King Heffron and the "Last Comic Standing"

Television watching during the summer is not a favorite pastime of mine anymore. I remember watching bad summertime variety shows as a kid and reruns of programs that had been cancelled just to watch something. Today, the airwaves are still clogged with reruns and poorly conceived reality programs.

I still like to watch the Cubs, no matter how bad they are…again.

This summer there is a jewel among the limited first-run programs available. No matter how I want to deny it, I still enjoy “Last Comic Standing”.

When this show first aired I refused to watch. I have always enjoyed stand-up comedy and, when I was a teenager, I even wished I could do stand-up. That fire went out a long time ago when I realized that I am not as funny as I think I am.

It was because of the respect I had for stand-up that I would not give the show a chance. There was that reason and the fact I was working a lot of nights and not watching any television at the time. The idea of locking comics in a house for a chance at a prize held no curiosity for me.

When they brought it back for a second year, my teenage daughter encouraged me to try it. I was hooked in the way some people like to go to house fires or watch tornados. I knew it was far from being a “good” show, but I still could not help myself.

In my view, John Heffron was the best of the bunch. He was hilarious. I am still waiting for a huge movie or television show with him as the star or co-star. I know he will be huge someday.

My favorite bit was his take on women going out in groups. They never leave anyone behind. It was, and is, “fall-down” funny.

This year, the show went through the same pattern. They held auditions. These included people who should not be allowed in public, let alone on television. There were a lot of shots of Ross Mark staring down poorly conceived comic acts.

Buck Starr returned this year. Buck was a young man who followed Bob and Ross, talent executives picking forty people for the final round of auditions, all over the country. He was funnier this year, but the humor in him following Bob and Ross around was missing. This time it was just annoying.

Then they had the forty people chosen by Bob and Ross audition for twelve seats on the show. The funny part is that it likely is not a real audition. Last year “judges” Drew Carey and Brett Butler blew the lid off when their “selections” for the final ten people were not all chosen. Host Jay Mohr explained that the producers of the show could override the judges’ votes in order to make the show more “watchable”.

That leads me to believe that this year is no different. They had different judges watching the audition (Last year’s third judge, Anthony Clark, is now the host. He was probably given the job for not getting mad as the other two did.), but my guess is the producers already knew who they wanted on the show.

Those who were funny but failed to make the cut are included in an on-line viewer voting game. I am still not certain what the purpose is of voting, but I vote each week anyway. So far America has agreed with me twice out of three votes (Check out the website: http://www.nbc.com/Last_Comic_Standing/).

This past Tuesday night was the first night of real competition between the twelve finalists. Comics are already standing out. Roz was the only comic who understood the term “heckle”. She was dirty, which by itself does not impress me, but still made me laugh. She has a strong shot at winning. Bill Dwyer failed to impress me during the audition process, but was very funny this week. Chris Porter, a self-proclaimed Gene Wilder look-alike, had the unenviable task of heckling the comic with cerebral palsy, and made it work.

Two people were sent away. A pregnant comic named Stella was not my favorite and took every chance to put down the others on the show. She will not be missed. April Macy made constant references to her “sexual openness” which eventually worked against her. The unlikely hero of the night was Michele Balan, a fifty-one year old comic from New York who gathered lions share of the audience’s appreciation.

The biggest disappointment this year is host Anthony Young. He seems to be trying to do an impression of Survivor’s Jeff Probst when he speaks to the comics. I think the idea is to create tension, but it just comes off silly. At least Jay Mohr understood the program was about comedy and that comedy is supposed to be fun. During most of the show, Young looks like he has a gun to his head.

With all its warts, I still look forward to the next episode. There are ten people left. Most are very funny. I have not decided on one person I would like to see win, but it will be fun to watch the ride.