So where did we leave off yesterday with the big recap (part one)? Ok, yeah, it was Saturday and we'd just enjoyed awesomely decadent burgery bliss at the Burger Bar and were about to head over to Harrah's to take in the Mac King comedy-magic show...I can only imagine, since you've taken the time to read THIS far into today's post, that you expect me to provide you with a detail or two...Fine...Because I'm in a "typey mood," I shall oblige...Don't say I never gave you nothin'...

...At Least He Wasn't Following A Funeral The Day WE Were There...
Way back at the end of May, Mac King was a guest on two consecutive episodes of the Penn Jillette Show, one being a Monkey Tuesday and the other...well...NOT being a Monkey Tuesday. In fact, the reason for the second guest appearance was so that Mac could tell the story of his "worst day ever in show business," a sad (yet hilarious) tale of how he was hired to perform at a college and, due to unfortunate circumstances, was stuck doing his goofy magic act following a memorial service for a recently murdered student. The reason I bring this up is simple: until you actually SEE Mac King in action, you can't truly fathom the horrible position which he was placed in on that (fateful) day. Now, this isn't to say that Mac doesn't do a good job, on the contrary, his show is more than worth the money which we spent to see him...The problem lies in the fact that his act, simply, is "goofy and fun," not exactly what one would consider as standard fare for a funeral or wake. Anyhow, both the wife and I enjoyed the Mac King show immensely and, because we were astute enough to wait in line after the show, I had the opportunity to tell him how much more the story which he told on the Penn Jillette show means to me now that I had seen him perform...He responded with "Penn enjoys my pain, it's his favorite story." Anyhow, next time you're in Vegas and looking for something to do on one of those deadly hot Desert afternoons, run into Harrah's and see Mac's show...Personally, I give it an enthusiastic A+...

EAT FASTER, KOBIYASHI! EAT FASTER!..
Following the Mac King Show, the wife and I figured that, since we had a little time and since it was "on the way," we'd stop by the Rio on the way back to Andy and Andrea's house and pick up our tickets to Penn and Teller (big show starts at 9pm, music at 8) so that we could have a leisurely dinner afterward. Heck, we were patting ourselves on the back for "thinking ahead" and stuff until the combination of "a lot of traffic" and the fact that the P & T Box Office wasn't even OPEN yet when we got there. Sadly, that kind of "screwed things up" for us and, suddenly, we found ourselves with "not a lot of time" to have dinner. Certainly, we didn't have NEAR enough time to do what we had planned (head out to Henderson and have dinner with Shannon and Big Al). Instead, Andy suggested that we go to Memphis Championship Barbecue, since it's on Rainbow, not TERRIBLY far from Flamingo. Heck, it was on our "list of places to try" anyway, so we agreed. We arrived at Memphis Championship with what I thought was "time to spare" but our "server" (I'd actually call her an "ignorer") was so far on the side of incompetent that we had almost no time to enjoy our entrees. Sadly, I had to inhale as much of my St. Louis Style Ribs and Half of a Chicken as I could before the wife and I had to run out, sticking Andy with the bill. (That's a lie, I left $40 with Andy and he, in turn, had our food boxed up so we could enjoy it later). My review of Memphis Championship, I believe, is not a fair one because of our compressed schedule. Still, I have to rate service: D-, Meat: A, Sauce: D+. Overall: INCOMPLETE. I'll have to give it another try...

No Lord Duckley, But Yes: They Did The Bullet Catch...
Seeing the Penn and Teller show at the Rio was a lot of fun. It was my second time and my wife's first. There were a number of segments in the show which I hadn't seen before (God of Polyester, Knife Throwing, etc.) and, of course, Mike Jones, Penn, and Teller all hang out in the lobby following the show and will chat, sign autographs and pose for pictures. The thing is, the LAST time which I saw the big show (which was my first time, of course), everybody was very orderly. There were lines to get to each performer and things were relatively calm. THIS time, however, people were just mobbing Penn and Teller from all sides (poor Mike Jones just stood there and maybe signed one or two stray autographs) and things were completely chaotic. Because of the madness, I had my wife pose with Teller and then I posed with Penn (pictures which I'll share soon). I also had a quick chance to ask Penn what had happened with the 4th of July Monkey Tuesday episode (at the time, the podcast had gone screwy and I couldn't find it). He assured me that it'd be put up but, so far, it's only available through unofficial channels. Of course, the reason I wanted to get hold of that particular show was because I was one of the "callers," having had the opportunity to relate ao condensed version of my made-up monkey story on the air...Anyhow, the show was great, I give it an "A," see it next time you're in Vegas with a medium-sized wad of cash to blow...

If This Is How They Eat In Indiana, They Must All Be Giant Fat-Asses...
The following day (Sunday), we all joined up with some of Andy's relatives, who were in town for a conference, and had brunch at a place called Hash House A-Go-Go. Andy had prefaced the place by telling me that NOT ONLY was the food awesome but that the portions were just insanely large. The restaurant's tagline is "Twisted Farm Food" and they claim to serve "Indiana favorites." While waiting for our table (the place is wildly popular, it seems), I noted that the plates which were on tables yet to be bussed were not so much "plates" as "platters," big enough to hold, say, a whole turkey with trimmings. Regardless, I ordered the Sage Fried Chicken brunch plate, my wife went with the French Toast and Al opted for the Hand-Hammered Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. Soon, each of us had a giant platter full of food in front of us...My platter had two eggs (over easy, thank you), two giant slabs of bacon, a huge hunk of Fried chicken (it was like...half a chicken) with a maple caramel reduction glazing it and (I'm not kidding) 3 to 5 POUNDS of bacon mashed potatoes. Hell, the eggs and bacon would have been a FINE meal in and of itself ('cause it came with this GIANT buttery flaky awesome biscuit...I forgot to mention that). The wife's French toast consisted of giant slabs of Homemade Hash House Milk Bread, battered in banana cinnamon cream and then covered in pecan maple syrup. Overall, it was surprisingly light, no where near as dense as normal French toast but MAN was it good! Al's sammich was kind of a conundrum...The bun, while large, didn't come close to covering the succulent breaded pork tenderloin which it came with...Literally, two people could eat the extended portion of meat (which Al and Shannon did) and STILL have a whole big sandwich left to go...Insanely large...In addition, we all got to sample Andy's dessert, the Snickers® bread pudding, and all I have to say about that is "holy crap." Seriously, outside of the stupid lemonade mimosa (which is my fault for even ordering it), I'll have to give Hash House A-Go-Go a solid A-...

Tie Up Those Loose Ends, Boy!..
After the Hash House, we split up, Andy going with his relatives and the wife and I going with Al and Shannon. While their group went to the Silverton Hotel and Casino, our group went bowling at Sunset Station and, I swear it's not my fault, I fell into the lane and jammed my knee on my first approach. I hadn't even had a sip of my cognac and ginger ale at that time! They must oil up their lanes funny or their shoes must be too slick...Dammit. Anyway, outside of that "looking like a clumsy idiot" crap, I didn't bowl HORRIBLY...Hell, bowling is always fun. After the bowling, we enjoyed dinner at Inka, another incarnation of the Peruvian restaurant which I enjoyed on a previous visit. The following day, prior to flying back home, the wife and I joined Andy and Andrea for lunch at Metro Pizza, a New York style pizzeria which ended up being very very enjoyable. After we parted ways, I hear that Andy passed the tests and is "in the pool," so to speak, for upcoming episodes of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." (There were open auditions that day and, the only reason we ALL didn't try out was the 4-hour wait, which would've put us REALLY CLOSE to the time which our plane was supposed to board). As usual, we had a great time in Sin City...Personally, I ate way too much and drank way too much but what the Hell...What else are you gonna do when you're on vacation?..

Labels: famous folk, get outta town, I eat food, indignities, lame stories