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.)
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Gaming Today, “Weird Al”
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“Weird Al” Yankovic, was another fun interview on Las Vegas Backstage Talk Radio Show with Comedian Michele LaFong on 1230AM KLAV in Las Vegas, and The Web. It took place backstage at The Cannery. Weird Al, known for his costumed comedic song parodies, made it clear that he always asks for the green light from the artist before recording a parody of their song for a music video. When asked if he was ever refused permission by anyone, he said “Only Prince has consistantly said “no,” with no explanation given. Whenever possible I try to go to the artists directly because managers often get in the way, as with Lady GaGa.”
The misunderstanding referred to by Al as “The GaGa Saga” explained that managers don’t always consult their clients before turning something down. “Finally it all got straightened out, and I parodied “Born This Way” with a music video that I did in drag called “Perform This Way”, and GaGa LOVED it!” It was also a hit with the 1300 plus screaming fans at The Cannery. “I challenge anyone to find a rock show where you’ll see a wider range of demographics.
It’s because a lot of fans that were into me in the 80’s are still into me, and now they are bringing their kids. It’s become a family bonding experience. Another reason for my popularity with families is my New York Times Best Selling childrens book “When I Grow Up” Some of my fans are hard core! They’ll follow me from one city to the next. Sometimes it’s the same people in the front row city to city even though the shows are hundreds of miles apart.”
Weird Al will also be featured in Michele LaFong’s Monthly Syndicated Column, “Las Vegas Backstage Talk,” in Casino Player Magazine.
Tweet“Las Vegas Backstage Talk” Column in Gaming Today, by Michele Lafong
Las Vegas Backstage Talk in Gaming Today, by Michele Lafong
“Even veteran interviewers surprised! Dennis Miller ‘bleeped’ twice”
Update: “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” is now a Monthly Syndicated Column in Casino Player Magazine, with Backstage Video-taped Interviews posted monthly on casinocenter.com, as well as lasvegasbackstagetalk.com
Comedian Michele LaFong also writes Monthly Features, and Cover/Features in “Getting Personal with the Stars,” in Casino Player Magazine.
TweetRob Schneider, Bill Haley Jr. Mark Mayer, LVBST w/Comedian Michele LaFong
May 17, 2012 6pm-7pm PST 1230AM in LV & The Web
Rob Schneider guests on Las Vegas backstage Talk with Comedian Michele LaFong, the only show that “Gets Personal with the Stars.”
After opening for comedians such as Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, Schneider made his network television debut in 1987 on “The David Letterman Show.” In 1990, “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels saw Schneider’s appearance on HBO’s “13th Annual Young Comedians Special” and hired him to be a regular on SNL. During his four seasons on SNL, Schneider was nominated for three EmmyR Awards and a Peabody Award..
Schneider is well-known for his longtime collaboration with Adam Sandler and Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison. Schneider has starred in several Happy Madison projects, including “The Benchwarmers,” “50 First Dates,” “The Longest Yard,” “Eight Crazy Nights,” “Little Nicky” and “Mr. Deeds.” Schneider co-wrote and starred in “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,” “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “The Hot Chick” and “The Animal.”
Schneider is the star of the new CBS show, “Rob,” about a lifelong bachelor who married into a tight-knit Mexican-American family. Rob is a successful architect who elopes with Maggie in Las Vegas after a whirlwind romance.
For more about Rob Schneider, click HERE.
Rob Schneider recently performed at The Orleans Showroom on May 5th – 6th
Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets
If only for the impact of “Rock Around the Clock”, Bill Haley would deserve a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (He was inducted in 1987)! Yet his impact in the early days of Rock and Roll went well beyond that milestone! Two years earlier he’d put out “Crazy, Man, Crazy” an original amalgam of country and R&B that arguably became the first rock and roll record to register on Billboard’s pop chart! For most of the Fifties, Bill Haley was a presence on the record charts, and he appeared in several rock and roll movies aimed at teenagers. It is estimated that Bill Haley and His Comets have sold 60 million records worldwide.
Now his Son, Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets, recapture the heyday of his famous father and The Comets and carry on the tradition his father started! Re-creating the Music, the Feel, the Excitement, the Authentic Stage Costuming and the Energy, Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets will transport audiences back to the very beginning of Rock & Roll! Audiences will be on their feet, dancing in the aisles and singing along to every song during this incredible, all-age, Affordable Show!
More about Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets here!
You can catch Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets live at Suncoast Hotel & Casino
Suncoast Showroom, May 19 – 20 7:30pm
Managing Editor / Sports Columnist for “Gaming Today” – Mark Mayer
Mark Mayer was a sports writer for daily newspapers in South Carolina and Florida for more than 20 years before moving to Las Vegas. In the last 10 years, Mayer has been on the other side of the betting window as a ticket writer at Primm Resorts before working two years at Vegas Insider. Off and on over the past decade, he has been sports editor for “GamingToday”.
“GamingToday” a weekly publication that is distributed to casinos and subscriptions every Tuesday with gaming and entertainment news and articles.
The current issue of “GamingToday” features Michele LaFong filling in on entertainment for the incomparable Monti Rock III this week. (Issue for May 15 – 21, 2012)
View Michele’s article in “Gaming Today” HERE
Comedian Michele LaFong is a radio personality in Las Vegas. She knows the in and outs of show business and attracts the A-listers. Check out LaFong’s “Las Vegas Backstage Talk” column in Gaming Today, which will soon be “Getting Personal with the Stars” a monthly syndicated column in Gaming Today, as well as Casino Player Magazine, a monthly entertainment life-style magazine, with over eighty eight thousand paid subscribers nationally. (“Las Vegas Backstage Talk will also be a monthly syndicated column in CP Magazine.)
You can listen to a recording of our show below!
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