Making us laugh at assistant crack whores all over again.

A lot of professionals will describe Norm MacDonald as a “comedian’s comedian.” What that means is that a guy is far too smart for the public to get him. Don’t front, either. We know Jeff Dunham’s puppet shows keep getting voted Comedy Central’s top stand-up special year after year.

In MacDonald’s case, sometimes the jokes get lost on all the wrong targets — like when NBC suit Don Ohlmeyer famously sided with a certain double-murderer over MacDonald and his relentless barrage of O.J. jokes on Weekend Update and got him booted from the gig even though Chevy Chase himself is reputed to have said Norm was the only other guy to get it right. Not that these kinds of things seem to bother MacDonald. In fact, nothing seems to bother him. Bone-dry and bemused seem to be more than just the cornerstones of his act — they seem to be a way of life.

He went on from Saturday Night Live (where he did what may be the greatest sketch in the show’s history) to do Dirty Work, A Minute With Stan Hooper and The Norm Show. His fans border on the obsessed, leaving a wealth of Norm-related media around the internet.

MacDonald is at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay at 8 p.m. We caught up to talk about the Juice, the roast and Henny Youngman’s material on the economy. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Whiny hard rock outfit Trapt headlines the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay tonight at 7 p.m. where they’ll — we don’t know, whine about how hard it is to break up with your girlfriend or something. They play with Adelita’s Way, Otherwise and Smile Empty Soul. If you can tell the difference between Trapt and Papa Roach, you’re a better person than us. Or in high school. Either way. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Common at the Winter X Games, where he crushed the freestyle snowboard/rhyme contest. (Via myspace.com/common)

Common and N.E.R.D. play the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay tonight at 8 p.m. While Bel Biv Devoe’s “Never trust a big butt and a smile” from “Poison” is probably our favorite lyric ever, N.E.R.D.’s “Your ass is a spaceship I want to ride” from “She Wants to Move” feels like its spiritual heir — kind of a latter-day update. What really seals it is the completely awesome booty-shaped spaceship in the video for the less metaphor-inclined among you. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Is it just us, or does Lemmy’s mole look angrier than normal? (Photos by Scott Harrison | Retna)

Lemmy, who, as Steve Buscemi knows, is God, brought Motorhead to the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay last night to pair with the Misfits for the best 1981 metal/punk show that 2008 could buy.

Lemmy left his fascist regalia at home — but he’s totally right about the bad guys always having the best uniforms. The Empire completely had it all over the Rebels.

After the show, Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee made his way to LAX inside Luxor where he and his guests drank Amstel Light and, naturally, shots of Jack Daniels. We’d be crushed if it were anything else.

By Jason Scavone

Keeping it real — y sleepy.(Photos by Scott Harrison | Retna)

Mos Def kept it going ’til the wee hours with a 2 a.m. show Saturday at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay. Don’t fret: The concert wasn’t slated to start until late. (Something about Mos busy fighting aliens. Or robots. Or something.) He didn’t even have a malfunctioning spaceship to blame.

By Jason Scavone

Pictured without awesome Italian Job Mini-Cooper.

Mos Def rocks the mic for a late-night show at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay tonight, taking the stage at midnight, delivering as much substantial, thoughtful hip-hop — and “Ms. Fat Booty” — that you can handle. He’ll go on with Whosane and Anwar who, we’re not positive, but we think fought together in the Six-Day War.

Also playing an earlier show at the House of Blues is emo outfit Tokio Hotel at 7 p.m.

By Jason Scavone

The pencil thin mustache goes a long way in reminding people he is no longer “lil.”

Here’s some news you might be able to use (or might just want to know so you don’t show up and then get mad): Bow Wow’s upcoming show at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay was just rescheduled.

The concert, originally set for August 16, has been pushed back to Monday, November 3.

This makes it just in time to serve as a Sweetest Day gift for your other half. They’ll melt, we promise. Unless they don’t celebrate Sweetest Day. Does anyone celebrate that here? We endorse it as another reason to get gifts and yell when they’re forgotten.

By Michelle McKay

They’re right. We’re terrified. (Via myspace.com/scarykids)

Arizona sextet Scary Kids Scaring Kids headline at House of Blues tonight inside Mandalay Bay with special guests Finch with doors at 5 p.m. It’s hard to listen to Scary Kids without thinking of the twin-guitar attack of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, so if you can’t make the show, just put on your copy of Screaming for Vengeance and pretend Rob Halford is doing more indie-fied harmonies. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

No Viking helmet? This isn’t Flav! It’s an impostor! (Scott Harrison | Retna)

Flavor Flav made an appearance at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay Saturday night to introduce soul singer Lyfe Jennings. That’s all well and good, but we hope the crowd appreciated Flav for his greatest accomplishment to date. It’s not the 196 some-odd kids he has, not the groundbreaking work with Public Enemy, not even the trainwrecktastic romance with Brigitte Nielsen.

We hope he heard roars of approval for the groundwork he laid on Flavor of Love that prepared the world for the epic I Love Money, a show quite possibly poised to render all other television programming obsolete. If watching Speedo-stuffing Mr. Boston clock professional dominatrix Nibblz in the head with a pugil stick, knocking her off a bed suspended over the water, before she’s soundly mocked by a skinny, gangster wannabe third-rate rapper from a second-rate reality show isn’t exactly what the inventors of television had when they first put some tubes behind a screen in a box, then we don’t know why they even bothered to get up in the morning and head on down to the lab.

By Jason Scavone

WARNING: Blacula may or may not actually be at the House of Blues.

Through 7 p.m. today the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay is offering a little incentive for draining out a couple of pints of your precious, precious blood. They’re giving away pairs of tickets to the Goldfinger and Less Than Jake show July 24, a T-shirt and a 2-for-1 coupon for dinner to blood donors. The drive benefits United Blood Services. And for God’s sake, try not to get drunk before you go down.

By Jason Scavone