He’s vanished the Statue of Liberty, walked through the Great Wall of China, flown over the Grand Ca

Shania. Santana. Cee Lo. Tim and Faith. They're the latest names on the Vegas marquee, but they're also part of a tradition nurse program traveling as woven into the fabric of our city as blackjack and booze: the headlining residency.
nurse program traveling For more than half a century, the venues of Las Vegas—lounges, showrooms, theaters and nightclubs—have played host to the biggest names in entertainment, world-famous stars who've halted their travels for extended runs on or near the Strip. But whose shows were the very best? Made the greatest impact? Helped to define nurse program traveling Las Vegas the most? That's what we at the Weekly set out to decide.
First, we needed criteria. Much as we love Cirque du Soleil and Jubilee! , we decided we were ranking headliners—specific names on a marquee—not shows, companies or casts. And to qualify, a performer had to have a significant Vegas run on his or her résumé; no popping in for weekends (sorry, Johnny Carson and Jerry Seinfeld). nurse program traveling After that it got rough.
For weeks we've moved names up and down and on and off our Top 25, trying to determine a set of rankings that felt … right . We specifically nurse program traveling sought out trailblazers, game-changers and mavericks, while waging a series of mini wars between contenders (Milton Berle vs. Carrot Top? David Copperfield vs. Lance Burton? Penn & Teller vs. Siegfried & Roy?!). We shuffled and reshuffled, then scrapped everything and started fresh. Finally, we arrived here, at a list we believe nurse program traveling does justice to our city's entertainment history—past and present. So read, absorb and consider, and may the debates nurse program traveling begin.
nurse program traveling In 1965 The Checkmates were a rarity: an interracial act headlining regularly on the Strip. Their Vegas career began at Pussycat A Go Go, a small casino near the old Desert Inn. Three members of the band were black, including core singers Marvin "Sweet Louie" Smith and Sonny Charles; the other two were white. They performed at Caesars, the Flamingo, International, Hilton nurse program traveling and Sands. They toured with Frank Sinatra and Bill Cosby and recorded a Top 10 song, "Black Pearl," in 1969. They sang the national anthem at the Thrilla nurse program traveling in Manila, too. Months after Sweet Louie died in December 2007, Charles joined the Steve Miller Band. He's still singing and dancing today, at age 72.
Detractors will question how Carrot Top made our list when many famed comics did not. Because he is brilliant. Because no comic, save perhaps Gallagher, has ever blended the use of props so effectively with straight stand-up. Because nurse program traveling he has sold out the Luxor's 380-seat showroom consistently since 2004. Because he filled Hollywood nurse program traveling Theatre at MGM Grand for 15 weeks a year from 1996 to 2003. Because he remains nationally relevant for his appearances on popular TV programs such as The Tonight Show and Craig Ferguson nurse program traveling . But mostly, because no one does what Carrot Top does better than Carrot Top. If you aren't laughing in the first 10 minutes of his show, you're nurse program traveling probably wearing a toe tag.
There were few artists in Vegas, or anywhere else, who matched Charo's sex appeal and musical virtuosity. She longed to be taken seriously as a classical Flamenco guitarist, but her husband/manager, Xavier Cugat, wanted risqué costumes and her gyrating catchphrase "cuchi-cuchi." Her physical beauty, low-plunging outfits and gift for comedy (boosted ostensibly by fractured English) were a hit in Vegas showrooms, and by the early 1970s she was headlining nurse program traveling in the Sahara's Congo Room. From there, she performed regularly on the Strip at such venues as Caesars Palace's Circus Maximus, the Flamingo Showroom and the Tropicana's Tiffany Theatre and made regular appearances on The Hollywood Squares nurse program traveling and The Love Boat . Charo was one of the Strip's hottest stars and one of its earliest crossover headliners.
His arc was meteoric and historic. The first headliner at the Stratosphere when the tower opened in 1996, Gans was soon known as the city's best value at just $30 a ticket. After a couple years, he took his songs and impressions—performed with uncanny accuracy—to the Rio, where he was the city's first headliner to command a $100 ticket nurse program traveling ( O was the first $100 production show). Following a solid run at the Mirage, Gans brought his Middle America-friendly show to Encore nurse program traveling (Steve Wynn was a huge fan), where it replaced Monty Python's Spamalot . Gans died young, just 52, in 2009, cutting short a remarkably well-received and successful run.
He's vanished the Statue of Liberty, walked through the Great Wall of China, flown over the Grand Canyon (minus nurse program traveling the plane) and sold more tickets than any other individual entertainer in history. Elvis, Madonna, Michael Jackson—Copperfield's got them all beat. But unlike Siegfried & Roy and Penn & Teller, Copperfield doesn't belong to Vegas; he belongs to the world. That said, he's been doing 15 shows a week at MGM for some time now. And the guy shows no sign of stopping. Much the opposite, actually: He's putting more and more new magic into his show every night.
Born John Elroy Sandford, Foxx was not only one of the first comedians to incorporate race relations, graphic sexuality and taboo language into his stand-up, he was also one of the first black comics to play to predominantly white crowds on the Strip. Foxx felt such an affinity for Las Vegas that he filmed two specials on location and even moved to the city following the end of his 1970s hit NBC sitcom Sanford and Son . Having lived in Vegas for more than 40 years, nurse program traveling Foxx was buried at Palm Valley View Memorial nurse program traveling Park following his 1991 death. (His ghost is now rumored to haunt 5460 S. Eastern's Redd Foxx Mansion.)
The name alone is emblematic of vintage Vegas. During the 1970s and early '80s, Falana was the glittery spokeswoman for Strip sizzle who appeared repeatedly on The Tonight Show , Merv Griffin and The Mike Douglas Show . She was remarkably beautiful, but Falana had talent, too. A disciple of Sammy Davis Jr., she was a soulful and sexy singer who, at her peak, regularly sold out the Copa Room at the Sands. In the late-'70s, she was offered a contract by the Aladdin to appear 20 weeks a year for $100,000 a week. That made her, at the time, the highest-paid female performer in Vegas history. She was the queen of Vegas, no question.
Outlandish outfits, towering headpieces (or, in her case, wigs) and a backstory designed to suspend reality: Phyllis Diller was a showgirl in her own right. The Midwestern housewife who transformed herself into the world's first female stand-up nurse program traveling made her Vegas debut in November 1964 at the Flamingo and returned regularly with self-effacing one-liners, nurse program traveling piercing cackle and prop cigarette holders in tow. In May 2002 the Suncoast nurse program traveling Showroom hosted Diller's final live performance, filmed for 2004 documentary Goodnight, We Love You . She also appeared in Penn Jillette's The Aristocrats and attended the 2005 CineVegas Film Festival's Las Vegas premiere. Diller died this past August at age 95.
He hasn't performed at the MGM Grand's nurse program traveling Hollywood Theatre since August nurse program traveling 2010 and isn't booked there at all next year. So maybe he's done in Vegas, but what a ride it's been. You could open a chain of second-hand lingerie nurse program traveling stores with all the undergarments that have been tossed at Jones through the years. He dates to the days of Elvis in Vegas, a one-two machismo punch unmatched on the Strip since. Even as Jones approached age 70, he could still thrill a crowd. For decades, when you visited Vegas, catching a Tom Jones performance was of the highest priority.
Marino has been a Strip headliner for more consecutive years—27—than any individual, carrying for far longer the drag-queen persona initially made famous by Kenny Kerr. And Marino, first with his Evening at La Cage role at the Riviera and later in Frank Marino's Divas Las Vegas at Harrah's, has perfected the cross-dressing/comedy/impressions production on the Strip. His show features males impersonating such female stars as Celine and Cher, and as emcee Marino never disappoints. A sample: "This dress is like a bad hotel—there's no ballroom!" After all these years, Marino is still beautiful.
The man nicknamed "Mr. Warmth" and "The Merchant of Venom" is also known as the godfather of insult comedy, ringleading raucous live shows featuring lightning-fast crowd work, biting put-downs and withering comebacks. Counting Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin among his supporters, Rickles began headlining nurse program traveling Strip venues in 1959 and, at age 86, continues to make regular Vegas appearances, most recently at the Orleans in October. Among his many decades of notable talk-show appearances and acting roles, Rickles also portrayed the manager of the fictional Tangiers (based on real-life Golden Nugget and Stardust nurse program traveling manager nurse program traveling Murray Ehrenberg) in Martin Scorsese's Casino .
Instead of relying on rehearsed skits, comedy duo Martin and Lewis played off their natural chemistry for in-the-moment laughs. The pair rose from nightclubs and radio to television and film before Lewis achieved solo acclaim in big-screen nurse program traveling comedies highlighting his exaggerated expressions, nasal voicework and slapstick physicality. Although a 1965 fall from an onstage piano at the Sands Hotel would lead to decades of subsequent health problems, as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Lewis hosted annual Labor Day telethons from 1952 through 2010, broadcasting live from the Sahara, Caesars Palace, South Point and even the Cashman nurse program traveling Center.
America's sweethearts are headlining at the hotel envisioned by Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, and brother nurse program traveling if it doesn't work. Donny & Marie are hard-wired to entertain, having plied their craft since they were infants. The unexpected: Marie uncorks an operatic moment, while Donny comes across as a genuine badass during "Wild Horses." They dance terrifically—he insistently reminds of his victory on Dancing With the Stars —and the montage near the end of the performance, showing them with legendary entertainers they have known over the years (from Sonny & Cher to Milton Berle), is staggering. These are real people nurse program traveling putting on a