Last Comic Standing Finale

I'm really just curious to see what format they choose for the reveal. So far, the producers have been clueless about creating a natural tension. That's fine, if they're not going for tension. But they are.

Tuxedos? Really?

5th Place: Myq Kaplan. A surprise really.

Hey, if you win LCS you can perform on future finales of LCS!

I'm not getting the Craig Robinson montage. Is it really necessary to show clips of him saying 'Welcome to Last Comic Standing!'? Gloria Gaynor's surprise appearance would have been a great opportunity for her to introduce her second song. And when will white people learn how to dance without doing the duck-and-weave boxing move?

Andy Kindler is a pretty good comic. Kid's got a future.

Unfortunately, 4th place finisher Mike DeStefano has no future. You can't say "Fuck You" to America and win the hearts of my aunt and her water aerobics class. That's where the votes come from, and votes are what make a comedy career.

These "History of Last Comic Standing" clips are painful. I've only been watching for 49 minutes and I already feel like the second hour has gone on too long.

Natasha Leggero's act challenges the notion that the crowd has to like the character. I like watching comedians who don't try to get the audience on their side. It's more textured, it's riskier, it's just more interesting. And it runs the risk of people saying 'She seems so stuck up!' And it's important to get people who think like that to reveal themselves.

Kurt Metzger's best joke about Michael Jackson's death was certainly deserving of a rubber chicken painted gold.

Greg Giraldo's act goes back to some older material, but almost looked in a couple spots like he was forgetting his jokes or like he'd screwed up the setup. I half suspect that I'm trying awkwardly to fit Giraldo's act into a primetime showcase. On another stage, I think I'd see him—with the same rhythm—as being more on top of it, even when it's wobbling. He's so good, the only thing I wonder, when he's on network, is if he's about to take the lid off and burn his corporate bridges.

Roy Wood Jr. finishes 3rd, and I'm really surprised by the final two. Felipe Esparza and Tommy Johnagin: Of the final 5, these are definitely the two on opposite edges.

Kathy Griffin is great with audiences. She's such a spunky gal.

Esparza's and Johnagin's last sets are a bit of a twist. Esparza was much more in control of his pace and character, and Johnagin didn't deliver his best material or performance. Nobody's voting on these performances of course.

Congratulations to… Doug Benson for establishing a fine career after losing on season 4.

…and to Felipe Esparza for taking Season 7.

Next to Last Comic Standing

Well this was fast. Get rid of the LCS house and go with nothing but approved-for-families comedy, and the season just flies by.

Tonight is the penultimate show, and then we get to see who will be the next Dat Phan!

Check back for live updates.

Apparently everyone wants to win this. And Ron White's already a legend.

Wow. Jonathan Thymius really looked like he was disappointed to hear that when they told him earlier that he was voted off, it was true.

Ryan Hamilton's in the crowd. It's a star-studded audience. His light applause wasn't exactly a rabid reaction to Roy Wood Jr.'s set. The judges loved the material. But they're probably not thinking 'that could be me.'

Tommy Johnagin doesn't really crush, (despite Greg Giraldo's claim) but he does a solid set. Well, I take that back. I have no idea what the crowd reaction really was. Maybe he did crush. Andy Kindler apparently agreed with my comment that Johnagin should slow down a bit. And tonight's set is paced more evenly. He's a versatile comic. And I hope he keeps taking my advice.

Will Myq Kaplan do a previous-set call back? Well not if the audience doesn't shut up on the entrance applause. So… no callback. But "Enjoy hell, Jew"? Wow. The audience might have felt accused by that one, but Kaplan did rush kinda nervously thru the unpacking of it. Good turnaround joke on the marriage material—"make them marry…us?" The judges love everyone. Are they there to give advice? 'Keep it up champ!' 'You've got a future, kid!'

So previously we saw that families are funny. This week we see that they're the wind beneath everyone's wings. Hilarious.

Felipe Esparza does one of his better sets. I'm not sure if seeing the Heimlich maneuver joke coming was better or worse for the punchline. Did they bleep "cabrón"? I'm not sure how original his worldview is, but he sells that with his strange delivery. Half confused, half aloof. That and rubbing his nipple constantly.

Mike DeStefano is a tough cookie with a soft chewy center. This set rolls from religion to the homeless to advice on murder to hit jobs on cell-phone reps. A little hectic, but it's just what the judges wanted.

Now for Ron White. He is a good example of poise on stage. No nerves. He stays calm and just waits for the audience to agree with him that what he just said was damn funny. But couldn't they have just given each of the competing comics another minute to perform?

So it's the final vote. Whose set might have won this whole thing?

LCS Tour

So then Craig Robinson reveals that there are spots on the Last Comic tour. According to this NBC page, the tour was over in 2007. Other, more recent pages on a Google™ search, offer tickets for various shows, ranging from $39 to $248. You can even get free passes to a show, if you buy an all inclusive romantic getaway package! I'd check around. Not all ticket vendors deserve your money.

Here's the "up to date" NBC page, listing shows from September 9 to February 20. The web design was apparently done by someone who wasn't paid enough to put actual links in the "links" column.

Last Comic Standing: The Voting Portion

I wish there wasn't voting. I believe in a comedy dictatorship.

-Andy Kindler

This is a double shot. I was away from NBC and reliable internet access for a week.

The strangest thing from the past two episodes has been the reveal of the eliminations. Why are they faking it, then showing each comic's farwell, taped ahead of time?

The judges came back, and I like all three of them. But what are they supposed to be doing as judges? Any time a laugh is weak, the office wants the viewers to blame the audience, because saying that it was the comic's fault is just bad business. In the first of these two episodes the judges are kinda useless. Just reporting on the crowd reaction and telling us a tiny bit about their own. Natasha Leggero tells Johnagin his wasn't her "favorite set." OK. If that's what critiques are going to be, why not just have random members of the audience say either 'I loved it' or 'it's not my style'? But Leggero is probably not to blame. Even if she did say more, and she backed it up with meaningful observations, it would probably be cut. I'm sure the producers/agents don't want any of these potential clients/employees to be critiqued by comics who know how to recognize vulnerabilities in an act.

Is any judge going to comment on the fact that Myq Kaplan always refers to the previous act? He's obviously a crowd favorite, and he can even get away with telling the crowd to shut up.

Rachel Feinstein's characters sure last a long time, and the approval of the judges telling her she was "fantastic" is a nice boost, but it would be much better for her to hear not only Leggero's advice to not end with the Deepak Chopra bit, but also a quick explanation of why. Like the fact that in the right club, it'll hit, but on NBC, no one in the audience knows who the hell Chopra is.

Thymius botches his "on a scale 1 to 10, I weigh..." joke. I'm not sure if in her comments, Leggero is retelling it for the sake of the audience or if she thinks he needs the help. But it's nice to see that the judges are listening.

Giraldo's assessment of Thymius as an "old school" comic because he stays in character all the way through is a good observation, but he should add that it's an obvious character that makes it notable. Every one of these comics is in character the whole time they're on stage.

I'm not sure if Myq Kaplan just stole Roy Wood Jr's chicken nugget joke or if he just botched it? Shouldn't he have said that he got an extra nugget? That would have been a better call-back.

Tommy Johnagin has the best backstage clips, and the more I hear Mike DeStefano, the more I like him. His material on how people's values are screwed up, and how self-image says a lot about character are more than just funny. They're worth listening to.

Between Felipe Esparza and Rachel Feinstein I was OK with either leaving. Or rather, I was ok with either moving on to the next round. I like Esparza's strange combination of character with one-liners and stories. He's rough, but I like that I'm trying to figure him out while he's on stage. Feinstein is more polished, a smoother performer, and obviously more deliberate in her delivery. Strangely, that might be her liability. We've seen what she's got. And while her talent deserves more attention (i.e. more air time), Esparza is just more interesting right now. He's more of a feral comic. We need to know if he'll bite.

So back to an earlier point: Esparza celebrates then we see that Rachel knew she was leaving?

So there are two possibilities: either 1) everyone does a farewell clip beforehand, just in case, or 2) the producers are sneaky and they don't care that faking surprise might look cheap to a few viewers. It's gotta be the first one.

LCS Final 10 Refresher

A reminder of last week's episode of Last Comic Standing.

Laurie Kilmartin went with some easy material for her Final 10 opening. Sometimes I wonder if You're a great jokewriter means You're not much of a performer. Nothing outstanding about her act here. "Fack off you miserable batch"? And then a callback with The Little Engine That Could derailing and killing a batch?

Felipe Esparza had some decent jokes and he always sells it with his delivery. He abandons overt transitions between his bits, and somehow it's barely noticeable. Starting with the loser bit, to being nice in the cop car to getting his GED. The themes are strong enough to connect. He just drops the Mexico bits and jumps over to the stretchmark bit, but the crowd seemed to respond without confusion.

Roy Wood Jr. took a long time setting up the Izod line. Then, yes, swimming isn't huge in the U.S. Not a memorable concept there. His career day material provided some good lines. "We need failures in America; they provide chicken nuggets and lap-dances. I like both of them." That was better than the punchline about having been talking to 1st graders.

Maronzio Vance also takes time with his setups. That doesn't work so well in short sets. His closing joke about calling the airline is like a marathon. But he's always calm, and looks OK with however it's going. It went well enough.

Rachel Feinstein told us backstage that she came on LCS because she'd had enough of rejection. What? How strange that both her mom and grandma are into hip(-hop?) culture. Lucky for her. It gave her two amazing voices. No make that three: at one point, her mom dismisses a rap battler in the same voice as the thug that stands up to her later, when she's being Michelle/Sandra Bullock/Pfeiffer.

To Tommy Johnagin, this is just Deal Or No Deal with less money. And about as much luck maybe? In the pre-interview that's funny. But I don't think it's actually a joke. Mothers and grandmothers again, but notice no voices. Not that voices are bad, but it does make it clear that his writing is better than some others. Tho this wasn't his best performance or material. He typically uses a confident (read:paced) delivery. Here he seemed rushed.

Johnathan Thymius is of course slow to deliver no matter what. I mean that in a good way. The strange, what's-going-on-up-there comics like Thymius and Jay London are always a favorite type. It's not so much of a surprise actually. The payoff when clear, is so welcome. Thymius' act is more complete than London's. He's not just one-liners, and he's a "whole" character with his material. When he stepped outside his set and ended with a confused "errrhh" because no one had a plan B, the payoff only came when the music stab closed him out. The effect is the tension from "Do we trust him?" resolved by "O thank god, we do!" Applause is typical.

James Adomian put a lot of faith in his Paul Giamatti impression. Too much maybe. It was hard holding out for the big finish. But audiences love impressions. And he's just good enough that a lot of people might want to know who else he can do.

Mike DeStefano blasted dumb confidence. The line about women beating the door down "from the inside" probably got him votes on its own. But a bit about how black guys have rhythm and white guys sell insurance...? His confidence is not misplaced. Except on that joke.

Backstage, Myq Kaplan delivered one of my favorite types of joke: the obvious understatement. "NBC goes all over New York at least. I can watch it at any of my friends' houses." His bit about "fun" as a noun, not an adverb, avoids being precious. He has a Masters in linguistics, and it's good to see that while language play is still a part of his act, he's no longer doing a Gallagher-like pun barrage. He's moved away from that. Even tho it's a crowd pleaser, he's wise to do richer stuff now. But, "hey you guys have been many funs" was a cute little call back.

I'm staying away from predictions or suggestions about eliminations and winners.

Last Comic Standing: a Primer (kinda late)

I'm not sure our nation will survive such catastrophes. If a talented and funny kid like Taylor Williamson can't win thousands of dollars and a development deal from NBC, the home of 100 Questions, then what hope is there for comedy? How will Williamson ever reach the heights of Dat Phan and that guy with the nervous twitch?

I'm not making fun of the past winners. Really, i'm not. They're talented and even occasionally funny. But success on LCS is not what will make Tommy Johnagin a successful stand-up. He's good, and he was already getting the attention of the right people. Even if he's eliminated next week, I expect he'll be fine. And Williamson, and Fortune Feimster, and Michael Vecchione will also be fine (or at least Vecchione will be once he gets a site away from MySpace. C'mon Mike! They're about to tear it down!) Their acts are better than what NBC is willing to show on this little cavalcade.

So watching LCS outcomes too closely as a test and display of comedic skill is kinda like following Survivor as a test of Navy Seal prowess, or American Idol as a test for religious icons. You have to step away from the title a bit. Sure, Star Search gave us Sam Harris, Sawyer Brown and Sinbad. But do those good deeds excuse the show for giving Tiffany the shaft with a mere 2nd place finish in the finals? You know what, America? I blame you.

We need to keep a few things in mind with these shows. We can blame NBC for the editing and image massaging that nudges voters one way or the other. Did anyone else notice James Adomian suddenly sprouting facial hair between doing his backstage banter and coming out for his set? I'm even pretty sure many of the audience reactions—laughter, groans, and cricket chirps—are planted. And a laugh track was enough to convince some of you that Suddenly Susan was funny, so we know it works. But the final rounds, where it's all viewer votes, do say something about who's watching TV. And just like I would never let my grandmother choose my date to the prom, I can't expect to be happy with her choice for best stand-up. And I can't really blame NBC if I agree that Nana gets a vote.

It's the early rounds where we can really hold the suits accountable. This shouldn't be a surprise to Sasso, at Shandeh.com, who comments on Greg Giraldo's tell-tale expressions when the finalists were announced:

That look, confirmed my suspicions that the producers of Last Comic Standing are backstage pulling all the strings.

Ya think? Another clue might have been the second season when Dan Naturman didn't make it to the finals and two judges, Drew Carey and Brett Butler did a lot of complaining on camera, and little math on their notepads, and finally claimed no one told them the producers had final say. (Carey has said that the 3rd judge, Anthony Clark, was also upset, but I don't remember Clark saying anything obvious on camera.) When producers are also agents, the similarity between the contestant list and client list shouldn't shock anyone. Sure, it's called a competition. But the reward isn't just money, it's also a talent deal. They're looking for a nationwide vote to decide what they themselves normally decide based on personality, demographics, advertising potential, and if there's room for it, talent. The early weeding out isn't a scandal. It's how the business works. The closing credits tell us that in the early rounds the producers and NBC have a say in each contestant to advance. So the nationwide vote is just an enormous focus group. With more power than most focus groups. Before they give up that much power, the executives have to make sure the pool is safely made up only of people that they have OK'd.

This is not a hidden agenda. They want someone they can work with. And besides, do we really need the best stand-up to win? Does the arc of a great career really have to go through that board room? I'm not saying that any comedian with a development deal is a sellout. A comedian that wants to sit at the table and take corporate's advice—or obey corporate's commands—can do so and still turn out amazing work. Seinfeld took a seat at that table then gave us one of the best sitcoms ever. He took chances. He laughed at Susan dying. He said that Whatley's jokes about Jews were OK as long as they were funny. He gave Corbin Bernsen a cameo. Those things take balls. But was The Toy really what we all had hoped for Richard Pryor? Was that the success he deserved? Really?

Sure, I would have thought that a cute and quirky kid like Taylor Williamson would be what the producers want. But now am I rooting for the network to find their pony? Or in Felipe Esparza's case, their burro?

Well, if you're looking for some simple and direct and helpful coverage of LCS, I recommend reading Sean L. McCarthy's posts at The Comic's Comic. He tells you what happened without intrusive spin, while his take on it is nicely present thru his careful tone. I'll be checking in over there regularly.

In the meantime, watch the show and appreciate the good jokes. Because there are many. Just don't hope for much more for each comic than that their sets go well and they don't make fools of themselves offstage.