Freebie Fun

I know this is going to sound self-serving, but whatever: One of the best places to find ticket deals for shows on the Strip is right here in the Neon section. Every December, you never know what Cirque show or headliner suddenly will start advertising half-price tickets for locals.

That said, there are two places online to look for free or cheap tickets in town. In both cases, you sign up for an online service, then you receive e-mail offers every day to claim and pick up tickets.

Let's just look at last weekend's free ticket offers from one of those services, ShowTickets4Locals.com: the comedy of Louie Anderson and magician Nathan Burton, the "Superstars of Magic," "Soprano's Las Supper," the magic and comedy of "Amazed," illusionist Dirk Arthur, the L.A. Comedy Club at Four Queens, the topless singing dancers of "Sin City Bad Girls" and Frank Marino's female impersonations in "Divas."

You could have gotten tickets to any of those shows for free merely by filling in an e-mail field at ShowTickets4Locals.com. But if you were to pay for the site's $99-a-year upgrade, you would have gotten offers for those and possibly other shows 30 minutes before other freebie seekers.

The other online ticket service, HouseSeats.com, works similarly but without the totally free introductory service.

With HouseSeats, you have to pay up -- $39 for two months, for two free tickets per event; $89 for a year, for two tickets per event; or $169 for a year, and up to four tickets per event.

So far in December, HouseSeats has offered free tickets to members for: "Blue Man Group," Anthony Cools, Frank Marino, "Men of X," Primm Valley golf tee times, massages, hair cuts, "Liberace and Me" starring Philip Fortenberry, "Defending the Caveman," "Hitzville -- The Show," "Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Show," comedy-juggling magician Todd Paul, "The Soprano's Last Supper," "Sin City Comedy," "Voices starring Lani Misalucha" and "Naughty Boys Hypnosis Show."

Some HouseSeats caveats: You have to pick up tickets yourself; your girlfriend can't do it for you. It can be hard to beat others to the tickets while calling. And if you tell HouseSeats you want two tickets but fail to pick them up, you get charged a $20 fee per ticket.

I've known a few people who've been happy fans of both HouseSeats and ShowTickets4Locals.com. Last year, a co-worker had seen "Blue Man Group," Penn & Teller, Sarah Silverman, Kansas and Peter Frampton.

This week, TV producer Wendy Malnak told me she's been a member for two years and has seen Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, "Defending the Caveman," "Abbacadabra" and "Fab Four," among other shows.

"House Seats offers a wonderful variety of shows and events, as well as opportunities for massages, grooming and dining," Malnak told me via e-mail.

There is another caveat. There's no guarantee free shows will be winners, obviously.

Las Vegan Michael Reska has gotten tickets through ShowTickets4Locals.com, but protests, "Yes, but I wish I hadn't seen most of them!"

"The show I had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing was ___________ (insert crappy B show here)," he wrote me in an e-mail.

Elsewhere on the Web, you can sometimes Yahoo-search some sneaky deals. A site called KeithProwse.com is offering $46 tickets for "Penn & Teller," a good break from regular $86 tickets. But as of Monday, KeithProwse was offering $76 tickets for "Rat Pack is Back" dinner and show at the Plaza, even though, as Neon points out in our show guide, tickets start at $57 normally.

And remember, it never hurts to ask for locals-only or other deals when you call a show. Some Cirque du Soleil shows, such as "Mystere" and "Ka," have two-for-one locals specials, although tourists often can get in on that action by picking up same-day tickets at "half-price" kiosks on the Strip.

Doug Elfman's column appears Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. E-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.