Sunday, March 28, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Annual awards show honors Las Vegas' best
Goodman wins two awards, does a little singing and dancing
By MIKE WEATHERFORD
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Rita Rudner receives the award for Best Comedian from her 21-month-old daughter, Molly, during the "Best of Las Vegas Awards Show" Saturday at the Rio.
Lance Burton accepts the award for Best Magician with a tribute to Siegfried & Roy.
Bridget Kloss and Brian Shortall, members of The Second City comedy troupe, have a "wardrobe malfunction" during the awards show.
Comic Sung Hee Park performs at the awards show.
Photos by K.M. Cannon.
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It's a good thing Mayor Oscar Goodman sat close to the stage at Saturday's "Best of Las Vegas Awards Show."
And that he came ready to sing and dance.
Goodman was called to the stage for two awards: Favorite Male Las Vegan and Most Colorful Character. But he also was drafted by an equally colorful character, lounge legend Cook E. Jarr, when KVBC-TV, Channel 3 weathercaster John Fredericks couldn't be found to accept his Local Weathercaster honor.
"Everybody loves Las Vegas sometimes -- all the time," Goodman sang along to Jarr's Dean Martin impression, then added, "Cook E. Jarr, you'd better go back to South Philly."
The mayor already had shed his coat to waltz across the stage in parody of the Chippendales dancers who opened the show at the Rio. By the time he bested Monti Rock III for the show-closing Colorful Character honor, he was sort of happiest-mayor-in-the-universe'd out.
"I've had a wonderful, wonderful ride in this great city, and I'm going to ask you all to join me on the train" for the city's centennial next year, Goodman told the audience.
Rita Rudner, who won the award for Best Comedian for the third time, hosted the awards show staged for the third year as an afternoon benefit, this time for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
"Breasts are more than a body part here. They're entertainment," Rudner joked.
The show celebrates the Review-Journal's 23rd annual readers poll, published as a special section in today's newspaper.
The show again offered an eclectic mix of local media and performing arts personalities, offering comedy both deliberate and accidental. In what is becoming a tradition, special attention was paid to winners not present to defend themselves.
Anticipated no-shows included Celine Dion (Best Singer), who was performing Saturday night at the Celebrity Fight Night charity benefit in Phoenix.
Veteran impressionist Pam Matteson, who opens Monday at Harrah's Improv, filled in with a "My Heart Will Go On" parody of a hungry Dion singing, "Every night in my sleep I dream of a pizza."
Show producer Myron Martin rushed to the stage to cover for the unexplained absence of "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show" performer Joe Trammel, who had volunteered to present the Favorite Female Las Vegan award to Dion's representative.
And then there was the winning weathercaster who was there, but not there. Fredericks was out in the Rio's casino, apparently convinced that KTNV-TV, Channel 13 rival Nate Tannenbaum would win for a seventh year.
"Are we really waiting for John Fredericks?" asked Jarr, who served as presenter after winning his own Lounge Performer award. "Hey Nate! You want to accept the award?" Always willing to help, Tannenbaum stepped up to the stage.
There was even a poignant no-show in Siegfried & Roy, singled out by both Rudner and Lance Burton, who took the Best Magician award for the fourth time. "They always represent the best of Las Vegas," Rudner said, saluting Roy Horn, who was seriously injured by one of his show tigers last year.
Tannenbaum's 5-year-old son, Guy, had a cameo, as did Rudner's 21-month-old daughter. Both were treated to a profane punch line by guest comedian Suzanne Whang, who later explained she has an affinity for Las Vegas after getting signed with a manager at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival.
Video presentations were a big part of this year's show, with the Flamingo's The Second City comedy troupe making up a few new categories to go with the 219 already featured in the poll:
The Peppermill, winner for Best Bar for Romance, also was designated "Best Place for Older Men to Take Their Young Nieces."
The Bellagio was first for Best Hotel Landscaping, but second-place went to "the Hard Rock waitresses' bikini lines."
The Best Place to Go on a Budget is Circus Circus. "And the worst place to go on a budget? Las Vegas," the troupe's Joe Kelly noted.
