Juggler to TV show judge … nice leap

What Las Vegas performer is not in the race to score a nonscripted TV show? But the winner — or at least, the one getting to a significant stepping stone — is a relative newcomer to the Strip.

Jeff Civillico is a juggler whose afternoon show hasn’t been at The Quad quite a year. But he impressed The Travel Channel enough to back a pilot for a contest-format show called “Vegas Strip Search.”

It’s booked for a one-time airing, and that, alas, is at 3 p.m. Saturday opposite the Final Four game of Louisville versus Wichita State.

But basic cable ratings are relative — based more on whether a show can hold viewers of the show before it — and the Travel Channel has a stake in the outcome; the network contributed to production costs rather than simply airing an independently financed pilot.

“My original concept of the show was to find the best street performers all across the country,” says Civillico, who started off as a street and theme-park entertainer himself.

“The really cool part of the show is the performer teaching me whatever skill they specialize in,” he says. “The audience gets to see me learning how to eat fire in the pilot,” as well as whip-cracking, chainsaw-carving and pogo stick-riding.

The performer whom Civillico selects from four contenders wins a segment in a certain afternoon variety show at The Quad.

“No matter what happens with this specific show, it puts me in a place I want to be,” Civillico says.

Already Travel Channel has approached him about being a judge on another talent-based show.

“You have to celebrate all the little wins,” he says.

Other Las Vegas show people are in various stages of progress with pilots or “sizzle reels” to shop to cable networks. Two that appear to be under serious consideration involve show producer David Saxe and one of Saxe’s tenants, magician Nathan Burton. Both projects feature family members who are part of their business.

(Burton was the original producer of Civillico’s “Comedy in Action,” but the juggler stepped up to self-produce once Burton left Caesars Entertainment for the Saxe Theater.) ...

Take heart, variety acts who didn’t catch Civillico’s scrutiny. There are bigger fish to fry if you get on “America’s Got Talent.” This year, Las Vegas is one of the audition series for the NBC talent show, with the judges headed this way April 20.

The auditions aren’t open-call; you have to be invited by submitting a video on the show’s website. But there is still time to do that. ...

Penn & Teller probably don’t mind a trip to Hollywood Friday if it means getting a star on the famous Walk of Fame there, instead of settling for the lesser-known one here.

David Copperfield is a guest speaker in the 11:30 a.m. ceremony. ...

Movie tough guy Robert Davi made an earnest play to become a showroom crooner last year, singing at The Venetian with a big band.

He returns to play The Orleans April 13 and 14 not as a headliner, but with an opening-act gig every Rat Pack kinda guy would crave: 35 minutes in support of Vegas legend Don Rickles. And yes, Davi still will have a 15-piece band. ...

The Academy of Country Music awards Sunday on CBS have become less about the actual awards and more about performances. But recipients such as Red Rock Resort are still proud to win one, even if it’s one of the industry-oriented ones given out well before the TV festivities.

Red Rock was named “Casino of the Year” by the Academy. Sister properties Boulder Station and Green Valley Ranch Resort are previous winners. Mandalay Bay won last year.

Red Rock scored Luke Bryan (this year’s awards show co-host) during his ascendency last year, and hosts “Nashville Unplugged” in its lounge. ...

The Scintas are readying a Wednesday opening at The D with a new singer in place of Chrissi, the Scinta sibling who has battled throat problems and had them recur in rehearsals.

“It’s very difficult to have to realize your sister can’t do what she loves to do,” frontman Frank Scinta says.

The new woman in the midst of male mayhem is Janien Valentine. She leaves “Peepshow” for the Scintas gig, after spending a couple of years as a singer in the burlesque revue. Her long resume of Las Vegas show credits includes “Nunsense,” “Notre Dame de Paris” and “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.”

But the most applicable experience to Frank Scinta was her time as Clint Holmes’ backing singer for a stretch of the entertainer’s tenure at Harrah’s Las Vegas. Plus, Frank adds, “I know her family in Buffalo.”

Valentine’s status will be “permanently temporary or temporarily permanent,” Frank jokes. Chrissi has to be careful after previous surgery for vocal cord paralysis. But she will make periodic appearances with brothers Frank and Joe (plus drummer Peter O’Donnell), starting with perhaps one song and then more as her recovery progresses.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at
mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.