Variety Show

MUSIC KLOS morning duo Mark & Brian celebrate the holidays with a night steeped in comedy and old-school rock. Their annual variety show, benefiting the Eisner Pediatric & Family Medical Center, includes a legendary lineup: the Steve Miller Band, comedian Kathleen Madigan, Billy Idol and the Mark & Brian All-Star Band with Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Peter Frampton, Queen vocalist Paul Rodgers, Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and more. Nokia Theater, 777 Chick Hearn Court, L.A. 7:30 p.m. Thu. $49.55-$125.

Carol Burnett, the trailblazing comedienne whose variety show was a top draw on CBS for over a decade, was named the winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Tuesday. Burnett, 80, will receive the award in an Oct. 20 in a ceremony to be broadcast Oct. 30 on PBS. “It's almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington,” said the star, who clearly hasn't lost her sense of humor, in a written statement. PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times Despite a career that spans Broadway, film and television, Burnett remains best known for “The Carol Burnett Show,” which ran from 1967 to 1978.

In an effort to prove that people can have fun without alcohol or drugs, Hoag Hospital is putting on Ocsoberfest, a variety show. The hospital's Chemical Dependency Unit created the annual event to raise money to help patients pay for treatment and enter recovery homes. This sixth show, themed "High on Life," will begin Friday at 6 p.m. with a "coffeetail hour" and song-and-dance acts by members of Alcoholics Anonymous and the GTE Connection.

In Sunday's Calendar (and online here ), I review "Flip: The Inside Story of TV's First Black Superstar," a worthwhile new biography of the late comedian by Kevin Cook ("The Last Headbangers," "Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything"). The sprightly Wilson, who died in 1998 of liver cancer at the age of 64, is not exactly unknown today: "The Flip Wilson Show," which aired from 1970 to 1974 on NBC, reran on TV Land from 1997 to 2005 and currently may be seen on Magic Johnson's Aspire network.

The I Have a Dream Foundation and GEN ART invite the public to a special variety show performance by 80 elementary to high school at-risk students, Sunday at 4 p.m., as part of its "Culture to Kids" event at Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. The free show is the culmination of the students' participation in a day of arts workshops in writing, poetry, painting, music and dance conducted by local professional artists. Information: (310) 829-5854.

Westminster School District's annual variety show to promote educational excellence will be held tonight at 7:30 and Saturday night at 8, district spokeswoman Audrey Brown said. Starting times released previously were incorrect. Money raised at the shows will help buy classroom supplies and fund mini-grants for teachers, Brown said. The show will be held at the Westminster Cultural Arts Center, 7571 Westminster Blvd. For information, call (714) 898-0074.

The Quiet Zone, a theater group consisting of hearing and hearing-impaired performers, will present a variety show featuring music, dance, skits and magic at 2 p.m. today at the Curtis Theater in the Brea Civic & Cultural Center. The 15-member group has performed at Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Anaheim Stadium, the Laguna Playhouse and the Queen Mary. Tickets for the variety show are $5. Information is available by calling (714) 990-7722. The TDD number is (714) 636-4327.

A variety show featuring singing, tap dancing, Irish dancing, ballerinas and comedy will benefit the Costa Mesa Senior Center on Friday. Masters of ceremonies for the biannual event are Mayor Peter Buffa and City Manager Allan L. Roeder. Though the show is a benefit for senior citizens, entertainers of all ages will perform. A party will follow.

If a restaurant puts a varied cuisine on the menu, the chef had better be able to make the blintzes taste just as good as the ham and eggs. That bit of wisdom evidently was ignored by Dance Diner, the disjointedly eclectic effort of a good-humored combo of choreographer-performers.

South Coast Repertory's Hispanic Playwrights Project has an easier time finding Latino writers than it does a Latino audience, officials at the Costa Mesa theater company lamented recently. So to gain attention for the project, while raising funds for the program as it moves into its third year, SCR is hosting a variety show of Latino comedians, dancers and singers Monday night titled "Una Noche del Teatro"--or "A Night of Theater."

Kristen Wiig says she felt "a little lost" after leaving "Saturday Night Live" to pursue other endeavors. Wiig, 39, exited the show in May with an emotional waltz with Mick Jagger and send-off from Jon Hamm. And about a year after her departure, our favorite Target lady is opening up about adjusting to living post-"Live. " "The show was seven years of my life and a six-day work week, and you're constantly with your friends all day, all night," she told Access Hollywood at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday.

EVENTS Dita Von Teese is thought to have helped make burlesque popular again — probably because her sexy dance act never gets old. See what all the fuss is about when Von Teese makes a stop at the House of Blues during her "Strip, Strip Hooray Variety Show. " House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 8:30 p.m. Fri. $35. (323) 848-5100; http://www.houseofblues.com

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Jan. 13 - 19, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     SERIES The Graham Norton Show:  Josh Groban, Billie Piper and Frank Skinner are guests on a new episode of the variety show featuring a performance by Example (7 and 10 p.m. BBC America). SPECIALS The 2013 Miss America Competition: Brooke Burke-Charvet and Chris Harrison return as hosts one of television's oldest unscripted competitive shows.

Bonnie Lynn Fields, who danced and sang her way into pop-culture posterity as one of Walt Disney's Mouseketeers, died Saturday in Richmond, Ind. She was 68. Fields, a heavy smoker earlier in her life, was diagnosed with throat cancer about two years ago, according to her friend and former student Emily Kay Tillman. The South Carolina native was 12 when she was offered a prized slot on "The Mickey Mouse Club," the children's variety show that launched the careers of Annette Funicello and others.

Frank Peppiatt, the co-creator of "Hee Haw," a landmark variety show mixing country music with "corny" humor that became one of TV's most unlikely and longest-running hits, has died. He was 85. Peppiatt died Wednesday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., of bladder cancer, according to family spokeswoman Jenna Illies. In addition to co-creating, writing and producing "Hee Haw," the Canadian-born Peppiatt, along with his writing and producing partner John Aylesworth, became one of TV's top producers during the 1960s and '70s in the variety show genre, developing programs for several top stars, including Jackie Gleason, Andy Williams and Sonny and Cher.

MIAMI - Don Francisco is running late to his own party - peculiar, considering he arrived six hours before it started. One of Latin America's top entertainment personalities is holed up in his dressing room at Univision's studios as frenzied fans just outside line a red carpet where celebrities are slowly making their way into the big show. As he quietly watches the procession on his dressing room monitor, his longtime assistant begins the intricate ritual of preparing his pre-show meal that includes branzini fish with rocoto chile paste and a tossed salad.

Master puppeteer and puppet designer Phillip Huber, who performed all the marionettes in the critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated film "Being John Malkovich," will present a special two-day run of his solo variety show, "Suspended Animation," at the Santa Monica Puppet & Magic Center on March 25 at 1 and 8 p.m. and March 26 at 1 p.m.

Andy Williams, who died Tuesday at age 84 after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer, wasn't just a popular singer. His TV career, which was at its peak during the 1960s, brought him Emmy awards and allowed him to showcase many talents that would grow in fame throughout the decade. "The Andy Williams Show" ran on CBS and NBC between 1959 and 1971 and went from a weekly variety show to a series of specials, and then back to a variety show. Williams laid-back style proved a favorite with audiences and voting members of the TV academy and it earned three Emmys for variety program.

Depending on your age and race, Andy Williams' 1961 rendition of "Moon River" was either a transcendent embodiment of timeless beauty, or one of the more conservative, white-bread recordings of its time. Either your Christmas sparkled brighter because of his annual TV special, or it ruined an otherwise relaxing night. You loved or hated his taste in sweaters. The crooner and show host - who died on Tuesday at the age of 84 - embodied a generational divide that came to shape the 1960s.