Vol. 3, No. 9, September 2007
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The Astonishing Johnathan
Each month, Casino Connection presents a column of news, opinions and rumors heard on the Strip by award-winning journalist Steve Friess, co-host of the celebrity podcast, The Strip, and daily blog, TheStripPodcast.Blogspot.Com. Friess’ irreverent guidebook, Gay Vegas, was published in July from Huntington Press.
Longtime comic-magician headliner the Amazing Johnathan, poised to hop from the Sahara to the Riviera later this year, caused a heck of a stir in early August with some remarks to me in a stunningly open interview for “The Strip” podcast. We were rolling along happily chatting about his career evolution, his performance in 1986 for President Ronald Reagan and his interactions with Prince.Then Johnathan detoured into a commentary about political correctness in comedy that included a surprising defense of disgraced Seinfeld sidekick Michael Richards’ n-word-filled rant at a Los Angeles comedy club last November. He complained that a black comic who calls a white heckler a “honky” would suffer no similar repercussions.
When I asked him what should’ve happened to Richards, he unloaded: “What I think should’ve happened is, well, the manager should’ve thrown the black people out. That’s what I think should’ve happened. If they were heckling him during the show, they were wrong. And anything you do, if you’re heckling a comic and interrupting a show, you’re a n——- at that point, you know what I mean, in my eyes. You’re not an audience member, you’re not a friend, you are the worst possible scenario. You’re disrupting my job, so you’re a n——-. I wouldn’t yell that word out and tell them that, I would have handled it a little bit more differently. If I did use that word, it would’ve been funny. I mean, I’ve called women in the audience c—— and I’ve gotten away with it because they were c——, but I did it right. There is a way to do it right.”
Yikes.
Once we moved along to other matters, though, Johnathan was no less frank. He blasted two of his Strip competitors, Planet Hollywood magicians Hans Klok and Steve Wyrick. Hear all his comments at TheStripPodcast.Com.
Chips, Ahoy!
I headed over to the Riviera to cover the 15th annual convention of the Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club expecting to be largely amused by the scene. Instead, I realized the instant I got there that I understood these people and their motivations for accumulating chips and a wild litany of other casino memorabilia. In fact, if ever there were collectors to respect, it is people who choose to gather items because of their real historic value and importance to an entire culture, in this case that of gambling.
Unlike people who buy certain series of Precious Moments Christmas ornaments or Beanie Babies, every piece of memorabilia there had a particular era associated with it and, in most cases, had been used or handled by actual people at some point. While a used ticket stub for a Wayne Newton concert 30 years ago or a paper placemat from the Sands buffet may have seemed like trash at the time, it is undeniable that they are fun to behold now.
And yes, I did buy something while I was there, although no chips. Rather, two items caught my eye. The first was a Life magazine from June 1955 that is routinely referenced by casino executives of today because it had cover headline that said, “Las Vegas: Is Boom Overextended?” I snapped up two of those at $25 each, one for me and another to give to someone at some point, though I’m not sure who. The other treasure is actually really amazing, a 1989 snow globe containing the now-gone Stardust hotel tower that plays the song “Stardust.” It was a keepsake from the opening of the tower; I grabbed a small piece of blue glass from it before it was imploded this past spring. What’s shocking about this is that the guy selling it tried to silent-auction it off for $25 but nobody had bid on it by the time I spotted it, so he let me have it for $5. I snagged it for my mom, who collects music boxes, but I’m pretty sure I’m hanging on to this one!
