|
|
|
PITTSBURG —
Rich Little got a warm welcome in Pittsburg in more ways than one.
“Your weather is amazing,” the man with a thousand voices said Saturday before going onto the Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium stage. “We’d like to spend the summer here.”
The veteran impressionist flew in Friday from Las Vegas to perform his one-man show “Jimmy Stewart and Friends.” He’s doing the same show five nights a week at the LVH at the Hilton.
Little met Stewart in 1965 at a roast for George Jessel, a comedic entertainer known as the “Toastmaster General of the United States,” and the two became good friends.
In the show, Little has Stewart telling his life story, with impressions of numerous other friends and acquaintances of the actor, including John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Henry Fonda, Robert Stack, Gary Cooper, Richard Nixon and the great late-night show host Johnny Carson.
The show is filled with humor, but becomes serious at the end of Stewart’s life.
“One of the disadvantages of growing old is that you get to watch a lot of your friends die, and I sure did,” Little says as Stewart. “My wife, Gloria, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and that was just wrong. I’m 10 years older. After Gloria went, my life was pretty well over.”
But Little chooses to celebrate Stewart’s life.
“Would you believe I was the third greatest movie star of all time?” Stewart asks. “I could have been an architect. I could have owned a hardware store in Indiana, Pa. But I didn’t. I reached for a star, and I got it.”
Little received a standing ovation at the end.
“Forget about Vegas,” he said in his own voice. “You’re my kind of audience. I’ll be on stage tomorrow night at this time, and if I keep getting the kind of reaction I got here tonight, I swear I’ll take this show to Broadway.”
Audience member Monica Thornburg said she thought the show was hilarious.
“Rich Little could always make himself actually look like Richard Nixon, and he’s as funny as he ever was,” she said. “But he had a tear in his eye at the end, I could tell.”
Russell Jones, who was a big Johnny Carson fan, especially liked Little’s impression of the late-night host, including his performance as Carnak the Magnificent, a character Carson sometimes portrayed in comedy skits.
“His Johnny Carson is as good as anybody ever did,” Jones said. “Little has still got all his skills. I wasn’t sure I wanted to come tonight, but I’m sure glad that I did.”
Rich Little got a warm welcome in Pittsburg in more ways than one.
“Your weather is amazing,” the man with a thousand voices said Saturday before going onto the Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium stage. “We’d like to spend the summer here.”
The veteran impressionist flew in Friday from Las Vegas to perform his one-man show “Jimmy Stewart and Friends.” He’s doing the same show five nights a week at the LVH at the Hilton.
Little met Stewart in 1965 at a roast for George Jessel, a comedic entertainer known as the “Toastmaster General of the United States,” and the two became good friends.
In the show, Little has Stewart telling his life story, with impressions of numerous other friends and acquaintances of the actor, including John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Henry Fonda, Robert Stack, Gary Cooper, Richard Nixon and the great late-night show host Johnny Carson.
The show is filled with humor, but becomes serious at the end of Stewart’s life.
“One of the disadvantages of growing old is that you get to watch a lot of your friends die, and I sure did,” Little says as Stewart. “My wife, Gloria, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and that was just wrong. I’m 10 years older. After Gloria went, my life was pretty well over.”
But Little chooses to celebrate Stewart’s life.
“Would you believe I was the third greatest movie star of all time?” Stewart asks. “I could have been an architect. I could have owned a hardware store in Indiana, Pa. But I didn’t. I reached for a star, and I got it.”
Little received a standing ovation at the end.
“Forget about Vegas,” he said in his own voice. “You’re my kind of audience. I’ll be on stage tomorrow night at this time, and if I keep getting the kind of reaction I got here tonight, I swear I’ll take this show to Broadway.”
Audience member Monica Thornburg said she thought the show was hilarious.
“Rich Little could always make himself actually look like Richard Nixon, and he’s as funny as he ever was,” she said. “But he had a tear in his eye at the end, I could tell.”
Russell Jones, who was a big Johnny Carson fan, especially liked Little’s impression of the late-night host, including his performance as Carnak the Magnificent, a character Carson sometimes portrayed in comedy skits.
“His Johnny Carson is as good as anybody ever did,” Jones said. “Little has still got all his skills. I wasn’t sure I wanted to come tonight, but I’m sure glad that I did.”
