by Krissy Hawkins
On Sunday, November 22nd the Encore Theater hosted a taping of “Live! with Regis and Kelly”, with hosts Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. In the audience was Vegas’ resident man-about-town, Norm Clarke.
Prior to the taping Norm had not met either of the hosts and had requested a couple minutes with them after the show to grab some quotes for his column.
About 15 minutes before the taping began a publicist approached Norm at his aisle seat, about 10 rows back, kneeled and said, “Regis wants to know how long have you been covering entertainment here?”
Initially the gossip columnist assumed the information had been requested in regards to his upcoming backstage sit-down with the legendary host. Perhaps even a quick shout-out during a commercial break.
But toward the end of the first segment of the show Regis sprung a nice surprise.
Norm recaps:
Regis: “In our audience today is a guy who has been here many, many years now, covering the news, the entertainment news, and it’s like a column from the old days when Walter Winchell and all those guys were banging out material. And this is the place to go, all this material. And it’s Norm Clarke, right over here. There he is, right there. He does a great job.”
Kelly: “Where is Norm? (peering into the crowd) … behind the camera.” (a boom camera had just swung out at the start of the show, sort of obscuring our view)
Regis: “NORRRRRM Confidential!”
Kelly: “We got Norm some great seats, right behind the camera.”
Regis: (holding his hands up in front of him like a bear baring its claws) “Be nice to Norm or he’ll ruin you in his column tomorrow.”
When Cara and I went backstage, Regis and Kelly spent about 10 minutes with us. I thanked them for the incredibly kind gesture. Regis said, “I’m not kidding. The first thing I do when I get to Las Vegas is read your column.”
I was told later by a Wynn PR rep that it was Regis’ idea, after hearing I wanted to visit them backstage.
It certainly made my day/week/month/year – being schmoozed by an old pro.
The show aired on Tuesday, November 24th.