Last Comic Standing - June 14 recap

Last week, NBC surprised viewers by bringing Last Comic Standing back to their summer schedule. In an even bigger shock, the retooled show was genuinely funny. Was this a one-week wonder, or are we in for a funny season for the first time in years?

Host Craig Robinson was back with his keytar in tow, starting things off with another little song to get things going. We also got to see Andy Kindler and Greg Giraldo gently swaying to the beat, while Natasha Leggero exhibited some serious dance moves. It’s also worth mentioning that she looks like she might be about four foot six. The scene had moved to a round of auditions at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, a hotbed for the American stand up comedy scene.

Right from the jump, Greg continued to demonstrate impressive chops as a judge as he informed the first comic about the manner in which a bad tag ruined a good joke. Shortly after this, the producers and editors elected to get the obligatory “New York/mafia/gangsters” stuff out of the way by showing one comedian outside a pizza parlor with his buddies, a motley crew that looked like they walked right off the set of a Scorsese movie. We were even subjected to a knockoff of Godfather soundtrack music over the bit. The comedian in question, Mike DeStefano, exhibits an intentionally brusque manner and he seems like an interesting guy, explaining that he used to be a drug counselor and, before that, a drug addict.

The auditions continued, and for the second straight week the talent level was high. There were some great jokes from people that didn’t even get callbacks to the showcase, like Kevin Bozeman’s stance on abortion, when he noted “I’m pro life except for like two times.” Judge Andy was conflicted on this week’s talent pool. “I was actually very happy with how many good comics there are,” he stated. “And then I thought the level of comedy sunk really low.” He might have been referring to the next performer, who took to the stage naked. The judges gunned him down mercilessly and deservedly. “This can be pixilated,” the comic stated, referring to his own junk. “No need,” replied Greg immediately. “It already looks pixilated,” added Andy. Natasha just tried to look away, but like an eclipse, she seemed unable to avert her eyes. At home we thankfully didn’t see anything but a black bar obscuring the area. It sounds like we missed something fascinating, though. “His groin looked like a hairy, brown version of a game show buzzer,” explained Andy in far too graphic detail.

Craig took to the streets to encourage the waiting contestants, asking some what they planned to do once they got inside. “I’m gonna do a whole bunch of foolishness,” blurted out one hopeful. Cut to the vintage LCS parade of weirdness. “Some of the people that come in are just crazy people,” noted Greg. “And for this competition, you need to be funny on purpose.” This observance could have been specifically targeted at a comic who entered in head to toe clown apparel and announced, “I might be the last comic standing, you never know.” The judges were not impressed. “No, we know,” answered Greg.

However, the good heavily outweighed the bad for the second straight week. That’s why I found it odd that the editing elected to dip back into the cliché well again. “When you come to New York you expect to see a certain amount of that typical New York style comedy,” noted Natasha. And judging from the montage that followed, “typical” meant “Italian.” It was a series of quick cuts featuring only Italian last names or big, bad accents. “Guess what, guys? You need more than just the accent,” she added. This bit just felt odd, coming on the heels of the prior DeStefano piece that was staged exactly like a scene from The Sopranos. It just seemed like overkill.

Something else beaten to the brink of death was, surprisingly, a ton of ventriloquists and their dummies. There were a staggering number of them, including one whose dummy had his own dummy. “The third guy was cool,” said Greg of the trio. “But for what I’m looking for, I’d say no.” Andy also had to offer a resounding negative to the ventriloquist who made no attempt to actually throw his voice, but instead just covered his mouth with his hand and a cigar. Thankfully, this minor interjection of badness was followed by another string of callbacks to several funny people.

At the showcase that evening, nine lucky comics won tickets to perform in the semi final round in Hollywood. Roy Wood Jr. was funny on stage and all business off it, noting that he immediately wanted to dig into his notebook after learning he had advanced. Tommy Johnagin was my favorite performer of the night, with some really funny stuff about his breakup after a long-term relationship. His delivery was great, even if his voice sounded almost exactly like Shia LaBeouf. Claudia Cogan demonstrated an extreme desire to move on, saying that she would do whatever it took, including turning into ten tigers on stage. I hope to see that next week, because she got a red ticket. Kurt Metzger was an interesting guy who seems like he’d be fun to watch in the house. Speaking of which, are we getting the house this year? Did NBC keep the lease on the Scooby Doo mansion? I honestly have no idea.

The final two of the night’s nine slots went to Mike DeStefano and Jamie Lee, a funny young woman who couldn’t contain her genuine enthusiasm at getting a callback, running through the aisles of the Gotham Comedy Club, wielding her ticket like a lottery winner. Good for her. Earlier she let us know that she had quit her day gig and put all her eggs in the comedy basket. Stories like hers are what this show should be all about.

After two weeks I’m beyond happy with the potential pool of finalists, and judging from the comics we’ve seen so far, there is little potential for casting drama. The semi finalists are so good that the producers couldn’t screw this up even if they wanted to—a claim that has actually been leveled in the past. Next week we get another round of auditions in the Big Apple, giving us even more talented comedians to contend for the final spots. Compared to the last few seasons, this has been an embarrassment of riches so far.