Reviewing Las Vegas shows as I see them. I am not employed or paid by anyone to see them, or review them. Its just my opinion, love it or hate it.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Lance Burton @ Monte Carlo




FINALLY!! Lance has been popping up on Houseseats.com regularly for the past month or so. Everytime I see him there is something else going on that stops us from going. We finally got to see his show this past Saturday. He is at the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino. He shares his theater with Frank Caliendo. Lance Burton embodies what a Las Vegas Magic show is all about. He made people disappear, cars disappear, levitation and sawing people in half. The show was very entertaining and family friendly. If you like magic you'll be entertained by this show.

Jim Florentine @ Palace Station


A little late posting about this show but better late than never right? Jason and I got tickets to see the stand up comedian Jim Florentine off Houseseats.com. He was performing at the Palace Station. Jim Florentine is best known for his characters "Special Ed" and "Bobby Fletcher" on the hit show Crank Yankers on Comedy Central.
The show had 2 warm up comedians. They were ok, with some good jokes. Nothing amazing (clearly since I can't remember their names). Jim Florentine himself, was hilarious!! He did a few Special Ed bits and all in all kept the audience laughing. I would definitely recommend seeing him if you get the chance.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Defending The Caveman @ Harrahs


Last night Jason and I decided to 'cave' in and go see Defending the Caveman. The tickets are ALWAYS available on Houseseats.com. We ran into Rosy and Jon there! Ha! great minds think alike.
My theory? Its a Broadway comedy so it can't be too bad right? Hmmm I am rethinking Broadway. Now based on the fact that it claims to be from Broadway I immediately thought it was a stage production....The show starts with a video montage of a husband and his wife and daily life...ok so now what? The stage is set looking like a scene out of The Flinestones...a stone couch and a stone TV with petroglyphs on the "wall". The husband from the video comes out and starts doing....essentially? Stand up comedy. The premise....men and women are two different cultures and let me explain to why. To give him credit...there were some comical parts, typically when I related to what he was saying, and I'd jab Jason in the side and giggle. That was it.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Le Reve @ Wynn


We got lucky on Monday and Le Reve was available on Houseseats.com at Wynn Las Vegas!! I quickly grabbed Jason's 2 tickets and told Rosy, she requested her 4 and invited Rose and Bill to join us. I have always wanted to see Le Reve, so I was super excited. The show was amazing!!! Definitely lived up to Cirque du Soleil standards and then some. The theater is configured in the round. The first 2 rows all the way around are "splash zone" seats and are discounted. Who would have ever thought that the first 2 rows would be the cheapest? Our seats were about 10 rows up from the bottom and perfect. The most expensive are the very last rows along the top. They are reclining chairs, with champagne and tv screens to view the show.
The show was so mesmerizing. So many things going on and yet I found it a lot more enjoyable than Ka which also was extremely action packed. Where with Ka, I felt like there was too much going on and I wasn't able to enjoy it, Le Reve was perfect. The theater seating I think had a lot to do with it. The "stage" is nothing short of amazing. It changes so many times I am still wondering how. I would love to see O now and compare the two.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Nathan Burton @ Flamingo Hilton


The Nathan Burton Comedy Magic show At the Flamingo Hilton. We snagged the tickets from Houseseats.com. This show is a late afternoon show, more geared toward the family audience. The showroom seating was all around the stage, making Nathan visible to everyone. He had 2 showgirls and a guy dancer in his act. The humor is more PG-13 so its definitely one of the only shows on the strip that parents could feel at ease taking their kids to. The magic was a little redundant...we've all seen the majority of the tricks, making his showgirls disappear and reappear, etc. Nathans humor really kept the show going, he is extremely entertaining.

Free Beer! The Improv Show @ Town Square


Free Beer! The Improv Show is always on Houseseats.com. Its at The Stage Door Theater at Town Square. I see it every weekend on the website and never thought to go see what it was all about. After seeing Craig Gass on Friday at the theater, we all decided to go see it on Saturday night. I am so glad we did! For those of you who actually pay the $20 ticket price, it includes 1 free beer. Since our tickets were free, we didn't get the free beer. Once seated we noticed 2 pieces of paper on each of our tables. One said "Favorite Punch Line" and one said "Favorite Line From a Book". We were to fill them out and stick them in a bucket that was sitting on the stage. The show is an improv show fairly similar to "Who's Line Is It Anyways" with Drew Carey if anyone remembers that TV show. There are 2 teams of comedians, each team plays a "game" of sorts. The papers we filled out were used for a skit, they continued to pick up the papers and had to use the line in the skit. It was so funny!! The show was awesome and I would love to go back since each and every week is different!!!

Craig Gass @ Town Square


Craig Gass is a stand up comedian that was performing at The Stage Door Theater at Town Square. Rosy and Jon got the tickets off Houseseats.com and Jason and I said we'd love to go. I had never heard of Craig Gass before but apparently he has been in Sex in The City, The Family Guy, he will have his own Sirius satellite show on the Howard 100 channel amongst other things. The theater was DEAD!! There were about 25 of us so already this was a little awkward for the comedians. Craig had 3 very funny opening acts and then he came on. He is hilarious!!! He chose to make light of the situation due to the lack of audience and made fun of his agent for booking him there. It was great!! I look forward to hearing his show on satellite and would recommend seeing him if he comes back to Vegas!!

The Guy Fieri Roadshow @ Mandalay Bay


The Guy Fieri Roadshow at The House of Blues inside The Mandalay Bay was another crazy find on Houseseats.com. I would have never guessed these tickets would show up on there. I love Guy Fieri's Food Network shows. Diners, Drive-ins & Dives is so great, it constantly makes me hungry and any chance to try out these locations I take it! I wasn't sure what to expect of his roadshow but I knew the seats were standing room only. While I love Guy's TV shows, I am not too sure about the live show. We stood around waiting for quite a while for it to begin. A cooking show has 2 opening acts BTW?! One was the executive chef from the culinary school at UNLV, the second was a mixologist. Guy and his crew finally came on stage and started cooking amongst other things. It was crazy! There wasn't much emphasis on the food itself to be honest, which was a little disappointing. There were games, singing, a performer? Odd. I think a cooking roadshow would be a lot more entertaining if you got to try the food. Just a thought :) Still a fan Guy, just a suggestion for your next tour.

Gordie Brown Live @ Golden Nugget


Gordie Brown is at the Golden Nugget. He is along the same lines as Danny Gans was. Its a music show filled with impressions of actors, and musicians with a comedic twist to it all. The show was great! Not something that I would normally have chosen to see, you don't hear too much about it and its not in a prime location. It was a pleasant surprise. The Golden Nugget has had quite a bit of work done to it, and looks great! The showroom is new as well. Gordie Brown does a great job with his impressions. I would recommend this show as a great option for a fun night out!

Frank Caliendo @ Monte Carlo


Frank Caliendo recently signed a deal at the Monte Carlo. We got seats for his opening night on Houseseats.com. Frank Caliendo is known for doing impressions of well known people, and he is amazing at it! Most noteworthy are; George W. Bush, John Madden, Donald Trump, and Charles Barkley (thats trrble, trrble, trrble). He does so many impressions he'll have your head spinning. The show was great, we laughed till our stomaches hurt. I would definitely go see him again, he is another great show here in Las Vegas.

Dane Cook - Isolated Incident @ Hard Rock


This show was by far the most exciting find on Houseseats.comDane Cook's Isolated Incident Comedy Tour at the Hard Rock Hotel. I love, Dane Cook, his humor is just my style. I had seen this tour performance previously, but his jokes never get old so I jumped at the chance to go again. Dane had extended his tour and had chosen to return to Las Vegas for a second time. When I heard this I immediately started looking for tickets. I hunted high and low for cheap tickets, which was impossible. First of all, nothing  in Vegas since the disappearance of the $2.00 buffet is decently priced. Dane sells out fast and his tickets are never cheap. So the day before his show I had pretty much thrown in the towel. That night, I checked houseseats.com to see what was available for the weekend. DANE COOK! I'm sorry, am I seeing correctly? Yes, Dane Cook seats were available. Clearly this had to be too good to be true. The seats were going to be standing room only right? Or piped into the hall? Regardless, I was going. Shock doesn't begin to describe what I was feeling when the usher brought me to my seat. 10 rows back from the stage. So while I may have heard these jokes a time or two before, it was well worth going again and I laughed the entire show. SUFI for life!

Sin City Bad Girls @ LVH


Sin City Bad Girls is a topless show at The Las Vegas Hilton in the Shimmer Showroom. Of all the shows we have seen, I would say that this one was probably my least favorite. Its not that it wasn't entertaining, it just wasn't as good as the others we have seen. Its pretty predictable. A bunch of girls, a ton of costume changes and some not so amazing singing of some well known rock songs. The showroom is on the smaller side, which is fine for the type of show it is. For a free show, I was definitely entertained but not one I would look to see again.

Playboy Comedy Show @ Palms


The Playboy Comedy Show is at Palms. I got the tickets off houseseats.com. I didn't know really what to expect from the show with it being a "Playboy" show. The comedians were funny, and extremely adult in their humor. The host of the evening was a previous Playmate of the Year and there was a life size picture of her naked sitting on stage. Other than that, there was no correlation to Playboy. On the downside, the theater was absolutely freezing, and made it almost impossible to pay attention. I would give this show a second chance, I just hope they get the A/C under control in there!

Carrot Top @ Luxor


Carrot Top is often available on Houseseats.com and we jumped at the opportunity to see his show. He is at the Luxor in the Atrium Showroom. One of the great things about the showroom is its fairly small, more intimate and the seats are interactive (rumble, blow air at you, etc). I have always thought Carrot Top is hilarious. He didn't disappoint during this show either. Quick to make fun of Criss Angel at any given chance, plus he is always updating his jokes according to whatever is going on in the world. Whether its making fun of Britney Spears, Obama, or the airlines strict guidelines. There is always something hilarious coming out of his trunks of jokes. His arms continue to get bigger, his eyebrows higher and his skin tighter (little creepy, not gonna lie). I can't wait to go again and see all his new material!

Sin City Comedy Show @ Miracle Mile


The Sin City Comedy Show is at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Being that my seats were from Houseseats.com, they were in a second theater upstairs. At first glance, I was thinking for sure  we would be watching the comedians perform the routines on TV rather than live since there were a bunch of TV's up on the stage and there was also a stage downstairs. This was a disappointing thought. Luckily, this was not the case. There were 4 comedians...and it was a great show! None of the comedians were big names that I'd recognize immediately, however, they were great, kept the audience laughing and there weren't any awkward silences to speak of. I would definitely recommend this to everyone if you get the chance to go. Being a comedy show, I am sure the comedians will be different each time but I don't doubt hilarious. I am sure I will go again.

Houseseats.com


A few months ago Jason became a member of the website Houseseats.com. Its this great website that for a monthly or yearly fee you get access to free tickets to a ton of amazing local shows.
Since he became a member we have seen so many shows. Some were great, some...not so much...but all in all, well worth the yearly fee. We look forward to seeing new shows all the time, and are constantly checking the website to see whats available. So, I have decided to do a blog on all the shows we have seen...The opinions I share are just mine alone and by all means, go...see the shows yourself and see how you like them!