msdmoney

I'm surprised there isn't a thread this season, last season we had a weekly thread. Is anybody watching?

I was a little dissapointed with some of the choices this season, some of the people who made it and some who didn't. Couldn't beleive Tommy Johnagin didn't make it (he made the joke about his dad shooting somebody from 300 yards and calling it self defense), and Dante did with impressions that didn't have any comedy behind them, they were just impressions.

Lavell is probably my favorite, he does rely on fat jokes a lot, but his delivery is spot on, and his jokes consistently clever. Matt and Doug were a close second but they went home tonight.

I was stunned that Ralph Harris won a second head to head tonight. Maybe I don't get his humor, but I don't think he has gotten a slight chuckle out of me, I don't understand his appeal. Doug Benson's routine was hilarious, he can be hit and miss, but I thought he nailed it tonight. I was sure Doug had won, since Matt didn't have his best showing.

matta

I made a comment in another thread about LCS (though I can't find it with a search), but I was really disapointed with the comics selected. They blatantly rejected funnier comics for more famous comics. Debra was the perfect example. But, I chalked it up to editing and moved on...

But after the last few head-to-heads, I'm done with the show. We saw the complete 5-minute sets, and Ralph Harris didn't even get a smile out of me. He was completely unfunny and shouldn't have been on the same stage as the other two. I'm guessing that one of those "producer votes" gave him the win.

It's a funny show, it's obvious that it's not even close to being contest. If they changed the premise, that's one thing, but don't bring in "judges" whose votes don't count and audiences whose votes apparently don't count. Why should we believe that America's "vote" actually counts.

Charlie Goose

There was another thread, but with only a couple of posts per episode, it slipped into oblivion.

I was very surprised that Ralph Harris beat out Matt & Doug. Not only is he not very funny, but I've seen him do some of his bits as much as 15 years ago.

The immunity challenge last night was funny just by itself.
For those that didn't watch, they introduced 6 girls from Deal or No Deal that each comic was going to spend a minute or so with in private, but at the last minute they subbed a drag queen, a party clown, and a nun for 3 of the girls.

On a related note, I met that drag queen, Jackie Beat, when I was in Vegas in March. He's a comic that opened for Roseanne at New York New York. Even got a picture with him that I'm probably going to use for my Christmas card this year.

Ayre

I just tuned in for a couple minutes and stumbled on this joke. Thought it was one of the best.

... Then I realized she was trying to save me right there. I told her, 'I don't want to be rude, but you're wasting your time. I'm Jewish.' She said, 'Oh, honey, that's okay! You just haven't found Jesus Christ yet!'

I said, 'Oh, no! We found him! Maybe you haven't heard the bad news yet....'"

mdc3000

I love this show, but last night was bullshit. Ralph Harris hasn't been funny at all IMO, but Doug did a great set and I think Matt Kirshen is HILARIOUS. I'm still going to watch it of course, and right now I'm cheering for Gerry Dee and Amy Shumer. Amy is ridiculously quick and just flat out funny. I'm hoping when the public gets to vote that Ralph and Lavell get sent packing right off the bat - not funny.

JasonF

What gets me is when the comics go after someone who "hasn't paid their dues yet." We saw that last night when Doug and Ralph went after Matt, who has only been doing stand-up for a couple of years, and we've seen it in past seasons. Who the hell cares how long someone has been doing stand-up? Either you're funny or your not. There are some things about timing, etc., that you only learn by doing, so experience matters -- but if you're funny, you can overcome inexperience, and if you're not, no amount of experience will help.

Anyway, Matt and Amy are the only two comics I found consistently funny this season, so with Matt gone, I'm 100% rooting for Amy.

(Amy Schumer trivia: she is the neice of New York Senator Chuck Schumer).

JasonF

That got the best reaction ever -- disapproval turning to laughter. Conan O'Brien always gets excited when he gets that reaction from the audience, and I totally agree with him -- for a comedian, there must be nothing better than knowing that you are so funny that the audience wants to be mad at something you have said, but cannot help but find it funny.

Groucho

Matt Kirshen has been doing comedy for five years. That's a pretty long time if you ask me. Not twenty years, but it's not like he's some guy who got into line on a lark.

And he should have won last night. Since the vote was close, I imagine he would have won if he'd gone second or third and was fresh on the audience's mind.

Of the comedians left, I like Amy and Lavell the best.

matta

I think it's more like they're all friends. I'm sure most of the comedians good enough to travel run into each other on a semi-frequent basis, so if you've been doing standup for long enough, you know enough people and enough people know your name to build a network. The guys who just started or who tour overseas probably don't know the other comics nearly as well. When targeting someone, you naturally target someone you either don't like or don't know instead of targeting your friends.

I really do think the show is rigged. Many people who make the show have had Comedy Central specials or HBO specials and are represented. So their formula is to 1) find a host not working who used to be on a show, 2) call up the representatives of a few comics you already know and tell them to try out with a guaranteed amount of air time, 3) hold open auditions for fill-ins.

Amy and Matt seem like fill-ins (more so Matt than Amy who is apparently an "up and comer" on the NY scene), so they have to go eventually to make room for the people guaranteed airtime (Ralph, Gerry, Lavell). I also think that Gina and Mel were other fill-ins, and that Jon, Debra, Dante, and Doug were all guaranteed some smaller amount of airtime vs. the big 3.

I'm willing to bet everything up to Top 5 is staged to make sure that certain people get a certain amount of exposure. I doubt that the Top 5 voting is fixed, though (that would be a heck of a scandal).

And when I say rigged, I don't mean that they change votes, but that they do what they did to Drew Carrey: the judges (or audience) votes, and a separate group of producers vote, and the producer group's vote counts more or equal to the judge (or audience) votes. So if the producers vote to keep someone (because they vote as a block), you'd need 100% of the judges (or audience) to vote the opposite way just to force a tie.

zebop

I can't believe people like Ralph and that old-timey act. I remember him from the early '90s, he had a TV show (On Our Own) and I wasn't crazy about him then.

mrpayroll

I'm sorry, but none of the comics this season are funny at all. When you compare them to Season 1, even Dat Phan, with his repeating of the same jokes over and over again, was funnier than any of these comedians.

I do agree though, Amy and Lavell are the best they have, but Lavell's fat jokes are not going to last forever. Amy seems to have a quick wit on her, which helped her last night with the big surprise. Her being young and inexperienced has helped her a lot, because she has taken more chances than the other, more experienced comics.

I really miss having the comics living together and seeing the interactions between them during that time. Oh how I miss Season 1 with Dave Mordal, Rich Vos, Rob Cantrell & Ralphie May... even Dat Phan.

Chris

starman9000

I don't get how Jon Reep is on the show, I don't find him funny at all, and judging by the non-reaction of pretty much everyone in this thread I think nobody even pays attention to him so he just kind of slides by.

nny

I've liked this season, but last night was ridiculous with the worst comedian on the show beating out the 2 best.

rkndkn

Ralph Harris is not funny at all. I just don't like the way this show is structured with the "voting booth". It becomes all voting strategy, and if you're not in the head-to-head, you get a free pass. Seems really strange to me.

FantasticVSDoom

Ive been watching the show off and on, and last night I watched the head to head. Im glad I wasnt the only one, because I thought Ralph Harris was about as funny as a bag of hammers last night.

DWilson

I remember the first season and the constant re-use of jokes by Dat Phan and the other comedians was one of my big gripes, and it continued into Season Two. However, my understanding was this was something forced on the performers by the producers, and they weren't too crazy about it either. While this season is far from perfect, at least we're getting more new-ish material.

Patman

Seems to me, if you win a head-to-head, then they should give immunity to that winner in the next head-to-head, and have the other comedians go at one another in the challenge format.

Dignam

I'm confused, was this on last night? My DVR didn't record it for some reason, and nbc.com lists week 8 as the most current episode (the one with the medieval theme).

GuessWho

Yes, it was on last night and it was new

Dignam

I hate Comcast.

mdc3000

that's a really good idea - especially when someone like Matt had to go head to head twice in a row - and last night wasn't because of the voting booth technically... I thought it was kind of unfair how last week they did a head to head with 2 people but this week they insisted that it be 3 and therefore Matt got screwed - why didn't him and deborah get to challenge someone else last week as well... weak.

msdmoney

Although I was impressed with Amy on last nights show, I haven't found her funny in general. She relies on relationship jokes as much as Lavell does fat jokes.

MovieExchange

So whatever happened to Dat Pahn anyway? Man, there's someone that shot straight to obscurity...

matta

Because they needed to get to a final 5 in 3 episodes and started with 10. Two episodes had to be a 2-person elimination and one episode had to be a 1-person elimination. I'm sure they originally decided to go 10-> 8-> 6-> 5, but when they had the opportunity to just have a single elimination last week, they just said "screw it."

NORML54601