King brings his wit to Wynn Las Vegas

CNN talk-show host Larry King headlines as a humorist at Wynn Las Vegas on Friday.

Judging from his new book, "My Remarkable Journey," he won't be short of A material.

Some samplings:

Page 48 -- King's first kiss: New at smoking at age 17 ("I thought it made me look like Humphrey Bogart"), he walked into his girlfriend's home, and when they got to the door, she wheeled around and puckered. Larry leaped into action. But he forgot Romance Rule No. 1: Remove the cigarette. "She screamed. All the lights in the neighborhood came on."

Page 58 -- Rookie deejay's worst nightmare: Not long after moving to Miami in 1957 and landing his first radio job in his early 20s, King got an offer he couldn't refuse. A female caller on the hot line informed him she was in the mood. King had a plan: Put on a 33-minute Harry Belafonte album, jump in his car, race 11 blocks, get busy and who would know otherwise? Except when he got to woman's house, he heard Belafonte singing the same line over and over again. The needle had stuck.

Page 64 -- Driving Rule No. 1: Watch where you are going. King was driving a clunker of a convertible around Palm Beach with some deejay friends. He got distracted at an intersection and the car bumped into a car waiting at a stoplight. The driver got out and confronted King. "How could you hit me? It's 10 o'clock in the morning." It was John F. Kennedy.

Page 219 - Uhhh, sorry Mr. President: King's son, Chance, now 10, was pretending to be a Power Ranger at CNN headquarters. A guest in a chair wasn't paying attention when Chance delivered a serious karate chop to the man's groin. It was Bill Clinton.

The show starts at 8 p.m. Friday, with King's wife, Shawn, a former backup singer on Donny and Marie Osmond's tour, opening for him.

WALKING THE WALK

High heels were all the rage Tuesday in front of Bellagio's dancing fountains.

With hundreds of tourists gawking in amazement at one of the city's wilder spectacles, 295 Cirque du Soleil performers, most in costume, climbed on stilts in an effort to break a world record.

Cirque had hoped to set a record for stilt walkers, but it was no walk in the park even with the sidewalk blocked off.

Some, such as petite Kanako Kitao of Japan, were fish out of water. Kitao, 27, was a silver medalist in synchronized swimming at the Athens Summer Olympics. She's been a synchronized swimmer in "O" for 2 1/2 years.

Only 154 of the 295 walkers counted toward the record: Those whose feet came off the stilts were disqualified. Today marks the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil, the entertainment giant with six shows in Las Vegas casinos.

There were forest creatures and spear men from "KA," bunny-eared participants from "Criss Angel Believe" and pear-shaped characters from "Mystere." Some towered 12 feet high, while preteen youngsters from "Love" reveled on their wobbly legs. Cirque performers in four other cities, Montreal, Orlando, Fla., Moscow and Macau, participated simultaneously, hoping to eclipse the record of 625. A tally of the walkers will be submitted to officials at Guinness World Records.

SIGHTINGS

Mike Tyson, having lunch Friday at Tender Steak & Seafood (Luxor) with two top movie producers. A spy tells me they are in the talking stages about putting Tyson's life story on the big screen. ... NHL superstar Alex Ovechkin, having lunch with friends at Simon at Palms Place on Tuesday. He's a finalist for the Hart Trophy at the NHL Awards on Thursday at the Palms' Pearl concert venue.

THE PUNCH LINE

"In a major speech Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the Palestinians to get their own state. Unfortunately, the state he offered them is New Jersey." -- Conan O'Brien

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.