Modified On June 3, 2010
Reality TV World blog has a piece on the upcoming season of Last Comic Standing complete with perplexing quotes from the producer!
“‘Last Comic Standing’ hoping to ‘add some credibility’ with new revival” tells of all the changes implemented by producers of the show. During a conference call with the media, producer Jayson Dinsmore says something that caught our attention:
Earlier this year, it was reported that NBC reality programming chief Paul Telegdy was interested in relaunching Last Comic Standing with a few format changes, and Dinsmore said he’s glad the network decided to bring the show back.
“Honestly, I think it was on for so many years that the talent pool might have dwindled a bit. Taking it off and resting it for a few years gave us the opportunity for comedians to sort of see themselves again,” he explained to reporters.
Oh, yes he DID say that.
Perhaps he was misquoted. Perhaps he didn’t actually mean that the “talent pool might have dwindled a bit.” Maybe he just meant that the talent pool that LCS might have had access to might have dwindled.
Because no one could seriously believe that the comedy talent pool might have simply “dwindled” during the five or six years that LCS stomped and insulted its way through standup America, belittling and degrading comedians (professional and otherwise) with its “challenges” and its “house” and its cricket montages and its slash and burn editing. There was less “dwindling” (a passive term) and far more “avoidance” (an active term). To explain further: The pool of talent did not shrink. But the number of competent, professional comedians who felt that the advantages of associating with LCS outweighed the risks shrank.
Dinsmore continues:
In addition, Dinsmore said the show’s layoff — it last aired in Summer 2008 — provided better talent at auditions.
“The level of talent we’ve seen is a much higher level this year. There were lots of contestants that tried out this season that hadn’t tried out in previous seasons,” he explained.
We sure hope he doesn’t believe that some sort of “talent pool” magic has resulted in a better grade of comedians at this season’s auditions and showcases.
We like to think that he’s just saying that because he thinks that’s what the media want to hear. Or perhaps that’s the only way he can account for a perceived difference in the level of talent. Speaking of a talent pool is an easier way to nutshell the whole situation without trashing the outgoing producers, maybe.
We can’t get behind this talent pool metaphor, though. Let’s face it: Only two years passed between the time the ’08 auditions were held and these most recent auditions. It takes a lot longer than that for a comedian to master this craft. And there just aren’t that many comics “on the cusp” or “new comedians” who might have turned some sort of corner in the space of two years.
We like to think that the reason that there might have been “better talent at the auditions” is because, starting way back in January or so, word hit the comedy street that the show was going to be different. We all heard rumors that there would be no house. It was also circulated that the show would be more about standup and less about washing cars or dressing up like jesters or making nuns laugh.
Knock out the circus atmosphere, eliminate the Reality Television conventions and– whaddya know?– you automatically have that many more respectable comedians beating your door down for an audition. You automatically have that many more agents or managers who might consent to allow their clients to hang his ass over the edge with cameras rolling– especially if the payoff is a spot on primetime network television where the client is allowed to do what he does best, i.e., standup in front of a packed house.
And, if we take this to its logical conclusion, Dinsmore should see a deeper and wider pool in subsequent seasons if, as the producers maintain, the show has evolved into “a true stand-up comedy competition.”
And if they want to get every, single, working standup comic to tryout for the show, they might even consider eliminating two more Reality TV conventions: The sidewalk campout and the highly unnatural morning audition in an empty room (save for three judges, a camera crew and a handful of producers and assistants).
The sidewalk campout does little or nothing to goose the level of talent and only engenders bad “press” and hard feelings. (And hurts the credibility of the show.)
The ghastly, empty-room audition, we can all agree, is one of the hardest things that any comedian will do. Which doesn’t make it good or noble or interesting. It just makes it excruciating. No matter how professional one may be as a standup comic, performing to a near-empty room is, as the alts say (far too often), “soul-crushing.” Oh, sure, it affords the producers the opportunity to subsequently edit the various performances into demeaning montages, but while that might be entertaining (marginally!), it just keeps good comics (of varying degrees of competence) away.