Checking In on the Comics from Last Comic Standing 1

The second season of Last Comic Standing is just around the corner, and fan-interest is already hot thanks to the marathon of episodes Comedy Central has been running these past few weeks, including an a marathon of comedy specials from the participants over the past few Friday nights and an all-day marathon on Saturday, June 5. There have also been rumors going around about who made it to the house on the new season, as well as who made the final five, but as we all know, rumors have a way of turning out to be wrong in one area or another.

Besides, the show hasn’t even started yet. In fact, we are still a day away from the premiere of the new season. That doesn’t mean we don’t have news to pass on, however, as we thought it would be a good idea to update fans on what the ten finalists have been doing since the show aired last year at this time. Before proceeding, we would like to thank Dave, Cory, Rob, Rich, and Tere for responding to our requests. We would also like to send a shout-out to Geoff and Tess to let them know that we’re having trouble tracking them down to let them get a chance to be heard this way as well. If anyone has any contact with them, please let them know about the email address at the bottom of this article and have them drop us a line. We’ll be glad to throw in their comments into one of the weekly reviews in the coming weeks.

First off, a word on Jay Mohr, who has been busy with several other projects recently beyond that of the new season of LCS. His book, Gasping for Airtime : Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live, comes out on June 9 and can be ordered by clicking on that link. It looks to be a great book, and as we move through the season, we’ll probably do a review of the book for reader of RNO as well. Jay also appeared recently in a multi-episode arc of West Wing, and his hour-long Comedy Central special, My Turn, has popped up a few times over the past few months as well (and well worth tracking down to watch, I might add). Jay also has the starring role in a new comedy called Seeing Other People, which is working its way across the U.S., and has a co-starring role in Are We There Yet?, which should be coming out later this year as well. So be on the lookout for both of them.

Speaking of “be on the lookout for both of them,” let us turn to the contestants by starting with Geoff and Tess. Of the two, Tess has been the busiest on television and will be lighting up our screens during the second season of LCS this Wednesday night when she appears as one of the judges at the Paris final taped back in February. Many reports that we received about that show from fans that went also stated Tess did an impromptu set for the audience during a long break in the evening and wowed the crowd. She’s also been appearing on other programs throughout the past year, as well as several comedy stops.

Not as much has been heard about Geoff Brown, who lasted on LCS until the final “house” episode of the series. It is known that he has continued his stand-up career in various parts of the country and even took in one of the L.A. try-outs back in the first part of this year. We wish him and Tess continued success. (Heh. That rhymed. Sorry.)

Sean Kent, the man from Texas who had suffered through bouts of cancer and was the first out the door at LCS has not been heard from for a while. Hopefully, that is just a case of him doing things that haven’t seen a lot of coverage and nothing more than that.

Speaking of people we haven’t heard from, we have never heard from Dat Phan, although we have tried a few times in the past to contact him. Perhaps that understandable, considering some of the people out there who are still wigging out over the fact that Dat Phan won the first season. To paraphrase something a person from the first season told us recently, “it’s been a year; people need to give it a rest.” It is a good point – Dat Phan won with a combination of some funny material and a personality that won over the home viewers.

As to what he is doing now, fans can always check out his official site.. We have mentioned before about his appearance on the NBC series, West Wing, as well as in the movie Cellular, which has yet to come out. He has been doing a lot of appearances around the country with is act, usually in an emcee role. Also, Dat Phan will be seen this season on LCS2 during the tryout episode that was filmed in New York, so keep an eye out for that this week.