Performer staying involved in improv

Las Vegas is a city of unusual professions. Drive-through wedding minister? Gondolier? Check.

And Paul Mattingly balanced two of these odd jobs: Klingon and sketch comedian. Unless there's a gondolier who does weddings, Mattingly is the guy the Travel Channel tries to find.

At least, he was.

Mattingly moved here from Kentucky in 1997, intent on becoming a Klingon in Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton.

That dream was easily realized, and Mattingly expanded his horizons. He became first an understudy, then a full-time cast member of The Second City comedy troupe at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

But that show closed Aug. 1. If Mattingly harbored any thoughts about going back to Star Trek, they were dashed by news that the attraction closes Sept. 1. "I don't quite know what the universe is trying to tell me with both things going away so quickly," he says.

(Does the cosmic reference tip you off to which he will miss most? Yes, it's Star Trek. Second City still will exist elsewhere, but The Experience won't. "This place was a real mecca to a lot of these folks.")

For most of 2005, Mattingly logged many "crazy days" where he would work 11 hours in his 40-pound Klingon suit, then shower at the Experience and catch the monorail to the Flamingo, where he would have to think fast on his feet in a white shirt and tie.

This part of the story isn't so different from, say, a dancer who works in both an afternoon magic show and an evening production, then makes still a few more bucks as a nightclub cage dancer.

But at the risk of devaluing a dancer's skills or stamina, Mattingly's two jobs were a bit more creative. "I was able to write 'actor' on my tax return for 11 years," he says. "That's pretty incredible without having to work as a waiter."

Even more incredible that he found those opportunities in Las Vegas. In 2000, Mattingly "got this itch to do improv," so he quit The Experience and moved to Los Angeles. But, as it does to so many others, "L.A. kind of chewed me up and spit me out."

He returned in four months, "tail between my legs," only to discover that Second City was coming to town, complete with the very daytime improv courses that had motivated his Los Angeles move.

Mattingly is trying to keep at least that part of the tradition alive. He doesn't sound worried about his prospects for a day job, but is excited to talk up Improv-Vegas! -- a troupe offering classes and Monday night shows at the Onyx Theatre.

"I want to see something flourish here. I believe there is potential here that's untapped still," he says. He is losing one community with Trek," but "I'm trying to keep this little scene alive and kicking."

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