Question of the Day — 8 Aug 2011

Yes, we knew he was vintage, but we almost fell off our chairs when we read in the press release from Palace Station that comedian Marty Allen, who begins a limited-time weekend run in the Louie Anderson Theater there September 24 is not only an octogenarian but, at 89 years young, a virtual nonogenarian! Then we got your question, so we felt compelled to do some research, some of the results of which surprised us.

Here, according to Wikipedia's statistics, and with apologies to the ladies, are the top twenty oldest performers who regularly grace the stages of Las Vegas (or, in the case of a few, are iconic stars associated with the city, even if they seldom perform here these days):

• Marty Allen: 89
• BB King: 85
• Jack Jones: 73
• Tom Jones: 71
• Paul Anka: 70
• Bill Medley: 70
• Wayne Newton: 69
• Barry Manilow: 68
• Gladys Knight: 67
• Rod Stewart: 66
• Clint Holmes: 65
• Elton John: 64
• Kenny Loggins: 63
• Teller: 63 (Penn's a mere 56)
• Peter Noone: 63
• Rick Springfield: 61
• Charo: 60
• George Wallace: 59
• Louie Anderson: 58
• Rita Rudner: 57