Last Comic Standing: Episode 9 ANALYSIS

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on August 16th, 2007

Doug Benson OUT! Matt Kirshen OUT!

Your final five: Lavell Crawford, Amy Schumer, Ralph Harris, Gerry Dee, Jon Reep.

Amy Schumer won immunity by amusing three of the suitcase girls from Deal or No Deal, a transvestite, a nun and a clown… one on one… in private booths. It sounds a lot more creepy than it actually was… or maybe it doesn’t.

They took the seven finalists to a social club, then introduced them to six of the girls from DOND. They told each of the comics that they were going to sit in a booth with each of the girls, one at a time, and tell them jokes. At the end, they’d tally up their scores and the winner would gain immunity.

Except they pulled a switcheroo! That’s right– they substituted three of the girls with an outrageously made up transvestite, a nun from an order in Culver City and a female clown. The Female Half predicted Schumer would have the advantage and she was dead on.

It was crisply edited and was actually entertaining. At one point or another, each comic, except for Schumer, reached the point where they gave up. To humorous effect. They were defeated, but not sullen. Once again, Benson was hilarious– spinning out (admittedly) wholly inappropriate material to the nun about how great he was in bed. (Saying later: “I’ve already lost this challenge, so I may as well do the most inappropriate thing I could possibly do… besides whipping it out and slapping it on the table.”)

Dee actually had a strategy: Do the same bit for each and every booth. It was a bit that nearly every woman could relate to, so the strategy was sound. It was undermined when he rounded the corner and discovered the transvestite, who was not only physically unattractive, but seemed to be dumb as a post. Nice try.

Harris booted it bad, probably because he was confident that he could handle any head to head competition and therefore didn’t need immunity.

One thing this challenge may have revealed about comics is that they know their limitations and that they have a sense of humor about their limitations. This tired notion that comedians are always on, and so starved for the laugh, and that they’ll do anything for it, was disproved by this experiment. When we say that some gave up, we mean that in the best sense– when confronted with an absurd situation, they assessed it, they quickly waved the white flag and they surrendered– but they did so good-naturedly. Schumer did not give up. In a way, her inexperience helped her win this portion– not that she was starved for attention or approval, but she seemed determined to avoid the head-to-head at all costs.

When they revealed the winner, Schumer, via a voiceover, told how hurt she was that she got no congratulatory hugs from either Crawford or Harris and she boo-hoo’ed about how she thought they were her friends. As Reality TV moments go, it was a snoozer. We suspect that Harris and Crawford were dumbstruck at the reality of Schumer automatically vaulting to the Final Five. And the failure to be all touchy feely bit Harris in the ass later, as Schumer challenged Harris, thereby practically guaranteeing him a place on the head-to-head show.

That head-to-head, “I think I’m funnier than…” portion took place on the beach near Santa Monic Pier. With a camp fire.

Two comics challenged Harris. Since one of them was Schumer (who had immunity), and the other was Benson, Benson and Harris had to go into the booth together and pick the third comic that would compete on this evening.

They chose Matt Kirshen.

Thus the stage was set for the show at the el Capitan.

What is with the re-jiggering of the rules? Are they making it up as they go along? Last week, a similar situation to this week occurred– a head-to head contestant was chosen by someone with immunity. Yet, only two people went against each other last week. Why weren’t two people eliminated last week? Why weren’t Kirshen and DiGiovanni forced to pick a third comic, as Benson and Harris were forced to do this week? Had two been eliminated last week this installment would have been a whole different ballgame.

Are there any spies out there who can shed light on this?

The Bellamy Bill Assessment:

When starting his “set,” he asked the audience at the theater, “Do you watch Reality TV?” Uh… ya mean… like… Last Comic Standing? Kinda like getting on the plane and having the pilot ask if anyone knows where the plane is headed!

Also, ended his set by doing a bit in which he calls his three-year-old daughter, “Bitch!” A blow for free speech! Or a great way to make the crowd uncomfortable for… Matt Kirshen!

Kirshen went first, Harris second. Benson came out last, after the commercial break and did a bizarre set, a Benson-esque set. And, allegedly, the voting was the closest in LCS history.

Kirshen was a victim of bad editing– he seemingly segued from a joke about a photograph of a naked child by saying, “But you gotta find love where you can!” We’re sure that wasn’t the true order.

Prediction: Harris will win the whole thing on September 19. Just as we’ve been saying from the beginning.

Mel Silverback sighting: He (or someone in a gorilla suit) was in charge of banging the gong to signal the end of each round of the social club challenge. He appeared on camera twice.

Schumer, via a voiceover, on the beach, said, “There are comics who think that women have no place in comedy. I didn’t think Ralph was one of them…” Thereby implying that Ralph was actually one of them. Utterly ridiculous. She should be ashamed of herself dragging sexism into this mess. We speculate that Harris wasn’t upset because she made it into the finals because she was a female… but because she made it into the finals with so little experience. The Female Half started out with Harris, and, according to her, “He never seemed to have a problem with me!” (She adds that she’s also gotten a lot of hugs from the man.)

Tonight’s episode also contained a segment that depicted the seven comics attending a session at the studio of a couple of pretentious, bohemian relaxation therapist gals– beating a giant cushion with a baseball bat, whupping on a dummy, crawling around on the floor and general new age crap. Funny, considering that the number one way to make comics un-relaxed is to put them in the hands of the utterly humorless and make them do the kinds of things that they like to make fun of when they hit the stage.