14 Responses

1. Johnny Lampert says:

   August 10, 2010 at 9:22 am

   I really don’t understand how more comedians (and civilians too) aren’t completely outraged by Last Comic Standing. No offense to the comics that went far (Brian and Tracy included) as most of them are good, but no one can feel good about being part of this sham. Forget the fact that it’s a casting call from the start, do you people realize that NBC and Peter Engel reserved the right to override the votes and do what they wanted regardless of the vote count? That Laurie Kilmartin was a writer on the show in the last season? That Jesse Joyce goes on the road with Greg Giraldo? Endless examples of these conflicts of interest and deceiving the public. Whether Felipe Esparza is funny or not, Barry Katz is one of the executive producers of the show and not coincidentally, his manager which is the biggest conflict of interest. This whole thing from start to finish was a farce and the way they have presented it to the public should be against the law as it is criminal. The FCC needs to address these reality shows that are anything but reality. Who made the judges say nothing but “hilarious” to pretty much every set they were supposed to critique in the final weeks and, even more perplexing, why did these “rebels” go along with it? It makes them personally look clueless to say “hilarious” after a weak, borderline bomb (which there were more than a few). It is an insult to everyone. I just don’t understand… why they couldn’t have run a fair contest and seen what happened? They would have likely gotten just as much diversity and the show might not have come off like the joke it was. Hopefully, this is the last season of LCS. All it does is make every comedian, except a very small few, cringe and feel like crap. Good riddance.

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   • Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

     August 10, 2010 at 3:04 pm

     We disagree with much of what you say. See our posting from this afternoon. Thanks.

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   • Laurie says:

     August 10, 2010 at 5:23 pm

     Johnny Lampert wrote: “That Laurie Kilmartin was a writer on the show in the last season?”

     That is incorrect. I was hired for ONE WEEK to pitch challenge ideas. This is a common practice, another comic who was a past finalist came in for two days during my week to do the same thing. Comedians tend to get jobs working on comedy shows- in an ideal world, they make shows funnier. Funny people hire funny people, Greg brings Jesse on the road. Well, guess what? Jesse’s really funny. One reason Greg was brought in to judge is he has great taste in comedy. It works out well for everyone cause Jesse told really funny jokes on TV. All of this year’s top ten were experienced comics, most had half hours on comedy central and/or are headliners. The top 42 at the semis were an fucking amazing bunch of funny comics. By the way, two REALLY funny comedians did have real writing jobs with LCS this year (WGA, show up every day for work for the whole season, health benefits)- and both of them would ALSO do a great job and would rep our profession well if they were selected to perform on LCS next season. Funny people hire funny people so they can make things funnier.

     In the future Johnny, should LCS or Greg hire a bunch of unfunny road hacks so that good comics can appear on the show without igniting the ire of conspiracy thoerists? Since you single me out- I’ve been doing standup for 22 years- as long as if not longer than you. I have a pretty decent reputation and resume as a standup. Does one week of pitching ideas discount my entire fucking professional life and make my appearance on the show a sham? If it does, next season I guess LCS should hire the newly unemployed Law and Order writers to pitch ideas for a show about something they have no experience with- stand up comedy. Then you’ll be bitching about why do they have comedians telling jokes at a crime scene?

     There are actual conflicts of interest all over show business that will make you sick to your stomach- people hiring their unqualified family, people hiring unqualified people they are fucking or want to fuck. And then there’s funny people hiring funny people* because they are in the funny profession. LCS is always going to be frustrating because they leave out funny people, but in this season, everyone they took is funny and experienced.

     *Of course, funny is completely subjective.

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     • Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

       August 10, 2010 at 6:05 pm

       Thanks, Laurie! You addressed one of the things in Johnny’s comment that we meant to eventually get to: The interconnectedness of the comedy business and how that interconnectedness leads to many situations where the judges know the contestants, the producers know the contestants, the contestants know the producers, etc.

       The standup comedy world isn’t so huge that these alleged “conflicts of interest” can be avoided. Let’s face it: So many comics have been lucky/tenacious/resourceful enough to stay in this business for so long, transportation has been so relatively inexpensive for the past 25 years and mobility has been so easy for comics over the years that you will have a situation where the contestant knows (and has possibly shared a bill with, had drinks with, shared a condo with, been on a writing staff with, been at a festival with) a judge or another contestant or a producer or production assistant.

       We expect that the “civilians” will be utterly shocked at the seemingly incestuous nature of such a relationship. But we’re somewhat taken aback when a comic feigns outrage (or is genuinely outraged) at the interconnectedness of the business and tries to make the case that the corruption is too much to take.

       We’ve done our best to let such comics down easy. Occasionally, a comment like yours (resembling a glass of cold water in the face), is just what is needed.

       Thanks.

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     • Johnny Lampert says:

       August 10, 2010 at 6:11 pm

       Laurie (& Brian):

       I am a fan of your comedy, like you personally and never said you weren’t funny or don’t deserve success. Within the confines of my being nauseated by the show, I was actually hoping you went further this year, BUT you working in any capacity for them at any point, in my opinion, is a direct conflict of interest. You had a pre existing professional relationship with them. That, along with a million other conflicts, could have been avoided or at least not so blatantly disregarded. There is no getting around it – the results are tainted. The other conflicts of interest you speak of are sickening also (casting couch, etc.), BUT they are not fake contests presented to the public by a network pretending to be fair. And I am not a sore loser either as I didn’t audition.
       I wish you well regardless.

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       • Laurie says:

         August 10, 2010 at 6:50 pm

         “BUT you working in any capacity for them at any point, in my opinion, is a direct conflict of interest.”

         I disagree and you are taking a lot of good comics out of consideration if that’s your standard.

       • Johnny Lampert says:

         August 10, 2010 at 6:58 pm

         Yes, that’s my standard. Unfortunately, some working comics would have to be recused. Absolutely.

       • Laurie says:

         August 10, 2010 at 6:59 pm

         Well, all righty then, we are at an impasse.

2. Bob Smith says:

   August 10, 2010 at 2:45 pm

   I agree that most of the sets weren’t funny. I was really amazed that the final two sets were so heavily geared toward sex! Don’t established comics have any other subject matter? And the Christianity bashing was pathetic (and I was glad that Myq Kaplan got knocked off before others, since he seemed to relish in Christian bashing)

   For a possibly un-biased “best standup comedian” contest, perhaps a massive internet format could be used, where each comic submits a 2 1/2 to 3 minute set, and a top fraction advances, based on online voting, where the same set is used for another round of voting, leading to a final group of say, 64 comics, who then post another set, and then work it down to a final 8, where a final 5-minute set would be posted. (this is off the top of my head as I type, so I’m sure the details could be worked out to provide optimum results)

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   • Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

     August 10, 2010 at 3:04 pm

     That is one of the worst ideas we’ve heard in a long time. And it’s not an original one. Do the word “Next Big Star.com” send chills up your spine? They should. That was a contest that pretty much matches the scenario you describe. And it’s not the only one, just the biggest one… and the biggest failure among them. The idea of online-only contest– for anything (Standup, short films, cake recipes, etc.)– pops up from time to time and is subject to the vagaries of online voting. Some of the vagaries are known– wicked bits of software that skew the vote this way or that, apathy, the perception of illegitimacy that attaches to any old convention transferred to a new technology– some of them are still a mystery– who is voting? why are they voting? is this doing the contest holders any good in terms of publicity or market placement? We’ve taken a dim view of such contest for about a decade now and we roll our eyes when another comes around. We’ve only entered one once– NextBigStar.com– and that, at least, had a live component at the very beginning. It turned out to be disappointing. The others are a waste of everyone’s time and effort.

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3. CJ Hood says:

   August 10, 2010 at 6:14 pm

   Going on LCS seems similiar to posing for
   Playboy. Most people won’t do it cuz they don’t want to be exploited. But those that do ‘go for it’ spend most of their time justifying their actions. “Everyone was so professional and it was done so tastefully.”

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4. John kensil says:

   August 12, 2010 at 3:31 pm

   This is the best thread I have read in a long time.
   Very interesting discussion.
   Didn’t something happen a couple of years ago with LCS withDrew Carey and Brett Butler walking off because Dan Naturman didn’t make the cut even though he had a great set?

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   • Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

     August 12, 2010 at 4:45 pm

     You are correct. There was a brouhaha many seasons ago.

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5. Colonel says:

   September 29, 2011 at 3:58 am

   I came, I read this ariltce, I conquered.

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