Category: Stand-Up Comics (Page 8 of 11)

Last night’s “Last Comic Standing” season finale was a reunion of sorts. Former champs Dat Phan, John Heffron, and Alonzo Bodden all performed, as well as show creator Jay Mohr. All of that made one thing perfectly clear……the level of talent this season was not nearly up to par with previous seasons.

First of all, Theo Von was announced as the download champion in the competition no one really cared about except Theo. Well, I guess it’s a good thing to put on his resume.

But after the hilarious performances (I think Heffron and Bodden are as funny as any comics out there today), Josh Blue and Ty Barnett lined up with host Unfunny Clark for the moment of truth. And in anti-climactic fashion, Blue was anointed the champ. I say anti-climactic, because both of these guys were funny, but this season left a lot to be desired, and each week the remaining comics were there strictly by default. This show needs to shake things up, and bringing back Mohr to host would be a good start.

But I shouldn’t take away from Josh Blue’s spotlight here…..the dude has become a role model for those with disabilities. Cerebral Palsey might keep many others out of a competition like this, but Josh is living proof that if you follow your dreams, anything can happen, no matter what any physical disabilities have to say about it. Kudos to him for that, and here’s hoping he has a long and successful career.

And now it’s time for Art Vandalay to hibernate. Good night all, Vandalay is OUT.

And just like that, we find out that the “Last Comic Standing” season finale is tonight. Holy crap, how did that happen? I knew that last night would be the final square-off of the 2 remaining contestants, but NBC decided not to extend the show one more week. And actually, for that, I give them credit.
I just wonder now how painfully long they are going to make tonight’s show.

But back to last night. Before announcing who would be going home and not performing, the network had to scramble to fill up a whole hour. So they let host Unfunny Clark do his stand-up routine. Well, he wasn’t as bad as his hosting has led us to believe he is, but he was still pretty bad.

Then they let the two finalists in the online competition duke it out…..supposedly there was this whole other competition going on that about five of us knew about, where the contestants who didn’t make it to the Queen Mary got to perform for the online community each week. The finalists were Josh Wolf and Theo Von, and not only was Josh funnier than Theo…he may have been funnier than any of the remaining comics. At least I know I’d pay to see this guy. But we’ll see what happens tonight. Then comic Paul Rodriguez guested and did a decent job himself.

After this, it was the elimination and most of us knew what was coming…..Chris Porter was voted off.
To use a baseball analogy, imagine a lifetime .350 hitter striking out 8 straight times in the biggest games of his career. That was Chris Porter the last 2 weeks. So Josh Blue and Ty Barnett got to perform for the championship.

I like both of these guys, but I like Josh just a bit better. He uses his disability to a fault, but he’s still pretty freaking hilarious. Last night, I think his impersonation of Grover from “Sesame Street” locked it up for him. And I think America likes Josh too. So we’ll see what happens tonight, and who will become the Last Comic Standing for this season. Till then, Vandalay is OUT.

The current season of “Last Comic Standing” is winding down like the blur that is our summer. Last night was the second elimination as voted by America, and Michelle Balan went home. But first, host Unfunny Clark had the privelege to introduce two guest comics.

The first was Jay London, an LCS alum who is best known for his witty one-liners that are sometimes so witty that the audience doesn’t quite get them right away. Hence, his style of repeating the jokes and making fun of the crowd for their lack of intelligence. Somehow, this dude is funny. He is a hunched over caricature of himself, and that’s part of his act. But even if not everyone gets him, he definitely has something that no one else has.

The second guest was Caroline Rhea, who most people know as the host of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.” I didn’t even know Caroline was a comedian, but holy shit…..she was hilarious. It makes you wonder how NBC chose Unfunny Clark over Caroline to host this show. Maybe they should think about that for next season.

Then came the elimination, and after Mr. Unfunny let Josh Blue and Ty Barnett know that they were safe, it came down to Michelle and Chris Porter. Michelle’s journey ended, and so then Josh, Ty and Chris got to perform.

Now, I thought the last two weeks that Ty Barnett was going to be eliminated, but he really made me laugh last night and I think he has an outside chance here to win it all. Hell, he has more than an outside chance. Chris may have taken things a bit too far with his religious humor both last week and this week, especially while there are so many Americans out there to offend. And truthfully, he really hasn’t been as funny lately.

Josh was Josh…he’s been the most consistent performer throughout the competition. The man is quietly making a gargantuan statement for disabled Americans, and that’s because you don’t even remember that he has a disability when he’s performing. The dude is just funny as hell.

At this point, I’m going to give a slight edge to Josh Blue as the leader of the pack, with Ty Barnett in second and Chris Porter on the chopping block. Chris, you’re going to have a nice career but you really have disappointed us the last few weeks.

So with this season of LCS barreling toward a conclusion, fall TV can’t be far behind. Thankfully there are shows like this to help us couch potatoes make it through the summer.

I’m off to turn up my air conditioner. Till next week, Vandalay is OUT.

Last night’s “Last Comic Standing” episode featured the first elimination at the start of the show. Thankfully, they didn’t burden us with a full half hour like “American Idol,” and instead waited a full week to announce the contestant going home at the start of the show.

But first, after host Unfunny Clark got things started, former LCS contestant Gary Gulman got to perform. I remember this guy to be really funny when he was on the show, but last night he didn’t bring his A-game. In fact, I would say that almost al l of the finalists this season could have beat him in a head to head.

So then they brought all five remaining contestants out, and the one voted off was Roz. I think she got robbed. She is way funnier than Ty Barnett and a bit funnier than Michelle Balan. But that’s how these things go.

Then each comic got to perform for about 5 minutes. Yes, 5 minutes. How they stretch this show into a full hour is beyond comprehension. Oh wait, maybe it’s the 30 minutes of commercials. Thank goodness for TiVo.

Michelle went first, followed by Josh Blue. Both did well but I’d have to grade them both as B-plus for their performance. Josh’s best came when he talked about how he was in the para-olympics a few years ago and did his impersonation of a drunk Scottish soccer player with a disability.

Ty Barnett went third and was okay but I’d only give him a B grade….that means he’s my vote for elimination this week, just as he was last week. Chris Porter batted cleanup and in my mind was better than everyone else. He definitely was funnier than last week and should no doubt be sticking around for a while.

So here are the Vandalay Power Rankings for this week:

1. Chris Porter
2. Josh Blue
3. Michelle Balan
4. Ty Barnett

Though I have to admit it was strange that Chris was in the bottom two at the close of the show last night, there is no way he was there when the phone lines were shut down. Ty, you’re funny but you’re not in the elite here. Neither is Michelle, but anything is certainly possible.

Is my blog boring you? It’s boring me a bit, that’s why I ask. But at least i’m funnier than Unfunny Clark. Dude, I sure hope they renew you for “Yes, Dear” because you do the acting thing much better.

Till next week, Art Vandalay is OUT (and going to sell some latex).