Scott Thompson, who performs professionally under the name "Carrot Top," was once one
of the most popular comedians in the country. His career trajectory, at first, followed
that of multiple other entertainers. He started small, doing low-profile gigs such as at colleges
or county fairs, eventually working his way up to the big time.
Carrot Top was huge for a while in the early 2000s, doing commercials and voice work in
addition to his sellout comedy shows. To be fair, his rapid-fire style of frenetic one-liners
mixed with props has never really been for everybody, but for those who enjoy his brand
of humor, he's as good as it gets.
Unfortunately for his fans, Carrot Top all but disappeared from the public eye almost
as quickly as he got there. At least, that's how it seemed to those who haven't seen much
of him on TV or in other media lately. In fact, Carrot Top never actually went anywhere
and is still at the top of his game professionally — or maybe, once the pandemic is over.
It's not uncommon for a performer to take their act to Las Vegas in the twilight of
their career, perhaps managing to book a weeks-long or even months-long batch of shows at a Sin
City showroom. Some of the luckier ones still have a big-enough profile that they can book
years-long residencies at bigger performance halls as headliners. Those who don't really
"get" Carrot Top may be surprised to learn that the prop comic booked a permanent residency
at Vegas' Luxor Hotel in 2018. As KTNV reported, Carrot Top's show was so popular that in 2019
his residency was given a years-long extension — all the way to 2025.
Las Vegas Review-Journal critic John Katsilometes was one of those people who didn't "get" Thompson's
act. However, when he finally bit the bullet and went to see the entertainer, he was pleasantly
surprised at what he saw. Not only did Carrot Top leave the skeptic in stitches, he absolutely
killed when it came to the rest of the audience as well. Katsilometes wrote:
"Then he took the stage and [...] destroyed the place. I could barely keep up for the
laughing. He finally halted to ask how the crowd was doing. Exhausted, was the answer
from my seat."
When the pandemic struck, Carrot Top and the rest of the entertainers in Las Vegas went
from performing multiple times per week to being effectively unemployed. Where he once
sold out a 1,500-seat theater on a nightly basis, Carrot Top was forced to call it quits,
at least temporarily. In September of 2020, Carrot Top made a video that is still pinned
on Twitter. The accompanying tweet said,
"The live events industry has been decimated by COVID-19."
At that point, he said in the video that it had been six months since he'd performed.
Carrot Top asked that people call their congressional leaders to urge them to support the RESTART
act. According to what Thompson said, the RESTART's efforts through an organization
called We Make Events was working specifically on behalf of the 12 million Americans employed
by the Fireworks and Entertainment Industry, per We Make Events.
Thompson said in the Twitter video that in order to do his shows, which he called a,
quote, "unique brand" of comedy, it takes a lot of production to make it all work, which
means a lot of people are involved. Thompson said,
"[T]here are an immense amount of people behind the scenes of shows that a lot of people don't
know are actually suffering the most during this."
But things are looking up these days. With the availability of vaccines and Sin City
crawling back to life, Carrot Top, other entertainers, and all those who work in support of the entertainment
industry are trying to get back into the swing of things. For Thompson, that means socially
distanced performances.
"It's been 7 months so we're, we're, uh, we're speechless. Can't wait."
For now, he's only selling about one out of every five of the seats available in his theater,
in order to keep everyone at least six feet apart, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
It's the way of things for now, so, naturally Carrot Top has worked the coronavirus pandemic
into his act. In reviewing an early April socially-distanced Carrot Top show, Las Vegas
Review-Journal critic John Katsilometes wrote:
"He pretends to creep down the steps at the front of the stage, a violation [of] the latest
space-distance rule, daring security to bust him."
The Covid-19 may have put a temporary halt on Carrot Top's performances, but thankfully,
he's back out there making people laugh, night after night, with his widely goofy style of
comedy.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite
performers are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.