After the best comic on America’s Got Talent got sent home early because she performed on the wrong night (Seriously, first two weeks I was only excited by about 3 acts. Then last week I could easily have seen 8 performers moving on!) I decided to check out a show entirely for comedians — Last Comic Standing. I mean, America’s Got Talent is fun because you never know what you’re going to get, but I was clearly in the mood to laugh.
And laugh I did. Last comic standing begins with invitational rounds that fire 100 carefully selected stand-up comedians at you like rounds from a machine gun. The laughter is thick on the ground and they don’t waste nearly as much time as other shows I could name with personal stories and judge’s criticism.
BUT …
The show is flowed. America doesn’t get to vote on the comedians, only the panel of judges do. Maybe I’m getting soiled from watching all these talent shows in which I get to vote on the best, maybe I’m on a power trip. And yet I tired of the jokes very quickly once I realized that the “last comic standing” would ultimately be the one Roseanne, Keenen, and Russell thought was the best — not the one America thought was the best. It makes the show nothing more than an aired live audition for a new comedy show on NBC.
I’m afraid I’m done laughing. I’ll stick with John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight; I just wish it aired more than once a week!