Las Vegas Weekly

October 21, 2008 · 10:12 AM

Rodriguez interview – were there clues to his departure from Real Deal?

By Robin Leach

Paul Rodriguez has been flushed.

Just 36 hours before the curtain was due to go up tonight (Tuesday) at the premiere of the new interactive Real Deal poker show, the producers announced that comic Paul Rodriguez would not be the host, as they’d previously boasted. CLICK HERE for our Luxe Life exclusive breaking news stories yesterday.

Local comic Vinnie Favorito who appears at nightly at the Flamingo’s Bugsy’s Cabaret, takes over tonight (Tuesday) until producers and TV veterans Merv Adelson and Gary Smith bring in a rotating cast of guest celebrity hosts. We’ll have that report on the last-minute changes and behind-the-scenes drama right here tomorrow morning.

Meantime, I had interviewed Paul about the new show just a week ago, when he was flying in and out of Vegas for the previews. At that time there was not one inkling of lurking problems, although he may have dropped a couple of subtle hints that events had changed since he was announced as sole host back on September 3. The first clue that Vinnie was taking over came Sunday in the full-page newspaper ads that had Vinnie’s name and photo above Paul’s and they were named as co-hosts.

You can judge for yourself from the transcript of our conversation that follows:

RL: Do you fully understand poker?

PR: No, but no one really does, it is a very complex game. The whole idea of having a poker pro is someone that is used to winning and losing and having the ups and downs. It is a game of chance, there is skill to it, but you could have all of the skill in the world, but if you don’t get that ace, you are out of there.

RL: Do you play poker yourself?

PR: Yes but I am not an avid player. I’ve played a celebrity game or two, but every time I went I lost $20-$30 and I couldn’t take that loss no more. It was the humiliation when some guy that was on 3rd Rock From the Sun is beating you.

RL: So you know all the poker terms?

PR: I am learning more of them; every country has their own. You have the deuces, the tres. You have the San Francisco love; the guys I am playing with are very up on it.

RL: So you are looking forward to this?

PR: I am hoping it works. I am trying to figure out where to sandwich in comedy with gambling. It is a very serious game, it isn’t even the amount of money, although that has a part, when people get into a gambling mood, they are not into comedy. If someone wants to joke around with their money, you have to find the right material.

RL: The audience will want you to entertain them.

PR: The bottom line is that they are there to win. If they are only there for the entertainment, they throw away $75. The audience is in the game the minute they walk in; if they lose I am the one to make it a little better, not much better, but I hope it works.

RL: So you have started previews.

PR: Yeah, but it doesn’t count, you have all of the employees of The Venetian, and all you have to do is order them to laugh and they will. If you get real audiences in there, that is when the real deal will take off. I am working very hard to pick and choose material to be used. The difference between a pro and an amateur is that one is married, and the other is about to be divorced.

RL: You do this in Wayne Brady’s showroom?

PR: It is. We have our own crew. It is pretty elaborate. I will be able to call someone from the audience and play with the pros.

RL: In the rehearsals, do you have any idea how much money people have been playing with? The bigger the money, the bigger the pot, the more exciting it is right?

PR: Absolutely. We had the second rehearsal and a lady came with a queen of clubs to getting a royal flush and that would pay $1 million.

RL: What was the atmosphere in the room at that point?

PR: She knows that this is just for practice and we were going to give her a T-shirt. I said I would like to see this lady get that just to hear all the producers say we have to give her something, how about two T-shirts? She was excited. I do believe that at two shows a night, someone may hit a royal flush and they will give him a million dollars and I will give them my address and social security number.

RL: You are going to want to play yourself.

PR: Well, I can’t. I will have stoolies in there. I will have family disguised in there ... I would love to play; well I am playing in a way.

RL: You are the glue of the show.

PR: Yeah. If someone in the audience wins, I will consider it my win. I will be walking down the side trying to keep those dull moments that is where I come in; I hope to be the mortar there.

RL: When actors and entertainers are called for auditions, they have to read a script but did you have to play poker for the producers for this one?

PR: I had dinner with the producers and I said I am a gambler. Everyone in this business is a gambler, just by the nature of the business, you are red-hot and the next minute you have a tertiary role in a sitcom.

RL: So you will be here 5 days a week. Are you moving here or are you hoteling it?

PR: I am going to hotel for now. The economy is somewhere where I may be enticed to buy a house. Is Mike Tyson’s up for sale? The economy is so bad that if you have stashed a few dollars away, you can get a good deal on a home. I might do that although I am single and I don’t need that much room. I may just stay at the Venetian; it is pretty plush there at the Palazzo. The producers were gracious enough to let me go back and forth for the first three months as I already had other commitments. I have to go to Japan; I am doing the USAF tour. I have a couple of casino dates in Atlantic City. When I am done then we will know the official.

RL: It is a new form of entertainment.

PR: It is. I have a feeling that people will want excitement and the only thing we are missing now is the sex and we are working on that.

The Real Deal is described as, “The first-ever live and interactive poker-themed stage show, introducing a new paradigm in entertainment. It is a one-of-a-kind, 90-minute live-action Las Vegas stage extravaganza that gives the audiences members a chance to play against the world’s best professional poker players. Everyone in attendance can win cash and great prizes, including a chance at $1,000,000.”

Tickets are priced at $75 for the 5 p.m. poker game and $85 for the 8 p.m. “poker performance,” with a $125 VIP package that includes a meet and greet with the world famous poker stars. They include Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen, Todd Brunson and Gavin Smith. Lacey Jones serves as hostess.

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