Last Comic Standing, Episode 6: Dat Phan Dat You Do!

Some quick news items related to the show before we jump into this week’s recap:

Once again, Last Comic Standing won the ratings for NBC on Tuesdays, with 7.9 million watching. That is down from the previous week, but not by much; so the ratings seem to be evening out finally after three weeks of decline. Two episodes remain in the series, so NBC is obviously happy enough with the series that doing more seasons is definitely on the agenda.

If you’re a reader who will be in the NYC area this weekend and want to see some of the best of the comedians live, make sure to check out Dave Mordal, Cory Kahanney, and Rich Vos at Caroline’s Comedy Club. They’ll be there from July 10 through the 13th.

For those who might have missed it, Dale has written an article about the controversy that surrounded Tere Joyce (who was eliminated in Episode Five). Speaking of which, with Tere’s elimination from the house, they are now down to eight comics as the sixth episode of the series begins. It is known amongst the cast that they will be able to vote out someone this week and then someone the following week before they get down to a final . . . six. Uh, I kept hearing that they would be reduced to five for the eighth and final episode of the series. Then again, I’ve now heard that the final episode may be a two-hour special, so perhaps a fifth comedian will be voted off in the first hour there.

Boy, they really need to give us a rule book with this program.

Anyway, the episode starts with Dat sweating it. He is nervous, and with good reason – practically everyone else in the house is licking their lips and salivating at the opportunity to vote for Dat this week. Tess doesn’t even bother hiding her contempt for Dat, telling the camera that Dat has been getting on her nerves and later telling Ralphie that Dat better study his jokes well, because he wasn’t going to be there much longer. Unfortunately, it is not explained why Dat is getting on her nerves, so it just appears that Tess is someone who has a low tolerance for those around her. Not saying that is the actual case, but that is how it reads in the editing.

Dave, meanwhile, has some fun with the cameras as they film Dat working out. Dave creeps out of the bushes every few seconds and eyeing Dat suspiciously, as if he is about to pull out the sniper rifle and start shooting. Funny stuff.

There is no visit to the fortune-teller machine this week, as Jay arrives to tell them this week’s “immunity” challenge. It is another challenge related to something that haunts comics in their sleep – having to pitch a sitcom they have created to a group of people. In this case, it will be a “focus group,” which will be made up of normal, everyday people. The focus group will hear the creative ideas of the comedians and then tear the ideas and comedians apart like wild animals thirsting for blood. As one can guess, none of the comedians are exactly thrilled with the idea.

Dat jumps at the chance, however, as he already knows the feeling of having wild animals thirsting for his blood. If he can win this challenge, he can avoid facing the elimination challenge that week. For this reason, Dat feels brave enough to pitch his idea about a beauty salon to some of the others. Cory throws a couple of ideas his way to help him out – including the title – but the majority of the creative input is Dat. Dat decides to incorporate her thoughts, which will come back to haunt Cory later in the program.

Later at the house, everyone decides to play a practical joke on Dat. They tell Dat that they are going to play Hide and Seek, with Ralphie as “it.” What Dat doesn’t know is that no one else is actually going to hide. Instead, they’re going to wait to see how long it takes Dat to realize that no one is looking for him. Dat hides in the theater, telling the cameraman to not film him or else “Ralphie will know where I am.”

The clock ticks by, as Dave (who is credited with coming up with the idea) cracks wise about Dat sitting somewhere in hiding and Ralphie being anxious to find him. 17 minutes pass and Dat begins to sweat, which he seems to do a lot. 42 minutes pass and Dat comments that he is pretending that there is an ax-murderer in the house, so he can remain in hiding. 45 minutes pass and Cory tells the others that she is feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing. Finally 53 minutes pass and Dat comes out to find the group sitting around, while Ralphie continues to read his book. Everyone has a good laugh, but Dat is a bit hurt to be made the butt of their joke.

But everyone makes up with Dat by telling him that they need him to go to the hardware store and buy a left-handed monkeywrench for the upcoming snipe-hunt –

Okay, they don’t actually do that. I just made that up.

Dat tells the camera later that he was hurt by the joke, but knew he couldn’t get mad about it, or else it would make things even worse for him. He does plan to get back at them, however. As it turns out, he does exactly that with the challenge this week.

After having their sitcom pitches videotaped, the comedians are taken to watch the focus group review their videos. The comedians can see the focus group as Joy Mohr walks the group through the pitches. Tess is first, with an idea about a “sexy black woman who marries a redneck country-western singer who has to teach the nice white people in Nashville how black people live.” The focus group looks like they’re in pain, but no doubt some executive at WB is already jotting down this one for next season.