Las Vegas Weekly

July 21, 2010 · 3:03 PM

Executive Monkeys producer Emily Jillette: ‘So you think you can tweet?’

By Robin Leach

Guest performer Shannon Elizabeth and Executive Monkeys producer Emily Jillette.

Photo: Allison Duck

From July 14 through Aug. 4, Robin Leach will be relaxing under the Tuscan sun on his annual vacation and keeping his eyes on what’s happening in Las Vegas from Italy. Meantime, a kindly crew of Las Vegas celebrities and VIPs has agreed to write guest columns for Vegas DeLuxe.

By Emily Jillette, guest columnist

Everyone is doing it. You send tweets to brag, tweets of private jokes, tweets of the funny things your kids say. Now your Twitter activity can be part of Matt Donnelly’s Executive Monkeys, the new improv comedy show at The Lounge at the Palms. Matt and his Executive Monkeys have been doing improv the old-fashioned way for years. They ask for a suggestion, and the audience shouts out their ideas.

All too often, it’s Starbucks or proctologist (that’s in response to “name a place” and “name a profession,” by the way!). And how many times can we watch a scene about a double latte or latex gloves?

Now you can express yourself during the show in 140 characters and see what the six talented cast members can instantly perform in a never-before-done scene made up on the spot (and that’s why they call it improv!). From the minute the show starts, the audience is asked to send their tweets to @exmonk, and the cast reads them off eight screens set up around The Lounge at the Palms. And not just words, but pictures, too.

Who knew that your phone pic of your best friend wearing a toga would be featured in a show at the Palms? After a little improv, Matt welcomes a celebrity to the stage and performs a comedic Tarot card reading. (I know, “comedic” is redundant, but I want to be clear.)

You may have seen some of the guests on talk shows, but you’ve never seen interviews like this. The contents of that interview then become the fodder for the next half hour as the Executive Monkeys take those morsels and turn them into hilarious scenes with just enough gentle teasing to their guest to feel like everyone’s having fun.

And if that isn’t enough, the entire show ends with a rousing rendition of a Flamenco song like you’ve never heard it before. In a recent show, “dominatrix” was the suggestion, and we all learned new words and ways to rhyme them that, surprisingly, weren’t expected during a night out in Las Vegas.

Over the past decade, there’s been several other improv shows in Las Vegas, but none quite like this. With talent from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and some homegrown comedians, this is a first-rate show that has come at the right time -- when we all need an affordable laugh. Using current popular technology and featuring celebrity guests, Executive Monkeys offers 75 minutes of quality show time. The Lounge at the Palms is the perfect showroom that holds a good-sized crowd but still feels intimate enough to be close to the stage and in the thick of the action.

Photo: Edison Graff

Executive Monkeys perform at The Lounge in the Palms.

Past guests have included Mr. Vegas DeLuxe Robin Leach, Teller, Adam Savage, Shannon Elizabeth, Paul Provenza and Randy Couture. It’s a twosome tonight: Trishelle Cannatella of The Real World: Las Vegas and pro poker player Tiffany Michelle. Let’s get real and go all in!

Emily Jillette is the producer of Matt Donnelly’s Executive Monkeys, performing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. at The Lounge at the Palms through July 28.

Pawn Stars star Rick Harrison and Caesars Palace headliner Matt Goss are tomorrow’s guest columnists.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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