Today in Las Vegas Magazine

Stand-Up and Laugh

Kevin Burke is one hard-working guy. With daily shows at the Golden Nugget, doing Defending the Caveman, he’s now added another one to his resume – that of doing stand-up comedy at the Fitzgerald’s showroom. Yes, it’s nightly as well, and if you’re wondering if the 9:13 show time is a gimmick, it’s not. He needs some time to walk down to the Fitz after his show at the Nugget. Producer John Bentham adds, “Kevin’s close to having done almost a thousand shows,” (approximately 796 shows so far) “He’s even outperformed Celine Dion, whose tally was 746 shows.”

If all this isn’t pressure enough, there’s talk of moving Defending the Caveman to the Strip, when Gordie Brown takes over the showroom at the Golden Nugget in February 2009. Bentham confirms that they’re “this close to making an announcement” about the new venue and the move Strip-side. That being the case, Kevin could very well be “the hardest working performer on the Strip and Downtown.”

Naysayers might wonder if this show has long to live – it is after all, Kevin Burke doing two back-to-back shows, albeit in different venues, but surprisingly, it seems to work. I caught the show on a Monday night, and let me tell you the 150-seat showroom was more than half-full. In this economy, that’s not bad at all, we’ve seen bigger productions with less people.

You might be wondering, then, what the deal is with Kevin Burke and how does he draw this much people, night after night? Perhaps it can all be traced back to his early (read: struggling) days as a performer. Before he got into stage work, he used to be a circus clown for the Ringling Brothers. Asked how he could do this, day-in and day-out and he replied, “It’s always been my goal to have my own show, with my own material.” This material comprising a (hilarious) bit involving a kazoo; some “psychic comedy” (to which he credits his grandmother, Hettie Reilly, who was in vaudeville) and some fire-
eating. He adds, “It’s an encapsulated version of my odd life.” Odd it may be, but also funny, in a non-political, non-offensive way. He is not one of those “insult comedians,” nor is his humor extra raunchy; the pace is not “redneck-humor” slow, nor is it “New York minute” fast – it’s somewhere in between and it seems to suit him (and his show) just fine.

The kazoo bit, by the way, has a back story. The act won him $10,000 – the grand prize of the TV show, “America’s Funniest People.” Not bad for about 16 seconds of work. Well, he seems to be more than making up for it now, with two nightly shows, plus matinees for Caveman.

While Kevin headlines both shows, he does have an ally in comedian Rolan Whitt, whose role is to warm-up the audience, while Kevin makes the dash from hotel to hotel. Whitt, who is like a younger, slightly edgier, Rich Little, keeps the momentum going, and does an adequate job of milking some laughs for about 15 minutes, until Kevin gets on stage.

Perhaps the secret to his success was answered and summed-up in his intro, when he asked the audience to vote (by applause) on the kind of show they would like to see for that evening, “Will it be an evening of me telling jokes of a socio-political nature, or I can set myself on fire…” Which do you think got the bigger applause? And that’s the beauty of this show’s concept – where the tone and theme is guaranteed to be different every night and Kevin can celebrate and poke fun at anything and everything under the spotlight, himself included. It’s not all “the Kevin Burke show” though and at times, it becomes a spotlight for up-and-coming talent. “One thing I’m gonna try to do is to bring great artists to Las Vegas. They can come out and work on something new on this stage,” says Kevin. Does this mean he’s ready to take a break from his grueling schedule? “Nah, I’m going to be starring in two separate shows. I did stand-up for 15 years – I’m going back to my first love.” Spoken like a true stand-up guy.

-Rachel M. Sugay

Fitz of Laughter
The Showroom, Fitzgerald’s. Show times are 9:13 p.m., nightly. Tickets are $29.95 and $39.95.