Last Comic Standing: Gabriel, where are thou?

“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” – Charlie Chaplin

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks

“Comedy is not pretty” – Steve Martin

How easy is it to judge comedy? It is impossible. Comedy is personal. Comedy can be lost on someone who is not in the mood. Comedy can be lost on someone who is ready for the jokes. Comedy is unexpected. Comedy is spontaneous.

Tonight is the finale of the summer reality series “Last Comic Standing.” It will be the final episode until next summer, or at least until the second finale appears tomorrow night.

In my view, NBC goofed up again. On Wednesday night, they have scheduled the sometimes salty “LCS” for 8:00 – 9:30p EST, while playing family-friendly (most of the time) America’s Got Talent from 9:30 – 11:00p. Does that make sense? Maybe that is their effort at comedy?

Either way, "LCS" is starting to lose its steam and is ready to be packed away for the summer. After a strong start, last weeks performances by Chris Porter, Josh Blue and Ty Barnett were weak. None of their routines stood out leaving us to vote on who wore the best outfit rather that “who was the funniest.”

Or maybe I was not in the mood. Maybe I was too hopeful of being blown away.

Among my disappointment with this year’s edition is that the truly funniest people were left behind. I have nothing against Chris, Josh and Ty, who are very funny. Gabriel Iglesias, who was a bright light throughout the show, was kicked out because he failed to follow the rules. Sure, the rules were unusually restrictive, but they are still rules.

Funny women were included, but quickly fell out of favor. Roz was eliminated following her best performance. Older (but not old) and more polished Michele Balan contributed so much to the show, only to be pushed aside for three young fellows. It all leads me to wonder, is America is really this shallow?

Viewers are asked to vote, and they appear to want their comedy from young attractive men. Quickly people will point to Josh, but even he has a boyish charm and, as Kathy Griffin is eager to point out, gets points for sympathy, much like Dat Phan from the first season of the show.

Dat Phan. Ralphie May. John Heffron. Alonzo Bodden. These are all young men. Even with the “online” voting of people who failed to make the cut, Theo Von and Josh Wolf, two other young men, will perform.

Maybe the reason why “Last Comic Standing” is unable to sustain an audience for more than a few weeks is that format still does not allow us any surprises. After a few weeks, we know what to expect. We know Josh will joke about his illness. We know Chris will be vulgar and sound like a George Carlin wannabe. Ty’s strong showing the week before last was a nice surprise. Ty had not performed much on the show and had a terrific riff, but last week felt like a weak continuation.

I hope the network continues to tinker with the format. Maybe instead of stand-up performance competition, they could do improv competition. This could get the audience more involved. Save the big standup set for the finale?

Whether they go that route, or another direction, I hope they keep working to improve. I do not agree with Woody Allen about much, but I do like this thought: “Everybody says that comedy is harder to do. That’s become a truism by now, but it’s wrong. Comedy is not harder. The hardest thing to do is good work, whatever it is.”