Tonight I will be going to the first presentation of comedian Matt Donnelly's Celebrity Tarot Lounge. Though Donnelly has done the Tarot Lounge before, the celebrity angle is new to Vegas. The production is the rare event not connected to any casino, though it is taking place in the tourist corridor, on the far South Strip at Town Square. This event has gathered an unbelievable, in a few ways, range of talent over two nights including Neil Gaiman, Teller and Carrot Top, all of whom will have their tarot read by Donnelly. Then comedians will do improvised comedy based on the celebrity readings. So, tonight I am going to see Teller have his tarot read by Donnelly and then enacted by Kristen Schaal (of HBO's "The Flight of the Conchords" and "The Daily Show"). This is the sort of show that would be hard to gather the talent for, rent the stage or even explain and pitch in other cities. Yet, Celebrity Tarot Lounge is made up of three words that all are connected to concepts that work in Vegas. The Palms is just one casino that comes to mind that offers a fortuneteller, and obviously, lounges and celebrities are Vegas perennials. So this idea, as absract as it may sound in theory, seems just crazy enough to be perfect for Vegas and has the Mannerist appeal of stacking three successful approaches together. But I am hoping that this high concept will lead to some fairly straightforward comedy.

Donnelly arrived in Vegas to work in Wayne Brady's show for six weeks and became enthralled with the culture of Vegas entertainment. He, therefore, has created this show for Vegas but has been working with tarot cards in comedy for years. "My improv group was looking for a hook, and we used tarot in New York on live audiences." Donnelly does not take himself seriously as a tarot reader: "Each card has its own broad strokes. I wound up with a book called 'The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need,' and it worked just fine for me. It is comedy. Let me make clear I have no business giving anyone a tarot reading or telling anyone what to do with their lives."

As for his impressive list of celebrities, including renowned atheist and non-tarot believer Teller, all looking to have their tarot read, he fully credits his producer,  Emily Jillette whose husband is, along with Teller, the headliner at Rio. "I'll be very honest with you. The thread is Emily Jillette's iPhone."

But the unique opportunities that Vegas offers to create shows like this are what enthused Donnelly initially, even before he had the backing of star power. Though the show was planned even as the recesssion was hitting Vegas, Donnelly still saw audience potential in Vegas. He ultimately hopes to expand his Tarot Lounge into a regular Vegas gig from this two-day test run:

"Doing Wayne Brady's show was really fun and enticing. To understand what it means to go work as an entertainer in Vegas is a very unique thing that does not happen in a lot of towns. When I wasn't sure if Wayne would call me back, I immediately went to work to find out what I could do as an entertainer here. For these two days having celebrities drop by is my way of asking permission of Vegas to come check me out."

This approach certainly worked on me. I will be there tonight to see Teller, for one thing, speak on stage entertaining people, no gimmick, for the first time in his career (a stage silence that even predates his 35 year partnership with Penn).  As for what the future holds for this promising idea: Just insert some tarot joke here that works for you involving the answer being in the cards.

I am writing the Buffet column for the Nov. 23 print edition about Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke.  Clarke began covering the celebrity scene here shortly before I moved to Vegas in 1999. And, so, I have never known this town without Clarke's Vegas Confidential column. But in the introduction to Clarke's latest book, "Norm Clarke's Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales,"  former "Soprano's" actor Steve Schrirripa, a longtime Vegas hand, notes that when Clarke started in Vegas: "The idea of a gossip columnist covering our town was not warmly embraced." You can imagine why.

That has changed. Two nights ago, I went to Clarke's book party at the Palms' Playboy Club.  I arrived late (story due at work) and could not stay long (mom was landing at the airport for a visit), but the place was packed with many of the Vegas personages who populate Norm's newspaper column: casino owner George Maloof, Strip headliner Rita Rudner, celebrity chef Kerry Simon and fellow Vegas chronicler Robin Leach.

I grabbed a quick word with Clarke before I had to go: "I wanted edgy and I got edgy in this book," he said. "I got a lot of help from some casino VIP hosts, anonymously of course." I asked Clarke what surprised him most preparing the book: "What people had to say about Kobe Bryant. Apparently, he is the No. 1 most obnoxious and most arrogant celebrity in the view of VIP hosts. And No. 2 might surprise you: Matthew McConaughey. I've always got a strange vibe from him. He is not a nice guy it turns out, very full of himself."

Clarke describes covering celebrities in Vegas (with a nice name check to me) as:  "The ultimate buffet for people like you and me who love to pick up the phone and say 'You gotta be kidding?' "

On the way back to my car (down the elevator, through the casino and into the parking lot) I had my own celebrity run-in. Unlike Clarke, my picture rarely appears anywhere, and I almost never get recognized. So imagine my surprise when I hear someone say, as we get on the elevator, "Hello Richard," and I saw that it was Harrah's headliner Rita Rudner.

Rudner is the only headliner in Las Vegas who has ever refused to interview with me. And she did so for years. For a long time I had no idea why that was true. It turned out she was unhappy with a review I wrote, not of her show which I always liked, but a production that her husband was connected to in some way. The details of that production (which was at New York New York hotel) are lost in my memory, and the review is no longer on the Web for computer server reasons, and so I can't recall exactly what I wrote. But it upset her and her husband, and their unhappiness lasted for years until Rudner and I made peace by phone in February.

Of course, we spoke alone by phone, and at the Palms her husband was with her on the elevator and during the walk through the casino, all the way out to the garage. I had no idea how he was feeling toward me. I considered trying to shake his hand but he remained a bit too far from reach the entire time. That did not seem like an accident.

Meanwhile, Rudner seemed to be really enjoying smothering me with pleasantness. She was very friendly, making a point of being sweet as well as talkative as we discussed all of her various projects. And one of the things I like about Rudner is she does a lot beyond her show at Harrah's. In fact, she mostly does what I do: write. She writes books, television shows, movies and, most recently and surprisingly, she wrote a play -- along with her husband -- that was offered to a local community theater in a gesture of support.

Of course, the scale of Rudner's career is much larger than mine, a point she made clear, when, after reviewing all the exciting things she is working at, she took time to compliment me fully on a very brief appearance she had seen of me the other night on the Travel Channel in a documentary on Vegas. Ouch. At least I then knew how she managed to recognize me in the elevator with no trouble (though we have only met once or twice in person before). I had to confess to her that the documentary was actually shot years ago and was only reairing. I have never felt so awful while being spoken to so kindly.

Anyway, Rudner's dry, knife-someone-with-a-smile humor turns out not only to work on Vegas audiences but to be a perfect instrument for putting journalists in their place.

Photo: Sarah Gerke

According TMZ, we have an answer to: will Lindsay Lohan show up at her heavily promoted (more advertising came out yesterday) appearance at Pure to celebrate her 21st birthday on July 2? The answer: Yes. Reportedly, Lohan is being very well compensated by Pure (rumor is that she was asking $1 million at the start of negotiations).