S08.E01: Premiere

[Guest]

Comics perform their funniest sets for the judges.

 

[Ohwell]

I realize they had to shoe in a lot of contestants, but there was a lot of editing going on.  Judges are pretty cool, and I love Roseanne's loud laughing. 

 

There were a few that stood out for me:

 

Rod Man - loved his drug store/supermarket bit

Jimmy Schubert - hilarious chicken omelet bit

Nick Guerra - cute guy in da club

[DrSpaceman]

Well I enjoyed the show. Didn't strongly disagree with any of the semifinalists. None of them stood out yet either.

I wish the judges would give better criticism and not just say how much they like the comics. Keenan Ivory Wayans actually did try to, Peters (who I am not a big fan of as a comedian anyway, always seems very mediocre to me) and Roseanne didn't add much. I got tired of them saying how "edgy" comics were in different ways.

What I found interesting is what they seem to look for in comics. The comics taking things in an unexpected direction is what they all seem to like. I recall Louis CK saying something to this effect, that he had been doing the job so long that he basically knows all the jokes and knows the punchlines usually before they say them, so people telling him jokes he usually doesn't get much out of them.

I don't like the host. Yelling things and dancing doesn't make for a great host. Seemed overly animated.

Anyway I am anxious to see more of basically all the semi-finalists and see what the others are like.

The chicken omelet bit was good.

My problem with the last guy is there are a thousand "group of women in a club" jokes, its very cliche. He was OK though.

My favorite joke of the night was Andi SMith's about the graduation gift of fake breasts, saying it should be the gift for those won DON"T graduate. I know she didn't advance but I've seen her before, she is pretty good.

[Monty]

I don't like the host. Yelling things and dancing doesn't make for a great host. Seemed overly animated.

He's the kind of guy who's always telling the crowd to Make Some Noise. I will make some noise when I am properly motivated by seeing something I like, sir. Just shouting at the audience to applaud for no reason does not actually increase the energy in the room.

 

And he's so animated that half the time I couldn't understand the name of the next comic. Saying names is most of your job here, JB Smoove.

[millahnna]

 

My problem with the last guy is there are a thousand "group of women in a club" jokes, its very cliche. He was OK though.

 

He sold me with the physicality.  The high heels off drop to the knees thing kind of wrecked me, even though, yes, his material itself was a bit cliched.  He committed to it so completely that it worked anyway, for me. 

 

I loved the atheist chick who talked about the angels putting her together all jacked up and the guy with the squeaky voice. THe black woman who got thrown out of white church and the cougar with Joan Rivers for a mentor stuck with me pretty well, too.  I think the very first guy of the whole night might have been my favorite.  Really the only dud I saw was the guy none of them liked; he seems like he could probably do a great set but the gimmick he went with was pretty off putting when he only had such a short amount of time to work with. 

 

I'm so glad this show ditched the "bunch of goobers live in a house" thing from the first few seasons.  That was painful. 

[Kromm]

Wow.  Shockingly that didn't suck.

 

I hate that there's not much the judges can really say in terms of criticism (because it's hard to talk about comedy in that way, especially in 20 second bursts).  That said, the judges ARE serving a purpose, because with the GOOD comedians they are getting involved in/causing humorous off-the-cuff riffing to answer their questions.  So that's what the judges need to do--feed the comedians stuff to riff off of via questions--thus giving us a sense of who's truly quick witted and doesn't need to rely just on canned jokes.

 

J.B. Smoove is kind of annoying, but at least not egregiously so.  The edited down stuff is annoying too, but I guess necessary.

 

I LOVED "Rod Man".  It was his delivery.  GREAT delivery.

 

Dave Stone and his van cracked my shit up.  His set was pretty damn good too.  He's the one who didn't get through who I thought got shafted (in his case, clearly by Keenan not liking him).

 

Joe Machi?  Now there's a guy with a face and voice built for comedy.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Kromm

[Ohwell]

Joe Machi made me nervous. 

 

I was sorry the guy in the van didn't make it through because I had the feeling he had some better material.  That just shows that you better come with it up front, right away.

 

I just ignore J.B. Smoove.

[Fostersmom]

I used to love tho show. I forgot it was on, so I missed the first hour, but I loved the chicken omelet guy and the physical comedy of the last guy. He needs to better learn how to hold a mike though, he had it covering half his face at one point. I have no idea who the host is, but he screamed hack-y comic. Don't know who the first judge was either. Roseanne is always fun and it's been so long since I've seen Keenan in anything, I watched like 10 minutes thinking "damn, Damon Wayans looks rough" before I realized Uh, Duh. 

[whatsatool]

Highlights

The Chicken Omelette

The backstage of the comic who takes her own mattress, pillow and puts hotel remote in bag

The black lady kicked out of the white church.

The Roots STar Wars analogy - except no conventions.

[Gregg247]

I was pulling for the older guy (Jimmy?) who did the bit about the chicken omelet.   He's apparently been around for a LONG time.  He said he started back in 1982, so he's been around since even before the huge "stand-up comedy explosion" of the late 80's/early 90s.  he must know/opened for every famous comedian we've ever heard of.  The fact that he's still unknown, and forced to compete against all these young kids, is kind of sad.

 

He mentioned in his clip that he'd been asking himself, "If not now, then when?" for when his career would take off.  If this show doesn't do it for him, maybe he should try something else.  Following your dream is great and all, but at some point, you've got to face reality.  Anyway, that's why I'm rooting for him over some of the other, younger (funnier) people.

 

Most of the acts we saw were pretty good (except for the guy who ticked off Roseanne).

 

I don't like Roseanne at all, but I liked how encouraging she was to everyone with her laughter throughout their sets.  I get the feeling she was giving them at least a courtesy laugh to acknowledge that they were making a good attempt at entertaining the crowd, even if the material may have been a little weak.  Very nice.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Sean ranked a bunch of the episode's jokes and crit right here!

[Ohwell]

He mentioned in his clip that he'd been asking himself, "If not now, then when?" for when his career would take off.  If this show doesn't do it for him, maybe he should try something else.  Following your dream is great and all, but at some point, you've got to face reality.

I kind of agree with that, but if he's been making a living and paying the bills, and even if he doesn't win LCS and make it "big," then I think he should just keep at it (which he probably will).  That goes for anyone who loves what they do.  If you can make a living at it, then I say keep on going. 

 

I read an interesting article in the NYT about this very thing: What comedians go through to make a living, their expenses vs. how  much they get paid, etc.  Some of them have jobs on the side, but the bottom line with all of the ones interviewed was that they wouldn't be doing anything else.   Also, some of the anecdotes about how and where they live would make that guy living in the van look like he was staying at the Plaza.

[Kromm]

Sean ranked a bunch of the episode's jokes and crit right here!

I hadn't even thought that much about Ben Kronberg, but Sean's piece does give us some food for thought about whether or not Roseanne even GOT what he was trying to do (Andy Kaufman it).  Admittedly part of that could have been a failure on Kronberg's side, and Roseanne was actually tolerable enough in the rest of the episode for me not to hate on her (she was certainly far more useful than Keenan and Russell, who just seemed like useless bookends), but at the same time there didn't seem to be any kind of wink and smile from her at the verbal exchange with Kronberg which communicated any understanding that he was pressing buttons on purpose.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Kromm

[aradia22]

I think it's difficult to see a few minutes of each person's routine and then come up with a wildly original critique on the spot. Especially since we were seeing critiques from all during the night, I'm willing to cut the judges some slack. I'm not sure if Roseanne's loud laughing was genuine or if that's her way of encouraging people. I try to smile encouragingly if I think that someone might be nervous on stage.

 

Anyway, I think the angle of the TV development deal is interesting. I think I've watched a season or two before but my recollection is hazy. This is new, right? It puts a new spin on things because you're not just looking for a good standup but someone who writes the kind of jokes and has the personality and the life experience that could conceivably make a good show. I was much happier with the first round results. The only one I was disappointed to see go was Guy Branum because I used to watch the factuary on youtube. In the second round I was disappointed to see Gloria Bigelow and Patrick Susmilch not get through over Mike Vecchione who was just average and Jimmy Shubert who was better but not very fresh. Vecchione and Shubert seem like the kinds of safe comics that this show likes and I can see them starring in the same boring sitcoms we've been getting for years. Also, I like the guys with guitars so I wanted Pat Regan to make it through. 

 

I agree that there is too much editing and we don't get to see enough of the sets. 

[Kromm]

Anyway, I think the angle of the TV development deal is interesting. I think I've watched a season or two before but my recollection is hazy. This is new, right? It puts a new spin on things because you're not just looking for a good standup but someone who writes the kind of jokes and has the personality and the life experience that could conceivably make a good show. 

 

Actually, no it's not new.  I think it's maybe been there since the first season (not that any actual TV series came from it--it's just a promise of a contract, not an actual series).  I definitely recall it from the middle seasons and have a recollection that maybe part of the outrage over Dat Phan winning (that he'd pop up on people's TVs again).

 

EDIT - Okay, a bit of research found it.  The way the talent development deal was described was vague I guess, but with Dat Phan apparently it resulted in a Comedy Central special.  Here's an article about  the show which specifies the Season 1 outcome, with the details relevant to the prize at the time ("The grand prize included a six-figure talent contract, a stand-up special on Comedy Central and an appearance on The Tonight Show.").  In theory the prize could have resulted in a sitcom, as stated by this USA Today article from the time which describes the prize that way ("We're looking for America's next big comedy star that (NBC) can make a sitcom around," Mark says."), but that hardly seems like a promise of one (the cash prize is actually the payout for the contract either way).

Edited May 24, 2014 by Kromm

[millahnna]

I don't think it matters if that guy was trying to Kauffman or not.  It's a brain dead choice when your set isn't even 3 minutes long.  Someone mentioned wonky editing, though, and I have to say there were some cuts that felt odd near his stuff.  Maybe a bunch got cut and it was better than it seemed.  But I totally thought the disrespectful thing was on point. 

[DrSpaceman]

One area where i agree with the article, Lachlan Patterson reminds me A LOT of Daniel Tosh, who does great stand up that is much better than the TV show he is on.  I disagree with that review though as it seemed to indicate Wayans was the worst judge.  I thought he was the best judge. 

 

On the other hand, I didn't care for Guy Branum because he reminded me too much of a bald Eric Stonestreet.  I know he didn't like sports, but otherwise, seems to fit. 

 

Agree that LONG joke ignoring the audience was a bad idea.  I am not a bit Roseanne fan, but I agreed with her there.  Make it shorter and save that for another set once you advance. 

 

At the very least I like this show because even if the comedians don't advance and don't win, it gives them some exposure I am sure they really badly need.  They are favoring more established comics this season rather than having open try outs for hacks, which I think is a good idea.  Stand up I am sure is a grueling and low paying job most of the time.  Its difficult.  Its different from acting or singing or dancing.  Its solitary.  You can't just rely on other retelling other people's jokes (well, for the most part, you can't if you want to last) like you can with a singer, going out and doing others songs.  You have to write and perform your own stuff.  Its nice to see these comedians get some exposure if nothing else.  This is the only true reality show I watch and that is one of the reasons why. 

[attica]

Wasn't Mike Vecchione on a prior season of LCS as well? I could swear I remember that haircut and cop jokes from before.

Edited May 24, 2014 by attica

[Monty]

I don't mind the idea of purposely not saying anything on stage, although as Roseanne pointed out, it's been done. But the effect was that he took forever to get his first laugh, and it wasn't that big.

[Kromm]

Wasn't Mike Vecchione on a prior season of LCS as well? I could swear I remember that haircut and cop jokes from before.

Apparently being on the show before doesn't matter, because I immediately recognized Andi Smith (and a bit of Googling backed up my memory--she was on Season 6).

[ari333]

That "Guy" dude seemed so familiar from somewhere.

I like Smoove as the host

 

Enjoyed Rodman with his thing about the self checkout and all the effing membership cards.

 

I could swear I've seen Lynne Koplitz on Comedy Central before some years before; She was more brunette, but that has to be her or her twin or I'm crazy. I thought if you had your own 30 minute or hour comedy central gig you had made it.

Edited May 24, 2014 by ari333

[Kromm]

I don't mind the idea of purposely not saying anything on stage, although as Roseanne pointed out, it's been done. But the effect was that he took forever to get his first laugh, and it wasn't that big.

It also helps if you give them something else to focus on.  Think of how 90% of Andy Kaufman's Mighty Mouse routine is him standing there looking blank.  But you've also got the ridiculous Mighty Mouse song playing, and then in between blank looks, Kaufman doing the arm thing (and occasionally shifting his eyes all around like he's nervous).

 

With a more overt "I've got better things to do" routine, I guess the details are a bit different. Playing with the smartphone was the germ of an idea, it just wasn't executed ideally.  The comedian needs to TALK during that period--just not to the audience.  Something as simple as holding a fake phone conversation while holding up a finger to the audience in a "wait a minute" gesture would have done that, with the phone convo being something total banal but ultimately ridiculous. Or another way might be for over-exaggerated body movements and utterances while he plays a game on the phone (maybe one everybody knows, like Candy Crush, so he can utter stuff like "match that bitch!" or something. 

The other part though--the "talking back at the judges" part was IMO a tiny bit more successful.  Then again, that's from the perspective of a TV viewer who didn't have to actually sit through two minutes of him staring at his phone (and instead got an abbreviated edit with a screen wipe that indicating that time had passed).  The live audience likely was far more on Roseanne's side because of that.  Which, if he EXPECTED that, he should have then riled up the crowd even MORE, which he didn't do successfully.

[attica]

That "Guy" dude seemed so familiar from somewhere.

 

He's done @Midnight a time or two, if I recall correctly.

[Gregg247]

I think the 4 year absence will be good for this show.  It's actually nice to have it back, as it seems (kind of) fresh again.  Will the comedians who get through Round 1 all move into a house together, like in early seasons?

 

I remember in Season 1 when everyone disliked Dat Phan for some reason (I liked him--he was funny and VERY well organized).  All the comedians in the house decided to play Hide-and-Seek one night.  Dat went to hide and nobody bothered to look for him.  He stayed hidden for 2 hours before coming out! LOL 

[millahnna]

Taking some Phan commentary over to the all seasons thread. 

[Cramps]

Andy Kauffman was brilliant and innovative. Even when he was being "rude" he was brilliant (his wrestling stuff). That LCS guy wasted a big chunk of his set building up to a hack joke. So his obnoxiousness didn't feel innovative, it just seemed lame.

Liking the judges--it's always a pleasure hearing stand ups talk about stand up (loved Paul Provenza's Green Room). So glad to see Roseanne back doing something in the comedy world. Loving her judging.

The contestants are pretty solid with strong povs. Didn't think I'd like Rod Man because of his delivery, but ended up laughing more at his set than anyone else's.

[Jellybeans]

 

Enjoyed Rodman with his thing about the self checkout and all the effing membership cards.

 

He was my favorite- this is something I find annoying in real life. I am deaf and those talking self check-out machines do NOT do it for me. Love Rodman. Wish I could have seen more of him.

[gryphon]

Not a fan of the host.  

 

I hate people who shout at me--that's what I don't like about Jimmy Schubert.  He needs to have some range in his speaking…NOT JUST ALL UP HERE.  Does that make sense? 

[millahnna]

Totally.  He only has "let me hear some noise" voice. 

[Uncle Benzene]

Late to the party here, just now realizing there's a forum for this show. Nice. Hi everybody.

 

Just chiming in on Kronberg here. Couldn't agree more with all the criticisms of his opening bit, especially in context of this particular show, with such a small amount of time to "get over." Truly ill-advised, not a particularly strong joke either. In his defense (such as it is) by its nature it's a bit you can only do at the beginning of a set. Clearly he should have chosen a different bit though for this show. I also though Roseanne was a little over the top with her disdain.

 

Anyway, with Comedy Central's The Half Hour set to premiere shortly, last season's episodes are currently available On Demand (via DirecTV in my case) and being as I didn't watch last season, I DVR'd them all yesterday. Kronberg was one of them. I didn't even make the connection until he started his set with the same silent bit. It went over a whole lot better that time (which might have been part of why he thought it'd go over well on LCS too) and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of his half-hour set. After watching that, I'd assert that Kronberg's main problem was that he stepped into a big steaming pile of "Do Not Piss Roseanne Off"

[possibilities]

That "Guy" dude seemed so familiar from somewhere.

Wasn't he on Totally Biased? He would do bits about homophobia. If it's the same guy, I loved him there. This crop of LCS struck me as exceedingly straight, and I really wanted him to go through so there'd be at least one detectable queer who got selected.

 

I enjoyed Roseanne, but it's really more nostalgia from her stand up days than anything else. Being on one of these kinds of panels. there's only so much you can actually do to win my love.

 

People who put their phone above what's happening in front of them annoy the shit out of me, so the joke about making the audience wait had the potential to win me over. he didn't take it anywhere, though, and that's why it failed, I think (in addition to being too slow for a very short set).

[Wax Lion]

Wasn't he on Totally Biased? He would do bits about homophobia. If it's the same guy, I loved him there. This crop of LCS struck me as exceedingly straight, and I really wanted him to go through so there'd be at least one detectable queer who got selected.

 

Yep. He was on Totally Biased. Before that he was part of the X-Play team and then on Chelsea Lately.

[Amarsir]

Forgot this show was back so I'm just catching up via On Demand.

I guess I have to be the dissenter for Rod Man because I thought the set was weak. As Keenan pointed out, his delivery is unpolished. And worse, I felt all that supermarket material was played out. Self-checkout was 10 years ago, club cards were 20, and receipt-for-gum was reminiscent of the late Mitch Hedberg's receipt-for-a-donut. I'm not a stickler for untrodden ground, but I just didn't get any unique personal take on it. That said, he's likable and his energy is great, so I can see why he resonated with people. But I'd be very surprised if he goes the distance.

Speaking of likable people with no substance, I don't mind the host. His "make some noise"-type intensity (even though I don't think he said that specifically) doesn't necessarily work for all intros so I want to see if he can vary himself. But I like him better than Anthony "Let Him Know" Clark from past seasons.

Joe Machi I've seen before on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, and that show often gets some very strong undiscovered comedians. (Including Amy Schumer before she went on LCS.) So I'm predisposed to like him. But the character he plays there is "Frightened Correspondent" so I guess you could say he has a narrow range.

And as for Kronberg, Andy Kaufman wasn't copying himself. He was just being. And even then he ticked off plenty if audiences along the way. So if he can't tailor himself to this audience then I hope he finds his niche but this isn't it.

[millahnna]

 

His "make some noise"-type intensity (even though I don't think he said that specifically) doesn't necessarily work for all intros so I want to see if he can vary himself. But I like him better than Anthony "Let Him Know" Clark from past seasons.

 

 

It's funny; I brought up the "make some noise" voice thing but you're right in that he hasn't actually said that.  But he always sounds like he's about to.  Clark... I'll take Smooth any day. 

 

I do keep wondering though... I'll bet he's busy actually working the crowd in between the comics and the edited bits.  I would love to read a brief recap from an audience member and find out if he's actually a better overall package of an announcer than we see.