Originally aired on Wednesday, 08/09/2006
Episode Rating: *** (3 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: It's all over but the laughing: the votes have been counted and the winner of LAST COMIC STANDING is announced.
Episode Highlights:
- Past winners and ex-host Jay Mohr return to the show to perform.
- The winner of the "Last Comic Downloaded" contest is announced.
- The two finalists, Josh Blue and Ty Barnett, perform one final time for this season, and they - and we - learn their fates!
Recap:
The votes have been tallied and tonight we'll learn who, as host Anthony Clark stiffly intones every episode, is the Last...Comic...Standing.
The audience is sufficiently pumped up and waving their various poster boards of support. Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I'm suspicious of these poster boards. While I'm sure their fans love them just as much, I find it hard to believe that the comedians on LAST COMIC STANDING inspire the same arts-and-crafts expressions of support that the tween-tastic contestants on "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance" do. My personal theory is these posters boards are handed out to random audience members on the way in. "Two drink minimum? No, not at this comedy club, but take this sign and wave it around."
The two finalists, Josh Blue and Ty Barnett, make their grand entrance from the back of the theater and bound up onstage. Once again, this is all just a big tease: Tonight's show is a full ninety minutes, and the announcement of the winner will take ten seconds, so we're about 89 minutes away from needing them both onstage at the same time. So they're dismissed and it's time for the beautiful filler footage!
First there is a recap of the open auditions. It's against this recapper's personal beliefs to recap a recap (the redundancy could create a rift in the space-time continuum!), so now is your chance to create your own vivid mental montage of the wacky characters we all met through the auditions. Done? Good job!
Onto the next recap, this time of the twelve finalists who made it to the "Last Comic Standing" "house," AKA the Queen Mary ship. While I am still reluctant to recap a recap, I will permit a single highlight of the recap: Josh Blue's surprisingly accurate aim with a soccer ball. We get to see him nail Kristen Key in the crotch, and land a shot right on Michelle Balan's face. GOOOOOAAAAL!
It's time to announce the winner of the other contest from this season: Theo Von is declared the winner of the "Last Comic Downloaded" Contest.
The next bit of filler is Clark having a casual sit-down with eliminated comics Stella and Joey Gay. Stella had her baby, and Joey...well, I'm not sure why Joey was one of the comedians selected for some air time, but he's gracious again in discussing the others on the show. The other comics are asked to stand, but honestly, for all the time we have to waste, Clark could have a cup of tea with everyone.
It's now time to bring back some prior winners. First up is Dan Phat, winner of the first season of LAST COMIC STANDING. He does a manic, high-energy set, only slightly marred by his tendency to laugh at his own jokes and rush a little through some funny moments. He had a couple of chuckle-worthy observations. For one, why are only Vietnamese-Americans called "boat people?" As he points out, for generations, the only means of getting here was a boat. The pilgrims were boat people! True, true.
Next up is the winner of the second season, John Heffron. His act centers on situational humor from his life as a newly-married man. One of his funnier moments was his imagining of his wife's garrulousness farmed out as a useful tool to law enforcement. When they need to trace a call, put her on the phone; she'll keep the person talking.
The winner of the third season of "Last Comic Standing," Alonzo Bodden, follows John to the stage. He's recently moved to the suburbs, hoping to meet, as he says, all those "Desperate Housewives." What he found was a bunch of soccer moms who are overprotecting their kids. I like Alonzo, but wasn't Bill Maher making all these jokes about six years ago? Well, as Alonzo puts it, he's already won!
Next, Executive Producer, Peter Engel makes a special introduction for the next guest, the previous host Jay Mohr. Jay has some humorous comments about basic education, but the highlight for me was his spot-on imitation of the audio track of those old films from elementary school, warble-y narration track and all.
We're getting closer. Finally, Ty Barnett takes the stage for his last performance on "Last Comic Standing." A big part of his set tonight focuses on some imagining how normal life would be if one had access to the same resources as the President (e.g., speech writer, spokesperson, etc.). He imagines sending his spokesperson home to his angry girlfriend for the "Four AM Argument," the spokesperson smoothly deflecting all touchy questions with the usual "neither confirm nor deny" slickness we usually see behind the podium
And now, Josh Blue takes the stage. He once again mines the specifics of living with Cerebral Palsy for a considerable amount of humor.
Finally, it's time. Without much further ado, Anthony Clark announces: Josh Blue is the winner of this season of "Last Comic Standing!" Well, he seemed to be the clear front runner in the hearts of the audience, but certainly hope we see more of the entertaining Ty Barnett in the future as well!
-BuddyTV Staff Columnist