Last Comic Standing
On May 30, 2006 the show returned to NBC with a 2 hour special and new host
Anthony Clark.
The season averaged a 4.4 share (4,848,800 households) coming in second or third in its timeslot.
Josh Blue, who lives with
cerebral palsy, was the last comic standing on the
August 9,
2006, conclusion of the contest. Ty Barnett finished second and
Chris Porter was third. Other contestants were Rebecca Corry, Kristine Key,
Gabriel Iglesias, Michele Balan, Roz, April Macie, Joey Gay,
Bil Dwyer, and Stella Stolper. Also Theo Von won the online voting to be the Last Comic Downloaded.
Season 5: Summer 2007
On July 22, 2006 NBC announced that it will return Last Comic Standing for a fifth season in the summer of 2007. No details have been released, as season five nears, information on a premiere date and format will be released. [
1]
One of the concepts of the show involved the fact that a panel of four celebrity judges were utilized to help whittle the 40 semi-finalists down to 10 finalists. However it was revealed, unintentionally, that the celebrity judges did not actually have any legitimate power over what final contestants when two of the celebrity judges, comedians
Drew Carey and
Brett Butler responded in outrage and stormed away from the judge's table after the finalists were announced.
The two were then shown backstage arguing with producers; they did not understand how the finalists who were announced could possibly be correct as it did not add up with their votes. It was revealed that a panel of four producers were also casting votes in the process, assuring that unless all four celebrity judges cast the exact same ten votes, a highly unlikely event, their voting power could be usurped by the four unanimously agreeing producer votes. (If for some reason all four celebrity judges did cast the exact same votes, the worst the producers would be faced with is a tie.)
Carey became further outraged upon learning this information; he expressed that he was infuriated that he had been led to believe he had an actual say in the outcome of the show when "all you wanted was our faces" (in other words, their presence was meaningless except to draw in viewers based on their star power). Ultimately, the legitimacy of the program and contest was compromised as it was proven that contestants were not being chosen based on the quality of their stand-up comedy, but in fact at least partially on how entertaining their interactions while living together would be for a television audience. Another important revelation was that some of the finalists who advanced were clients of the producers or directors of the show, which indicated that the show was intended to promote certain comics, rather than depicting comics being chosen by merit.
It was also alleged that some of the competitors in opening rounds are in fact plants hired by the producers to liven up the auditions on television[
2]. Buck Star, a comedian who follows talent executives Bob Read & Ross Mark to auditions across the country, is rumored to be a
production assistant for
NBC [
3]. Also, many of the amateur comedians have to battle directly with some well-known comics, making it harder for them to progress in the competition and making it easy for veterans to stage a comeback or to maintain exposure to the public between projects.
Some viewers complaint the series being completely shot on film, which makes the show lacking the feel of "reality".
* A few established comedians have appeared as contestants on
Last Comic Standing. They include
Doug Benson (
Best Week Ever),
Gabriel Iglesias (
All That and
Comedy Central Presents),
Bil Dwyer (
Battlebots,
I've Got a Secret),
Marc Price (
Family Ties),
Larry Reeb (
Bob & Tom Show),
Josh Blue (
Mind of Mencia), Dan Levy (
The Reality Show, Your Face or Mine),
Rich Vos,
Todd Glass,
Kathleen Madigan,
Theo Von (
Road Rules), and
Jimmy Pardo. Additionally, Canada's
Nikki Payne (Muchmusic's
Video On Trial and Comedy Network's
Buzz) has appeared on the fourth season of
Last Comic Standing.
* It is one of the first reality shows to be completely shot on film.
*
Jim Norton, of
Lucky Louie,
Spiderman movie and
Opie & Anthony fame, qualified to be on the show, but was informed by the producers that he was "too famous" and had too many bookings to compete.
*
Official website*
Last Comic Standing on
TV Squad*
Last Comic Standing on Reality Thumbnails
*
Last Comic Standing Fansite*
Josh Blue fansite[[Category:Reality television series|Lashttp://www.realitythumbnails.com/category/last-comic-standing-4/Last Comic Standingt Comic Standing]]
