SHOW REVIEW: Gordie Brown - Neon

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Mar. 27, 2009
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SHOW REVIEW: Gordie Brown

Impressionist Brown pairs faster pace with new confidence

MIKE WEATHERFORD
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Review

Gordie Brown

7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays

Golden Nugget, 129 Fremont St.

$46.95-$112.95 (866-946-5336)

Grade: B+

Gordie Brown is more stand-up comedian than impressionist wowing you with accuracy.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Gordie Brown has come full circle back to the Golden Nugget, but he's not quite the same guy who started his Las Vegas career there in 2004.

Sure, a lot of the gags are the same and just as adolescent. A review of the comic impressionist's first Nugget stint back then mentions lots of bits that are still there now, from Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" becoming a Viagra joke to Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" -- "I was smokin' a bong when I wrote this crazy song" -- morphing into the theme song of kiddie dinosaur Barney.

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The difference is more in Brown's confidence level and the sheer speed of delivery. And perhaps these are only subtleties, noticeable only to someone who has seen him a lot of times since.

But when the likable Canadian first came to town as a headliner, it seemed like he was trying too hard. This was most apparent in 2006, when Brown was given the big break of a custom theater at The Venetian, one he lost barely a year later to Wayne Brady.

It didn't help that Brown was working right across the Strip from Danny Gans at The Mirage. The venture came off as trying to chase Gans' success, even though Brown is really more like a musical stand-up and less about wowing people with accurate impressions.

Whatever Brown changed really started clicking when he ended up in the V Theater last summer without his five-piece band (before he got called up to a big tour with Celine Dion). The slimmed-down conditions streamlined the comedy and either changed Brown's attitude or mine. I was hoping whatever he found wouldn't reverse itself when he returned to the Nugget with the band.

I'm happy to report Brown still doesn't crave your affection. Jokes that felt a little forced back in the day now explode like steam from a burst pipe of an intriguingly scrambled brain.

Groaningly bad bits (Tom Petty "Free Phonin' " a long-distance ad) fall right alongside really funny ones (Michael Bolton doing his overwrought thing on "Frosty the Snowman") and the impressionist doesn't wait around for you to sort them out. He hammers you at such a clip that 40 celebrity impressions come in as many minutes before he slows down the pace.

The humor works better at this feverishly juvenile level, when George W. Bush and Forrest Gump keep popping up for commentary, and where Tom Jones can reveal that the secret to his trouser bulge is that Tattoo from "Fantasy Island" is stuffed down there.

Seeing the Cheech & Chong reunion tour last fall was a reminder of how hard I used to laugh at their comedy records as a teen. That made me wish my 15-year-old self could have heard the song parody about Ozzy Osbourne and the bidet (assuming I knew what one was back then) or Coldplay writing a theme for "Brokeback Mountain."

But the jokes now play to the older tourist demographic that buys most show tickets. It's hard to divide the response to the punch lines from Brown's overall appeal as a charismatic live wire. It's pure Las Vegas magic to see an entertainer walk into the crowd to improvise a long bit about an audience member who left the room. It even rhymed in places.

Brown opened his Nugget residency the same weekend Gans set up shop at Encore (though his VIP party is today), and a week before Terry Fator at The Mirage. You can see the glass as half empty -- Las Vegas has three impressionists doing bad jokes! -- or half full: Each has a different thrust.

The point of convergence is the obligatory version of Louis Armstrong singing "What A Wonderful World," apparently required for an impressionist to obtain a Clark County business license.

The tune offers a guide to each in a nutshell:

Fator: The duet version with Kermit the Frog is kind of an encore, celebrating his rise to fame on "America's Got Talent."

Gans: Done with a straight face and presented as something precious for you to applaud.

Brown: Caps a burst of weirdness that starts with Green Day, interrupted by Jimmy Stewart offering a "real song" instead. At this point, "Wonderful World" becomes the rare impression not to go for a big joke. Which is something Brown might want to work on.

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

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. ralphie wrote on March 30, 2009 05:31 PM: Why is everyone so surprised? MW is an an @$$ who slams everyone. BFD- see whom you like. I didnt even read the thing Wendy wrote on March 28, 2009 09:54 PM: Seems like this reporter is friends with Danny Gans. Always has a negative report on any of the competition, but never a bad word for Danny Gans... Hmmmmm..... VegasMarjorie wrote on March 27, 2009 04:23 PM: "There is an error in this type. There are 4 Impressionists in Las Vegas 'with bad jokes'." 1. Danny Gans - since 1997 2. Larry G Jones - Since 2001 3. Gordie Brown - since 2004 4. Terry Fator - since 2008 VegasMarjorie's 2 Cents wrote on March 27, 2009 04:18 PM: It's amazing how Mike Weatherford almost NEVER mentions the 2nd longest running Impressionist in Las Vegas. Larry G Jones has performed over 1600 shows since 2001 and is still going... Why is that Mike? Aren't you as a reporter supposed to be Unbiased? BTW, Larry doesn't do "What a wonderful World" lvoriginal wrote on March 27, 2009 03:48 PM: I hear Fator's show is pretty good, for a ventriloquist. I've not seen it though. Danny Gans' show is too expensive and the same old Danny. How many times can you watch 'the gloved one do the moonwalk?' Geez! Gordie Brown is Great, we laughed throughout, I mean continuously! His impressions of George W. had me SCREAMING!! BOSTON LOVES GORDIE BROWN wrote on March 27, 2009 03:39 PM: My wife and I love Gordie Brown. We've seen Gordie in all the venues mentioned above. We'll be flying to Vegas soon to catch his act at the Golden Nugget. Gordie's show is the one MUST SEE in Vegas! The Truth wrote on March 27, 2009 03:32 PM: Trust me folks, Danny Gans ain't fillin' up his theater. Boring show over at the Encore, don't waste your money on The Danny Gans Show. At least you'll get laughs with the impressions at the Gordy Brown Show at the Nugget. Cheaper price than the Gans Show also. Las Vegas Lover wrote on March 27, 2009 02:51 PM: I haven't seen Terry Fator. But I've seen Danny Gans and Gordie Brown. I like Gordie Brown's show much better. I can't remember when I laughed so much! What an entertaining evening at his show. My whole family is coming back to LV in late April and we plan on seeing Gordie Brown's show again! Definately a must see show! It's worth it! Gordiefan wrote on March 27, 2009 02:50 PM: Gordie Brown is so much better than Danny Gans! Up until a few years ago Gans was still doing impressions of Ross Perot, leaving the 13 yr. olds wondering what was going on. Danny finally refreshed his show and took Perot out of his show, THANK GOD! I liked Gordie the first time I saw him at the Nugget back in 2004, and thought he'd have his own strip showroom one day. He was still good at the Venetian when we saw him and his new show is GREAT. Danny will start canceling his shows again like he did at the Mirage when he didn't get the old Siegfried and Roy theater and sulked like a 5 yr. old. Danny was GREAT when he first started at the Rio, but he's no longer fresh, new and hungry. He just goes through the motions now that Steve Wynn pays him big bucks. I wonder how many seats Danny continues to sell at the new Danny Gans theater? That theater is cursed with the ghosts of Avenue Q and Spamarot still lingering there. Chris wrote on March 27, 2009 01:26 PM: I wish the people doing these reviews would just be honest instead of trying to be nice or kiss up to these performers. Gordie Brown's show is terrible. There is no other word for it. I went when he was briefly at Planet Hollywood and there is a reason he is getting moved around so much, the show stinks. I sat there with my girlfriend and felt so uncomfortable at how the show was progressing that i couldnt believe people had actually paid money to see this. Im sure Gordie is a great guy but wouldnt he and everyone else benefit from a honest review of his show. When someone goes thru 4 venues in less than 16 months there is a reason. Read All Comments