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Celebrating 25 Years Of The West Wing

LCS In The Media

Lantern7

By Lantern7
in Last Comic Standing [V]

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Lantern7

Lantern7

There wasn't a media topic, so I thought I'd start one. According to AVClub, Anthony Jeselnik will be hosting the upcoming season, and Norm Macdonald will replace Russell Peters as a judge. I don't know how Jeselink will translate on network television, but it should be interesting. I bet he'll have to hold back his nearly endless supply of venom.

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DrSpaceman

DrSpaceman

I agree about Jeselnik. I actually find him funny, like his act, but as a host, not sure

But I didn't like the host last season, so glad they are changing

Really don't think much of Russell Peters as a judge or comedian, so glad to see Norm come on the show

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trow125

trow125

I highly recommend this interview with Norm MacDonald. And now I'm super curious who this LCS contestant was:

We had a little thing where someone was accused of stealing. And I said, "Oh, we should find out. It’s easy enough to prove. And then we could call the person a thief when they’re up there, in front of the crowd." Which I think they deserve. But [the producers] didn’t want to do that. They were like, "Oh, we told the person that that [material] shouldn’t be done next time." And I was like, "No, there shouldn’t be a next time. That’s a bad person. That person should be exposed." She was voted off immediately. Because that’s a big thing in comedy, stealing material.
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saber5055

saber5055

I listen to a radio talk host at night; the host is a stand-up comic. She has other comics on as guests, and the topic eventually turns to LCS. Every single one of the guests (as well as the host) have stories about how poorly they were treated by the show in auditions, to the point of rudeness, and everyone says less-funny people made it through as the show has to keep "the right sort" of contestants. Maybe it's sour grapes, but those who went back to try again with different judges have the same stories. Some of the "nightmare audition" stories go back to when Ant was a judge. Remember him? LOL!

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JocelynCavanaugh

JocelynCavanaugh

I'm not sure where to put this, but it didn't happen on LCS specifically:

 

I heard an older Ian Bagg set on Comedy Central Radio (SiriusXM) the other day. It was right before the finale, actually, so I was afraid it was a sign. For those who were wondering: yes, he does make fun of male anatomy, too! He mocked Lance Armstrong for having one testicle. He also mocked Lance Bass for being a gay member of a boy band, and Texan men for wearing tight jeans, with "moose knuckle" as the punchline. (A, that's not much of punchline and B, very few Texan men wear those jeans anymore.) It was all extremely facile, predictable, and unpleasant. I heard what I suppose was his much lauded "crowd work" but… I guess you had to be there? The whole set was as unfunny as his stuff on LCS, plus he played up the annoying Canadian accent quite a bit (not that all Canadian accents are annoying, but his sure as hell is). I'm so glad he didn't win, but he shouldn't have even made the semi-finals. 

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saber5055

saber5055

(edited)

Yeah, it's HEE-larious to make fun of a cancer survivor. And someone who is openly gay.

 

I wonder if  D. Bagg would even have a "set" if he was told no body jokes or sex "jokes," male or female. 

Edited by saber5055
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topanga

topanga

Anthony Jeselnik says he "hated every second" of hosting LCS and that he'd only come back if they "tripled my money." (Splitsider.com - the part about LCS is about 10 minutes in)

Thanks for the link. I watched most of the interview--the LCS actually about 12 minutes in. Jesselnik is an interesting character. He's one of those naturally funny people that makes you laugh almost every time he opens his mouth. But he's also abrasive and bitingly sarcastic. I can see how that would rub some people the wrong way. But I agree with his comments (and Russell's) about LCS. The producers want the show to look and sound a certain way, and for a stand-up comedian, it must be difficult to be produced and to be told to change your jokes, or to tell them a certain way. 

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Amarsir

Amarsir

Anthony was the best host in the history of the show, hands down. Now maybe the editing did him favors and I wouldn't have liked 20 minutes of arguing with Norm while Keenan gave him death stares. But considering how many times this show has just been a flop, why is no one there smart enough to just go with what's working?

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Amarsir

Amarsir

8 hours ago, chenoa333 said:

Is this show ever coming back again? It seems like a very long time since its been on. 

Last Comic Standing was cancelled in 2004, brought back in 2006, cancelled in 2008, and brought back in 2010 only to be cancelled again after 1 season. Then 4 years later Wanda Sykes championed it for a return in 2014. It changed significantly for 2015 and then we haven't seen it since.

So it's dead, but at the same time who knows?  NBC retains the name and can always be desperate enough to think they want to have a Reality Show about comedy. I think it really needs a big name comic to pitch the executives and to try to get people to tune in. If none volunteer the show will stay dead.

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chenoa333

chenoa333

So am I in the minority in my like for this show? I've seen big name, successful comedians who are NOT funny. But I also think that what people consider funny is subjective. I just watched an hour (well, actually couldn't get thru the hour) of Dane Cook. I don't know how recent it was, but I found nothing funny in the 15-20 minutes I watched. And he wasn't even being dirty. 

Anyway, thanks Amarsir for the info. 

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topanga

topanga

Sad that it won't return. I didn't always like the way the 'competition' was run--the season with Brett Butler and Drew Carey as judges comes to mind--but I was introduced to some great comedians. e.g. Ralphie Mae, Kathleen Madigan, Alonzo Bowden, Myq Kaplan, Tommy Johnagan, Gary Gulman, Lavell Crawford, and Amy Schumer (did she become annoying when she hit it big, or did hitting it big annoy some people?).

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chenoa333

chenoa333

Loved Rod Man. So many others I don't recall. It was a good way for upcoming comedians to get exposure. Maybe people just don't like to laugh anymore or they're looking for the same old,  tired routines about the same old, tired subjects by the same old tired comedians.  

I don't recall where I read this but it was recently, that Ellen Degeneres is going to do a special for one of the big networks. HBO or maybe Netflix. I think Ellen is one of the best stand up comedians who keeps it clean but can still be funny. And it takes a lot to make me laugh. But as I said, it's all subjective. 

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nkotb

nkotb

On 5/30/2017 at 10:26 AM, chenoa333 said:

Loved Rod Man. So many others I don't recall. It was a good way for upcoming comedians to get exposure. Maybe people just don't like to laugh anymore or they're looking for the same old,  tired routines about the same old, tired subjects by the same old tired comedians.  

I don't recall where I read this but it was recently, that Ellen Degeneres is going to do a special for one of the big networks. HBO or maybe Netflix. I think Ellen is one of the best stand up comedians who keeps it clean but can still be funny. And it takes a lot to make me laugh. But as I said, it's all subjective. 

I loved Rod Man, too. I live in a pretty rural area, & the LCS tour came to a town, definitely not a "city" near us, so we went. The one joke that I remember him telling that was so hilarious was that he can tell everything he needs to know about the racial makeup of a town just by going to the shampoo section of Walmart, & checking out how many ethnic shampoos they sell, which was far funnier when he said it than when I said it. It's not exactly a culturally-diverse area that we live in (still more culturally-diverse than the "Pioneer Woman"), so his joke about that was really funny & was definitely accurate. 

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possibilities

possibilities

They showcased a lot of good comics. The thing about the show that tended to annoy me was all the gimmicks they would set up around it in some of the seasons. I really like stand up, though. I wish there was a lot more of it on TV in general. It doesn't have to be a contrived competition show like LCS. In fact, it's even better if it isn't. Longer sets, more jokes.

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nkotb

nkotb

On 6/2/2017 at 3:01 PM, Ohwell said:

I swear, just about every time I go thru the self-checkout line, I think of Rod Man.

I did that yesterday at Walmart! So funny, the light was flashing & someone left, & I said to myself "well, I guess I'm open..." He really is the best. Any idea what he's up to these days?

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Ohwell

Ohwell

4 minutes ago, nkotb said:

I did that yesterday at Walmart! So funny, the light was flashing & someone left, & I said to myself "well, I guess I'm open..." He really is the best. Any idea what he's up to these days?

I checked out his website and he's touring.  

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JocelynCavanaugh

JocelynCavanaugh

(edited)

RodMan's self-checkout routine is a classic, but the one that still makes me laugh every time I remember it is Joe Machi saying "now what's this I hear about women voting?" I also sometimes call my classes "team" or "gang" because Joe greeting the audience that way was hilarious (obviously my students don't get the reference), especially when it made Keenen lose it.

I wish they would do a Best Of season with a loose competition element just to keep it interesting. There are so many comics from previous seasons that I'd love to see again: Alonzo Bodden, Paul Varghese, Kathleen Madigan, Lachlan Patterson, and a lot of others who didn't make it very far but should have. I think a lot of seasons wasted time on annoying middle aged white guys (Rocky LaPorte for example) and overweight black women who talk about how overweight and black they are. [Disclaimer: there are plenty of genuinely funny people in these demographics; we just didn't see many on LCS.] It also seemed like they favored Asian contestants who played to stereotypes over Asian contestants who were just funny but not necessarily doing gawky impressions of their parents' accents. Then again, Paul Varghese does that and I think it's funny so I guess there's no magic formula. Comedy is harder than it looks! That's what made this show so interesting. Too bad not enough viewers agreed. 

Edited by JocelynCavanaugh
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topanga

topanga

On 10/7/2017 at 8:43 AM, Lantern7 said:

Sad news: Ralphie May passed away at 45.

What? How sad. I saw him in concert and met him--he was a really nice guy. 

Hed talked about having gastric bypass surgery, but for whatever reason, he never did. 

I never knew about his kids' names. Pretty funny. 

Quote

two children, daughter April June May and son August James May (yes, those really are their names).

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