Last Comic Standing 3, Episode 4: Fighting the Mic

A quick note before diving into the review this week: For those of you who are planning on attending one of the LCS3 competitions, the website to order tickets from has just added the final two dates in October for the program. You can get ticket information for the October 5 and October 12 show, as well as the remaining dates in September, at this site.

An interesting side-note on those dates: LCS3 will be filming a "behind the scenes" special on Monday, September 20 at 2:00 pm in the same location as the rest of the series. So some fans may want to check that out just to see a show that isn't completely stand-up competitions.

And speaking of stand-up competition, tonight's episode starts off with a quick recap of all the previous competitions, including the eight comics that competed against each other last week. Following this, Jay appears on stage and I've been meaning to mention it over the past few weeks: the guy is one snappy dresser. He gives a shout-out to those down south who are witnessing the latest hurricane this month (not this summer, or this year, but this month) and then jokes about how everywhere is a dangerous place to live.

The eight comics who competed last week are brought out so that Jay can announce which team won the $50,000 this week. This is a minor change from the previous episodes where everyone from the two houses came out on stage to witness the unveiling of the winning team. Ralphie, Tess, Rich, and Rob from LCS1 are on stage-left, while Alonzo, Tammy, Gary, and Jay from LCS2 are on stage-right, with the four others seen on the big screen behind them piled up on top of each other. Season Two is announced the winner again, making it $150,000 they have won so far in the series.

The bad news for LCS2 and worse news for LCS1 is that someone from each team is leaving due to low number of votes. To stirs thing up a little, Jay announces two people from each team to come forward, with one of the two from each team being the person who will leave at the end of the show. The two from LCS1 are Rob and Tess; the two from LCS2 are Tammy and Jay London. They are sent off to wait until the end of the show to find out who will be leaving (and, if tonight's episode turns out the way it looks, who will be the next to go in two weeks time).

The two teams are asked about how they are doing so far in the show and LCS1 votes for "we suck" in a landslide election; meanwhile, the LCS2 people are puffing themselves up as being a cohesive team that can do no wrong. We'll see if that continues tonight as the remaining four members of each team comes out to perform for the audience.

First up to do two and a half minutes is Sean. He talks about the good news that comes with being diagnosed with cancer, government intervention, and the Iraq War.

Dale: It's solid material. It's political as well - and liberal to boot - which is usually considered a no-no, but it didn't seem to hurt him the last time (or Kathleen either, for that matter).

Mike: That was my first thought as well, actually, that the political slant might cost him. I hope it doesn't, because I've just recently come over to the "Sean is funny" camp and want to see more of him!

John Heffron is next and he talks about how his little brother would always get him into trouble as a kid, and how he gets back at his folks by inviting them over to his house and then making them follow his rules.

Dale: I'm leaning towards saying this was John's weakest set I've seen. The little brother stuff was okay, but the "you're under my roof" stuff about the parents is a well-traveled road. I don't think it was bad; just okay. I don't think he'll lose voters because of it, however.

Mike: Again, I have to agree. John is usually such a presence, and this week he was just kind of "there." He still made me laugh, though, so I can't complain too much - an off night for John is still pretty good.