Vegas has long been a funny city, serving as limitless comic fodder and as a breeding ground for comedians. And in November it will be celebrated as such when The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas hosts "Vegas Founders of Comedy" at the Flamingo Las Vegas Showroom.

The show, announced here first, is set for Nov. 19 and will be hosted by the always-eager-to-laugh Larry King. The program will stitch together vintage performance clips, and scheduled to appear onstage are comic legends Shelley Berman, Norm Crosby, Phyllis Diller, Shecky Greene and Jerry Lewis.

The Comedy Festival is organized by HBO and Los Angeles-based entertainment company AEG Live. TCF, as it is called, will be held from Nov. 17 to Nov. 19 at the Flamingo and Caesars Palace. Seven venues will be used to showcase the event.

The list of famous funny people also scheduled to appear at TCF includes Dave Chappelle, George Lopez, Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, George Wallace, Lewis Black, Dave Attell and Jon Stewart. Jerry Seinfeld will be presented with the first The Comedian award, which is a lifetime achievement kind of a thing.

Tickets for the "Founders of Comedy" show cost from $40.91 to $54.55. For information about the festival and to purchase tickets for any and all events, go to www.thecomedyfestival.com or www.ticketmaster.com, call (877) 823-3378 or pick them up at the box office at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

NoteMart

Scrawl for one: At the monthly downtown arts festival First Friday on Thursday night (oh, we mean Friday) founder and Funk House gallery owner Cindy Funkhouser happened upon handwriting expert Grace DePass, who was analyzing handwriting in exchange for donations for her family in New Orleans (DePass moved to Las Vegas in February).

DePass told Funkhouser -- whom she did not know -- that she needed to slow down, learn to delegate authority and "stop collecting stuff." "She nailed me," Funkhouser said. DePass made a couple of observations after looking at my scrawl, too, saying I was prone to procrastination and ... I'll finish this item Tuesday ...

The spin zone: It was quite a week at Pure at Caesars Palace. The 36,000-square-foot ultraclub, which hosted Ashlee Simpson's birthday party last Sunday, was thumping again Friday night as drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM (who is still engaged to Nicole Richie) performed a stunning 50-minute set.

As about 800 revelers jostled for position on the dance floor, DJ AM sampled a wide range of music (from Ray Charles "I Got a Woman" to the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun") and the Mohawked, multi-tattooed Barker slammed away without pause. Equally impressive was that, outside the club before the show, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf glided unrecognized through hundreds of people eager to see the performance ...

Simon says line up: Las Vegas auditions for "American Idol" were to begin this morning at 6 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The audition process runs through Thursday. Amazingly, this is the show's fifth season ...

Tai one on: There is a time and place to practice tai chi; for one woman on Saturday, noon at the corner of Spring Mountain and Wynn roads was that time and place.