Last Last Comic Standing

The summer reality shows are winding down and that means the scripted part of the TV year (i.e. the good part of the TV year) is starting up again soon. That and the hockey and football season... good times.

Last Comic Standing had their last performance show this past week. It was thankfully much better than last year's show, both the comedians and the filler. We only got two acts other than the comedians: a painfully unfunny intro song from The Dan Band and a thankfully brief stand-up from host Bill Bellamy.

The show instead filled time this year by having all the comedians from last week perform and only tell them afterward whether they were in the top 5 (they also did little profiles of each comedian before their set but since I DVRed the show I was able to skip right over those. I don't want to bias my opinion with their back stories). It is rather harsh for those who didn't make it but at least they get to perform one more time in front of millions (and try to prove America wrong after the fact).

The contestants got a gift from the producers and got their sets extended to 5 minutes (or the equivalent of what a neophyte comedian would get at a minimum in any club).

Let's get to the comedians:

• Marcus: Apparently, he is too important to have a surname. You win one challenge on LCS and all of a sudden you are just Marcus, huh? A lot of his jokes weren't very original and often setups just to do impressions. If you like Dane Cook, you'd like Marcus. His style is very similar, although Marcus has got a bit more talent as he is a good impressionist. Even still, I wasn't impressed but America loves Dane Cook so who knows...
• Ron G: Big energy, lots of character work, but not a great set (although I did enjoy the LA church bit of a guy getting baptised with a bluetooth headset). Doesn't really matter as he didn't make the top 5 anyway.
• Jim Tavare: His usual weird self and thankfully America liked him last week as well and he was in the top 5. I just enjoy watching him and what I said last week still holds: original, clever, deadpan, and English. He had a couple of groaners but even when he has a miss he is still interesting.
• Louis Ramey: Looking sharp and, as always, very funny. He started off a little slow but built as he went along and ended very strongly. I'm sure he is used to doing a longer set than 5 minutes so his last joke took a while to setup but it was still worth it. Of course, he was in the Top 5.
• Adam Hunter: His set is extremely scattershot and he jumps topics all over the place. He just went too quickly, barely even pausing between jokes. It was hard to recognize the punchlines because he sped right passed them not even giving the audience a chance to laugh. The crowd, however, really enjoyed him and were upset when it was announced he wasn't in the top 5.
• Jeff Dye: He grew on me this week; I liked him better than last week (maybe it was because he did 3 minutes on the board game Guess Who? because I used to play that all the time). He was funny but I still don't get a lot of depth from his persona. He made it in the top 5.
• Sean Cullen: He was not as strong as last time, but his personality is still winning. Some jokes he did I've heard similar ones before but they weren't bad. I got the impression his heart wasn't in his performance... maybe he knew he wouldn't be in the top 5 (which he wasn't).
• Iliza Shlesinger: She also, like Sean, was not as good as last show although she kept her high energy and her pacing. She really played to the younger people in the audience, both in the theatre and watching TV, by doing an extended bit on drinking games (I haven't looked at the ratings for LCS but I would imagine it skews young and as such it may have been a good tactic on her part). Of course, the drinking game section wasn't very strong. The crowd was really behind her at the beginning but she seemed to lose the energy by the end. For those that can count, she was obviously in the top 5.

Since this is my blog, I am going to decide the winner and rank all the comedians... I can do that. I have that power here. So your final LCS ranking is:

1. Louis Ramey
2. Jim Tavere
3. Jeff Dye
4. Iliza Shlesinger
5. Marcus
6. Sean Cullen
7. Adam Hunter
8. Ron G

It would seem given my ranking America made the correct choice of the top 5. It was a pretty good season for Last Comic Standing (last years winner would rank #9 on the above list).

Now bring on the scripted shows, and the Rangers, and the Giants...

Playmates and Performances (of a comedy nature)

Last Comic Standing had their last show before the final with the self-proclaimed shocking turn of events that had all the comedians competing for a spot in the final.

All except for Marcus who won the pretty across the board awful challenge: Creating a bedtime story for some playmates. Unfortunately, the playmates were playing with slightly less than a full deck and didn't quite get some of the stories. Not that any were particularly good, but they did pick the one story that wasn't a story but a trailer of sorts.

Anyway, the better portion of the show was the second hour when all the contestants performed. Unfortunately, they were all saddled with a mere 3 minutes of stage time. Having done plenty of stand-up, I can attest that 3 minutes is a ridiculously short time to show your stuff. But the network has to have a commercial break after every comedian so less time for the actual contestant.

To the comedians:

• Adam Hunter- Pack your bags, dude. Not did he have to perform first, but he wasn't very memorable. The ending of his set was a bit awkward. I'd give him a 'meh' at best (but would still take him over last years winner)
• Iliza Shlesinger- She has a good pace to her set; she talks fast (which is vital to getting a lot of material into 3 minutes). I thought she had good material as well and a decent presence.
• Sean Cullen- He is a very strange man, both his humor and mannerisms are quite unique. I appreciate originality and enjoy watching him perform. I also really like that he incorporates songs into his sets (but doesn't exclusively sing). 3 minutes is quite crippling for him because the song takes up 80% of his time (and you can't just sing faster). I enjoyed it, but will the rest of the audience.
• Jim Tavare- Original, clever, deadpan, and English... which means he is probably not going to make the final. This show has never been kind to the non-US comedians even when they are better than the others and I don't think it is going to change here. Anyone who uses a cello on stage gets my vote (well, my metaphoric vote... I'll watch the show but won't demean myself by voting). I have him as second best of the night but I don't decide.
• Jeff Dye- I don't know why but I don't like him that much. He has good material but he seems very bland on stage. He isn't very memorable. Plus, he kept telling the audience to wait when they started to laugh at his jokes as if correcting them because they weren't laughing at the right time. Here's a tip: when the audience is laughing and enjoying your jokes, don't tell them to stop. It's bad form.
• Ron G- He was a ball of energy (some of which probably came from being nervous). I've never been a huge fan of his and this set didn't really change that. He was OK.
• Louis Ramey- I've been a fan of his from way before this show started and so I was not surprised that he had the strongest set. They had the veteran performer closing the show and that was a wise choice. He is extremely comfortable on stage, has great material, and is just naturally funny. Best of the night by a pretty wide margin.
  

(I'm guessing the running order was not randomly chosen: the worst (or inexperienced) at the beginning, the best at the end, and the very weird in the middle.)

I'm not exactly sure how many people actually get through to the finals. Louis Ramey was the best and should definitely be in the final. I'd put Jim and Iliza in the next tier so if three people move on that's be my choice. I'm guessing the voters would pick also pick Louis. As for the other two, I think they'll go with Jeff and either Ron or Iliza.

At least the field of performers have improved from last year. I'd prefer anyone in this crop to those from last year. So I won't be too annoyed no matter who wins (though Louis definitely should).

(Random aside: For some stupid reason they kept cutting to some stoic guy in the audience. It was very annoying as the people around him were laughing but he never was and yet they kept showing him)