Last Comic Standing 4, Episode 10: All-Male Revue

Big news for the week is who will be showing up for the last episode of the season. I say the last episode instead of FINALE because Last Comic Standing has always had a confusing way to work out the last two episodes of the season. As stated on the program tonight, next Tuesday, August 8th, we will see the “finale” of the show, which will feature guest comic Paul Rodriguez and performances from the two finalists in the “Online Comics” competition, as well as one of the three remaining comics sent home and the two remaining comics performing for a final vote. However, on Wednesday, August 9th, there will be a two hour “reveal,” where not only will we see who exactly is the Last Comic Standing, but will also see performances from the winners of LCS 1, 2, and 3: Dat Phan, Jon Heffron, and Alonzo Boden! Additionally, series creator and long-time host, Jay Mohr, will be appearing on the program!

Tickets are still available for these two shows next week. I went to see the reveal episode shot in the first season, and it is a great chance to see how they put all of this together -- not to mention seeing all the previous winners in one place. For info, check it out here.

Yeah, it sounds like I’m getting paid to say it, but it really is a good, cheap date. What can I tell you?

Into the show itself, as one more comic is voted off and three remain to perform once again. Anthony Clark – who is finally starting to warm up a little, although still not given much of a chance to be funny – introduces Michele, Ty, Josh, and Chris to the stage. They then immediately have to leave so that Clark can continue with the show. He is soon interrupted by LCS2/LCS3 comic Jay London, who stumbles onstage to some rather thunderous applause from the audience. He seems taken aback by the response, but soon jumps right in with his normal act, starting with the evolutionary scale joke that he always does. I probably should complain about that, but the guy is just so darn lovable I just laughed at it all again. Nice surprise to see him on the show this week.

Once Jay is done, Anthony introduces Caroline Rhea by mentioning Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. He could have also mentioned that she was once a judge on LCS, which ties her into the show a bit more than Sabrina. On the other hand, it helps set up one of her jokes about the mechanical cat on the program. She talks about being the host of The Biggest Loser, as well a variety of other topics. She and Jay both came off much better than Gary Gulman from last week, with a lot of quick, funny gags about a variety of topics instead of Gulman’s preoccupation on two topics for his entire set.

After a bit where Jay London takes Anthony Clark’s microphone away, Jay brings the four comics back out in order to announce who will be leaving. Clark goes up to Josh first to tell him that he will be performing later in the show. Josh leaves, as Clark moves on to Chris. Chris is told by Clark that he will have to stay on stage for a bit longer. Ty is next told that he is not going home, and Ty moves off the stage, leaving Michele and Chris with Clark. Clark then tells Michele that she will find out if she is going “after the break,” and they go to a commercial. The same gag was pulled in Season 2 by Jay, who nicely compounded the prank by manically laughing into the camera. It worked a lot better then than now, as it really needed a bit of that mania to get the joke across.

After the commercial break, Michele is told in a very drawn-out fashion that she will be leaving the show. She seems somewhat surprised. Who knows how Chris would have reacted, as before they announced Michele’s name he appeared to be ready to go postal if he was named. Chris leaves quickly without acknowledging Clark or Michele.

Michele thanks all of her new and old fans for their support and said that the show was a gift for her. One thing that she can always point to is the fact that she won three challenges during the course of the show, which may say more right there than what the three finalists will have in looking back on the show after it is over. I thought she did a very good job on the show, continuing to crank out material at a steady pace. Sorry to see her go.

With the number of comics remaining now standing at three, Josh is the first to come out for another round of performances which will dwindle the number down to two next week. Josh is overwhelmed by his experience in doing the show, feeling at the same time that it shows what a person with his condition can do in life. He comes out, surprised at the audience still happy to see him after so many weeks. He talks about missing a global warming event in the park “because it was too hot,” why the self-scan at the grocery check-out is not good to use if you have CP, parents who spell everything, and trying to shave. It’s really another solid set from Josh, who just seems to fly through his material as if in regular conversation with the audience, making for a good mood.

Anthony Clark tells viewers that next week will see the two finalists of the “Online Comics” competition perform. We are then shown clips of Theo Von and Josh Wolf doing some of their worst material from their rather mediocre sets. Theo and Josh beat out Doug Benson, Kaitlin Columbo, Wild Willy Parsons, and Nikki Payne. Let me repeat that – Theo and Josh beat out Doug Benson, Kaitlin Columbo, Wild Willy Parsons, and Nikki Payne. They somehow beat out some of the best comics that appeared on the show… period. I mean, not even “best of the comics that didn’t make it,” but some of the best that DID make it. Well, so much for this whole “Online Comics” voting idea.

Chris comes out and says that the reaction to doing the show has been intense. Chris then states that he had read people “on the message board” saying he sucked, but “they must have missed the standing ovation I got.” With that, Chris pretty much throws away his chance of winning the show. Forgetting for a moment that the audience is told to give each comic a standing ovation after they perform, pointing out the standing O makes Chris look like he has a chip on his shoulder. It will no doubt rub some people the wrong way. Chris tops that off by going through a set about mushrooms, gays, and anti-drug ads in a very angry, tense style that throws some of the jokes away. Frankly, after his earlier appearance in the show and this set, along with his previous set from last week, it appears that Chris is a bit stressed out. Shame, as he started off the series strongly by winning viewers over when he was going with a gentler style. That’s quickly disappearing and it’s hurting his material and his chances of winning.

Ty is last, and he states that he is going to grab his chance while he can while he is on the show. He talks about seat belts, “special features” on a DVD, cartoons at three in the morning, breeding tests, a great gag about cooking meth, and addiction vs. disease. As with his previous performances, he really connects with the audience, and his material flows at an incredibly smooth pace. He fumbles a bit with his parting gag, but it could be read as him merely stretching the gag out to get to a secondary punchline.

In all, I would have to say that Ty did the best of the three, with Josh as a close second. Chris had good material, but seemed a bit off and hurt his chances I believe. So I predict that it will be Ty and Josh for the final two next Tuesday.

We’ll see how it goes next week when we see who really is the Last Comic Standing. Until then, NBC and the producers still have another week to… BRING BACK KLAUS!

Now that you've read about the comedians and what Dale thought, be sure to click over to Foxes On Idol to see what the We'll Be the Judge of That! panel had to say!

You can e-mail Dale about this column or his other projects at justabob@iglou.com. You can also click here to buy his book, The Urban Legends of Rock and Roll: You Never Can Tell, or any of his other books. Dale also writes weekly recaps for the Ohio Valley Wrestling shows at their official website.

For more news about Last Comic Standing 4, be sure to check out SirLinksALot: Last Comic Standing!