Watching Last Comic Standing (recap)

By Jen Smith
Fancast.com

Last Comic Standing is brought to you by the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas! Yes, we get it… you’re in Vegas. Bill Bellamy walked onto stage with showgirls and started pimping the Paris Casino pretty hard, although I’m guessing that means Paris negotiated that into the contract. Gotta love the corporate synergy. [If you missed last week's show, watch it here.] Tonight’s guest judges are Richard Belzer and Steve Shirripa, whom we saw for the first round of auditions in NYC. Fair warning: they only showed the judges’ opinions about 1/10 of the time. So the top 32 are competing but only 16 acts will perform tonight. Let’s begin this, shall we? I’ve included tags for those of you with an RSS feed of up-and-coming comics.

Adam Hunter: SWM, blonde, attractive, slightly cocky
Adam was decent. He made fun of Bush, which earned him brownie points with me. He thinks it would be a good idea to throw a Mardi Gras party in the Middle East and finishes his act by humping the mic. Richard liked his energy and Steve said he got a lot of laughs. Keep it up, tiger.

Phil Palisoul: Mid-to-late 30s, dorky, balding
Phil was definitely polished. I liked his idea of a homemade bidet fashioned from a mirror and a squirt bottle. He also carries a change purse.

Jeff Dye: Pretty, slightly skinny, sk8r boi
Jeff had the biggest laugh of the night with the observation of stupid women at the gym: the girl with full makeup, sports bra, and spandex shorts with “juicy” written across the butt who wonders why everyone stares at her.

Erin Foley: Brunette, attractive, tomboy
Erin’s set was funny on paper. She discussed her hatred for baby showers and thought it was amusing that the dictionary is highly recommended. However, the delivery sucked and no one laughed. Including me.

Dan Naturman: Classic neurotic Jew, hiked-up pants
Did a cute bit about online dating where he makes his potential mates hold up a copy of today’s newspaper to prove their pictures are recent… and then said college is a waste of time. I liked him, but it was just OK.

Lioz Shem Tov: From Israel
He did prop comedy. He did the same prop comedy when we saw him in previous rounds. I was waiting for that giant cane to appear around his neck and pull him off stage.

Dave Jones: Southern boy, Deliverance cast-off
He’s as excited for legal prostitution as I am. And he’s banned from procreating. Probably a good idea. He made me chuckle, though.

Erin Jackson: Delightful, black, single
Her main goal in life is to win LCS and do famous black people stuff… like move to Beverly Hills and marry a white woman. Ice T anyone? Oh yeah, and that bitch tooth fairy owes me money, too.

God’s Pottery: Christian duo, virgins, rainbows
I love how these guys constantly stay in character. It’s slightly creepy, in a funny way. Tonight, they spread the gospel with a song called “The Pants Come off When the Rings Go On.” It’s exactly what you’d think it would be. Richard says he’s officially converting to Christianity and God’s Pottery (still in character) exclaim “One down!” Love it.

Ron G.: Young, Atlanta, accountant
Ron read my diary and told all about the “walk of shame” one has to incur when one is fired from a job. Technically, I wasn’t fired… I was laid off. But the shame is still there; Right, Ron? Funny stuff.

Drennon Davis: School teacher, chat rooms, light saber
This whole set was awkward. He did some beat boxing. And people clapped out of courtesy. See you next year.

Winston Spear: Canada, salt and pepper, nervous tick
He told like 27 jokes in three minutes, such as “My bike was stolen, but it had a kryptonite lock so I know it wasn’t Superman.” Yup. Steve thought he sounded a lot like Jim from Taxi. I nod my head in agreement.

Shazia Mirza: Muslim, British, non-terrorist
Although she repeated some of the same jokes from Miami, she was decent. Muslim men don’t want to marry her because… well, she speaks. Ha. The audience didn’t respond well, though. Maybe it was her delivery.

Paul Foot: British, Panama hat, ascot
Paul isn’t ashamed of his pursuit for fame. He’s also confused by sex, moist cake etiquette, and the length of space bars. Richard thought he would be funny even without the accent. Steve thought he was fresh and funny.

Andi Smith: Boobs, chick, red hair
OK, I’m going to be biased here because her set was about my home state of West Virginia. She said she was doing a show there and about eight people showed up (not many partiers in WV) and she asked “Where’s everybody else, trapped in a mine?” This didn’t go over well, considering a lot of people die in mines in WV. Some guy in the crowd got offended and told her mines don’t have enough safety precautions. She replied “I’ve got a safety precaution for you—go to college!” Pure comedic brilliance.

The Meehan Brothers: Creepy, mustache, trio
It’s impossible to describe this atrocity. So I won’t.

Drum roll please! The comics moving on to Hollywood are: Adam Hunter, God’s Pottery, Ron G., Paul Foot, and Jeff Dye. I’m kind of sad that Andi Smith and Erin Jackson didn’t make it. Oh well. Next week is round two of the semi-finals. See you there!