The Mac King Comedy Magic Show


We usually visit Vegas over long weekends, so to see Mac King never fits into our schedule with his dark days being on Sunday and Monday, the only two days we can take in an afternoon show.


But during my June trip, I was there on a Tuesday so I was finally able to see this show.


There sure is a lot of hype about the show through the Las Vegas Advisor, websites, and different message boards. I've read comments that he is the next "big" act, better see him now before his prices skyrocket. I’ve wanted to see this show for a couple of years. Now I think that maybe my hopes were too high?


The show is general seating, where a tip is how to get up close. We didn’t care to tip so we were placed in the back which is where we wanted to be. Mac King used to be in the Improv room, but now he is in Clint Holmes showroom. Bad move. At least the Improv had little tables and chairs that all faced front. The Clint Holmes theater has a seating layout of the old-Vegas showrooms with the side-facing tables and chairs that make it impossible for anyone to have a good view. The room is mixed with these tables and some booths scattered. We were seated at a ½ booth with a woman who was very rude. So we moved ourselves to another booth, a full booth, so we were the first ones in the booth and could choose our positions. Still, it seems that very few people have a comfortable view in this room.



The show itself. Well, this show is pretty lame. I found very few places where I laughed or found the magic trick to be any more than I expected. Mac King had his moments. Some say this is a good show for children. The kids in the audience seemed to show some interest, but mostly I saw fidgeting. My opinion is that this was a huge waste of our time. I can only guess that I saw him on an “off” day.


Anyone see this show? Did you enjoy it? Would you recommend this show to others?

Thanks for the info. My wife and I like the comedy clubs so based on your review I'll pass on this one.

Years ago we did the improv and i made the mistake of tipping. They put us right up front which, in a small room is kind of the worst seats in the house. But the price (free) was right and we really enjoyed the comics.

We saw this show a few days ago and I disagree with the above evaluation. We found him to be very talented and very entertaining. His move into the Clint Holmes showroon (larger) was a good move - he packs em in. Personally, I had rather watch him perform than Lance Burton. (IMHO)

Letha and I saw this show and enjoyed it very much.We saw it in the Improv showroom. I don't know how it would go over in the larger showroom.
Mike H.

Althogether, I've seen it three times, with family from 16 to 83, and we all enjoyed it.

Like I said, we must have seen him on an "off" day. I was so disappointed, mostly because I had heard so many good things about him.

Does he have more than one routine? Is this why you would want to see him more than once? I don't think I could be convinced to see him again unless he has a few totally different shows.

"Itch4: I understand your position - we experienced the same with the Wayne Brady show at the Mirage - We had bad seats, and the sound was off - This guy is normally great. Wendell

ITCH, he may well have been off when you saw him, and I wouldn't have gone the third time except that I was taking someone else to see him. The routine is pretty much the same, but I still haven't figured out how he does it<g>. Heck, one friend I sent to the show was IN one of the stunts and couldn't figure out how he did it!

Well, I'll weigh in on this debate, now that I've recently seen the show.
It was entertaining, it was not cutting edge, over the top comedy or magic. But it was entertaining, and a good show for the kids.
My tickets where free with a drink purchace. My harrahs account was so screwed up, that the lady at the counter said it was easier to just start me off as a new customer again. With that, I got the tickets and a couple of key chains.
The show started a few min. late, but no one seemed to mind. He had the energy, and you could tell his act was well worn, and was very tactful with the audiance. Me, I got my moneys worth, but paying full price, I might have felt differently. He doesn't have Penn & Teller worrying about thier jobs. I've seen more impressive magic at a shriner clown convention. But again it kept me in my seat for an hour, and I wasn't watching my watch.
I couldn't see this show multible times.
I think what is hurting the show is the hype. The hype far exceeds the product. Which means your being set up for a fall if your expecting WOW, for the price of a drink, or on a 2fer coupon. Your getting what you pay for here folks.
M2C

Lee - Thanks for you take on Mac King. I have been thinking about going to see him, but I was hesitant. The main reason is that we recently went to see Ronn Lucas at the Rio. I have always thought that Ronn and Mac's shows would be similar in that they are both afternoon shows, they both can be had for very little money (or free to many people), they both have open seating - first come, first seated, and finally they both do get a lot of hype.

We went to Ronn Lucas' show for free at the Rio. Even for free, I did not like it much at all. It was geared very much toward children, but at the show we attended there were only about 3 kids in the audience. Except for one funny segment when Ronn brought a man from the audience up on the stage, I was really bored with his show. Not only was there a lot of hype around the city for Ronn's show, there was a lot of hype in the theater before the show. There was a film montage on the screen about all of the awards he has received, all the famous people he has performed for, etc. He did not live up to hardly any of the promos or hype to us.

I totally agree with you that in Ronn's case (and it sounds like in Mac's case also) you get what you pay for. Why are they giving away free tickets to 3/4's of the audience? If these shows lived up to the hype, they should be able to get paying customers. I like many types of LV shows. They can be musical, magic, Mystere type shows, etc. But, in my view, the worst thing a show can do in LV is to bore me. I was bored with Ronn Lucas and it sounds like Mac King would be similar.

LB,
I've seen Ronn Lucas somewhere before, I want to say Reno. I didn't think much of his act then, and I am not rushing to see him again either.

These are both probably nice shows, they are just not WOW shows. I'm on vacation, I can waist my time at home, but not on vacation.
I had kept the Ron Lucus tickets (also free with a drink) because Sharon hadn't seen the show before. I figured I'd see it in September maybe. But now, I'll pass. Unless she says she wants to see it, because I don't need too!
Thanks...

Lee - I think you are right in saying that these are both probably 'nice' shows. But, they are nothing special. As I said, we found Ronn Lucas to be quite boring. We go to LV mainly to gamble. But, if there is a show that has a headliner that we really want to see or if there is a new show at a casino that sounds good, we go see it. But, I agree with you that I do not want to waste my time while in LV. Just because we get free tickets to something does not mean we use the freebies. If it is a show that does not appeal to us, we do not feel the need to go just because it is free. If the free show is at a casino other than where we are staying, it involves going to that hotel/casino to cash in the freebie coupon (normally in the morning of show day), returning to the hotel an hour or so before the show, returning to our home casino afterwards, etc. In other words, it can take valuable time away from gambling - LOL!!!

Also, Lee, I don't know if Mac King's show included drinks or not. But you mention the drinks at Ronn Lucas' show. There are not assigned seats to the show. So, first everyone enters the theater and tries to find a table that has good seats. Then, they go back to get the drinks. The line for drinks was humongous. The drink line formed near the entrance to the theater and people entering had to break into the drink line and go through it to try to find a seat at a table. Anyway, by the time we found a couple of seats at the table, the line was so long that we didn't want to go and have to wait in it for our drinks. So, we didn't even get to use the drink part of the tickets.