S08.E11: Challenge 4: Roast

[Tara Ariano]

The comics participate in a roast of Gilbert Gottfried, with Jeff Ross serving as the guest mentor. Also: Two contestants duel in a comedy showdown.

[DrSpaceman]

I thought all of them did pretty good at the roast. Loved Lachlans joke and one wish being the bird dying and Gilbert's joke about how only someone from Mississippi could mispell their own name.

Joe Machi and Gilbert Gottfried could play father and son.

Happy with the final five even though Rocky and Nicky still don't impress me much

I didn't think either Joe's or Karlous' sets tonite in the head to head were that go, but glad Joe advanced.

Wondering how the online head to head will work into things.

[Ohwell]

Well, Nikki sure saved her bacon.  She was good at the roast, first time she's been remotely funny since the semifinals.  I think she does better in a roast setting when she's joking about someone else than when she tells the food/weight jokes about herself.  Lachlan was deserving of second place.  I thought the Rod Man, Karlous and Joe were just okay but you could tell that doing roasts wasn't their strength.

 

I was surprised that Rocky LaPorte didn't do better because he's got that old school demeanor that seems to be suited to that kind of comedy.  Speaking of Rocky, he coasted to the final 5.  When is the last time he performed?

 

No surprise that Machi won the head to head again.  If Nikki hadn't come on strong tonight, I would have predicted either her or Karlous going home.

[Actionmage]

The Roast was fun and, for network tv, just edgy enough.  Gilbert was a good sport and was wonderfully vicious back. Also? Super happy that my girl Nikki won the challenge!  I liked the jokes, but thought they could've gone a teensy bit further, but that may have been more a Standard & Practices telling them the boundaries. Glad that Nikki knocked out Jeffrey Ross; he seemed to genuinely enjoy her stuff, as well as Lachlan's set.  I loved Nikki's "...but Joe Machi wouldn't let me be the last lesbian standing. [laughs] I'm sorry, Joe; Lesbians get girls."  Roast standards? Gold.

 

As for the head-to-head, I was not super-impressed with either set. Karlous had more big laughs, so I was surprised with who won the H2H.  I liked the Clippers/dog park jokes. I liked that Joe tweaked a joke from the Invitationals, but was worried that he had to tweak a joke from the Invitationals.

[snowblossom2]

I was not impressed with the roast. Nicki was far and away the best and I don't even like her! I thought you could tell why Gilbert is a constant on roasts. I also thought Joe was the clear winner in the head to head. Wen Karlous opened with the homeless joke, I thought, didn't he already tell this joke before? It was so similar to his previous one.

[bentley]

The other comics had to have chosen Joe again to make him use up all his jokes, right? Right? Otherwise I just do not understand why no one every chooses Rocky. He would be so easy to knock off. It's a travesty that he slid into the Top 5 while doing nothing to earn it. He hasn't been memorable in any way.

 

I knew Karlous was a goner when the camera kept panning over to the judge's stone faces. during his act. I can't believe that someone who's used so very little of his material this season had such a weak set. He seems fascinated by homeless people. Maybe he's breaking up a 15 minute set about homelessness into small jokes, but I swear this is his 3rd performance with a homeless joke.  There were some awkward pauses/pity laughs after some of his jokes. I winced more than once. I thought Keenan nailed it that this was a low-energy Karlous.

 

Joe was struggling too, and was taking way too long to set up his first jokes, but he's lucky that a lot of his act is about his persona, which can rise above some of the material. It does make me worry that he's running out of jokes, though. I was going to be really ticked if he went out like that, after that marathon last week. I have to  hand it to Joe...both times I thought he picked the most formidable opponent to go up against rather than the easier win. He's not afraid of the competition.

 

I'm still down for a Lachlan/Rod Man final. Lachlan for the win.

[Tabasco Cat]

I enjoyed the roast too. Nicki nailed it by focusing more on GG than the others. Lachlan can be funny but I would never pay to see him perform.

 

In the H2H I think the judges really thought about how Joe has been up there a couple of times, might be running out of material, and still did pretty well, whereas Karlous has been sitting on the sidelines and should still have A Material left, but didn't bring it in the head-to-head. He started strong but then veered off in a couple of different directions. I thought Joe did the opposite: he started weak but then brought it home with his final joke.

 

I can totally see NBC giving Joe Machi a show. Not a sitcom, but a crime drama thing where he's a deranged comic who secretly plots to avenge his enemies in the showbiz world. He's got the eyes and maniacal look about him. (No offense to Joe, I like him and think he can win this thing. Joe and Rod Man final 2 imo).

 

I never like GG all that much. He makes me laugh occasionally but that's about it. He made me laugh when he was getting his revenge at the roast. He showed why he is a professional who makes a comfortable, maybe not a superstar but he gets work, living while all these other guys and gals are still trying to "make it" in the biz.

[possibilities]

I thought the roast was funny, and I honestly didn't expect it would be. I thought the two best were Nikki and Joe, with Rod Man being surprisingly weak, and the others in the middle. I am not always a big fan of Nikki's material, but I thought she killed it tonight. Godfried himself was great, too. I doubt he's been watching the contestants up til now, so he must have had someone from production write for him, but still-- it was funny.

 

The judges seemed to hate Karlous.

[DrSpaceman]

Yes, Roaseanne especially seemed to personally just not like Karlous.  Her criticism seemed personal. 

[ae2]

My assumption was that Karlous had to go home this week, but the talking head with Nikki Carr at the beginning of the episode had me worried it would be her. Even though I couldn't see them sending their last woman home before the top 5, I was glad she won the roast.

 

I wish we could see more unedited footage. Like @possibilities, I thought Nikki and Joe were the top 2 and would have been happy with either of them winning it. But that may be simply because we got longer edits of both of them. Most of the comics seemed to take the advice that you can roast everyone present just a little too far. Joe pulled it off because he went first and was making a satire of the whole roast situation, but after him I couldn't help but yelling at them to shut up about each other and actually say something about GG.

 

Godfried was born for roasts. For being the roaster and the roastee. Most of his retaliation could have been written by him while sitting there, but it did seem that he was fed either some lines or some details about the comics.

 

Joe seemed the clear winner of the head to head, and the judges' reactions confirmed that. But he was slow to get going tonight and was nowhere near the level he was on last week. Karlous' "I don't practice" philosophy seemed to shine through in this performance. And it always kills me when their dialogue with the judges after their routine is funnier than their routine. "You need a black man. Because white guys keep leaving you."

 

Any guesses as to what was up with Keenan's "I'm going to hold my comments for now." Uh, you do realize that is why you're there, right?

[WhineandCheez]

Lachlan's jokes were great but all the time I was wondering if his composition tablet was college ruled or wide ruled.  STOP READING OFF YOUR NOTES LACHLAN.

 

Karlous stank up the place.  I rememebr he was my favorite to win after the auditions.  His attitude stinks.  Roseanne was very correct in pointing out that comedy is a business and your have to look at your professionalism. I wonder if that homeless guy who calls him "Baby Bird" is a real guy?

 

I really like RodMan.  He just makes me feel good.  This Am on the commute to work some guy let me in and I thanked him, made me think of Rod's "I gotta see the hand.  I just gotta get the hand."

[DrSpaceman]

I wish we could see more unedited footage. Like @possibilities, I thought Nikki and Joe were the top 2 and would have been happy with either of them winning it. But that may be simply because we got longer edits of both of them. Most of the comics seemed to take the advice that you can roast everyone present just a little too far. Joe pulled it off because he went first and was making a satire of the whole roast situation, but after him I couldn't help but yelling at them to shut up about each other and actually say something about GG.

 

 

 

From the roasts I have seen, this is common, its as much about the other people there at the roast as the person being roasted.  They did go a bit overboard and should have said more about GG, I suppose, but I didnt think it was too far out of line with others I have seen. 

 

However the AUDIENCE is usually off limits, Joe I thought went to far when he brought them into it

Edited July 25, 2014 by DrSpaceman

[LilWharveyGal]

GG lost me right off the bat when he started out with fat jokes about Nikki, which I found to be lazy.  (And I'm not even particularly sensitive about that kind of thing.)

 

 

STOP READING OFF YOUR NOTES LACHLAN.

 

Actually, I'm ok with it as long as it means he wears those glasses again.  The rest of the time I've found his face a little too gaunt to be handsome, but for some reason with the glasses...wow.

[snowblossom2]

Any guesses as to what was up with Keenan's "I'm going to hold my comments for now." Uh, you do realize that is why you're there, right?

---

My impression was that the comments would have been a dead give away that Joe won. Something like you keep bringing and killing it while your competitor just wings it

[attica]

Lachlan's jokes were great but all the time I was wondering if his composition tablet was college ruled or wide ruled.  STOP READING OFF YOUR NOTES LACHLAN.

 

I'm with you on this. I was surprised when Ross cited Lachlan as in his top two, as I thought his delivery was too chill for the event. When I thought about it, yeah, his jokes were good. But the energy level was, imo, not. I did think Nikki's performance won the night. Her energy was great and 'my deaf gramma kills the cc when you're on' is a good joke, and that tux she was wearing was stunning. I'm coveting it.

[qtpye]

Maybe he's breaking up a 15 minute set about homelessness into small jokes, but I swear this is his 3rd performance with a homeless joke.  There were some awkward pauses/pity laughs after some of his jokes. I winced more than once. I thought Keenan nailed it that this was a low-energy Karlous.

 

 

I was actually a Karlous fan after his audition and I have hated him on the show.  I think he is naturally kind of a jerk.  Joe Machi has been up there 50,000 times and still tries and Karlous can not even be bothered to think of new material.  Did anyone else notice when he was bombing he fell back a little too easily on misogynistic type of jokes?  Karlous has one set that he does and can not be bothered to broaden his horizons in any way.  I am sure all of his life, people have told him he is the funniest guy they have meet and therefore he thinks he can be lazy and skate by on his natural talent.  I was so happy when Roseanne put him in his place. 

 

Keenan really liked him and you could see how disappointed he was at Karlous's performance. I mean forget about winning the show, having Keenan Ivory Wayans as your mentor could catapult your career.  He was being kind when he withheld his comments...he really should have said the judges do not need to deliberate..."Goodbye, Karlous, you sucked."

[BoogieBurns]

I wish Karlous would have insulted the men in the audience too on the head-to-head. It's lazy and played out to tease the unattractive women in the crowd. Paraphrasing Karlous' rambling: "Shout out to the ladies with facial hair. Shout out to the ladies with dandruff. A woman who has your child is the worst STD of them all." 

 

Mean comics aren't my cup of tea. However,

I really like RodMan.  He just makes me feel good.  This Am on the commute to work some guy let me in and I thanked him, made me think of Rod's "I gotta see the hand.  I just gotta get the hand."

 

I agree with WhineandCheez, RodMan makes me happy laugh during his sets. But even better, he makes me laugh days later when I'm in a situation that he made funnier. Carpool lanes make me giggle, and seeing a Baby Alive makes me think, "Who is that baby's daddy?" Hahaha. It's all in the details. 

[charlieboo]

This Am on the commute to work some guy let me in and I thanked him, made me think of Rod's "I gotta see the hand.  I just gotta get the hand."

 

Ha! I did the exact same thing the other day. If Rod Man wins and gets a show, I can see lots of new catchphrases coming out of it, a la Seinfeld.

 

Karlous was not funny in the H2H, but his kiss of death was insulting Roseann ('White guys keep leaving you"). Once she glared at him and said "Actually, I leave them" I knew Karlous was toast.

[tv4sho]

I thought everyone did a fantastic job at the roast, but I thought it was weird that the other competitors didn't roast Rodman.  It's as if they are afraid of him or something.  

 

I also find it weird that JB doesn't get to be funny on the show.  In past seasons, the host would do a little of their material, yet JB hasn't told 1 single joke.

 

Am I the only one who thought Machi smoked a little of what Karlous was smoking?  He didn't seem like his self and looked as if he couldn't wait to get off the stage.  Very weird.

 

All in all a very enjoyable show and problem the best season of Last Comic Standing!  Rodman for the win!!!

[Ohwell]

I also thought it was weird that the other comics didn't roast Rod Man, although I think one might have said a little something about him but I forget who it was.  I was waiting for someone to crack on him about his lack of dancing moves. 

[Traveller519]

Joe definitely seemed to be running on fumes come the head-to-head. His jokes work with the overall premise with little tags thrown in throughout. Tonight his set seemed very disjointed compared to what I've seen in the past. I think he got a bit of benefit for burning so much material last week. That said, Karlous certainly didn't do anything to help himself. The guy started out so strong and just seemed to drop every week. The impression I get is that he genuinely enjoys stand up, and is probably a good performer if you get to see his whole set, he just got here and realized this wasn't what he wanted to do.

 

The Roast was kind of meh for me, it was weird having them roast an actual celebrity, especially one who is a fixture at roasts. In the previous season when they did the roast and they just roasted one of their own, that worked a bit better in my opinion. That said, it was the most I've laughed at Nikki's material in a while. She earned that win, but you then got to see Gilbert sleepwalk through his take downs of the comics. I also enjoyed the shots everyone landed on JB. That was the best part of Rod Man's set.

 

I'm sure Kromm is really happy to see Leno will be back on NBC next week!

[Vandy10]

GG lost me right off the bat when he started out with fat jokes about Nikki, which I found to be lazy.  (And I'm not even particularly sensitive about that kind of thing.)

 

 

Actually, I'm ok with it as long as it means he wears those glasses again.  The rest of the time I've found his face a little too gaunt to be handsome, but for some reason with the glasses...wow.

YEEESSSS on those glasses! I was coming here to post the same (shallow) thing. I noticed them right away when they were backstage prepping right before the roast, then I was disappointed he didn't wear them for the actual roast. He needs to never take those off. /shallow

 

I really like Rodman and Joe Machi. Rodman did better than I expected him to in this format, though he wasn't the funniest roaster. Roasts really aren't his thing. Machi also did better than I expected in the roast, but not as good as expected in the H2H. After last week's H2H with Monroe, I thought all the contestants who picked Machi must've been smoking something. It seemed like such a poor choice. Unless there's some element of strategy I'm missing, it was a stupid move to nominate him.

[trow125]

@Vandy10, I went into last night's show convinced that at least this week, I wouldn't have to worry about Joe (my favorite) being challenged to a head-to-head. I was shocked when he was chosen, and the only explanation I can think of is that the guy must be exhausted and the remaining comics thought perhaps they could pick him off and not have to face him in the finals. Fortunately for me, Karlous sucked. I hope Joe gets a chance to rest up and craft some strong new material for the finals. 

 

I also thought it was weird that the other comics didn't roast Rod Man

 

Maybe they did and their comments just weren't that funny, so they were cut for time? Rod Man seems like such a genuinely nice guy, it's hard to get a hook on how you'd go after him.

 

I haven't been a big Nikki fan but it was obvious to me that she won the challenge last night. She did a great job. Not every challenge is going to work for every comic but she just seemed like she was born to roast. Though I did enjoy Joe's unique approach to roasting. It's always fun to see someone mess with the well-worn format a little bit. 

Edited July 25, 2014 by trow125

[iMonrey]

 

Yes, Roaseanne especially seemed to personally just not like Karlous.  Her criticism seemed personal.

 

I disagree, I thought her criticism was to the point. It's OK to joke around about being high when you're in a nightclub but when you're auditioning for a big TV contract it's probably not a good idea. I also agreed about her comment that some of his material was "made in China." Generic stuff and cheap shots. I honestly don't know how he made it this far.

 

I thought all of them were sort of hit or miss at the roast, although of what we saw Nikki did have the best joke. But even though Nikki has great delivery, her jokes are sort of hit or miss. Plus she has a tendency to laugh at her own jokes. Compared to some of the others she's a bit amateurish to me.

[WhineandCheez]

seeing a Baby Alive makes me think, "Who is that baby's daddy?" Hahaha.

 

"I ain't your Baby Alive Baby Daddy" is the best line of the season. Of any season.  2nd best is Lachlan's pointing to the "No Standing" sign on the tram and saying it means "No Standing Ovations." 3rd best line was a female comedian who was sorta ditsy, don't know here name but she was talking about having her bike stolen and she was amazed because she thought it was safe because she parked it in America.

[Grammaeryn]

I am so happy Karlous went home! The lazy jerk just doesn't seem to know how to work hard or appear to put in effort. His routine? To be frank, I had trouble understanding him so I missed the Clippers set up and he was talking about musty people? Blankets? Yeah, I was not a fan but I did like the fake hair dandruff shoutout.  Lahclan's glasses make him look like a watch model and me likey.  Nikki totally deserved her immunity because her stuff was just mean enough and organic. But I have to say, making fun of Joe was so fun to watch. It's the combo of innocent face and horribleness coming at him

[beedub]

The Roast was a lot of fun, and I had no problem with Jeff Ross giving first place to Nikki. She really rose(t) to the occasion. Not sure if it was ad-libbed, but her "except lesbians get girls" line was superb.

 

Karlous was not funny in the H2H, but his kiss of death was insulting Roseann ('White guys keep leaving you"). Once she glared at him and said "Actually, I leave them" I knew Karlous was toast.

 

This. That was a very ill-advised quip to level at someone with the power to send you home. Funny, but ill-advised.

 

Not only that, he seemed to start out well, until the point where he said something that was bleeped out (which I didn't catch), after which the material and the mood in the room (and on the judges' panel) seemed to go downhill.

 

Joe definitely seemed to be running on fumes come the head-to-head. His jokes work with the overall premise with little tags thrown in throughout. Tonight his set seemed very disjointed compared to what I've seen in the past.

 

During his set, especially his "sluts" bit, I remarked how he can get away with material that others couldn't purely because of his "innocent" character and delivery. But he did seem a bit off last night. Even his Roast jokes were inconsistent (and I agree the audience dis was a misstep), but give him points for trying something different.

 

I also thought Lachlan had good Roast material but didn't do himself any favours by reading it off his notes. He's already admitted he works very scripted, meaning he gets particular about the specific arrangement of words, and with very little time to memorize he ended up having to read.

[Primetimer]

Last Comic Standing proves once again that insulting strangers is the purest form of comedy.

Read the story

[EricJ]

I admire Jeff Ross for having built an entire career on the back of one joke.

[BoogieBurns]

Lahclan's glasses make him look like a watch model and me likey.

 

Not sure what a watch model looks like. But, I'm guessing they always wear glasses? I'm going to start judging men's looks on a "zero" to "watch model" scale. Love it!

[4leafclover]

 

"I ain't your Baby Alive Baby Daddy" is the best line of the season. Of any season.

 

I absolutely agree!  I have repeated this to my husband on a daily basis since I heard it!  My #2 quote is another one from Rod Man, even though I can't remember the exact words.  It was the joke of him at the grocery store being told to go to the self-checkout and he says something like....."well, I'll just turn on my light, 'cause I guess I'm at work."  

[beedub]

My #2 quote is another one from Rod Man, even though I can't remember the exact words.  It was the joke of him at the grocery store being told to go to the self-checkout and he says something like....."well, I'll just turn on my light, 'cause I guess I'm at work."  

 

I think you just about have it, other than, "...I guess I'm open".

 

Any guesses as to what was up with Keenan's "I'm going to hold my comments for now."

 

That was a bit odd. It was for Joe, right? It seemed he had something critical to say but didn't want to for some reason. Maybe he just noticed that it wasn't up to Joe's previous standard, but by then it was clear Karlous wasn't going to make it, so there didn't seem any point in getting into it.

[attica]

It seemed he had something critical to say but didn't want to for some reason. Maybe he just noticed that it wasn't up to Joe's previous standard, but by then it was clear Karlous wasn't going to make it, so there didn't seem any point in getting into it.

The impression I got was that Keenan wanted to make a point about Joe's set as a direct contrast to Karlous's set, and thought better of it. You know, like "Now, that's more like it!"

[trow125]

Does anyone know if the judges will be choosing the Last Comic Standing, or will there be an audience voting component? I haven't been able to find any info on this, but I did discover the tour schedule while poking around the NBC web site. Surprised there was no date in my area, since San Francisco is a pretty good town for comedy. Maybe there will be more dates to come?

[backformore]

Yes, Roaseanne especially seemed to personally just not like Karlous.  Her criticism seemed personal.

 

I thought her attitude was a reaction to his mean-spirited and unfunny poking at women.  Calling out that women get facial hair (yeah, we do, especially as we get to be Roseanne's age)  and that some women have dandruff (even though they have "fake hair")  wasn't funny.  Jokes like those seem to be for a group of drunk guys making remarks about women, and are not going to be appreciated by women in the audience.  (or a female judge).

[Vandy10]

@trow125, I suppose the comics thinking Machi might be out of fresh material is one strategic reason they were picking him. The only other strategy that I could see them going for is sort of a reverse psychology thing--each comic who picked Machi thought he was surely safe and wouldn't be chosen by anyone else, so then in turn they couldn't be picked for the H2H. I dunno; I'm not the best with strategy.

 

I had forgotten to write about Karlous in my first post, mostly because I just like to forget about Karlous. I don't understand why he was picked over a lot of the funnier comics, especially to go this far. As a woman, I'm disappointed that some of the (IMO) really funny women didn't get further than this douche canoe. But hell, even putting aside the gender thing, there were plenty of men who I also thought were way better than Karlous. I know it's kind of old schtick at this point, but I love that guy from early on (loved him so much I can't remember his name!) who did the bit about his teenager daughter. I think it was all in his personal delivery, which cracked me up. Normally I get super uncomfortable watching people be humiliated or confronted on TV, but I was cheering for Roseanne when she snarked back at Karlous about how she left the men, and his jokes were "made in China."

[DrSpaceman]

I dont disagree with Roseanne's comments about Karlous, I didn't think he was that funny last night and his whole set was bad. I couldn't even follow it very well. I just though Roseanne reacted to it personally when she was commenting, seemed mad and upset with him more so than just feeling he did a bad set.

He was kind of a jerk, it seems, so probably justified.

Last Comic Standing proves once again that insulting strangers is the purest form of comedy.http://previously.tv/last-comic-standing/the-roast-with-the-least/"> Read the story

Not sure from the review if they have more of a problem with roasts in general or the execution of the episode by LCS. I thought they did a pretty good job and I think roasts can be pretty funny.

[Actionmage]

Look at the drapes and glory in their nineteen-seventies-ness! I don't know who that's for, aside from me, but I appreciate it.

 

I may only make it an audience of two, but I was a kid in the 70s and appreciated that the set was a Dean Martin throwback.

 

That lady has glowing fingernails!

 

(Monica Geller) I know! (/Monica Geller) I saw them and hoped someone would talk about them. I am surprised we didn't see them more, to be honest.

 

I guess, as far as Karlous is concerned, that since we saw him in a writing flurry/frenzy and we got what we got. It didn't feel like finished stuff, imo. That was disappointing because despite the material I wasn't thrilled with, he had good stuff too. OTOH, Joe came off a Head to Head last week that went three rounds! While Joe's sets can be a little more laid back, there is some energy coming from his eyes. Last night? There seemed to be a bit of concern, maybe? His usual energy wasn't present and it affected how his set felt, again imo. 

 

It wasn't the strongest episode of the season, but it wasn't a bad way to spend an hour.

[Amarsir]

Joe deciding to roast the audience was such a hilarious concept that I laughed when he went into it, but ultimately don't think it really worked.  And I think it really hurt him to go first. First is never an advantage for anyone in these roasts (which is why they make the host do it) but in Joe's specific case he was breaking the format.  And that doesn't work when the format hasn't been established yet. Had he gone fourth, and we'd heard "Lachlan is here", "Nikki is here", "Jeff Ross is here", to be followed by Joe going "the audience is here", I think it would have been superb.  So, unlucky a bit.

 

But overall everyone was decent. Even Karlous, possibly because he had to actually write something or possibly because being mean works for him. Roasts are always a good show for me. (The TBS knock off "Funniest Wins" did one two weeks ago, and it was also their best show.)

 

Any guesses as to what was up with Keenan's "I'm going to hold my comments for now." Uh, you do realize that is why you're there, right?

My impression after Joe's performance was "this wasn't your best set, you know it's not your best set, but you don't need to do your best set when the other guy is phoning it in." If Keenan felt the same, it would make sense not to say that.

[DrSpaceman]

Rewatched the last few episodes tonite and really Joe's set this week was pretty weak, was lucky he wasn't going against any of the others.

[hoodooznoodooz]

I was wondering if his composition tablet was college ruled or wide ruled.

Hahahahaha! That was very funny.

I agree that Nikki's closed-captioning joke was fanfriggintastic.

I actually enjoyed Joe addressing the audience: "Nice shirts."

[needschocolate]

I thought Gilbert Godfrey was the worst of the roast comics - - relying too much on easy jokes, like fat jokes. Then again, I have never been much of a GG fan.

[Kromm]

@trow125, I suppose the comics thinking Machi might be out of fresh material is one strategic reason they were picking him. The only other strategy that I could see them going for is sort of a reverse psychology thing--each comic who picked Machi thought he was surely safe and wouldn't be chosen by anyone else, so then in turn they couldn't be picked for the H2H. I dunno; I'm not the best with strategy.

I think another reason is that they were afraid (rightfully) to challenge Rod Man, so they agreed to try and knock out the next biggest threat. Which was self-defeating in the end, but I guess at some point behind the scenes several of them made an alliance contingent on them avoiding challenging each other.

[DrSpaceman]

I get the impression that Rod Man and Lachlan make it a point to purposely pick each other in the challenges.  Not sure the reasoning behind it, but it seems that one of the them picks the other quite a bit. 

Edited August 4, 2014 by DrSpaceman

[aradia22]

I know this is very late so I'll keep it quick. 

 

Roast: I liked Joe Machi's jokes. His persona really works for him and I thought he had a nice flow to the jokes that the others lacked. I was laughing pretty hard once he got to the audience. 

Karlous didn't feel very prepared. All of the jokes didn't land and they felt very choppy. I don't know if he was just losing steam or he was hampered by the restrictions of network TV.

Lachlan was second to Machi for me but still very funny. I just think he didn't transition terribly well between jokes, particularly at the end, making it seem choppier than it should have been. Also, everything didn't land. The Ghostbusters thing for Nicki? What? How does she look like Ernie Hudson? 

I think Rod Man's style/delivery carried him through a weak set. He was like Karlous with all the disconnected jokes that didn't land but because of the drawl it flowed more.

Rocky also felt like more style than substance but I'd say the jokes were a little better than Rod Man's. A little.

I think Nikki's material is a lot better than it has been. I don't know if she picked up steam from the bus tour or if everyone else just handed it to her this time. She still wasn't great but she was better than most of the guys. 

[aradia22]

In the head to head, Karlous had a very weak set. Even if he doesn't think well on his feet for the challenges I would have assumed that he had some material from his act he could have pulled from. The only joke I really liked was the one about women with facial hair because I thought the delivery of "you can be your own man, sir" was very smooth.

 

Joe's set was obviously better than Karlous' but not his best. I think his nervous act seemed drawn out a bit more than usual, as though he was trying to cover the fact that he didn't have that much material. Usually I feel like the punchline lands a second or two before it did in that set. Also, I missed the smile. I think he might have been more tired or nervous than he usually is. Still, I chuckled or smiled at all of his jokes. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

I loved when Joe Machi said, "I looked him up on Wikipedia; apparently, he's a comedian," and Joe kind of cracked himself up.