Last Comic Standing 5, Episode 4: Buddy – What Happened?

A look at last week’s ratings for Last Comic Standing shows it falling into third place, but with a respectable 3.7 and a 6 share. Could have been better, but there’s been worse as well. NBC got a 2.1 in the 18-49 market for the night, putting them in second, which should cheer them up a little.

As for this week, the try-outs continue on March 12 in London, England at the Comedy Store. This comes right after visiting Australia, so judges Alonzo, ANT and Kathleen probably had gotten a little more of a handle on accents by then!

The first comic on stage is Thomas Yianni, and he does a snoring bit that doesn’t win over any of them, and Alonzo asks him to stop. Yianni wonders if he could be given just a little longer and ANT agrees, only for Yianni to start into a bit about a Penis Enlargement Clinic (well, that WOULD be going in the direction of “a little longer” now, wouldn’t it?). ANT tells him to stop and Alonzo tells ANT to pay up as ANT tells Thomas to leave.

Matt Kirshen is next and does a bit about have trouble relating to the young generation being “the worst ever.” He’s funny and has a good point, leading to him being asked to come back for the showcase that night. Outside the club, Bill Bellamy asks Matt how long he has been a comic. Matt says five years, and Bill asks him if that is long enough to really figure out whom he is on stage. Matt nods and quietly states, “Yes, yes,” which cracks up Bill. It is a good response, and I think Matt has a good chance from what we see here.

Next up is Spencer Brown, who has been a comic for five years and - as a joke – admits he’s American and is just using the accent to “conform to stereotype and playing to the camera.” He does a physical gag about pensioners and the producers act like people in the U.S. would have no clue as to what that means, so they subtitle his joke and thereby break one of the first rules of comedy – you never stop the joke to explain things, unless it leads into a side joke. Unless the joke is “hey, you’re a bunch of ignorant yahoos out there” it really just messes with the timing of Spencer’s gag. Kathleen says that she sees Spencer as a toy she could wind-up and says “do it.” Hey, that’s sexual harassment, Kathleen! Yeah, I know it wasn’t what you meant, but once I take it completely out of context, it sure sounds like it!

Rob Deb comes out and is told that his material is bad. Admittedly it was a pretty bad gag, but innocently so. This leads into a discussion by ANT about how polite all the comics are when told that they are not advancing and, as seen in the montage that follows, sometimes in not the most polite way by the judges. John Howie stops the “bad” montage by telling the camera before he goes in front of the judges to NOT follow him afterwards if he fails, as he doesn’t want them chasing him down the street as he cries. Howie, however, wins over the judges with a series of jokes about being into Jewish rap and is asked to come back.

Tiffany Stevenson is also asked to come back after she does a “what if” about Desperate Housewives in England. It’s a cute joke, although a bit long in setting up. AndreCaballero is next and just vaguely rambles all over and then starts pinching his nipples when the judges tell him to stop. It’s obviously a gag to him, but not to the judges, and they seem ill-at-ease and upset. But, heck, I laughed at it.

Ava Vidal goes on stage as a brief interview is done with her about her four years working as a prison officer with inmates. Her on-stage material is about going to a meeting of the Nation of Islam’s argument over white people taking all the diamonds and gold from Africa is a tad predictable. Still, she does the gag well and certainly seems comfortable on stage, so her coming back for the showcase looks to be a good bet. She is followed by Buddy, who tears up the place and has Kathleen and Alonzo rolling with a very odd thing about flowers versus fruit for Valentine’s Day. But ANT instantly hates him for some reason and won’t let him advance. Why ANT’s opinion matters more than the other two doesn’t make much sense, considering that last week we saw Sarah Colonna advance with only two of the judges agreeing on her (ANT convinced Kathleen, while Alonzo still didn’t care for her). Does ANT have more voting power than the others? And if so, why? Or did they edit out Alonzo agreeing to let Sarah pass through last week? Very curious.

Anyway, Buddy takes it from ANT without flinching – no doubt helped by seeing Kathleen and Alonzo laughing hard and telling ANT to let Buddy come back that night. ANT wants to hear a joke and Buddy comes off the stage and calls ANT “Frances.” Alonzo and Kathleen love it and beg “Frances” to let him through, but the more they push, the more ANT digs in his heels. Buddy finally does a joke about spotting people with contacts and although ANT refuses to laugh, he finally lets Buddy through. Buddy leaves, telling the camera in a short interview that he was surprised at how “big” the production was, “with 15 cameras.” He thinks he may have not taken it seriously enough and will regret it. As we’ll see, truer words were never spoken, but for all the wrong reasons.

This week’s first Joke of the Day comes up in the commercial break:
Q: Where does a general keep his armies?
A: Sleevies? Really? That’s the answer? I just spent ten minutes trying to figure out what kind of dirty slang term “sleevies” could be before realizing that it just a pun on “sleeves.” Really over-thinking here.

The showcase begins at the Comedy Store after the commercial break with Bill Bellamy on stage. It is assumed that he did some comedy, but all we get to see is him introducing the show. Backstage, Matt notes seeing a lot of comics he respects, and figures it will be a great show that night. Josh is first and does some more Jewish material in order to show that the stereotypes are not true “… and because he’s heard there’s a lot of money” to be made doing that type of material. He’s solid and is followed by Ava Vidal who talks about Madonna “buying a black baby” and deciding to cash hers in. It takes a little bit of time to get to her punchline, but the end result is worth the trouble. Spencer Brown has some fun dealing with a promotion at a supermarket, while Benny Boot takes a new angle on the old “James Bond Villain” territory. Tiffany talks about not wanting to show public displays of affections for a good reason, while Rick Kiesenwetter, who is Japanese, does a thick Chinese accent for a funny bit about being mistaken for Chinese.