This week, Ira Sternberg spoke with Rich Little.
Rich Little returns to the Las Vegas Strip in his new autobiographical one-man show “Rich Little Live” at the Laugh Factory inside The New Tropicana Las Vegas, debuting July 14 and running through August 23.
A master mimic of more than 200 voices, Little is also a classic movie buff. He’s particularly fond of doing Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart, but Little has also latched on to Paul Lynde, Kermit the Frog, Andy Rooney and Dr. Phil, among others. Some of his favorite impressions are of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood.
Little also had his own variety show in the 70s and was the star of the TV show “KopyKats.” He was a guest host early on for The Tonight Show, hosting 12 times. He quickly became a household name sitting in one of the “Hollywood Squares” and went on to do “The Muppet Show.”
Named “Comedy Star of the Year” by the American Guild of Variety Artists, Little was the creator of nine comedy albums and three HBO comedy specials, as well as the Emmy-award winning specials, “Rich Little’s Christmas Carol” with “W.C. Fields” as Scrooge, “Humphrey Bogart” as one of the ghosts and “Paul Lynde” as Bob Cratchit.