Lisa Lampanelli, The Queen of Mean…is Newly Lean!
By Michele LaFong- “Getting Personal with the Stars” in Gaming Today- Feb. 12, 2013
Lisa Lamanelli, the self proclaimed “Queen of Mean” is returning to The Pearl Concert Theatre on Feb. 16, at 8pm at The Palms Hotel & Casino. “Expect to see a whole new hour of material,”promised Lisa. “Much of it will be about the craziest experience of my life… spending sixteen weeks competing on “Celebrity Apprentice,” Donald Trump’s Reality Show on NBC, “I LOVED it!” Lisa screamed. “I watched myself on TV afterward. I was such a Mental Patient on that show! I got SO much material though, and it’s such great exposure. It raises your profile.
Here’s the only problem. The minute I finished doing The Apprentice, I was getting recognized every single day, in the city of NY, and I was loving it…Then I go and lose 105 +lbs, and no one recognizes me! I’m not getting free coffee anymore… I’m not getting FREE anything! So it’s a double edged sword, this weight loss. I’m less famous, cause I don’t look like me anymore… but maybe now I’ll live till I’m 70, instead of dropping dead.”
Perhaps it was that philosphy that led to Lisa’s decision to get Gastric By-Pass Surgery.
“I just got tied of hating the way my body looked in the mirror!” There were a couple of incidents that happened on The Apprentice that triggered me to want to do something about it. It wasn’t that alone, of course. It was many things over the years, from my past. In fact, we’re working on A One-Woman Broadway, show about my life, and we get into this, and explain how it came about…”
At age 51, Lampanelli, is making the effort to live a life of balance. She takes time off to enjoy her home, on the water in Connecticut, and has three assistants, and has a few dollars!
I really think that comics are afraid to improve themselves, because they’re like: I won’t be funny if I get thinner, or I won’t be funny if I go to the shrink and get more healthy mentally, and emotionally. But there’s always gonna be so much twisted stuff about us, that I don’t think we ever have to worry about being too healthy for comedy.
I’ve been in-therapy for many years. I think I took a cue from Howard Stern. He has become a better human being, and performer by going to therapy three or four times a week. I don’t do that, but I take a lot of workshops, I also have a house at Kenya Ranch Health Spa, in Tuscon, where I work on myself from a spiritual, and psychological point of view. I’m also going to a six day retreat for emotional eating because I don’t want to gain the weight back. Weight is about emotion and not about food.”
Lisa Lampanelli…she’s still a heavy-weight in comedy, and would never be one to be accused of doing a “half-assed” job!
Her full interview can be heard on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio & Web Show, Thursday, Feb. 14 from 6pm-7pm PST on 1230AM in Las Vegas, or stream live on-line.
Lampanelli is also featured in Michele LaFong’s Monthly Syndicated Column, “Las Vegas Backstage Talk,” in June’s issue of Casino Player Magazine. (CP Magazine.)
Tweet
Lisa Lampanelli, Crystal Gayle-LVBST w/Comedian Michele LaFong
Feb. 14 2013- 6pm-7pm PST 1230AM KLAV in LV & The Web
Audio of interviews posted below (Scroll down)
Lisa Lampanelli guests on Las Vegas Backstage Talk with Comic Michele LaFong, on 1230AM in Las Vegas and The Web.
In a pre-recorded interview, Lisa tells us what we can expect her to talk about on her new hour of material this Saturday night at The Palms Hotel & Casino.
Lisa Lampanelli is Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean. Heralded as “more than a standup — a standout,” by comedy legend Jim Carrey, Lampanelli is a cross between Don Rickles, Archie Bunker, and a vial of estrogen. She has won accolades from The King of All Media Howard Stern, who called her “a true original and a brilliant comedy mind who’ll steal the show every time.”
This equal opportunity offender is a regular on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and Howard Stern’s Sirius satellite radio shows. And she has appeared on “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Lopez Tonight”, “Chelsea Lately”, and “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. And, she made a “big splash” when she joined the cast of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” Season 5.
Lisa will be featured in Michele LaFong’s Syndicated Columns, “Getting Personal with the Stars” in Gaming Today, and “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” in Casino Player Magazine.
Lisa is appearing at The Pearl Concert Theatre at The Palms Hotel & Casino on Feb. 16, at 8pm.
For more about Lisa Lampanelli: lisalampanelli.com
Crystal Gayle
Grammy Award Winner, Crystal Gayle talks to Comedian Michele LaFong about what it was like to start out in the shadows of her sister Loretta Lynn, and many other things that are not the normal struggles of every singer.
In the wake…her hit list of platinum and gold record sales was to be matched only by her awards and accolades. CMA’s “Female Vocalist Of The Year,” for two consecutive years, she became a Grammy Award Winner for “Best Female Vocal Performance,” thanks to her beloved “Brown Eyes” – a song that she today admits she has never grown tired of singing. Crystal swept the Academy Of Country Music Awards for three of their “Top Female Vocalist” statuettes. As her music and her career path widened to mainstream audiences—so did her accolades. She is the recipient of three “American Music Awards” –voted by the nation as America’s “Favorite Female Artist.”
The glamour and the mystique of the Crystal Gayle phenomena made her an instantly “ in demand” artist. From symphony halls to Carnegie Hall…from the best kept stages in Las Vegas to the prestige of the London Palladium… one word—“Crystal”—crossed musical genres and oceans.
Crystal Gayle will be appearing at The South Point Hotel & Casino Feb. 15 & 16 at 7:30pm.
For more about Crystal Gayle: crystalgayle.com
TweetBobby Rydell with Special Guest, Comedian Michele LaFong-The Suncoast
by Michele LaFong
Today, I interviewed “Original Teenage Idol” Bobby Rydell. He was my guest on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio Show on 1230 am KLAV, in Las Vegas, and The Web. He was on the show to promote his up-coming dates at The Suncoast Showroom, Jan. 11-13 at 7:30pm I will also be opening for him, and performing “A Tribute to Senor Wences” with The “Original Johnny” lipstick hand-puppet that Wences “handed-off” to me, documented in LIFE Magazine.
This will be Bobby’s first time performing a full hour+ show in a year since surviving double surgery, a liver, and kidney transplant.
“I was really sick for a year. I said to my wife: it’s over! Get the will ready because I’m gone honey! The very next day, I got a call from Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia telling me to get in right away. That afternoon, I was in the OR for 20+ hours having both a liver and a kidney transplant. I was in July 9. I was home July 19. After 10 days in the hospital, that was it. I had no pain, no nothing. So God Bless Jefferson Hospital, and their whole surgical team!”
“If it weren’t for my wife, I wouldn’t be here. She happens to be a nurse. She saved my life.”
Rydell, is no stranger to playing Las Vegas. His first appearance here was back in ’60 or ’61, at The Sahara Hotel. “I did two weeks with George Burns. I used to stand in the wings after I was done performing, and just watch him. How he delivered a line, his timing.” There wasn’t a short-list of the Icons that Rydell hadn’t worked with over the years. He had great stories. “Jack Benny, I did his TV show, I worked with him, we did “Theater in the Round” together, Perry Como, and Tody Fields. “The one guy who was really been behind me, he was “My Superstar” …Red Skeleton.”
I did 12 shows with Red. The Red Skelton Hour, years ago on CBS, Television City, and then Red took me under his wing because he lost his son Richard at 15 years old via leukemia. When I did his show, I was just like 18, or 19 years old, and the producer of the show, Cecil Barker, said to me at rehearsal “I understand that you do an impersonation of Red.” I said “yeah, I do Clem Kadiddlehopper”, he said “can I hear it?” (So I did it.) “And Red was rehearsing with David Rose, he overheard me doing this, and he started talking back to me as Clem Kadiddlehopper . Then we did that show, and we did a couple of shows like that, and then on the third or fourth show, they wrote in a character, Zeek Kadiddlehopper, that was me. I played (Red’s) Clem Kadiddlehopper’s cousin. Cecil Parker said to me “you are the first person who ever imitated one of Red’s characters on Red’s TV show, and he flew me to his house in Palm Springs, and I met his wife, his daughter… he had 3 poodles, a Mack howl on his shoulder that bit me… Those were great times! Then, a few years back before he passed away, I went to see him with my children. He was at the Caesars in Atlantic City. He introduced me, and I went backstage, then you know how he does of the silent things where he does the old man? You know …. “Walking in the Parade,” all of those “Bits,” and I started crying,” you know, (He said while choking up.) because he meant so much to me. “So I went backstage, and I said to Red, I said “you did it again. You made me cry.” He said… “was I that bad?!” (lol…”Sorry, I got a little “teary eyed” there…) It happens to me a lot when I’m telling old show-biz stories from the past… I cry a lot more now!
Bobby Rydell’s full interview will be aired this Thursday, from 6-7pm PST. Stream live lasvegasbackstagetalk.com. It will be archived on the website. He will also be featured in Michele LaFong’s Monthly Syndicated Column, “Las Vegas Backstage Talk,” in Casino Player Magazine. (CP Magazine.)
TweetComedian Michele LaFong, Ralphie May-LV Backstage Talk
Jan. 3, 2013 6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & The Web
Comedian Michele LaFong, Protégé of The Legendary Senor Wences, guests on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio Show on 1230 am KLAV in Las Vegas, and The Web to promote her Special Guest Appearance with Bobby Rydell at The Suncoast Showroom on January 11-13, at 7:30pm.
Michele LaFong is an accomplished comedian, and ventriloquist for over two decades, with her own running show on The Las Vegas Strip three times. She was mentored by Debbie Reynolds, Jackie Mason & The Legendary Senor Wences, the most famous International Ventriloquist in the World, who “passed the torch” to her, giving LaFong exclusive rights to perform with his famous puppets, Johnny, the lipstick hand-puppet, and Pedro, the head in the box, as documented in March ’98 in Life Magazine.
Michele will be performing with Wences’ original Johnny puppet, and will be making a cameo appearance as a variety artist, auditioning for the young star, Jada Grace, and her manager on episode #3, of “The Jada Grace Show,” a new variety television series that will debut on CBS in January 2013.
(In this episode, Michele LaFong, and “Johnny,” the famous “lipstick hand-puppet, were set-up as new recurring characters.)
LaFong, and Las Vegas Backstage Talk made a cameo appearance last week on episode #3 on TLC’s “Sin City Rules.”
Comedian – Ralphie May
Ralphie May guests on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio Show with Comedian Michele LaFong on 1230 am KLAV in Las Vegas, and The Web.
In a very candid backstage interview at The South Point Hotel & Casino, Ralphie May addresses some of the obstacles and behind the scenes’ “going-ons” that are realities in”the business” of show business. He also speaks about his very first gig. Opening for Sam Kinison.
Veteran comedian Ralphie May’s popularity exploded after the success of the first season of NBC’s hit reality series, “Last Comic Standing”. Long-time fans of Ralphie’s stand-up were joined by countless new fans when America thought he was robbed of the winner’s title. Despite the show’s outcome, Ralphie’s special brand of comedy combines the familiar elements of hip-hop and topical comedy with a dash of southern down-home flavor and quick wit making Ralphie May one of the most popular comedians in the country. His first DVD, appropriately titled “Just Correct,” went PLATINUM!
His special brand of humor and incredible timing has allowed him to cross social, cultural, and ethnic barriers and has earned him roles in such films as FOR DA LOVE OF MONEY and GAS, to name a few of several independent productions. Ralphie has worked as an actor, writer and producer on ESPN’s Mohr Sports starring Jay Mohr and had four appearances on CBS’s The Late Late Show w/ Craig Kilborn as well as eleven appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He has been seen on Tough Crowd, The Man Show and MTV’s Bash as well as in guest-starring roles on numerous television shows including NBC’s Whoopie. In an appearance on The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno he received a standing ovation, the first comedian in 10 years to receive this honor. The New York Times raves, “Ralphie is phenomenal…”The Washington Post describes his comedy style as a “Tour de Force.” At the age of seventeen, Ralphie entered a talent show, to which the winner would get to open for Sam Kinison. A dream came true… Ralphie won the contest and after the show, Sam turned to Ralphie and said, “That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Ralphie will soon be featured in Comedian Michele LaFong’s Syndicated “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” column in Casino Player Magazine.
More about Ralphie May here–>
You can catch Ralphie May headlining at South Point.
The Showroom at South Point, Fri. – Sun., Jan. 4th – 6th 7:30pm
You can listen to a recording of our show below!
Dec. 27, 2012 The Amazing Johnathan, Lou Christie
Comedian / Magician – The Amazing Johnathan
The Amazing Johnathan returns live in-studio on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio Show on 1230 am KLAV in Las Vegas, and The Web. This time, he brings his side-kick Psychic Tanya with him to reveal the “behind the scene” truths about the hazzards of performing sadistic slapstick magic illusions on her!
Johnathan is currently focused on his new podcast set to debut in early 2013. He is also touring across the country that he is very much looking forward to. He recently held his first-ever classic car show and sale, wherein he put his prized car collection on display. He has offered to donate 10% of the sale from each vehicle to Make-A-Wish® Southern Nevada.
More about The Amazing Johnathan here—>
Former Teen Idol, Singer – Songwriter Lou Christie
Lou Christie guests on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio Show with Comedian Michele LaFong on 1230 am KLAV in Las Vegas, and The Web.
Lou Christie’s chart-topping career started in a two-track studio in his rural hometown near Pittsburgh. In 1963, Christie’s first million-selling song, “The Gypsy Cried,” transformed the local choirboy, Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco, into teen idol Lou Christie.
Throughout the ‘60s Christie’s success continued with numerous hit singles, including “Two Faces Have I,” “Rhapsody in the Rain,” “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” and the chart-topping “Lightin’ Strikes.” With his success, Christie forever embedded himself and his unique three-octave vocal range into American musical history.
Highlights from Christie’s performing career include touring on Dick Clark’s “Caravan of Stars,” performing on the hit television show “American Bandstand,” and performing for Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family. Christie has shared the stage with numerous artists, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Neil Diamond, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis.
More about Lou Christie here–>
You can catch Lou Christie headlining at Suncoast Hotel & Casino
Suncoast Showroom, Sat & Sun, Nov. 29th & 30th 7:30pm
You can listen to a recording of our show below!
