Hello everyone and welcome to another round of recaps for a new season of Last…Comic…Standing! I’m your recap host for the season, thy name is Boo, and I’m in a much better mood than last year already. Here are a few things you should know before entering this crazy,
unedited and
unpredictable world of comedy.
Yet again, we have a new host. I would be lying if I told you that I won’t miss MimeAnthony but Bill Bellamy has already made more jokes than his rock star mime predecessor. I'm sold. Also, in replacement of those two talent agents slash producers in the first round, we have three world-renown comedians. Kathleen Madigan, season 2 and 3 participant, Ant, season 2, 3, 4 "celebrity" (now with new hair or something that looks like hair) and Alonzo Bodden, the reason they created season 3 in the first place.
Last thing you have to remember is that this year’s competition is all about going international, baby. I’m sure you’re telling yourself, Boo, how can this be? How can we know if Russian humour is funny to us? Well, never fear my friends, never fear. They’ll only be visiting strange cities such as London, Sydney and Montreal. Now that the futilities are out of the way, let’s talk comedy, shall we?
Just like pretty much every show with auditions, we start in New York City, at the Gotham Comedy Club. There is a
yooge lineup with people waiting a various amount of time in line. We have our usual weird people just wanting to be on TV bit, as well as others making sounds at various degrees on the creepy scale. Don’t forget about the combat dancer and the various puppets making an appearance! One element I already love about this year is that Alonzo is really hard to convince. Ant laughs at almost anything but Alonzo sure doesn’t... at first.
Let me throw you some names and jokes around, since it’s why we’re all here!
Lori Chase – single mom from New Jersey. She starts off by not impressing the judges and they tell her to dig deeper. To me, she didn’t, she went lower! To them, she seemingly succeeded. Still have no idea how she made it to the semi-finals.
Dwayne Kennedy- he’s the guy who always has a glass in his hands during his routines. The judges adore him and it shows. Controversial humour seems to be his specialty.
Joe Devito- has a really special sense of humour, the judges told him he was demented!
Chris White- cute-nerdy guy who has some cute jokes and cute delivery. Know where I’m going with this? He’s not moving to the next round. (Eesh I sound like a certain American Idol host) Oh and his joke about hair on the legs? What are your thoughts on that?
Merick Teti- I’m only talking about him because after starting his joke, he said that it was terrible and threw himself out!
Amy Schumer – very girly sense of comedy and she goes on to the next round anyway.
Jane Condon- from Connecticut, older lady (compared to the other women on the show, no tomatoes!) didn’t receive unanimous votes at first. However, with various jokes about her family, she got the audience’s vote and therefore the no hassle pass and the monaaay!
Arj Barker – reminds me of some guy named Dane Cook, do you know him? His life-altering question on orange puffy vests made me laugh a lot. He's in for the semis!
Victor Varnado-a black albino! What are his superpowers? Not wearing sunscreen and he can catch cabs!
At the showcase, Bill Bellamy is, dare I say it, a little bit funny? Maybe it was my extreme tiredness but his Red Lobster joke made me laugh.
I don’t remember the comics being so stressed out before going on stage but I think it’s a nice addition to the show. Just as a recap within a recap, the comedians moving on are Jane Condon, Arj Barker, Amy Schumer, Lori Chase, Joe Devito and Dwayne Kennedy.
Now, it is time for a new city, heck, a new country! Canada is representin’ with Montreal. I’m surprised they chose that place instead of T-dot but hey, it’s the best city in the world so I’m not complaining. *insert "prove me wrong" smile here* With a significantly reduced lineup outside compared to NY, we only see a handful of comics performing. Bill isn’t even there! Wimp.
Just to represent myself, I have to talk about the guy who spoke French and they didn’t even translate what he said! At first, he does his joke in English with a thick French accent. Since he was terrible, they asked him to repeat it in French. He then started to talk to them in French, which resulted in many ???? coming across the screen. The best part is, and I believe this is a scoop, he swore at the end! I love it. You go dude! Who needs 7 seconds delays and censorship? He could’ve insulted them all day long and nobody would’ve known.
Moving on, who do I see but none other than Debra DiGiovanni! Last year I talked about a show in Canuckland where the comics are paid to make fun of music videos. Well, she is to that show what Whoopi is to Hollywood Squares. She did great, taking her usual approach to comedy, meaning she made fun of herself as much as possible while showing her teeth. Don’t ask me why I noticed, I will never tell you.
Another semi-recognizable face there from the same show was Trevor Boris. He was the one talking about furious gay people moving to Canada. Gerry Dee, who was cut last year…oh… the thought of the insanity of last year’s choices make my blood boil…what was I saying… yes, Gerry Dee, doing a funny routine about having a Muslim friend and going to his house. We also saw a man named Richard Ryder, who I thought was a shoe-in to go on to the next round but…
Debra, Gerry and the gorilla made it through to the semis.
What? What! Said I, à la Chris Porter. Yeah, I kind of forgot to talk about Mel Silverback. The man is dressed like a gorilla. The judges loved him, Alonzo voted for him after one joke, it was crazy. He did have one good joke about having a one-night stand and the woman waking up asking herself why she had a friendly encounter with Tony Shaloub. Crazy thing, why wasn’t there a Capital One no hassle pass and cash? Are Americans afraid of the exchange rate? Kiiiding.
Our next city is San Antonio, Texas. Even there, you can find plenty of really sketchy comedians. On top of that, there’s a special montage of vulgarity! About a dozen comedians are bleeped like there’s no tomorrow and the judges are hating it.
Ralph Harris (who is totally name-dropping Seinfeld) is by far my favourite comedian of the show. He is a relationship specialist with a hint of physical comedy thrown in.
Bob Biggerstaff wears glasses. He’s a big guy with glasses. He’s humorous but not enough to go on to the next level.
Andi Smith is not too bad actually. Her voice grates on my nerves, or maybe it’s her delivery, but there’s something weird about her. Dare I say it, she sounds like a female Chris Porter.
Billy D. Washington used to be a cop! A comedian officer of the law! Awesome. He tried to do something politically correct for the judges and they immediatly asked him to do his own stuff. It was much better but it wasn’t enough to make it further.
This guy steps onstage and makes a good joke. Wait… his name is Sabrina! Sabrina Matthews has really funny material and it involved cats! How can it not be funny? Cat humour rules the world. I apologize for the confusion.
Phil Palisoul (awesome sounding name!) is hilarious with his self-deprecating humour but it’s not enough to go on.
After the showcase, Ralph Harris wins the pass and the money. Discrimination against other countries is unacceptable! We want money, we want money! Sorry about that folks, I’ll regain my composure. The comics moving on are Andi Smith, Sabrina Matthews (cat jokes yay!) and Ralph Harris.
I can say without any shame that I’m wrapping up this recap with a bigger smile on my face than I had all last season.While I was not blown away by anyone yet, it wasn't that bad. Please join me next week as I’m sure these feelings of not being robbed by people with connections will quickly fade away. Mark my words.
I need some more people to complain with in the later rounds.It is your duty to sign up and come chat with us!