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Last Comic Standing: The final five finalists are chosen
by Joel Keller, posted Jun 13th 2006 11:05PM
(S04E03) I've got to say, Last Comic Standing really makes me scratch my head sometimes. Yes, I know that the finalists aren't always the funniest people in their grouping. And, yes, I know that they need to put varied character types in the house so it's not all just twelve of the same type of people trying to out yuk-yuk each other. But the selections that are made to go into the house really make me think the producers think the audience is a bunch of drooling idiots. Why? Because some of the picks you could see coming from the first time they popped on the screen during the audition episode, and the rest are so comically inferior to the some of the ones that didn't get picked, it's obvious that they're being picked for reasons other than being... freaking... funny.Take finalist Stella Stolper, for example. She was not funny. At all. Lots of jokes about getting knocked up, which was appropriate, since it looked like she was about seven months pregnant. But once you saw her stride out there with her baby belly in tow, you knew she was going to be picked, right? She didn't have to even say a word; just stand there and point at her belly. I mean: she's a tough broad, the hormones are raging; she's perfect! So what if her jokes were more stale than day-old bagels?
Bill Dwyer is a similar case. He's actually a pretty funny stand-up, but the part of the set they showed tonight wasn't all that funny. But he's the "industry veteran", and as I've said before, he was probably assured a place in the house before he even went to audition.
Ty Barnett was OK; his selection was a surprise, but not much of one.
Michelle Balan was also one that many fans pegged from the start would go to the house, since she's the oldest of all the semi-finalists. When she said to Ross and Bob during the audition, "You need an old broad, right?" she pretty much had her fate decided right there. Again, her act was OK; nothing to write home about.
Gabriel Iglesias has a Comedy Central Presents special, a national reputation and a huge head. He was also very funny, with his unique take on the old cops and donuts joke. He deserved to go, and he deserved to be the audience favorite, but it was fairly clear from the start that he was going to be picked, too.
It's interesting how they grouped the more "veteran" comics into this second semi-final hour; it was almost as if they wanted things to seem harder for the "celebrity talent scouts" (who I'm sure were there for only ceremonial reasons) as time went on. Again, Garry Marshall, Kathy Griffin, and Tim Meadows asked some decent questions, but I really have to wonder what their real impact on the selections were.
But my theory about the grouping does explain the "twist", which allowed them to select two more finalists, bringing the total to twelve. Two more women were picked: Kristen Key, who had a nice line about how having sex with her was like "humping a bag of coat hangers", and Rebecca Corry, whose only talent seemed to be shortness and kicking skills.
The surprises came with those who didn't get picked, like Doug Benson, a known professional like Dwyer, who had the best set of the night (loved his segues); Nikki Payne, who was not only funny, but I thought would be a shoo-in because of her lisp and her manic personality; and J. Chris Newberg, who had a very funny musical joke about kids on airplanes, a joke that had a build-up that made the punch-line even that much better.
So we've got our 12 finalists, and they're going to be going to the "house", which is the Queen Mary. I guess this is where the fun begins, where you see people interacting, fighting, creating alliances, and competing for immunity, just like every other freakin' reality show. Oh, well, at least the vote is now being given over to the viewers. I think. I still don't believe they were responsible for Dat Phan.
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