First year I've watched the show (3rd season, iirc?)
Just saw the first of the semifinal rounds today. Anyone else think they picked several of the wrong 5 people? The audience favorite was crap (Im not a fan of impressions). The fat woman wasn't funny. I don't remember the black guy's set at all. I did think the black woman was funny. The last guy... the strange looking one... eh.
TV - Last Comic Standing
I haven't started HK yet (got 7 queued up on the Tivo), but the thing that got me is that I think there were at least 3 funnier people that didn't get selected. I assume they only show part of the routine, 1-2 minutes of an ~10 minute set, so maybe I just thought those pieces were better, but their overall stunk.
It's not me, it's someone else.
Dammit, I was about to rant on the HK contestants, but Catt doesn't need spoilers, so I'll wait.
As for Last Comic Standing, I noticed quite a few funny people who were left behind while lesser comics were selected to move on.
In LCS' defense though, they show us a brief clip of a person's routine and not the whole thing. The people we see could've had one funny line and then sucked.
I think the show has gone downhill since seasons 1 & 2. Dat Phan winning the first season was one of the most obvious rig jobs ever done in reality TV. He wasn't even remotely funny, but he had something the rest of the cast didn't, he was politically correct. Everybody knows Ralphie May won that shit. The network wanted NOTHING to do with him though because he was a grossly overweight white guy who lived in the hood and whose material was very adult and profane. NBC didn't want to try to build a show around him.
Today the show is made of comedians with TV friendly acts, which means a large portion of comedians can't even do the show. On top of that, they have the most politically correct judges of all time: a black guy, a gay guy, and a white woman.
Which translates into a politically correct cast. Just about every town they went to you could pick out who would make it based on what they "needed" in terms of racial diversity in the cast. "We need a weird foreign white guy so you made it to the next round."
It's a shame because this show used to be hilarious. The best parts was watching the comics live together and perform those stupid tasks and bomb with their audience. Then the heads up battles would conclude the episodes in a cool way.
I wish they'd do a reunion of the season one folks.
As for Last Comic Standing, I noticed quite a few funny people who were left behind while lesser comics were selected to move on.
In LCS' defense though, they show us a brief clip of a person's routine and not the whole thing. The people we see could've had one funny line and then sucked.
I think the show has gone downhill since seasons 1 & 2. Dat Phan winning the first season was one of the most obvious rig jobs ever done in reality TV. He wasn't even remotely funny, but he had something the rest of the cast didn't, he was politically correct. Everybody knows Ralphie May won that shit. The network wanted NOTHING to do with him though because he was a grossly overweight white guy who lived in the hood and whose material was very adult and profane. NBC didn't want to try to build a show around him.
Today the show is made of comedians with TV friendly acts, which means a large portion of comedians can't even do the show. On top of that, they have the most politically correct judges of all time: a black guy, a gay guy, and a white woman.
Which translates into a politically correct cast. Just about every town they went to you could pick out who would make it based on what they "needed" in terms of racial diversity in the cast. "We need a weird foreign white guy so you made it to the next round."
It's a shame because this show used to be hilarious. The best parts was watching the comics live together and perform those stupid tasks and bomb with their audience. Then the heads up battles would conclude the episodes in a cool way.
I wish they'd do a reunion of the season one folks.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
When they started going through the list, I was like "there's a choice for diversity... and another... and another... and... WTF?"
I guess I also skew towards twisted humor, instead of plain, vanilla jokes. So yeah, your statements about the direction of the show certainly seem to represent what I'm seeing.
Bah. I might stop watching now.
I guess I also skew towards twisted humor, instead of plain, vanilla jokes. So yeah, your statements about the direction of the show certainly seem to represent what I'm seeing.
Bah. I might stop watching now.
It's not me, it's someone else.
P.S. This is season 5.
Dat Phan won the rigged first season. John Heffron won season 2 amid controvery (I'll cover that in a second). Alonzo Bowden won season 3 in a battle of former contestants that apparently never aired or was the best kept secret on network TV. Season 4 was won by Josh Blue the comedian with cerebral palsy.
Now, it is my opinion and not "fact" (at least not publically known fact) that Dat Phan won the first season unfairly, but looking at the wiki for Last Comic Standing you'll see that the show is pretty questionable in terms of it's "fair playing field":
For more on the truth behind LCS, this site seems to have some good material showing the show is anything but reality TV.
Dat Phan won the rigged first season. John Heffron won season 2 amid controvery (I'll cover that in a second). Alonzo Bowden won season 3 in a battle of former contestants that apparently never aired or was the best kept secret on network TV. Season 4 was won by Josh Blue the comedian with cerebral palsy.
Now, it is my opinion and not "fact" (at least not publically known fact) that Dat Phan won the first season unfairly, but looking at the wiki for Last Comic Standing you'll see that the show is pretty questionable in terms of it's "fair playing field":
During season two, a panel of four celebrity judges was used to shrink the field of 40 semifinalists to ten finalists. The celebrity judges rated each of the semifinalists as they performed, and cast votes for the 10 top comedians. When the ten finalists were announced they did not seem to correspond with the judges' votes. In this way it was unintentionally revealed that their votes did not necessarily determine the final contestants. Two of the celebrity judges, comedians Drew Carey and Brett Butler, responded in outrage and stormed away from the judge's table after the finalists were announced.
The two were shown backstage arguing with producers. Carey and Butler did not understand how the finalists who were announced could be correct, since it did not match their votes. It was revealed that a panel of four producers were also casting votes in the process, assuring that unless all four celebrity judges cast the exact same ten votes, their voting power could be usurped by the four unanimously agreeing producer votes. If for some reason all four celebrity judges did cast the exact same votes, the worst the producers would be faced with is a tie.
Carey became further outraged upon learning this information. He was upset that he had been led to believe he had a vote in the outcome of the show. He reportedly responded, "All you wanted was our faces." It was also revealed that some of the finalists who advanced were clients of the producers or directors of the show.
Allegedly, some of the competitors in opening rounds were plants hired by the producers to liven up the auditions on television. For example, Buck Star, a comedian who followed talent executives Bob Read and Ross Mark to auditions across the country, is rumored to be a production assistant for NBC.
For more on the truth behind LCS, this site seems to have some good material showing the show is anything but reality TV.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Another article on Season 2.
As it appears the auditions probably were a farce and the finalists had been determined BEFORE the auditions.
It helps that some of the finalists were managed by producers of NBC and on the show.
Interesting that Ant made it that season when the judges hated him, but his manager worked on the show. It's also interesting that he never made it far in either season he was in and yet now he's a judge.
As it appears the auditions probably were a farce and the finalists had been determined BEFORE the auditions.
It helps that some of the finalists were managed by producers of NBC and on the show.
Interesting that Ant made it that season when the judges hated him, but his manager worked on the show. It's also interesting that he never made it far in either season he was in and yet now he's a judge.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
More on the LCS 2 controversy from an audience member.
Her opinion on the comics' performances don't hold any weight, I mean, it's an opinion. However, her description of someone of the audience reactions and edits are pretty damning to the "reality" part of the show.
I also liked how she pointed out that Jay Mohr acknowledged without saying anything that Ralphie May got fucked in Season 1.
You know, Comedy Central could really do something here. Do their own LCS, and give the winner their own stand up special. It'd be so low cost and CC could even have it on later so it could be uncut. The marketing for it writes itself: "Would you like to see real comics and not actors? Would you enjoy seeing more than one sentence of their 5 minute set? Want to see it uneditted whether they kill or bomb?" Just put everything out there. Be open and honest with the viewers. It'd be compelling TV and would shame NBC.
I'd watch.
Her opinion on the comics' performances don't hold any weight, I mean, it's an opinion. However, her description of someone of the audience reactions and edits are pretty damning to the "reality" part of the show.
I also liked how she pointed out that Jay Mohr acknowledged without saying anything that Ralphie May got fucked in Season 1.
You know, Comedy Central could really do something here. Do their own LCS, and give the winner their own stand up special. It'd be so low cost and CC could even have it on later so it could be uncut. The marketing for it writes itself: "Would you like to see real comics and not actors? Would you enjoy seeing more than one sentence of their 5 minute set? Want to see it uneditted whether they kill or bomb?" Just put everything out there. Be open and honest with the viewers. It'd be compelling TV and would shame NBC.
I'd watch.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell