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| - Although I have attended Louie's show in the past and loved it, the review below is based on my experience when I attended Marty Allen's birthday show. This review originally appeared on Vegas Posh, the online magazine that my husband and I maintain.
Marty Allen is what classic comedy is all about: he's funny without being offensive, charming, has spotless timing, and an arsenal of facial expressions that keep audiences laughing just as much as his jokes do. When Allen celebrated his 90th birthday with an engagement at the Louie Anderson Theater at Palace Station, he proved to Las Vegas audiences that at 90, he's just as funny as he's ever been.
Allen's wife, Karon Kate Blackwell, started off the show by showcasing her vocal talent... the kind that you only find from entertainers who had to rely on their own talent and not on high-tech studio equipment. Allen appeared before a cheering crowd, opening with a hilarious monologue before doing his first skit, the wine taster from Caesar's Palace, an alcoholic whose wife is so ugly that "her pictures hang themselves."
Throughout Allen's skits, Blackwell played the straight lady, but even the straight lady couldn't help but laugh at many of his jokes. The chemistry was undeniable and the two had trouble keeping straight faces throughout many of the skits, including the one that featured Allen as a doctor who had just written the book Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Sex* *But Were Afraid to Ask Your Children.
Between skits, Blackwell sings, dances, and plays piano. Her performances included a high-energy rendition of "Proud Mary" and a deeply moving Beatles medley.
Perhaps one of Allen's funniest jokes was the story of an eight year old boy who goes to the store to purchase a box of Tampax. When the clerk asks if he knows what they're for, he responds "Not really, but they're for my four year old brother; we saw the commercials and they said if he bought these, he would be able to swim and ride a bike and he can't do either." Commenting on modern times, Allen delivered another hilarious line when he joked, "You know times have changed when a man goes to the drug store and says (loudly) 'I'll take a box of condoms," (whispering with his mouth covered) "... and a pack of cigarettes."
Although Allen's routines are classics and many of his characters originated decades ago, he keeps his act fresh and modern, appealing as much to audiences today as to audiences of the past, without succumbing to the trend of getting cheap laughs through vulgarity. Audiences were undoubtedly left looking forward to Allen's 91st birthday celebration.
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