And just what does our President have to do with the opening of this season’s Last Comic Standing? No, he’s not a contestant. See, I live in Michigan, and Mr. Obama was here last night to speak to the high school graduates of Kalamazoo Central High School. Flip-side is, the coverage of his speech caused me to miss the first 12 minutes of the show. But I did see the graduates cheer in an inappropriate spot, when the President was talking about his past partying days. The kids went wild at the thought that Obama used to party. He did point out that his statement was probably not “cheer worthy” — as partying is bad — if they would have just let him finish his thought. Oops.
So, the network joined in progress. It took me a minute to catch up, as the judges and host are new this year. Professional comics Andy Kindler, Natasha Leggero and Greg Giraldo are now in the seats. And from The Office, the producers have snatched up Craig Robinson.
I’m a big fan of stand-up comedy. Yet these three look only vaguely familiar to me. Mostly from Comedy Central. So I’m just going to take them on in the context of LCS, if you don’t mind. At first glance, Andy appears to think he’s a lot funnier than he is. Sometimes first glances are all you need. And Natasha Leggero has a laugh akin to the screaming of that Mary person on So You Think You Can Dance. Unfortunately, Natasha guffaws quite often, this being a comedy competition. I can tell that by the third episode I’m going to be so over it. I’m already narrowing my eyes in an evil fashion at her, which is not a good sign. Greg Giraldo I only remember from a roast I watched once. Meh.
We begin with auditions. This is where I expected to see Craig work the crowd. There’s fun opportunities here to riff off of the people standing in line. Some of them are dressed in outrageous costumes, or as was the case last night, standing for over 36 hours in miserable cold L.A. rain. However! Craig would have to be affable and able to think on his feet. Which sadly, he can’t do. Also, in the live shows he says “Give it up people,” as often as my new kitten pees, which is often. Oh well. At least he doesn’t scream into his microphone like Bill Bellamy. That’s a real chafer of mine.
As we started the first day of auditions, there I was in my favorite armchair jotting my notes. When all of a sudden, President Obama rather interfered again. My local station felt it had to show his helicopter landing at the airport in Grand Rapids, his walk to Air Force One, and liftoff. No crowds were present, and he didn’t make a speech. Just landing and walking and taking off. Not too exciting, but he was in Michigan, and we don’t have many good things to concentrate on here. So OK. The only problem being that the video was situated in the bottom right side of my screen, causing me to miss all but the first names of the comics being chosen to go to the semifinals.
Being a forthright thinker, I cussed out my television. When that had no effect, I decided I had no choice but to “roll with the changes.” So here’s the thing. It’s so early in the game that last names and bios don’t mean much anyway. We’ll get there. For now, here’s the people I get good itches about:
Fortune Feimster – I caught her last name before takeoff. She looks like an unlikely candidate, but her thoughts on being gay made me chortle hard.
Paula Blame-Air Force One – Her comedy is evil sarcastic genius. And her delivery perfectly deadpan. My cuppa tea.
Chip Yes-I-See-You-Mr.-Obama – His parody of a B-52’s song was to die for. So funny.
Kirk Fox – He looks familiar to me. But then lots of these comics are already working in the industry. (Remember Alonzo Bodden, John Heffron, and Jon Reep? Then you hear me.)
There doesn’t seem to be many criteria for auditioning. I heard people say they’d been in comedy for 22 years, and one said 6 months. I wonder, though, if the judges have favorites of those who have been around the circuit for a long time. I attempted doing stand-up for a year in Los Angeles, and it seemed like everyone knew each other.
Which leads me to my final thought for now. Stand-up is hard. It’s brutal. I cried after bombing in Beverly Hills one time. You’re not only writing your own comedic material, which is really putting yourself out there … you are literally putting yourself out there. It takes tremendous courage, and a skin way thicker than this fair-haired Irish lass possesses. More power to these folks. Oh — and gimmicks, costumes, voices, juggling, or dressing like Bigfoot won’t help.
We’ll see what comes out in the wash. And Mr. President, I’m glad you had a safe flight.
Clacked by Tara Shrodes
on Jun 08, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
*puts away Bigfoot costume … sighs*