Question of the Day - 01 September 2024

In fact, we have. 

We've been holding onto this question for over a year. Another one came in more recently. We figured we'd hear about Pete eventually and not only did we hear about him, we heard from him. We'll get to that anon. 

But first, we love Pete Barbutti. We saw him several times in Vegas and the last time was about 25 years ago in Reno, appearing at a PR event at Circus Circus, when they opened a new restaurant and had a private party there for VIPs (and us). He told his trademark (long, clean) jokes and we remember one in particular.

A grocer  hired a hit man named Artie to rub out three of his competitors. Artie, it seems, always strangled his victims and Pete went into great detail about who they were and how Artie did the jobs. The joke took at least 10 minutes before he got to the punchline. When the grocer finally saw Artie again, he said, "Artie, I haven't paid you. How much do I owe you?" Artie told him that he so enjoyed the jobs, he was charging the grocer one dollar. The grocer couldn't believe it. "A buck? All you want is one measly dollar?" Artie said yes. The grocer, who'd expected to pay $10,000, was so overjoyed that he ran a big sign on his marquee: Artiechokes three for a dollar." Yuk yuk. 

That night, Pete also did some hilarious comedy on the piano, went through his entire routine of sound effects on the accordion (a train and whistle, Chevvy station wagon, Niagara Falls, mosquitos, thunder, etc.) and killed, just killed, the room.

Pete made dozens of TV appearances between the late 1960s and the early 1990s, including nearly 40 on “The Tonight Show” during the Johnny Carson era, and shows hosted by Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen, and every other talk-show host you ever heard of, plus their replacements.

Barbutti, a native of Scranton, Penn., turned 90 years old this May. He's lived in Vegas since 1960 and still does standup comedy. He's known for his comedy piano in the tradition of Victor Borge. He also plays the accordion. 

He grew up on the accordion, taking lessons from the time he was about six years old. He turned down a music scholarship to Penn State, opting instead to start a jazz band called the Millionaires. But they needed a hook, so they started to do a little comedy. That segued into his whole routine: comedy, piano, jazz, accordion, and trumpet. He was hip, full of inside jokes and stories, clever, and fast. His comedy was clean (no vulgarity or smut) and original, and he was so prolific that every time you saw him, it was mostly new material.

An extremely accomplished musician, Barbutti couldn’t help going off on all kinds of musical tangents, seguing from jazz to Bach to the Mexican hat dance. It was said, “You had no idea where he was going next, and neither did he, or at least he convinced you he didn’t." Musicians he played with (mostly) got a kick out of trying to keep up with him.   

In 1960, Barbutti and company appeared in the Cloud Nine Lounge at the Frontier in Las Vegas, his first appearance here. They were booked for three weeks, but it developed into a six-month gig with Billy Eckstine, Della Reese, and the Treniers.

From there, Barbutti and a new band worked the lounge at the Thunderbird for a few months, till he got gigs knocking around Spokane and Seattle. In Spokane, he wrote, produced, and directed his own TV special; the tape found its way to Hollywood and the next thing Pete knew, he was a regular on the “Steve Allen Show.”

He toured with Nat King Cole, played Tahoe with Esquivel, appeared on the “Regis Philbin Show” (who took over for Steve Allen), and eventually settled in at the Saharas (Vegas, Reno, and Tahoe), where the legendary Stan Irwin was the entertainment director.

He hung out with Buddy Hackett and Shecky Greene (and has lots of stories about both wild men), has nothing good to say about Wayne Newton and Don Adams (star of “Get Smart,” on which Barbutti did a cameo), tells stories about Allan Sherman, George Carlin, Jackie Gleason, Bill Dana, Don Rickles, Pat Boone, Kenny Rogers, and lots of Vegas musicians, and, we know for a fact, still has a non-stop mouth and a fantastic memory, especially for details.

Which brings us to the latest on Pete. Believe it or not, we were attending a jazz festival in Arizona a few weeks ago when we were stunned to see Pete Barbutti, 90 years old, funny little goatee and all, walk out onto the stage as the master of ceremonies. He was completely disheveled, as if he'd just gotten out of bed or had come from a bar, buttoning and tucking in his shirt, cinching up his belt, and putting on his sports jacket. We started laughing and didn't stop through his several sets. 

And yes, he still tells 10-minute-long jokes, has a fantastic memory for details, and kibbitzes with the band. He didn't play, unfortunately, but it was such a surprise and a treat to see him -- and to know that he's still out there, doing his shtick and making the world laugh, 70-odd years after first appearing on the stage. Amazing!