"Reality" Re-Cap: Last Comic Standing

Last Wednesday, before my (at first) enforced retreat from the blogosphere, I was going to write about last Tuesday's episode of Last Comic Standing. I'm going to do that now, just in time for an all new episode this evening.

I wish they would expand to two hours, enabling them to show the comics' entire 3-minute sets and the judges' (or "celebrity talent scouts") comments on all them, rather than only a select few. That certainly would have been better than wasting an hour of airtime with an edited "recap" of the premiere. This week they're filling the 8 o'clock hour with something even worse: Fear Factor. I've said that since I've been writing about TV on this blog, I've watched more so-called "reality" shows than I ever did before, but, blog or no blog, there is no force in heaven or on Earth that could ever compel me to watch an episode, or even part of an episode, of Fear Factor.

All right, with that mini-rant out of the way, let's look at the first five comics selected to advance to the finals: Chris Porter, April Macie, Joey Gay, Roz, and Josh Blue.

I'm not all that happy with the choices.

First of all, I am disappointed that my personal favorite from the first two episodes, Nikki Glaser, didn't make it. I really like her and feel she was the best comic on the show. Her material has a dark, almost uncomfortable, edge that in the hands of a lesser talent might induce cringing ranther thatn laughter, but she managed to pull off jokes about alcoholism and domestic violence and make them funny. I hope that I'll get to see more of her in the future, if not on LCS, then elsewhere.

Joey Gay is loud...I think he'll get tiresome after a while.

Roz told the audience in her nightclub audition that "I don't have jokes; I have problems!" She was right about not having jokes, and her problem is that she ain't funny.

April Macie's routine last week contained a few too many penis jokes (and not very funny ones, at that) for my taste.

Okay, this may sound crass and insensitive, but while I find Josh Blue funny, he is basically a one-note performer relying on a gimmick, in this case, that he has cerebral palsy. (That does make me sound like a horrible person, doesn't it?)

Chris Porter? He's OK, I guess.

Anyway, tonight we get to see who the remaining five finalists are, and maybe we'll get to see Tim Meadows again. That'll be a treat. You just don't see enough of him on the tube these days.