Posted on: November 27, 2023, 12:48h.
Last updated on: November 27, 2023, 12:56h.
Carrot Top, the Luxor’s marquee headliner since 2005, will officially be the MGM resort’s marquee headliner until 2030. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Scott Thompson (his real name) recently extended his run at Luxor’s Atrium until he qualifies for full Social Security benefits.
“Carrot Top has been entertaining crowds at Luxor since 2005 and we are very excited that Luxor will continue to be his home for many more years,” MGM Resorts’ President of Entertainment & Sports George Kliavkoff said in a press release in 2019, when Thompson re-upped his current contract, taking him through 2025.
Visitors come to Las Vegas from all around the world to let their hair down, escape, and have a few laughs. Carrot Top’s show delivers on all of that.”
Though Thompson has been the butt of other comedians’ jokes for decades, due to his unusual appearance and use of props on stage, those jokes are only a fraction as funny as Carrot Top’s actual show. It’s more self-deprecating, off-the-rails, and blue than the image most people have of the 58-year-old lookalike for a Wendy’s sign (his joke, not ours).
Who Will Carrot Top?
At the end of his new contract, Thompson will be 65 with a consistent Vegas headlining run of 34 years. He transferred to the Luxor after headlining since 1996 at the MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre.
That streak would place Thompson behind only magician David Copperfield, who headlined at Caesars Palace for 15 years before adding another 23 at the MGM Grand for a virtually unbeatable current total of 38 years.
When Copperfield switched to the MGM Grand in 2000, he actually replaced Thompson. Or, as Thompson likes to joke, “David Copperfield made me disappear.”
Whether Thompson ranks second or third in longevity among current headliners depends on how long Penn & Teller continue. The comic magicians started at Bally’s, now Horseshoe, in 1993 and then opened the Rio in 2001, for a current total of 30 years and counting. In July, they extended their contract through 2026.
“I don’t feel any different,” Thompson told the R-J. “I still feel young. I still feel energized. I mean, there will be one night I’m sure I’m gonna say, ‘Uh-oh, I’m not moving so well …’”
