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I have been trying to find someone who would go to Brian Hoffman’s, “Remembering Red Skelton” with me on the American Casino guide 2 for 1 coupon for a few years now. It turns out that poker buddy Wild Bill always loved Red Skelton.
So we went.
The Westin is set off the strip at the Westin which is just before Koval and Ellis Island on Flamingo.
The general admission was fine for seating. That cost $35. For $5 more you could get priority seats and an autographed photo. All the seats are good, but if you get there right at the time seating starts with general admission there will not be a line and you will be seated right up near the front. Just not in the very front row. The seats have to be the most comfortable, best seats I have ever found in any venue. I do remember Big Al’s at the Orleans (also in the American casino guide 2 for 1 deals) being comfortable, but these were just amazing. Since I have been suffering a bit with a pulled muscle, I appreciated the comfort and since it feels like sitting in someone’s living room chairs it probably adds to the entire show’s feeling.
This does not seem to be a well-attended show, but there were plenty of folks to provide the laughter that always helps the enjoyment of live comedy. Very little at the Westin ever seems crowded. That makes for an easy and comfortable experience.
The Boyd Casino shuttle now drops us off way in the rear at Bally’s, so that is an easy way to get to it.
Basically, I interviewed Brian and got a good bit of his life and his outlook on doing this impersonation. He had been a trucker and the jolts from all the trucking damaged his third vertebra so that he started to feel tingling and numbing in his hands and finally even had difficulty breathing as some of the nerves that control that were at the site.
The doctors gave him a choice. He could risk the operation or he could risk spending his life in a wheel chair as the condition worsened.
He took the surgery. He is very happy to be able to walk, and in the act he does more than that, going to the floor a couple times, once to imitate bacon frying in a pan.
When he could no longer be a trucker, he looked for something to do with his life. He said he always knew that he wanted to do something else, but he did not know what it was. One night he got drunk at an amateur comedian night and his buddies convinced him to go on stage. That started a career in comedy.
Many of his audience, especially senior citizens would tell him that he reminded them of Red Skelton, but he resisted this part for about five years, and then he decided to give it a try.
He watched old Red Skelton performances, but he did not practice in a mirror. He simply acted out a mental image of what he wanted to do and it worked.
He said the hardest part had been to adjust to using material on stage that he had not written himself but had been written by Red’s writers so many years ago. He told me that if a comic does that, he is considered a “hack,” but to make the presentation historically authentic, Brian needed to use the jokes that Red Skelton actually told and present them as close to the way Skelton presented them.
I asked him if he remembered seeing Red Skelton and he said that he did remember watching with his parents and he told about going in to show when he was very young in school and presenting Red Skelton as his show. However, he had not been a constant and passionate fan for years. The real catalyst for his developing this act had been audience encouraging him based on his natural similarity.
I could not always tell in my preshow interview the character of Red Skelton from his own.
Since I was there so early, they sat us right in the front in the second aisle. The seats are wonderful plush seats and very comfortable. The best seats I have ever seen in a theater. I will go to things there again just for the seats.
There is a preshow video to put us in the time. Part of it is a long string of photographs of old classic cars, most of them from the 50’s. It was pretty cool.
Just as he had in preshow he moved in and out of the character while on stage. I can see how easily he fit into the part. The Heathcliff and Gertrude seagull jokes were perfect copies of what Red Skelton did as were many of the other faces and characters he assumed.
The jokes were very old, probably old when Red did them decades ago. The idea was not to do a show in the style of Red Skelton but to do the man using the material he had actually used back in the 1950’s, 60s and 70’s. They were always a bit corny, unless we understand that the experience is not only Red Skelton, but also putting ourselves in the position of that old audience and hearing those old jokes.
Red also never used profanity and had a deep sense of patriotism and religion. That is developed in the show just as it was in Red Skelton’s life.
For Wild Bill and I the show took us back to being kids and seeing Red Skelton on the television. I well remember him and the way my folks looked forward to seeing him in days when we had one channel on the television and Red would appear in black and white so we did not see his red hair just as we did not see Lucy’s.
It is hard to know if this would appeal to everyone. Red Skelton’s politics and religion could not be farther from my own and yet I find him very entertaining and just a kind and generous performer, humble rather than arrogant.
It is very hard to find a humble comic.
I think that if he can amuse me and gain my respect, then there must be many out there who would enjoy this experience. Our audience was laughing constantly and everyone seemed touched by all of it.
Red and Brian both believe that his contract was not renewed because he spoke about God on the television and especially about keeping that controversial added line in the constitution. They told him he did not appeal to the younger audiences, but Brian noted that Red was touring college campuses to huge crowds at that time.
When they cancelled Red, he took the tapes of all his work and would not let CBS “make a dime” on reruns. I think this may be why younger people remember Lucy but not Red Skelton. Exposure is limited to Red Skelton. Perhaps it will change this year when those tapes will be available again in a museum in his honor:
I am a strong supporter of the separation of church and state, but I also believe in the right of free speech. I resented it when Pete Seegar, banned so long from television, was edited out of the Smother’s Brother’s show because of his “neck deep in the big muddy” anti Vietnam song. I actually saw him sing that on the show because in Canada it was not cut, and I was stationed at the time in Saulte Ste Marie, Michigan and watching Canadian television.
It seems to me if the government protects the right of comics to speak four letter words, one three letter word should also be protected.
Of course, it had a huge impact on the rest of his career.
Red Skelton would have been 99 years old and at his 100th birthday there is going to be some ceremonies and perhaps the old tapes that have never been released for reruns will be more available.
Red Skelton Museum receives backing from Old National Bank | Vincennes University
Brian told a good bit about Red’s life. He was born to poor parents and then his circus clown father was killed by a tent pole. In an era when being a single mom was a lot harder, he was raised by his mom who seemed to be able to scrape just enough together to feed him. As a young boy he tried to earn some money to supplement. He went to the train station and would spin around on his head so people would throw money. He sold newspapers.
One day a fellow came up to him and asked him what there was to do in this town. He told the fellow that there was to be a very funny comic appearing a few blocks away.
“Are you going?” the fellow asked him.
“No, I sell papers to feed my family, I have no money for a ticket.”
The man buying a paper was also the comic, Ed Wynn, who was performing nearby. Wynn bought all his papers and also gave him a free ticket to the show. And when the young Red Skelton saw that show, he decided to be a comic.
Red Skelton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brian said that he plans to continue playing the part until either the theaters are filled or his outfit as Freddy the Freeloader becomes real.
I won’t repeat any of his jokes here and spoil the show. I will be telling a few if I can remember them. However, he did tell one life story about getting in a car crash and coming out with two buddies uninjured in spite of a nasty crash into a tree and no seat belts. He used the story to explain why Brian thinks there is a God as he had prayed to God for a sign.
Of course, the odds support his interpretation. Those folks who prayed for a sign and died in a car crash never to tell their stories or thank God for saving them. I have always thought it odd when there is a huge tragedy killing dozens of people and the survivors thank God for saving them. It seems a bit arrogant to me. I also ask why God would have allows fatal accidents at all. Whatever I wonder or whatever spiritual connections I have, I feel fairly certain that God does not micromanage this random world. But that is just me.
Folks can believe what they want, although I am very critical of those who believe that great tragedies happen because God is punishing the sinners who have not yet turned to him for salvation. Folks who can explain away the great sadness of death that way are not spiritual. They are narcissistic and lack spiritual humility.
Red Skelton did not lack humility. Even in his pride of country there is an edge of humility built into his sentimentality. He would understand the direction not to judge and not to throw the first stone rather than delighting in a vengeful God.
******************
If some of you are solo, try asking if they will take half price on the coupon. After talking to Brian Hoffman for twenty minutes while waiting for Wild Bill, they offered a half priced ticket to me if Bill did not show up.With the coupon in the American Casino Guide, the reduced rate amounted to $17 and change.
Call ahead just to be sure there is a show that afternoon. Brian got stuck in San Diego with a delayed flight on the first day we picked to go to the show. Wild Bill saved us a fruitless trip by calling ahead.
This would pair up easily with some food at Ellis Island and you could stop back around for the cheap gambling offered at the Westin every weekday every Monday through Thursday, from 5pm to 8pm: 25 cent Roulette, $3 Craps, and $5 Blackjack. Periodically they have some fine newbie signups there as well. A 2 for 1 coupon for the show is in the American Casino Guide.
So we went.
The Westin is set off the strip at the Westin which is just before Koval and Ellis Island on Flamingo.
The general admission was fine for seating. That cost $35. For $5 more you could get priority seats and an autographed photo. All the seats are good, but if you get there right at the time seating starts with general admission there will not be a line and you will be seated right up near the front. Just not in the very front row. The seats have to be the most comfortable, best seats I have ever found in any venue. I do remember Big Al’s at the Orleans (also in the American casino guide 2 for 1 deals) being comfortable, but these were just amazing. Since I have been suffering a bit with a pulled muscle, I appreciated the comfort and since it feels like sitting in someone’s living room chairs it probably adds to the entire show’s feeling.
This does not seem to be a well-attended show, but there were plenty of folks to provide the laughter that always helps the enjoyment of live comedy. Very little at the Westin ever seems crowded. That makes for an easy and comfortable experience.
The Boyd Casino shuttle now drops us off way in the rear at Bally’s, so that is an easy way to get to it.
Basically, I interviewed Brian and got a good bit of his life and his outlook on doing this impersonation. He had been a trucker and the jolts from all the trucking damaged his third vertebra so that he started to feel tingling and numbing in his hands and finally even had difficulty breathing as some of the nerves that control that were at the site.
The doctors gave him a choice. He could risk the operation or he could risk spending his life in a wheel chair as the condition worsened.
He took the surgery. He is very happy to be able to walk, and in the act he does more than that, going to the floor a couple times, once to imitate bacon frying in a pan.
When he could no longer be a trucker, he looked for something to do with his life. He said he always knew that he wanted to do something else, but he did not know what it was. One night he got drunk at an amateur comedian night and his buddies convinced him to go on stage. That started a career in comedy.
Many of his audience, especially senior citizens would tell him that he reminded them of Red Skelton, but he resisted this part for about five years, and then he decided to give it a try.
He watched old Red Skelton performances, but he did not practice in a mirror. He simply acted out a mental image of what he wanted to do and it worked.
He said the hardest part had been to adjust to using material on stage that he had not written himself but had been written by Red’s writers so many years ago. He told me that if a comic does that, he is considered a “hack,” but to make the presentation historically authentic, Brian needed to use the jokes that Red Skelton actually told and present them as close to the way Skelton presented them.
I asked him if he remembered seeing Red Skelton and he said that he did remember watching with his parents and he told about going in to show when he was very young in school and presenting Red Skelton as his show. However, he had not been a constant and passionate fan for years. The real catalyst for his developing this act had been audience encouraging him based on his natural similarity.
I could not always tell in my preshow interview the character of Red Skelton from his own.
Since I was there so early, they sat us right in the front in the second aisle. The seats are wonderful plush seats and very comfortable. The best seats I have ever seen in a theater. I will go to things there again just for the seats.
There is a preshow video to put us in the time. Part of it is a long string of photographs of old classic cars, most of them from the 50’s. It was pretty cool.
Just as he had in preshow he moved in and out of the character while on stage. I can see how easily he fit into the part. The Heathcliff and Gertrude seagull jokes were perfect copies of what Red Skelton did as were many of the other faces and characters he assumed.
The jokes were very old, probably old when Red did them decades ago. The idea was not to do a show in the style of Red Skelton but to do the man using the material he had actually used back in the 1950’s, 60s and 70’s. They were always a bit corny, unless we understand that the experience is not only Red Skelton, but also putting ourselves in the position of that old audience and hearing those old jokes.
Red also never used profanity and had a deep sense of patriotism and religion. That is developed in the show just as it was in Red Skelton’s life.
For Wild Bill and I the show took us back to being kids and seeing Red Skelton on the television. I well remember him and the way my folks looked forward to seeing him in days when we had one channel on the television and Red would appear in black and white so we did not see his red hair just as we did not see Lucy’s.
It is hard to know if this would appeal to everyone. Red Skelton’s politics and religion could not be farther from my own and yet I find him very entertaining and just a kind and generous performer, humble rather than arrogant.
It is very hard to find a humble comic.
I think that if he can amuse me and gain my respect, then there must be many out there who would enjoy this experience. Our audience was laughing constantly and everyone seemed touched by all of it.
Red and Brian both believe that his contract was not renewed because he spoke about God on the television and especially about keeping that controversial added line in the constitution. They told him he did not appeal to the younger audiences, but Brian noted that Red was touring college campuses to huge crowds at that time.
When they cancelled Red, he took the tapes of all his work and would not let CBS “make a dime” on reruns. I think this may be why younger people remember Lucy but not Red Skelton. Exposure is limited to Red Skelton. Perhaps it will change this year when those tapes will be available again in a museum in his honor:
I am a strong supporter of the separation of church and state, but I also believe in the right of free speech. I resented it when Pete Seegar, banned so long from television, was edited out of the Smother’s Brother’s show because of his “neck deep in the big muddy” anti Vietnam song. I actually saw him sing that on the show because in Canada it was not cut, and I was stationed at the time in Saulte Ste Marie, Michigan and watching Canadian television.
It seems to me if the government protects the right of comics to speak four letter words, one three letter word should also be protected.
Of course, it had a huge impact on the rest of his career.
Red Skelton would have been 99 years old and at his 100th birthday there is going to be some ceremonies and perhaps the old tapes that have never been released for reruns will be more available.
Red Skelton Museum receives backing from Old National Bank | Vincennes University
Brian told a good bit about Red’s life. He was born to poor parents and then his circus clown father was killed by a tent pole. In an era when being a single mom was a lot harder, he was raised by his mom who seemed to be able to scrape just enough together to feed him. As a young boy he tried to earn some money to supplement. He went to the train station and would spin around on his head so people would throw money. He sold newspapers.
One day a fellow came up to him and asked him what there was to do in this town. He told the fellow that there was to be a very funny comic appearing a few blocks away.
“Are you going?” the fellow asked him.
“No, I sell papers to feed my family, I have no money for a ticket.”
The man buying a paper was also the comic, Ed Wynn, who was performing nearby. Wynn bought all his papers and also gave him a free ticket to the show. And when the young Red Skelton saw that show, he decided to be a comic.
Red Skelton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brian said that he plans to continue playing the part until either the theaters are filled or his outfit as Freddy the Freeloader becomes real.
I won’t repeat any of his jokes here and spoil the show. I will be telling a few if I can remember them. However, he did tell one life story about getting in a car crash and coming out with two buddies uninjured in spite of a nasty crash into a tree and no seat belts. He used the story to explain why Brian thinks there is a God as he had prayed to God for a sign.
Of course, the odds support his interpretation. Those folks who prayed for a sign and died in a car crash never to tell their stories or thank God for saving them. I have always thought it odd when there is a huge tragedy killing dozens of people and the survivors thank God for saving them. It seems a bit arrogant to me. I also ask why God would have allows fatal accidents at all. Whatever I wonder or whatever spiritual connections I have, I feel fairly certain that God does not micromanage this random world. But that is just me.
Folks can believe what they want, although I am very critical of those who believe that great tragedies happen because God is punishing the sinners who have not yet turned to him for salvation. Folks who can explain away the great sadness of death that way are not spiritual. They are narcissistic and lack spiritual humility.
Red Skelton did not lack humility. Even in his pride of country there is an edge of humility built into his sentimentality. He would understand the direction not to judge and not to throw the first stone rather than delighting in a vengeful God.
******************
If some of you are solo, try asking if they will take half price on the coupon. After talking to Brian Hoffman for twenty minutes while waiting for Wild Bill, they offered a half priced ticket to me if Bill did not show up.With the coupon in the American Casino Guide, the reduced rate amounted to $17 and change.
Call ahead just to be sure there is a show that afternoon. Brian got stuck in San Diego with a delayed flight on the first day we picked to go to the show. Wild Bill saved us a fruitless trip by calling ahead.
This would pair up easily with some food at Ellis Island and you could stop back around for the cheap gambling offered at the Westin every weekday every Monday through Thursday, from 5pm to 8pm: 25 cent Roulette, $3 Craps, and $5 Blackjack. Periodically they have some fine newbie signups there as well. A 2 for 1 coupon for the show is in the American Casino Guide.