"Winning the Show Had Nothing To Do With Winning the Prize": An Interview with Last Comic Standing's ANT

ANT was the only comic to appear as a contestant on both seasons of Last Comic Standing. Even though he didn't make the house the first time around, he definitely made an impact, being caught on stage as the cause of the now-famous argument between Buddy Hackett and Joe Rogan.

With Last Comic Standing 2, ANT was determined to succeed, and he made the house in his second attempt. In the house, he was in the center of controversy once again as the supposed leader of the ruling alliance in the house - all the while denying that he was the leader. Unfortunately, ANT was on the losing end of the third head to head challenge, losing to eventual third-place finisher Gary Gulman.

What does ANT think about the infamous fight? What does he regret? And just who WAS the leader of the alliance? RealityNewsOnline's Mike DeGeorge had a chance to talk with ANT before the start of the third season to get the scoop. You won't believe what ANT has to say!

ANT: Mike, hi, it's ANT calling.

Mike: How are you! I appreciated your email to us at the beginning of the season.

ANT: Yeah, I really like your columns.

Mike: Thank you so much! We weren't exactly the friendliest people to you in the first season, so I thought it was great of you to be so even-handed toward us.

ANT: The show is supposed to be fun, and the show is what it is, it's just a show. Everybody's career got a huge boost because of it, so irregardless of what anybody really thought or what anybody wrote or anybody said in the news or whatever, it never stopped being fun for me. It's just about the fun.

Mike: You were touring with Jay, or was it Ralphie after season one?

ANT: I was touring with Ralphie, and this year I'm on the road with Tammy and John Heffron.

Mike: So even if you hadn't have made this second house, you're still doing pretty good.

ANT: I'm doing fantastic, I just recorded my Comedy Central album, yesterday, and VH1 gave me a series which starts production in October, and Dennis Miller hired me to be a correspondent on the show, I cover the Republican convention for him next week.

Mike: Oh, God, I gotta watch that. What will you be doing?

ANT: You know, I don't really know what they're going to have me doing to be honest with you. I'll probably be doing more of a red carpet style thing, kind of a guerrilla red carpet. Drop one down and ask them who they're wearing and then hit them with the tough question.

Mike: You mentioned VH1, I know you were on A2Z…

ANT: I was on A2Z, and I Love the '90s, and I Love the '80s, I Love the '70s, I love the 1400s…

Mike: You're going to have your own show?

ANT: Working title right now is called Red Light, Green Light, but someone else owns the title, so we have to change the name.

Mike: So what is the format?

ANT: A pop-culture and movie review kind of show, I give my opinion on movies, about television, about celebrity diet, about whatever. It's just my opinion show, basically.

Mike: And what's the time frame for that?

ANT: I believe it starts, we start production in October so the first episode will probably air in the first week of November.

Mike: Well, let's go back to the beginning - how did you get involved in comedy in the first place?

ANT: It was a mistake. I was…

Mike: (laughing) Some people would agree with that! I'm sorry, I just had to say that, I couldn't resist, I'm sorry, that wasn't…

ANT: No, if, you know what, if your interviews aren't funny, who's going to read them? It was a mistake, I was a flight attendant. I had an agent on a plane, he said I should consider doing stand up because I was cracking jokes and stuff, that's how it started.

Mike: Just kind of ballooned from there?

ANT: Yeah, he kind of watched over my career, this person, and within six months I had a development deal with the Fox network and I had a pilot shot called How High. That didn't get picked up, so I went over to Unhappily Ever After on the WB and I was there for four and a half seasons. And then I went over to a short lived series on UPN called The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfieffer.

Mike: You were in that?

ANT: Yeah, I played Robert Lincoln, Abe's son. And then from there I went on to To Tell the Truth, after Paula Poundstone left the show, and then LCS1. What, will I be in LCS60 soon?