Reads the headline in a fantasy world.
Witness the illustration on the front page of the NBC website (above). It’s a “comic” from Australia. We suppose that a still of a white male or female dressed normally (which, we suppose would be the vast majority of the folks auditioning) is a real yawn, so the dress-ups and the screamers and the scary-haired ones make it into the website thumbnails for the video samples. And into the trailers.
“Sydney Auditions- Oz’s Shining Star” reads the title of one video. The subtitle reads, “The only funny man in Australia?” So… they’ve managed to diss an entire continent’s comedians. Nice! (We suppose they have a twist. It’ll probably come out that they’re only being provocative, but it’s rather unnerving that they feel they have to go that route.)
In the main trailer, Bill Bellamy briefly interviews an auditioner, a female. It is discovered that it’s her first time doing standup. Why she was included in the trailer is mysterious.
In the comments under the trailer, some folks weigh in on the rookie, with one, Casey R., who says, “Her name is Jamie Greenberg and she was seriously the most insane person I have ever met. One time she was drunk in the dining hall and got up on the table and screamed out ‘eat my ____'”
NBC undoubtedly has good lawyers.
We suppose one of the main things we’ll be keeping an eye on is how this circus– the promotion of the show, the show itself, the commentary, the website– reflects on standup comics and live comedy in general. So far, it’s… less than positive.