Our spies were correct. When we posted about this episode on July 24, we correctly predicted the outcome of tonight’s showdown. Dante, Gina Yahere and Ralph Harris in a three-way showdown, with Harris coming out on top. He got 62 per cent of the audience vote.

No one has slipped us any information about the upcoming competitions/episodes, so we figure they must be tightening up security. Maybe they’ve sequestered entire audiences. Lord knows they’re not spending the production budget on sets or a house or anything else that might make the show interesing.

We’ve been telling folks privately that Ralph is not to be underestimated. We’ve been familiar with Ralph for as long has he’s been doing standup. He could end up in the top three and possibly win the whole thing. With tonight’s set, he’s made sure that no one will dare challenge him again. (Unless they make the mistake of thinking that tonight’s set is all he’s got. Trust us. It ain’t. And it’s probably all TV clean.)

And we were half right when we predicted that the producers would bring back Mel Silverback “in spirit.”

Perhaps they’ll dredge him back up in spirit by concocting a challenge for future episodes– Bellamy Bill will tell the contestants (in a raised voice) “each of you will be forced to do five minutes in the animal costume of his or her choice!”

Well, don’t you know ol’ Mel appeared on this episode driving that awful short yellow bus! That’s right! Mel Silverback was, ostensibly, the man/beast who drove the contestants to the Heckler Challenge at the Ice House in Pasadena (Yeah, right. Mel entered, the contestants shouted their surprise and their hello’s and then he was gone. Our favorite part was that they superimposed “Mel Silverback, 14 years doing comedy” over his chest, then they showed him driving a bus! Chilling!)

And how about that Heckler Challenge?

Firstly, let’s give Doug Benson his props– “My dream has been to get on a short bus with nine other comics, one of whom can’t fit through the door.” He’s hysterical. He’s got the exact right attitude for this thing: No talk of dying relatives, no saving for a kidney transplant, no “mouths to feed” speeches. Just wise guy all the way, with a touch of the absurd and a slight smirk. We wouldn’t want to be on the show without Doug Benson. Perhaps, if this show limps into another season, they should consider making him the host! Let Doug Benson host and let him write his own copy! That’s a good idea. So… naturally, it’s not going to happen. Because this show is all about bad ideas… like the Heckler Challenge!

You know how we feel about the Heckler Challenge. We feel that way even moreso now that we’ve seen it a second time. It’s wrong on so many levels. And not at all entertaining. And, of course, it encourages heckling. It’s a lose/lose/lose.

Dealing with hecklers might be a part of our business, unfortunately. So, it might be understandable why a producer might concoct some sort of contrivance that incorporates heckling into the show. But do they have to make the contestants heckle the other contestants? It’s unseemly! It might be okay to test the comics’ ability to handle one, but why test the comics’ ability to heckle? That’s just sick!

Exactly what is Gerry Dee’s problem? Heckling Dee was Jon Reep. Reep did what was expected and Dee handled the first heckle or two, then went personal! He mimicked Reep– he did a bit or two from Reep’s set earlier in the evening, but in a grotesque, exaggerated manner! He mocked Reep in a way that was unnecessarily focused on Reep, not on Reep playing a heckler.

Lavell Crawford won the Heckler Challenge, thereby making him exempt from challenges in the next phase.

We think we’re funnier than…

…the producers of Last Comic Standing.

Did that Challenge thingie at the end, in the Los Angeles Coliseum look like kee-rap or what? Ten comics, sitting on condo furniture on the 50-yard line of the football field. And they all had to lumber over to a photo booth about 20 yards away to issue their challenge while ominous music played. Scintillating!

And what is with all the hostility toward Dante? It is a mystery to the viewers. We’re shown three of the ten comics saying, “I think I’m funnier than Dante.” And we picked up on some mild mocking of Dante in the banter during some of the brief backstage scenes. And we’re treated to Doug Benson saying, “Who do I want to see lose? I cahn-tay tell you!” (The joke is that Benson pronounced “can’t” to rhyme with Dante.) But, since they’ve taken away The House and they’ve stripped away nearly all the Reality TV aspects of the show, we really aren’t privy to why anyone feels the way they do about their fellow contestants. It’s a formula for frustration. It doesn’t make for very riveting reality television.

The Female Half sustained a minor laceration to her lower left calf as she leapt from the lounge chair when they showed the teaser for next week’s challenge! That’s just how bad it looks to be– “Tune in next week when the contestants…DRESS UP LIKE IDIOTS!” Their exact words. They’re making the comics dress up like court jesters and go out and perform in the middle of the dirt ring at the center of a medieval dinner theater. That’s right. We’ll repeat it.

They’re making the comics dress up like court jesters and go out and perform the middle of the dirt ring at the center of a medieval dinner theater.

It has never been clearer that the producers of this show lack imagination, a sense of humor and any appreciation for standup comedy as an art form and standup comics as performers.

We jokingly suggested last week that they might make the comics dress up like animals and do material as that creature. Sadly, we fear that we weren’t that far off.

If we get through this season without the comics being forced to perform at a nudist camp, we’ll be surprised. Or perhaps they’ll be marched, blindfolded, into a biker bar to perform on Cream Pie Night. Can a set at San Quentin be in the works?