Private show for Copperfield becomes a Vegas industry night
This is a show you can count on.
We finally made it to the second incarnation of “Late Night Magic” on Tuesday night. This was an invitation from David Copperfield and his team. What started as a special performance for Copperfield’s team turned into an industry-night performance for several Vegas entertainers.
Clearly, “Late Night Magic” has enhanced its position in the magic community, in terms of its legendary supporters and new digs at The Venue at the Orleans.
The result was a bangin’, late-night, off-Strip adult performance. We had some drunken buffoonery near the stage, an ongoing challenge for comic/magic host Doug “Lefty” Leferovich.
After beating back some of the interruptions from a group of guys barking through the show, the magician glared down and said, “I have a microphone, and youuuu doooont!”
Give Leferovich, in his 20th year on the VegasVille entertainment scene, a lot of credit for steering this show to the tape.
We had focused, highly entertaining performances from masked magician The Shocker (known as the Master of Mayhem), freak-show artist John Shaw, optical illusionist Bizzaro and newcomer to the show Hollie England. Card manipulation, sketch artistry and the requisite drill-bit-up-the-nose routine (from Shaw, as usual) were among the highlights.
Along with Copperfield and his wicked-gifted producer Chris Kenner, the crowd was dotted with such entertainment figures as Tape Face, “Zombie Burlesque” star Enoch Augustus Scott “Mad Apple” comic Harrison Greenbaum and burlesque performer Michelle L’Amour. I know I’m missing a few … Ah, Kiss drummer Eric Singer and mentalist star Gerry McCambridge were also in the mix.
Presiding over it all were Pompey Entertainment’s Damian Costa and his son, Dayton Costa, a star on the rise in entertainment production in this city. Costa’s company co-produces ”Late Night Magic,” and also runs The Duomo at the Rio and Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club.
The company’s Composers Room Showlounge & Restaurant at Commercial Center opening is TBA.
Prior to the show, Copperfield handed out several hand-clickers to his guests. Why? To click through how many F-bombs were dropped in the performance.
Lefty is usually a speechless character, in his sidekick role with Murray Sawchuck at Tropicana. But he’s a geyser of verbosity in “Late Night Magic,” and we counted up anywhere from 56 to 67 F-bombs (or flipping of the middle finger), with Lefty leading the way. Don’t cross Lefty, is the message.
It was wild, and if you don’t mind the raunchy language, a dang good hang. “LNM” runs Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays. Doors to the lobby and bar open at 8:30 p.m., shows at 10 p.m. And, remember, ages 18 and over. For real.
Cool Hang Alert
On the topic of adult-flavored entertainment and one of Costa’s former projects, “The Dirty at 12:30” comedy showcase is purring along at South Point’s Grandview Lounge at 11:59 p.m. Fridays. That’s 31 minutes earlier than 12:30, but a chance to get, um, lubed up at the bar. But not too much. We’ll turn “Lefty” loose on you.
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.