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Tag: flamingo

  • Piff the Magic Dragon Marks 10 Years at Flamingo • This Week in Gambling

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    Piff the Magic Dragon is celebrating a milestone of 10 years as a headliner at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Known for his dragon costume, dry humor, and inventive magic tricks, Piff has become a fixture on the Las Vegas Strip, drawing audiences with a combination of comedy, illusion, and audience engagement.

    Piff began his residency at the Flamingo in 2015 and has since performed thousands of shows. His act blends clever magic, sarcasm, and physical comedy, often featuring his canine sidekick, Mr. Piffles. The small dog became a recognizable part of the show, delighting audiences and adding a unique charm to the performances. Over the decade, Piff has continually updated his material, introducing new tricks and segments while maintaining the core humor that has kept fans coming back.

    To mark the 10-year anniversary, Piff staged a special performance celebrating the longevity of his career and the loyal audience that has supported him. The milestone also acknowledged the legacy of the original Mr. Piffles, who appeared in thousands of shows, and introduced a new canine companion to carry on the tradition. The anniversary show highlighted the combination of skill, creativity, and timing that has allowed Piff to sustain his act for a decade.

    Industry peers have praised Piff the Magic Dragon for his ability to evolve while keeping the essence of his performances intact. His show exemplifies how a distinctive persona and consistent reinvention can lead to enduring success in a city where entertainment lineups frequently change. Performing multiple nights a week in the Flamingo’s theater, Piff continues to attract both first-time visitors and repeat audience members who appreciate the unique blend of magic and humor.

    The 10-year milestone emphasizes not only the durability of Piff the Magic Dragon’s act but also the enduring appeal of inventive, well-executed comedy and magic. As he moves forward, Piff remains committed to entertaining audiences with his signature style, ensuring that his residency at the Flamingo continues to be a highlight of Las Vegas entertainment.

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    This Week in Gambling

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  • Why flamingos are returning to Florida

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    Why flamingos are returning to Florida – CBS News









































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    In late 19th-century Florida, hunters pushed flamingos into functional extinction. But something changed over the last 25 years when hurricanes in the Caribbean chased them into the Everglades. Mark Strassmann reports.

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  • Opinion | The Brains Behind Ukraine’s Pink Flamingo Cruise Missile

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    Kyiv, Ukraine

    If politics makes strange bedfellows, war sometimes makes strange career paths. In her 20s, Iryna Terekh was a “very artsy” architect who viewed the arms industry as “something destructive.” Now Ms. Terekh, 33, is chief technical officer and the public face of Fire Point, a Ukrainian defense company. She and her team developed the Flamingo, a long-range cruise missile that President Volodymyr Zelensky has called “our most successful missile.”

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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    Jillian Kay Melchior

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  • Vegas Comic Hit Up Audiences to Fund His Gambling Addiction for 20 Years – Casino.org

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    Posted on: September 16, 2025, 01:41h. 

    Last updated on: September 16, 2025, 03:08h.

    • Vinnie Favorito was once touted in Las Vegas as the next Don Rickles
    • In addition to being a hard-working comic, Favorito was also a hardcore gambler known for hitting up his audience members for money
    • A new documentary shines a spotlight on Favorito’s career and gambling addiction 

    In the days of the Rat Pack, if a cocktail server needed financial help for a family emergency, Frank Sinatra would gladly tip her a hundy. In the early 2000s, it was the reverse — at least for some who attended the thousands of Las Vegas Strip performances by comic Vinnie Favorito.

    Vinnie Favorito poses in 2006, when he was at the top of his career game and the bottom of his craps one. (Image: Getty)

    The former Strip headliner would ask pretty much anyone he perceived as having money to loan him some of it.

    “Vinnie Plays Vegas: The Con Man of Comedy,” now streaming on Amazon Prime and Apple TV, is a documentary exploring the rise and downfall of an entertainer who preyed on gullible audience members to fund his gambling addiction.

    “I wanted to pay everybody back,” Favorito came clean to director Brian Burkhardt, his friend and fellow comedian, in the film, “but you get deeper and deeper and deeper like a drug, and you’re lying. You’re lying all the time.”

    The promotional art for a new Amazon Prime documentary about Favorito. (Image: Amazon Prime)

    An insult comic once touted as the next Don Rickles, Favorito has always leaned heavily into crowd work. That’s when you ask audience members where they’re from and what they do for a living before crafting appropriate zingers.

    But unlike Rickles, Favorito was fishing for marks as well as comedy material.

    After his shows, he approached the audience members who identified themselves as having six-figure jobs and hit them up. They were usually good for $1,000 to $15K each.

    “It’s kind of [the] same skill,” said Mike Weatherford, a co-writer of the film, who documented Favorito’s exploits during his time as the entertainment reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The guy who was a doctor was the one he’d made sure to shake hands with after the show and, say, ‘Hey, why don’t we play golf?’”

    Favorito performed this act (and con) at venues including Binion’s, O’Shea’s, the Flamingo, and the Westgate for nearly 20 years.

    Even after the Flamingo fired him for borrowing from one of their waitresses, he continued. Some of the victims who spoke in the documentary recalled giving him money on multiple occasions.

    “I’m not trying to make an excuse,” Favorito added. “But when you’re trying to chase the money and make that easy shortcut, everything goes south, and you don’t realize how deep you get. Now I’m so behind with people, and you’re trying to keep track of your own story … I’ve got to play the carnival game that you can hit a jackpot hand on. But the dream never came.”

    Comic Relief

    In September 2016, Favorito declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy to give himself a fresh start. More than 60 creditors jockeyed for pennies on the more than a million dollars he officially owed. There’s no telling how much more he owed to friends, co-workers, and fans unofficially.

    How many people out there have a credit card that they couldn’t pay, years ago or now?” Favorito asked. “It’s kind of the same thing. You’re borrowing money, you know you don’t have the money to pay it, and later on, you’re going to end up trying to get out of the card.”

    Weatherford told Casino.org that he doesn’t feel that merely coming clean about his addiction will be adequate to restore Favorito’s reputation — “unless he’s doing an apology tour and raising money for Gamblers Anonymous.”

    And Favorito doesn’t seem to disagree.

    “I’m the biggest piece of shit in the world for what I did,” he told Burkhardt. “I’ll always be looked at as the gambler. Don’t lend Vinnie money. You can’t escape that.”

    Favorito still performs in Vegas. His show is at the 170-seat Robin Leach Lounge at the Notoriety Live theater downtown.

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    Corey Levitan

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  • Kate Middleton’s Return, Meghan and Flamingo Estate, Personal Anecdotes, and More

    Kate Middleton’s Return, Meghan and Flamingo Estate, Personal Anecdotes, and More

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    The ladies are back this week with reactions to Kate Middleton’s return to the public eye with the statement about her health (0:00). Plus, Meghan Markle’s failed investment attempt with Flamingo Estate (12:21), Travis and Taylor’s vacation moments, and a few personal anecdotes the ladies have to share.

    Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins
    Producer: Jade Whaley

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher

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    Juliet Litman

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  • Flight attendant gets creative when incubator with ‘rare’ flamingo eggs stops working

    Flight attendant gets creative when incubator with ‘rare’ flamingo eggs stops working

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    A baby Chilean flamingo was named after an Alaska Airline flight attendant’s granddaughter. The woman helped a zoo worker incubate the eggs when the machine stopped working.

    A baby Chilean flamingo was named after an Alaska Airline flight attendant’s granddaughter. The woman helped a zoo worker incubate the eggs when the machine stopped working.


    Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

    Woodland Park Zoo

    A zoo worker was carrying “rare” flamingo eggs on a flight from Atlanta to Seattle when the incubator stopped working, airline officials said.

    But a flight attendant named Amber had a creative solution, Alaska Airlines said in Feb. 5 news release.

    “A passenger rang the call button and asked if I would help keep some eggs warm,” Amber told airline officials.

    The incubator carrying six Chilean flamingo eggs had stopped working during the August flight, and the Woodland Park Zoo worker needed some help, officials said.

    Flight attendant, passengers help zoo worker

    At first she was confused by his request, but then she had an idea to fill gloves with warm water.

    The zoo worker used the gloves — along with coats and scarves from other passengers — to keep the eggs warm, the airline said.

    Amber and other flight attendants on board refilled the gloves with warm water throughout the flight to keep the flamingo eggs warm, the airline said.

    The Seattle zoo then called her months later and asked if she’d like to meet the chicks. All six of them had hatched.

    Amber is pictured with her granddaughter, Sunny, as the two meet the baby flamingos in Seattle.
    Amber is pictured with her granddaughter, Sunny, as the two meet the baby flamingos in Seattle. Woodland Park Zoo

    She brought her granddaughter, Sunny, and greeted the gray, fluffy creatures with long legs.

    Zoo officials said they named one of the chicks after her granddaughter. The other five flamingos were named Magdalena, Amaya, Rosales, Gonzo and Bernardo.

    Chilean flamingos last hatched at the zoo in 2016. Now the zoo has 49 Chilean flamingos in its flock.

    “I was honored and so happy that the chicks had hatched—all six of them!” she told the airline.

    What to know about Chilean flamingos

    The flamingos are found in the grasslands and mountains in South America, according to Zoo Atlanta.

    These animals become pink in color after two to three years and stand over 3 feet tall and weigh less than 5 pounds, the zoo said.

    A female flamingo will lay one egg at a time in a “mounded nest of mud.”

    The flamingo has a lifespan of 40 to 50 years in zoos and in the wild, according to the zoo.

    Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.

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