The Vegas Dog was honored to have the opportunity to sit down with Rita Rudner and Twinkle during a photo shoot with Arica Dorff, our celebrity photographer at Peto`graphique. Rita was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to give us this story.

Rita is not a stranger to The Vegas Dog, in fact she and her dog Bonkers made their debut on our cover when she first made Las Vegas her home. The Vegas Dog got the news that Rita and Twinkle were fans of the magazine through Dee at Deb’s Doggie Door. This was a very exciting day for The Vegas Dog and after a phone call to Rita, the interview was scheduled. We were introduced to Rita’s beautiful dog Twinkle, a Chinese Crested Powder Puff; she adopted her after losing Bonkers. Rita has always been a dog lover at heart. This was obvious as Rita talked to us about her beloved dog Bonkers, describing him as combination wheat terrier and sheep dog. “He was originally one of the Super Dogs in The Mess and Mutts show at the Excaliber”. Rita adopted Bonkers at the age of two after he was hit by a car. He could not be in the show any longer, and that is when Rita took him in. For many years he accompanied Rita on stage in her shows at every hotel until his passing at age 15 years old. “Bonkers had it in him, he liked being on stage jumping through hoops and doing tricks” Rita told us. She then went on to describe finding Twinkle. “She was a mini Bonkers” and “she could have been Bonkers daughter, just like I made her over in Bonkers image”. Rita wanted to name her Barbara because she has never heard of a dog named Barbara but her daughter liked Twinkle instead. “Twinkle is the perfect little dog and a good girl she was trained in a week”. Rita’s also tells us about her other pets, Tiny the hamster, Amy the golden snail, and two aquatic frogs named Chris and Jeff.

Rita Rudner is known as Las Vegas’ first lady of comedy. Rita has performed almost exclusively in Las Vegas since 2001. She has been voted “Best Comedian in Las Vegas” by the Las Vegas Review Journal for eight successive years. She has maintained the longest running solo comedy show in Las Vegas history.

After successful runs at the MGM, New York New York, and Harrah’s, Rita moved her comedy show to the 742-seat showroom at The Venetian in January 2011. She will perform her show NOW FUNNY AT THE VENETIAN at at 8:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays and 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Rita gave us the inside scoop on her new residency at The Venetian. There is a special for locals to can get tickets to see her comedy show for $20.

Rita will be hosting the Lied Animal Shelter Best in Show adoption event at The Orleans on May 1, 2011.