Cheapshot in downtown Las Vegas is a new way to misbehave

Amy Saunders is prone to wearing groovy accessories, and expounding on her vision for nightlife entertainment in downtown Las Vegas.

Saunders wears frisky, leopard-pattern glasses as she chats of her developing entertainment haven, Cheapshot. You quickly realize, there are no lenses in these frames. They’re just for show for the Renaissance woman of Fremont East, who arrived in December 2016 as the star and creator of “Miss Behave Game Show” at Bally’s.

The adult-themed, improvisational and interactive game show ran through the first week of March 2020. After the manic production shut down and COVID closed in, Saunders turned her attention to downtown.

A partnership between Saunders and Ryan Doherty’s Corner Bar Management nightlife company, Cheapshot and its bawdy variety show, “Mavericks,” are set to open at 8 p.m. April 1-2 where Don’t Tell Mama once stood. Saunders is “Mavericks’” mistress of ceremonies, vaguely promising all sorts of wondrous side acts but keeping details quiet until pulling back the curtain.

Saunders puts the operation in context by saying, “We are not reinventing the wheel, but we sure are driving the car differently.”

We do know that the show flourishes into a discotheque. Saunders is also tuning the keys for a piano bar, with the terrific Sarah Hester Ross leading the rotation of performers. All of this in a 99-seat venue, where locals and tourists alike can waddle in and enjoy an inexpensive hang (tickets to the show are $25, available at sevenrooms.com/events/cheapshot).

Highlights from a recent chat with the venue’s producer and hostess about her new jukebox of surprises:

Johnny Kats: When did you start thinking of Las Vegas as a destination?

I’ve been obsessed with Vegas for a very long time. I’m just an entertainment nerd. For me, there is the sort of holy grail of Las Vegas that actually started with Jack Entratter. It’s not the Rat Pack. It’s Jack, who got lifted from the Copacabana in New York and was the entertainment director at the Sands. If you look at who made the journey here, he’s a massive part of why Vegas really understood entertainment. I’ve been obsessed with that gorgeous side of Vegas for as long as I’ve been interested in entertainment.

How did you make the bridge from “Miss Behave” at The Back Room at Bally’s to your ideas for downtown Las Vegas?

I actually thought “Game Show” was a really good fit for the room we were in. It was quite exceptional. But I always wanted to bring the show downtown, and I started talking with the Downtown Project, and Tony Hsieh, who was a big fan of the show. They pointed at Inspire Theater, and I started walking and what I saw was fascinating, and then I just stared at Don’t Tell Mama’s and it was such a great location.

You contacted Ryan Doherty about your ideas, I remember. He already had Park on Fremont and Commonwealth on Fremont East. How did that original conversation go?

We must have had a great chat (laughs). I was raving about his bars, without realizing they were his bars, because the attention to detail was so impressive. We were sitting in the patio at Park on Fremont, and I had gone to the restroom, I came back, and I’m just raving about the wallpaper and the fact that it’s so well-lit. “Oh, my God! Even wallpaper in this place is beautiful!” I loved the fact that the patio out back is actually what I would call hipster Vegas, because you’ve got broken old mannequins and gold cages. That facilitated a sort of kismet relationship, and he got in touch with me a few weeks later and said, “I’ve bought a showroom, but I know nothing about running shows. I want you to run the shows bit of it for me.” And that was the Don’t Tell Mama space.

Are you ready, yet, to specify what are we going to see in the “Mavericks” show?

(Laughs) I know I’ve been an absolute pain in the ass about this. The reason is, I had a show on the Strip for three years, and I do sort of understand the machinations of a Vegas show. Because of the budget I’m playing with, I have two things: Intrigue and surprise. That’s it. And for Bob and Margaret, who aren’t even in town yet, they’re not going to care about the specifics. For Vegas, the reason I’m keeping it secret from you guys is because that’s all I got.

But will we see sword swallowing? Plate-spinning? A guy folding himself into a box?

So, I can tell you now, we have circus burlesque. We’ve got some aerial. I’ve got someone coming from London. I’ve got someone coming from the desert. We’ve got singing. I’ve got three performers who are actually Vegas locals. I’m doing numbers that I haven’t done for years. They are swallowing-based, but not swords. Anything else that’s useful? Oh, we are all seasoned. I am getting a good crew of show folk.

You’ve described Cheapshot as the attraction that’s just off the Midway. What do you mean by that?

The carnival, or the midway, is the main event. I would say on Fremont Street, the main event is the Fremont Street Experience. The woman selling necklaces, all the performers on the street showing off are there because of the Fremont Street Experience. What we are doing is playing off the circus. What I’m doing is in much the same thing that Notoriety and the new Don’t Tell Mama are doing at Neonopolis, or (comic magician) Mike Hammer is doing at Four Queens, which blows my socks off. He has a good, solid showroom, and an excellent show. He’s taking a smart, practical approach. That is the benchmark.

And the Fremont Street Experience itself is kind of a sideshow to the Strip?

What I would call it is the dirty little sister of the Strip. By all means, go to the Strip! Have a lovely time in your Uber. Don’t walk anywhere, for the love of God. Get lost in the hotels; everything is big and expensive. Or, come downtown, get a really good coffee, walk up the road and see all this amazing neon, hit the Fremont Street Experience and go, “(Forget) life! Everyone is mad!” and then come into our beautiful showroom.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.