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TV and the WWW and standup fame and L.C.S.

Who is benefitting from appearing on L.C.S.? A cursory examination of our statistics reveals that, so far at least, the big winners seem to be Bonnie McFarlane, Pablo Francisco and Will Durst. Also sparking interest on the WWW are Dan Naturman, Frank Santorelli and Jay London. One might conclude that The Stripper and Buck Star are also benefitting. We prefer to regard them as the William Hung of Last Comic Standing— something to give the first two episodes a narrative framework or a little spice. Nothing like a naked babe on a pole to keep the ratings up! Unlike Hung, however, neither “comedian” is likely to be signing any contracts, recording or otherwise, in the near future.

The top ten search strings…

bonnie mcfarlane
lewis black
pablo francisco last comic standing
buck star last comic standing
dick cavett
will durst last comic standing
mitch hedberg
shecky magazine
last comic standing stripper
last comic standing pablo francisco

A further tunnelling into the stats is revealing not so much for who shows up, but for who doesn’t show up. Keep in mind, none of this is science– we’re not experts at analyzing search engine data. But there are certain comics who were featured heavily on L.C.S. that aren’t popping up in the stats. (At least not in our stats… it may well be that surfers are searching for Todd Glass or Tammy Pescatelli, but they’re not coming to SHECKYmagazine.com. Possibly because their personal websites already have strong rankings in the search engines.) To put it another way: Santorelli has no official website and the only websites with more than a passing mention of him are TVTome.com and on our humble site.

It is a fascinating look into the power of the medium of television, however. And it also illustrates how the internet has become a companion to TV viewing. And it also demonstrates how comics who fail to develop official websites are missing a golden opportunity to capitalize on network television appearances. (Frank– You have our number… We’d love to design a site for you!)