We were in between dates last week– finished with our weekend at Comedy, TN in Memphis and scheduled to be at the Punchline in Atlanta (starting Wednesday) when we got invited to come into The ATL a couple days early. We were told it was for the purpose of a showcase on Monday night, but when we asked for more details, we were told that it was all very “secret.” All we were told was that it would be worth our while. Very vague. But intriguing enough to get us to forego a couple days of relaxing in Nashville.

We got to the club on Monday night to find a camera set up in the rear of the club (a nice one, too– an Ikegami or its equivalent… enough to make us think this might actually be something important). The only clues we had up until show time was that it was network, there was a V.I.P. in the building and we were to do five clean minutes. The Female Half declined. The Male Half readied a set.

Punchline owner Jamie Bendall emceed and brought up ten other comics: Derrick Tennant, Tim Gaither, Mia Jackson, Josh Sneed, Special K, Scotty K, Cory “Zooman” Miller, Dan Mengini, Matt Davis and Keith Terry.

When each had done a set (for a surprisingly large crowd for a Monday night), Bendall brought them all out onto the stage and let the audience (and the auditioners) know the identity of the secret celeb that had been up in the rafters all night. To the obvious delight of the crowd, he brought out LCS host Bill Bellamy.

Bellamy took the mike and let the audience in on the ultimate purpose of the evening’s show– two of the eleven would be flown to NYC for the Gotham LCS audition, with no waiting in the cold, no string-pulling, no hot dog suit. After announcing that Special K and Josh Sneed were the fortunate two, he then read through some of his notes and had very nice things to say about all the comics. (Of the Male Half, he said, and we’re quoting from memory– “Y’all got to go to school to keep up with his stuff!”)

Atlanta audition winners Josh Sneed (l) and Special K

Bellamy very graciously stayed on and posed for pictures with fans and comics. He offered words of encouragement for the runners-up and words of advice for Sneed and Special K. It was revealed that Bellamy was off the next evening to Raleigh for a similar, secret audition show, as part of a multi-city tour. We’re not sure where else he went, but we know he was in Miami just prior to heading to Atlanta and there was some talk that he had just attended a similar showcase in Denver.

It is believed that some of the tape from the showcase will be used on early episodes of the show. (We’re speculating that each comic will receive a second– literally– in one of those quick-cut montages, with Boots Randolph’s “Yakety Sax” as the music bed. But we’re just being cynical. Perhaps the auditions will be treated with dignity. It’s a reality TV, so it’s a crapshoot!)

Left to Right: Mia Jackson, Dan Mengini, Punchline principal Chris DiPetta and Scotty K

Bellamy also inquired as to whether the Male Half was going to be near any of the other announced auditions. He urged him to contact LCS producers to nail down a slot in a future audition city, should one fit into his schedule. (So far, only Tempe or Nashville fits into the schedule. The Male Half has a V.M. into the talent coordinator. So far, nothing has been arranged.)

Special K being interviewed by camera crew, post-audition, at the Punchline.

We would have posted about this earlier, but we were asked to hold off (“embargo” is the fancy, journalism word for it) on any posting until the tour was over. Then, one of the secret audition clubs put out a press release recapping their event. After that, we figured the cat was out of the bag and we felt free to write about the experience.

That the producers sent Bellamy around to real clubs to look at real comics in an authentic performance setting is a good thing. Perhaps all the auditions should be conducted this way– secretively, with little notice, in A-rooms all over the country. The producers would, necessarily, have to trust the club owners to choose the talent wisely. And some favoritism (and conflicts of interest) would be inevitable. But the resultant footage would probably be entertaining and the whole affair would actually seem more like a quest to “find the funniest person on the planet” (or whatever it is they say in the promos). We’ve become so accustomed to the unnatural way in which LCS has surveyed talent that we’ve forgotten just how bad of an idea it truly is. We recall our horror when, while watching the first season, we realized that comics would be “auditioning” in an empty room, in front of three “judges,” while the sun was still up!

Between the two of us, in 40+ years of standup, we’ve only done it that way three times. We both went up at the Santa Monica Improv in a horrendous cattle call to qualify for the Johnnie Walker Comedy Competition, circa 1992. (And the Male Half auditioned for the bookers of an open mike night at a hotel in Ft. Washington, PA, in 1982.) All three were miserable, artificial experiences.