Two-decade Las Vegas Strip headliner to star in new show

I use this line about Murray Sawchuck. “If you think it’s easy to run a show in Las Vegas for 22 years, try it.”

When I started using that line, it was 10 years. Then 15, and on and on. Seemingly tireless and always enforcing the hustle, Sawchuck is returning to the stage at L.A. Comedy Club at The Strat. Sawchuck’s “Hairlarious Deceptions” opens Dec. 14 running 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays (tickets start at $39.95, not including fees, on sale at bestvegascomedy.com).

Sawchuck opened on the Strip on Jan. 26 2002, at the since-imploded Frontier. He closed this past March at another now-demolished resort, Tropicana, where he headlined Laugh Factory since 2018.

A test drive

“Hairlarious” is to run through April. Testing the concept, as the Vegas entertainment landscape can change radically in just three months.

“This will be a limited engagement, and that’s the way I do a lot of things,” Sawchuck says. “When I opened at the Tropicana, every poster and billboard said limited engagement. You want to make sure the relationship and everything works within the casino, in the new club and also who you’re working with.”

L.A. Club co-owner Joaquin Trujillo said Sawchuck should complement the hotel’s overall entertainment offerings, including Atomic Golf and its thrill rides at the top of the tower. The Strat also has become an wide-ranging entertainment destination with Terry Fator, “iLuminate” and “Rouge” in The Strat Theater.

Sawchuck tested the room in one-offs after the Tropicana announced it would shut down. The room worked for him, and the operators.

“The one thing we saw with Murray is that he’s high quality,” Trujillo says. “Having a family friendly show makes sense, just to put in at four o’clock, starting with weekends and a limited engagement. We’ll get through the holiday season and then expand further from there.”

LF future uncertain

Sawchuck’s move is a forecast that Laugh Factory’s future is as cloudy as a magician’s smoke machine. The club has no venue deal signed, its brand dark in Las Vegas since Sawchuck headlined its finale at the Trop on March 27.

Laugh Factory General Manager Harry Basil says he hopes to have a deal in-hand by next spring. Initially, such a partnership was anticipated last May. Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada holds the cards, in Vegas and everywhere else, for Laugh Factory’s future.

“When Murray came to me with this opportunity, obviously I gave him my blessing,” Basil says. “His show was a big part of Laugh Factory for a long time in Vegas.”

Sawchuck says Basil “is like an older brother to me,” and, “I would not have been on the Strip for so long without him.”

Sawchuck is drawing down the show to fit L.A. Comedy Club’s smaller stage (the club seats 270, about 50 fewer than Laugh Factory). His longtime sidekick, the multi-talented Doug “Lefty” Leferovich is out, but still starring in “Late Night Magic” at The Venue at The Orleans.

Sawchuck’s wife, stage partner and showgirl, Dani Elizabeth, is also not in the updated show. Sawchuck is taking this one solo.

“I look at Matt Rife or Joy Koy, the inspire me,” Sawchuck says, name-checking two top touring headliners. “If they can do it, I figured I can probably do it, too.”

A Vegas history

In his past two decades in Las Vegas, Sawchuck has also headlined Planet Hollywood’s Sin City Theater and has been the featured comic/magician for The Amazing Johnathan at the Flamingo. The seasoned entertainer also hosted John Stuart’s “Ovation” variety at show at Lady Luck (today’s Downtown Grand, folks), and been featured at “Crazy Horse Paris” at MGM Grand, and a guest at “Fantasy” at Luxor.

Sawchuck’s bold “Misfits” production took a ride for about three months at Centerfolds Cabaret adult club before closing in October.

The headliner has built a huge following away from the stage. His YouTube channel, piloted by digital-entertainment visionary Seth Leach, has 3.5 million subscribers and 6.5 billion views. He’s a been a recurring guest star on “Pawn Stars” for 22 seasons, is a former “America’s Got Talent” contestant, and been featured on “Masters of Illusions” for 11 years.

Ire from the castle

Sawchuck has drawn ire from within the magic community, banned by the fabled Magic Castle for revealing several tricks in video clips with Dani. Several magicians have chastised Sawchuck for those clips. But not insignificantly, one of those videos drew 70 million views.

Sawchuck survives largely because of his busy marketing mind. He’s a walking brand with his distinctive blond-frocked look and blue- and pink-leather jackets. He’s dubbed himself as “Celebrity Magician” and “Magic Murray” in marketing campaigns since arriving in Las Vegas.

Sawchuck long ago developed his professional strategy, often using his Vegas shows to capture gigs across the country and internationally. He’s known for a wide-ranging skill set. He can perform rope tricks, and learned to play the accordion as a kid before he dropped the instrument, because, “I wanted to start dating.”

Digging the side hustle

During COVID, Sawchuck opened Dirt 2 Dreams landscaping company, and is still the overlord of that operation. His careers often overlap, as the Strip headliner hauls shrubs and then performs in the same day.

“One morning, I was up at 8 a.m. and I was dropping off five trees to my crew in east Vegas near Boulder City,” Sawchuck says. “I came home, changed, shaved, combed my hair, and performed at a dog charity as a magician. And then, on the way home, I swung by someone’s house and gave him a yard quote, in this really nice suit.”

Sawchuck is asked to gauge his own landscape, and how to grow a career in the desert.

“What I’ve learned is you don’t look at yourself through your own eyes, you look at yourself as a product, or a service,” Sawchuck says. “It’s like, in my landscaping company, I look at the project and the dirt and what the customer wants to dream up in their backyard. They create this visual, and I create the experience. That is the service.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.