‘Black-ish’ star brings stand-up gig to Las Vegas
Deon Cole juggles four TV series, still finds time to write comedic barbs
Count ‘em: One, two, three, FOUR series? Plus stand-up gigs? That’s crazy-ish.
“I don’t sleep much,” admits actor/comedian/writer Deon Cole.
You know him as exceedingly eccentric breakout character Charlie Telphy on ABC’S hit “Black-ish” and now its newly
debuted, Freeform channel spinoff, “Grown-ish.” Toss in a few more steady paychecks — as Detective DJ Tanner on TBS’ spoofy “Angie Tribeca,” co-host of the BET channel
COLE
pretty face.”
And, since the movie also touches on the fact that Lamar helped revolutionize aircraft design while she was dating Howard Hughes, “Bombshell” is part of this year’s increased focus on films with ties to Las Vegas. (For more information and to purchase tickets, which are $10 per screening, see lvjff. org.)
The festival kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Suncoast with the documentary “Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me,” and runs through Jan. 28.
Manny Davis, the entertainer’s son, is scheduled to attend.
Abbey calls Davis a “Vegas historical phenomenon” who “could tap-dance circles around Michael Jackson.”
“He was a force of nature, and a remarkable human being,” Abbey continues. “And his Jewish connection, I find really fascinating.”
Asked if he thought younger audiences realized Davis had converted to Judaism, Abbey admits, “I wonder how many young people even know who he is, which is a great reason why this film is really important, to bring him to the attention of a younger generation.
“It’s time for him to come back into the public consciousness and be appreciated for his contributions, especially the role that he played in helping to put Vegas on the map as the entertainment capital of the world.”
The most local of all the films in this year’s lineup are part of a double feature: “A Place of Hope” and “Pista,” 30-minute documentaries set for 3 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Adelson Educational Campus.
“A Place of Hope” focuses on Las Vegan Henry Kronberg, a Holocaust survivor, and his quest to build the
Warsaw Ghetto Remembrance Garden at Temple Beth Shalom using more than 200 stones taken from the streets of the walled-off World War II enclave.
“Pista,” meanwhile, profiles local survivor Stephen “Pista” Nasser, whose brother died in his arms a month before their camp was liberated and who has given more than a thousand lectures on the Holocaust in his brother’s memory.
“He’s 87 now, so he’s kind of winding down and doesn’t have the energy and wherewithal to continue that pace,” says Abbey, an American Film Institute graduate who directed the short. “It was very important to me to try to give him a vehicle that would enable his message to continue.”
Kronberg, Nasser and Ben Lesser, another local survivor featured in “A Place of Hope,” are scheduled to attend the screenings.
“We’re living in this very unique moment where the last of the first-generation, eyewitness survivors who were actually in the camps are still with us,” Abbey says. “So it’s more important than ever to utilize their living testimony to ensure that the message of what the Holocaust represented can never be forgotten.”
The Review-journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, who is an executive producer of the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_ onthecouch on Twitter.