Last Comic Standing 2, Episode 12: Building Momentum

Episode Eleven on July 29 saw the return of Jay London to the Final Six for the season, leaving Todd Glass, ANT, Corey Holcomb, and Bonnie McFarland in the dust. With the Wildcard Episode now out of the way, it had been decided to do a semi-finale for the show, where the six remaining comics will each do a four-minute set for an audience at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California and the viewers at home.

It may have been a good thing to leave the other comics behind at this point, as every episode that has brought back the voted-off comics had dropped in the ratings, with the reveal episode on July 29 hitting a low of 3.9 (yet still a 7 share). It was still enough to put NBC in second place for the timeslot and the night, however, so NBC probably isn't bellyaching too much about it - especially in light of going up against not only Big Brother 5, but CSI as well. Still, with the voted-out comics now gone for good (heck, ANT wasn't even mentioned in this episode), perhaps the ratings will pick up again.

Before moving on to our review of this week's episode, it should be mentioned that - as we predicted - more tickets have now become available for the last three episodes of the show. So if you're in the Glendale area on August 5th and/or the 12th, head over to here for more details on getting free tickets to the shows.

Speaking of which, the schedule has changed slightly. Here's the new schedule for the final shows:

Thursday, August 5 at 11:00 am: This will be the reveal show of three finalists. Tuesday, August 10 at 4:30 pm: This will be the huge two-hour taping that will not only cover a hour-long recap and interview with the ten finalists, but then another hour-long filming of the three finalists competing to win. Thursday, August 12 at 11:00 am: This will be the finale of the series with a reveal of who won. Will it also offer a teaser as to what is to come in LCS3? We'll just have to wait to find out.

But that's all in the future. For now, we still have the Final Six Semi-finalists to take a look at.

The show starts off with Jay outside the Alex Theatre. He starts off by doing a brief recap of the show, the Wildcard Episode, and what is yet to come that night on the program. After the opening credits, we see Jay coming out on stage. Unlike the previous two episodes, Jay does no warm-up material and instead cuts right to the rules about tonight's show and how the voting will work. The six comics - Tammy, Kathleen, John, Gary, Alonzo, and Jay - are then brought out and introduced to the audience.

JAY LONDON is first. A brief interview segment with Jay has him stating that making it this far in the show had put him into an entirely "new ballpark" and wanted to say three words to the viewers, "Thank you…" Uh, make that four words, "Thank you very much."

Jay does a bunch of his standard material. He is funny as always, but he did repeat the "evolutionary chart" joke again. Jay now has a ton of friends in the audience, as seen by the camera after his set is finished.

MIKE: Jay did even better than before, I thought, and had the audience in the palm of his hand. His speech at the beginning had to help him TONS. I liked him a lot tonight, although he seemed to stutter a lot. I wouldn't think he would be nervous by this point, but who knows?

DALE: I wish he wouldn't have fallen back on the evolutionary chart joke, as I know that will hurt him in the voting as being seen too many times. There was a lot of great stuff in his act otherwise, however, and I am positive now that the crumpled paper in his hand is just a prop. I agree that the speech would help in some votes, and he did great with the audience. Good start for the night with Jay.

After Jay Mohr gives out the number for London, GARY GULMAN is introduced. Gary states in the pre-set interview that he wants to win badly. He talks about snooze alarms, sugar cookies, milk, and school scissors. When Mohr comes out to mention Gary's number, he points out how much taller Gary is to him.

MIKE: Disappointed. He had a lot of energy, and some funny material, but I just don't think it clicked together.

DALE: Gary said he wanted to win badly… and proceeded to prove how bad he could be. That's a joke, but not really too far from the truth. I don't know what was up with the act tonight, but Gary seemed to almost be hyperventilating on stage as he zoomed through his material. I think you're on to something with the "not clicking" thing, Mike. His even ended his set on a weak joke ("Cookies without sugar are just crackers") that seemed to be a bad way to wrap up the set. There were some laughs here, but it just didn't come together. Big disappointment.

JOHN HEFFRON is next. He tells the camera in the pre-set interview that he usually is worried more about his appearance than his set when he is about to go on stage. He also mentions that if he won the show it would be "awesome." John goes out to talk about going to the dance bars: how older folks like him need a roller rink place to go to, the "we gotta go" girl at the bar, and how women who come in together always leave together.