For a change, Carrot Top plays it straight

Audio Clip Carrot Top, Joey McIntyre



Carrot Top Cover Shoot Behind the scenes at Las Vegas Magazine's cover shoot with Carrot Top.

The depiction seems no joking matter, but Scott Thompson jokes about it anyway. To paraphrase, he looks at a photo of himself with long, waveless hair and says, “I would have sex with her.”

More seriously, he says, “I’m pleasantly shocked. I look really good.”

For a man who has spent decades painstakingly crafting an image known as “Carrot Top,” it was a significant departure of character. For an afternoon and for a photo shoot for the new issue of sister publication Las Vegas Magazine, the Luxor prop comic consented to losing his curly orange locks in favor of a long, straight, more businessman (or, maybe, woman) look for the magazine’s cover. The look was conceived at Luxor Spa.

“Almost every day, someone asks if I ever flat iron my hair,” said Thompson, who has been concerned enough about maintaining his mane that he has consulted a hair-follicle expert (whom he jokes is totally bald). “I say no, because I’m afraid it wouldn’t look good and wouldn’t come back curly.”

The latter issue was of particular importance as Thompson mulled over how to fulfill the promise to appear on the magazine cover with straight hair. He initially offered to permit his hair to be drenched and straightened temporarily for the shoot. But the problem with wet hair is it dries fast under the heat of strobes used in portrait photography.

“It took 2 hours to convince me to do this,” he said. “I saw the look of disappointment on everyone’s faces, so finally I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

The process took more than 4 hours to achieve. “It was all pulling, yanking, tugging and straightening. I’ve never been through anything like it.”

The curls returned to normal almost instantly, with some well-placed blasts of water and manual scrunching.

It’s all so very involved.

When asked if he’d ever allow for such a radical change in appearance, Thompson said, “Maybe, for a red carpet-type thing. Part of me would like to come out one night and do the show with it totally straight. The crowd would go nuts.”

The lengthy lengthening process did give Thompson an appreciation for what women often accomplish in styling long hair even for a single night out.

“It’s really incredible to know what women go through,” he said. “Now, when a woman asks how her hair looks, you should say, ‘It’s awesome!’ Don’t just say, ‘Yeah, yeah, you look good, let’s go!’ ”

As they say, that just doesn’t cut it.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.