Firestone Finally Sees How His Act Plays in Las Vegas

There are many faces of Roy Firestone.

There’s the penetrating interviewer, who has done nearly 2,300 “SportsLook” programs since 1980.

There’s the sports anchor, who came to Los Angeles from Miami in 1977 at 23 and worked at Channel 2 for eight years.

There’s the football commentator, who did the NFL for ESPN for two seasons and did USC for Channel 2 for two seasons in the late ‘70s.

And there’s the entertainer, who does stand-up comedy, impersonations and, yes, even sings. He makes about 60 appearances a year as an entertainer, sometimes on television but usually at corporate dinners or private functions.

He was entertaining at a private party in Bel-Air not long ago, and afterward, one of the guests, Steve Wynn, complimented him.

Wynn, who owns the Golden Nugget and Mirage hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, congratulated Firestone on his ability to lip sync. No Milli Vanilli, Firestone politely explained that he actually had been singing.

Wynn was so impressed that he signed Firestone to share headline billing with Lou Rawls at the Golden Nugget. Firestone made his debut Thursday night, and will do seven more shows through Monday.

Firestone uses videos and sound effects during most of his 40-minute act, which includes impersonations of his long-time favorites, Howard Cosell and Keith Jackson, plus Mike Tyson, Tony Bennett, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon, Johnny Mathis and more.

Then there are Firestone’s own renditions of songs such as Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Light the Fire,” which he calls “Sports Really Light the Fire.”

“I first decided I wanted to be a stand-up comedian when I was 6 and saw Sammy Davis on the ‘Danny Thomas Show,’ ” Firestone said.

He’s been doing it small-scale for years, since he was 15, fitting it in with his sportscasting career. He’s not about to give up doing “SportsLook,” but, he said, he’s hoping the Golden Nugget gig will lead to more.

The multifaceted Firestone is at his best on “SportsLook,” which soon gets a new name, “Up Close,” under a new production company.

Since the show went on the air in 1980, it has been produced by George Wallach and Bob Seizer. “Up Close” will be produced by Seizer and Firestone, under the production banner of Rob-Roy.

After a brief start on the USA network with Ira Fistell as Firestone’s co-host, the show has been on ESPN for the past decade. It is shown weekdays at 3:30 p.m. and repeated at midnight.

“The format of this show is perfect for me because it combines writing, reflecting, journalism and humor,” Firestone said.

One thing that makes Firestone so good on “SportsLook” is his preparation. A staff gathers material, and Firestone goes through all of it, making notes and committing things to memory.

Also, Firestone, although sometimes overly dramatic, has the ability to ask tough questions in a pleasant manner and a knack for making his guests look good. Even Bill Laimbeer came off very well the other day.

On Wednesday’s show, Firestone asked Vin Scully, “What would you like to see on your epitaph?” A cliche, but Firestone got a good response.

Said Scully: “I’d like to be remembered as a good guy, a good husband and a good father. That’s about it.”

Firestone: “You mean, broadcaster doesn’t matter?”

Scully: “No, not really.”

Good news for “SportsLook” fans: A one-hour special on the best moments of “SportsLook” is planned for Dec. 28.

In the beginning, it was difficult to get guests, Firestone said.

“But we’ve been doing the show for so long now, we never have a problem getting guests. We’ve done just about everybody at one time or other.”

Firestone added, though, that he has been stood up a few times:

“Twice by Darryl Strawberry and three times by Monica Seles.”

Firestone said Strawberry canceled because he was scheduled the day after the New York Post had reported that a few of his teammates said he was drinking again.

“If he didn’t want to talk about it, he could have said so,” Firestone said. “His representative simply said he had some personal things to take care of. We really had to scrape to put together another show.

“I’ll tell you one thing, Darryl Strawberry will never again be invited to appear on our show.”

Firestone, who just turned 37, grew up in Miami Beach, one of four children. His father, Bernard, sold sewing accessories--needles, pins and thread.

Firestone, who studied broadcasting at the University of Miami, comes across as very cerebral.

“I was a good student in history and the creative arts,” he said. “Things like math, forget it.”

He married his longtime girlfriend, Midori, about four years ago. They have an 9-month-old son, Andrew.

When Andrew was a newborn, Firestone brought him on the show and sang “Daddy’s Baby” to him.

“The critics didn’t like that, but I got a lot a favorable response from viewers,” Firestone said.

The critics have also called Firestone self-indulgent for having his father as a guest every Father’s Day for the last seven years.

“My father is a great guest,” Firestone said. “He knows as much about sports as anyone. If he wasn’t good, I wouldn’t have him on.”

Firestone’s father also serves as a booking agent for his son, lining up personal appearances. But most of Firestone’s appearances are arranged through Marc Reede’s Promotional SportStars of Beverly Hills, which has Pat Riley, Tom Lasorda, George Raveling, Rick Pitino and Bud Greenspan among its clients.

Firestone gets $5,000-$10,000 an appearance, depending on the function.

“He’s been with us about four years,” Reede said. “And, as the word has spread, his popularity has really picked up the past year and a half.

“Riley (who gets $20,000 an appearance) is the guru of motivational speeches, but when the request is for purely humor, Roy is the person we recommend.”

TV-Radio Notes

This is a good time of year for NFL fans, with games on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday lineup this weekend has Buffalo at the New York Giants in a possible Super Bowl preview on NBC at 9:30 a.m., with Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh reporting, followed by Washington at New England on CBS at 1 p.m., with Dick Stockton and Merlin Olsen. On Sunday, it’s Houston at Kansas City on NBC at 10 a.m., with Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy, and then Green Bay at Philadelphia on CBS at 1 p.m., with Pat Summerall and John Madden.

The ESPN game at 5 p.m. is Chicago at Detroit, and then Monday night it’s the long-sold-out Ram-49er game on ABC from Anaheim. . . . NBC has some good inter-conference matchups coming up: the Raiders at Minnesota Saturday, Dec. 22; Kansas City at Chicago Saturday, Dec. 29; and Buffalo at Washington Sunday, Dec. 30.

Recommended viewing: “Athletes and Addiction” on ABC Sunday at 4 p.m. is a powerful piece, one young people should see. Jim McKay, who wrote and narrated the show, said there are plans to have it distributed to high schools, which is a great idea. . . . Another good show, which was shown Thursday evening on ESPN, is “Outside the Lines: the Autograph Game.” The one-hour special, which delves into the often shady $4-billion-a-year sports memorabilia business, will be repeated on Christmas Day at 5 p.m.

Saturday night’s $250,000 Champion of Champions quarter horse race at Los Alamitos will be on Prime Ticket Sunday night at 6. Gil Stratton and Ginger Hyland will serve as co-hosts. . . . GGP Sports’ World Cup skiing coverage begins this weekend and continues for the next 11 weeks. This weekend’s one-hour show on Channel 7 Saturday at 3 p.m. offers highlights from the men’s downhill competition and super-G at Val D’Isere, France, and freestyle at Tignes, France. . . . NFL Films has released a new six-volume video collection of Super Bowl highlights. Each video sells for $29.98, or the full collection for $119.98. For details, call 1-800-NFL-TAPE.