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| Last Comic Standing Season 8 |
The show started in the summer of 2003, and the initial concept was to:
"... select a comedian from an initially large group of hopefuls, with the winner receiving a cash prize, a development contract with NBC, and a half-hour scripted project that will be developed by Universal Television. " - Wikipedia
In the first season is that the best comic did not win. Dat Phan, who by all reports had very little standup experience won. He beat out some very good and experienced comedians to do so. After the end of the show it was later discovered that all the legitimate standup comics who stood in lines all over the country for their "shot" never even had a chance. Everyone that had made it on the show was invited in for an audition at a scheduled time.
Standup comedians everywhere were incensed by what had happened. They trashed the show and what it stood for. They hoped it would never come back and eventually were disappointed when it came back time and time again.
Never any better.
The real irony behind Last Comic Standing is that it has been a good thing for individual standup comedians. All the while, the show has given the general public (who we call "civilians" on The Green Room) an unrealistic view of what standup comedy is and the real level of talent that is in the standup comedy community.
While it has elevated the status of some of the standup comedians that have appeared on the show, it can be argued that with the exception of Alonzo Bodden, not one has really ever gone anywhere after becoming the "Last Comic Standing". Meaning not one of these winners has become a "big star" or even well known. They all do well in the clubs but truthfully, most of them would have made it in the clubs anyway.
So is Last Comic Standing good or bad for standup comedy. Sadly, the answer is it is bad and here's why:
Last Comic Standing doesn't represent what standup comedians are doing in the clubs
Standup comedy is in a bit of a renaissance right now. After 10+ years of low attendance in comedy clubs throughout the country, things are starting to bounce back. The reason being a lot of those that really didn't belong in standup comedy (both comedians and club owners alike) have moved on. What seems to be left are the people really serious about standup comedy. The level of talent and skill of the headliners working the clubs today is astounding, yet only a few are represented in this season.
Consider this: There are well over 50 "A Rooms" in the country. Each of those needs a headliner every week. Very few standup comedians work 50 rooms a year, much less the 50 top clubs. A club that needs to fill 52 weeks a year isn't going to have a roster of 52 comedians, most are much closer to 100. That's 50 lists of (being conservative) of 75 headlining comedians.
When you put it in that perspective, is it hard to believe that there are at least 200 really good headlining comedians in this country right now? Well, they are not being represented on Last Comic Standing. You would be hard pressed to find 15 standup comedians that are working these top clubs. Of those it would be surprising to see 3 make it to the final 10.
It's never really been a contest
This has never been proven, but there is very strong circumstantial evidence supporting this statement.
In the early seasons, in addition to no one from the line making onto the show there was the Drew Carey/Bret Butler controversy in Season 2 (2004).
"It was revealed that a panel of four producers were also casting votes in the process, assuring that unless all four celebrity judges cast exactly the same ten votes, their voting power could be usurped by the four unanimously agreeing producers. If for some reason all four celebrity judges did cast exactly the same votes, the worst the producers would be faced with was a tie." - Wikipedia
There was further confirmation of what everyone already knew during Season 6 from Mark Breslin, owner of Yuk Yuk's comedy clubs which hosted the Toronto audition.
"Top local agents are usually given a number of specific call times for their clients. The first round of auditions were for a producer early in the morning, and those that were chosen came back for the celebrity judges in the afternoon." - Wikipedia
As far as how the actual winner is chosen, many think that decision has always been made by the producers of the show.
To their credit, Last Comic Standing abandoned the audition model this year and made it a "invitational" event. Which is what it has been all along.
Ineffective judges
The truth is that whoever the judges have been on any season of the show have either not been heard of or not qualified to be there.
It's become clear that the producers of the show have made the majority of the decisions. These are people that have no background in standup comedy. They are television insiders that only have a view of standup comedy as it exists in Los Angeles. Anyone in standup comedy will tell you that Los Angeles is not the epicenter of great standup comedy.
Los Angeles is a place to go when you want to be on television or in the movies. If you want to see real standup comedy, there are many places, but the best standup comedians are being developed in New York. There may have been a day when LA was the home of standup, but it could be argued that time is long passed.
At least this season they have abandoned the facade of the audience actually having a say in who wins. This season it will be 3 judges who will probably tow the line for the producers of the show.
It doesn't seem like the producers of the show have done a whole lot to make it better, either. This year's judges are not qualified for many reasons and the talent invited to be in the "contest" fails the smell test.
The truth is, the only way to right this ship is to actually call it what it is: NBC's public attempt to audition new talent while generating a little ad revenue in the process. Unfortunately, we all get to watch what has become the frustration of the standup comedian in Los Angeles; going to auditions for "industry". It's a humiliating process that basically boils down to this statement that easily will come out of the mouth of just about any "industry" booker there.
"I don't know what I'm looking for, but I'll know it when I see it"
So far, it is clear that NBC has not seen anything it's liked. The evidence of that being that fact that not one winner of Last Comic Standing is a regular on any NBC show.
In the meantime NBC is happy to call (or elude to if you want to be technical) Last Comic Standing a show about standup comedy. Even though it doesn't do one thing that would cause anyone watching it to actually want to go to a comedy club to see live standup comedy.
I wish they would go "old school" and go back to "back room agent deals" and the "casting couch".
Leave standup comedy to the professionals.
Vilmos
Host of The Green Room
www.greenroomradio.net
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