Sunday, September 25, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: A Friday madhouse at the Madhouse

Paris Hilton nearly has wardrobe malfunction. Tara Reid makes the rounds Friday night. Mariah Carey at Jermaine Dupri's birthday bash.

With a potential TV deal on the line, comedy show producer Jeff Beacher couldn't have scripted a wilder scenario.

There was Paris Hilton being carried onstage during the season-opening show of "Beacher's Madhouse" on Friday, with Ted Harbert, president and CEO of E! Networks, in the audience to determine whether to make the "Madhouse" a cable network staple.

With Hilton serving as the ultimate good sport, Beacher's anything-goes show took its zaniest spin at The Joint, the Hard Rock Hotel's show venue.

Late in the show, Leonid the Magnificent, a 6-foot-9-inch Russian who wears boas and feathery wings while balancing a sword on his forehead, went into the crowd, scooped up Hilton and brought her onstage.

After Hilton spanked Leonid's bare bottom, he propped her up on her hands and knees like a show pony and climbed on, flattening the elegantly dressed heiress face first. Then Leonid laid down on her back, and, umm, we'll leave it at that.

When the horseplay ended, Hilton was frantically trying to prevent a wardrobe malfunction, using both hands to keep the top of her dress from falling down. "My fiance is going to kill me for that," said Hilton, as she stepped off the stage.

The crowd loved it, and so, apparently, did Harbert. After the show, he gave a thumbs-up to Beacher and Hard Rock execs Peter and Harry Morton for a weekly "Madhouse" deal on E!

If the deal gets inked, Beacher told me the show will start filming this fall and air in February.

"It will be like `Saturday Night Live' with celebrity hosts, stand-up comedians and musical performances," said Beacher, who brought the "Madhouse" from New York City in early 2004.

The Scene and Heard

Get-well wishes to KVVU-TV, Channel 5 evening anchor Shelley Bruner, who suffered a broken wrist and a fractured shoulder during a traffic accident Friday in Green Valley. She was making a turn at Stephanie Street and Paseo Verde about 6 p.m. when her car was struck by another car. ...

Spies say Mark Brown, formerly the head of the three Trump casinos in Atlantic City, is being courted by Harrah's and the Rande Gerber-George Clooney Las Ramblas project.

Sightings

Molly Sims of NBC's "Las Vegas," on a shopping spree at Talulah G (Fashion Show mall) on Saturday. ... At Jermaine Dupri's birthday party Friday at TAO (The Venetian): Usher, Ashanti, Mariah Carey, Nelly, Janet and Joe Jackson, George Maloof and Lance Bass, Gary Payton, Paris and Nicky Hilton and Tara Reid. ... Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens, riding out Hurricane Rita in Las Vegas, where he was spotted in the second row of Lance Burton's magic show with his sons Friday at the Monte Carlo. Clemens is out with a pulled hamstring. ... Harrah's headliner Clint Holmes and singer Kelly Clinton, at Beacher's Madhouse on Friday and at TAO's VIP party on Saturday. ... At Body English (Hard Rock Hotel) on Friday: the Hilton sisters and Reid, Jeremy Roenick of the Los Angeles Kings, former NFL lineman Ross Verba and NBA vet Bobby Sura. ... At Light (Bellagio) on Friday: the Hiltons and Reid. ... Luc Robitaille of the Los Angeles Kings and teammates, having lunch at The Brew Pub at Monte Carlo on Friday. ... NASCAR driver Jimmy Spencer and Las Vegas Motor Speedway General Manager Chris Powell at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crabs (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Thursday night.

The Punch Line

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, says comedian David Spade, were "going to name the child after the place it was conceived, but it was too hard to say Olive Garden Bathroom Floor."

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.