It’s important to remember that Carrot Top was playing a part in those old AT&T commercials and that he got paid to be purposefully annoying. Still, most people’s first and only impression of the prop-based comedian were formed in that half-minute, and that is a shame. The Carrot Top you get at Luxor is human, self-deprecating and nothing if not funny.
Seeing the man in person, it takes less than a minute for your preconceptions to disappear and another two or three to get accustomed to the frenetic pace of his show, as props, music, video clips and sound effects whiz by. In the time it would take another comedian to set up and deliver a single joke, Carrot Top has already shown us a cookbook for women who can’t cook (with Yellow Pages inside), a Hooters job application with two holes for boobs and a suitcase with a map on the outside to help return lost luggage.
Underrated in Carrot Top’s repertoire is his stand-up comedy, which gives him a chance to breathe in between trunk trolling. He tells of a recent experience with a Canadian winter (“I didn’t see Carrot Jr. for two whole days!”) and pokes fun at the genesis of the Smart car, showing a video clip of a Hummer and a Mini Cooper in the act of and then birthing the pint-size vehicle. (The punchline from the bit is priceless.)
Of course, given that he’s been performing at the Luxor for three years, there’s a healthy dollop of Vegas humor, but it’s hardly the typical airports-and-slots fare. He fires off a few jabs at good friend (and fellow Luxor performer) Criss Angel and takes liberties with some of the city’s most iconic hotels and productions.
He could rest on his laurels, given that he’s had a different audience every night for the past four years, but the most commendable part of his act is that he keeps his jokes relevant, his topics fresh. While many comics are still telling Monica Lewinsky jokes a decade after the fact, Carrot Top debuts props for stories that made the news two days ago.
“Can we do one more trunk?” he asks before the show’s whirlwind finale. The answer is an emphatic yes.
