Regis Philbin: TV legend and (sometimes) Las Vegas showman
You can almost hear the man calling it out himself: Viva Las Regis.
Regis Philbin’s death Saturday at age 88 reminds that he was more than a legendary talk-show host and quiz master. He was a zealous showman and singer who performed in Las Vegas several times over the years. The man who logged more broadcast hours than any TV personality in history (15,000, according to the Guinness Book of World Records) loved hamming it up onstage.
“As personable as he was on his TV show, that’s how he was during his show, and he could read an audience about as fast as any performer I’ve seen,” said longtime Vegas entertainment exec Joel Fischman, who booked Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford at Bally’s Celebrity Theater. “He was in the same league as Sammy Davis, Tom Jones, Paul Anka, in terms of knowing how the evening was going to go. He knew when to bring people onstage, go into the audience and ask questions. He was incredible at that.”
Which is not to claim Philbin was in that legendary class of vocalists.
“Regis was not the greatest singer in the world,” said Fischman, who booked Philbin and Gifford’s concert when he was entertainment director at Bally’s in January 1995. The appearance was just ahead of a series of “Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee” shows. “He might have wanted to be a great singer, but what he was really great at was working the audience.”
Philbin also performed a pair of engagements in February 2004 at MGM Grand’s EFX Theater, now the Ka Theater, along with special guest star Lainie Kazan. In January 2006, Philbin and his wife, Joy Philbin, performed twice at Golden Nugget Showroom.
Philbin was once on Elvis’ famed stage at the Las Vegas Hilton (now Westgate Las Vegas) as host of the “37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards” in June 2010. He edged close to the Rat Pack early in his career, as sidekick to Joey Bishop on Bishop’s show that ran for 2½ years, ending in 1969.
When Bishop skulked offstage the night after being told his show would be canceled, Philbin took the desk and effectively launched his career.
Philbin’s connection to Las Vegas continues past his death. A Strip headliner has appeared on the show originally known as “Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee” more than any living celebrity. Carrot Top, with 33 appearances, shares the all-time record for most appearances on “Live” with the late Joan Rivers.
“It’s like when you grew up watching ‘The Tonight Show,’ and all of a sudden you’re actually on the show, and your hero is like a fan,” the comic, whose legal name is Scott Thompson, said Saturday afternoon. “During the commercial breaks, he’s saying to the audience, ‘Can you believe this kid, with all these gadgets?!’”
The Luxor comic once shared the show with Donald Trump, in the early 1990s. As he was introduced, C.T. turned to Trump and said, “This is great to be on a show where I don’t have the stupidest hair.”
“He kept wanting me to touch his hair, to prove it was real,” Thompson recalled during an episode of “PodKats!” in October. “He said, ‘Tell everyone it’s real.’ I said, ‘I’m not saying it isn’t real. I’m saying it’s goofy.’”
Thompson once finished a segment on the show by telling an adult joke about Pee Wee Herman, then spraying the stage with Silly String.
“Regis went, ‘What are you doing! This is live TV! You can’t do that!’” Thompson said. “He was shocked, but I think he liked it and thought it was funny.”
Early in their Vegas run, Penn & Teller also were recurring guests, appearing when the show was staged at Bally’s. They were joined by another prop comic, the legendary Rip Taylor.
P&T tried to coerce Taylor into their half-box to be sawed in half. Taylor resisted, because he was too big for the box and too fearful of the act. At the last moment, producer Michael Gelman volunteered to fold into the box. It was Gelman who helped make the “Live! With Regis & Kelly” a phenomenon across the country.
“Live!” returned to Las Vegas in 2001, playing Rio’s Samba Theater, just before Penn & Teller started their residency at the theater. As P&T’s manager Glenn Alai says, the duo still calls their green room The Regis Room, in honor of the TV legend.
With Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Ripa co-hosting, the show most recently filmed in Vegas in November, when Carrot Top made his 33rd appearance. He broke out his “Neighborhood Watch” sign prop, saying, “Watch the neighborhood? They can’t even watch their own signs!” For this bit, the comic left the Silly String in the trunk.
Piff, ands or buts
Flamingo Las Vegas headliner Piff The Magic Dragon has reached the semifinals of “Tournament of Laughs,” airing at 7 p.m. Sunday on TBS. The show is a bracketed, March Madness-fashioned competition where entertainers submit video clips and viewers vote on who advances.
This weekend, Piff is competing against either Jeff Ross or Natasha Leggero in the Fortunate Four. Piff is showcasing a video co-
He dreams a lot about street fighting, apparently.
If he reaches the final, Piff has another video ready: A death-defying escape hosted by master magician Lance Burton. “It’s the trick you didn’t think you’d need to see,” says Piff, legal name of John van der Put. Pyrotechnics are involved, and Piff is dedicating the entire series to 12-year-old Chihuahua sidekick Mr. Piffles.
“He’s 13 in November,” the magician says. “He’s about had enough. He deserves to win something.”
Laimbeer’s cut man
In his injury report for Sunday’s Las Vegas Aces-Chicago Sky game, Aces PR man John Maxwell listed head coach Bill Laimbeer’s barber as “Whereabouts Unknown.” Maxwell has been adding such nutty nuggets to his reports since the Aces’ grueling, 26-hour road odyssey to Washington in 2018.
On Sunday morning, Maxwell issued a “Who Wore It Better?” photo comparison, of Laimbeer today, wearing a red headband, and Andre Agassi from his 1980s heyday, also in a red headband. Very tough call.
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.
