(S04E11) Let's get the details of the first 88 minutes of the finale out of the way right now: Dat Phan stunk. Alonzo Bodden and John Heffron both showed why Season Two is considered to be the best LCS season. Jay Mohr is a funny guy, even though he is, as his boss Peter Engel said, "a big pain in the ass." Anthony Clark must have needed a lot of help during the six years of Yes, Dear, because the man can't even read off a cue card properly. Oh, and for some reason, the producers showed us a seance that wasn't good enough to make the initial cut during the Queen Mary phase.

Then we had sets by the two finalists, Josh Blue and Ty Barnett. Here's my question to Ty: where the hell was that material yesterday? The question becomes more relevant after jump, so keep reading.

(S04E10) So today marks the "start" of the LCS season finale. Why is it just the start? Because, since the final two had to perform tonight, we have to see the results somehow, right? So, tomorrow, we'll get to watch -- get this -- a 90 minute selection show. Lovely. Sixty-six minutes of show for something that takes about 30 seconds to announce. Nothing says "unnecessary crap" like the phrase "reality selection show."

But more on that later. For the half-hour before we learned who was going home, we got to hear a stand-up set by Paul Rodriguez, the sets from the final two comics in the online competition and... some real, live comedy from Anthony Clark! Not that it was all that good, but at least he didn't look like he wanted to throw up, like he has for the entire series.

(S04E09) We are now in super-filler territory here, folks. A 44-minute broadcast with only 15 minutes of real material (the three five minute sets from the remaining comics) dictates that we see things like: the last four comics introduced one-at-a-time... twice; longer bios of the remaining three comics; a commercial-interrupted elimination "ceremony"; a set by LCS alum Jay London; and a really unfunny set by Caroline Rhea, a synergistic move that NBC used to promote the upcoming season of The Biggest Loser.

Oh, and there were two Mel Gibson jokes. One good, one not so good.

(S04E08) It's funny how shows like Last Comic Standing look more thrown together as the contest goes along. It's a matter of material; as the number of comics gets winnowed down, the producers have to figure out a way to fill the time that's been freed up. Hence some of the time-killing methods used on tonight's show: immensely long introductions of the five finalists, an excruciating elimination segment, and, most frustrating of all, a set by LCS alum Gary Gulman.

(S04E07) Here's where it comes down to nothing more than laughs. No bullshit like house behavior or immunity or challenges. From here on out, the comedians will give their sets, the viewers will vote by phone and web, and one by one, the comics will be elimintated. It's just a comedic mano-a-mano for all the marbles.

And, for now, it seems like it's going to be the Josh and Chris show.

(S04E06) One thing you can say about Season Four of Last Comic Standing is that it's full of surprises. The comics may not be all that funny, the editing may be choppy, the preliminary selections of comics may have been suspicious, and Anthony Clark may look like he's embalmed. But you can't deny that the comics being eliminated aren't the ones anyone expected to go so early. Unfortunately, the by-product of these surprises is a set of finalists (the set of comics that will perform live and have the viewing audience vote by phone, text, and web) that is a pretty uncompelling set of personalities and, for the most part, not very funny.

(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.