Monsters of Television

“Always use the mike.”

I don’t really like watching stand-up specials on TV. Listen to them? Absolutely. But watching them? Yawn. It’s something about the pacing of the special (often interrupted by commercials), a 90 minute set boiled down to an hour kills the momentum. Now I remember why I stopped watching Last Comic Standing atfer Jay Mohr left. It’s boring. Really boring.

Early on, host Craig Robinson ponders why this show happened. I know why: NBC needed some really cheap summer programming, and no one is cheaper than stand-up comedians who haven’t produced oodles of cash for a network.

Here’s how this goes: comedians audition for a chance to appear at a brief showcase at a comedy club, judged by a panel of more established comedians (this year it’s Greg Giraldo, Natasha Leggero, and Andy Kindler) who then will help America decide who the last comic standing will be. That comic will win $250,000 (no Comedy Central special this year!) to do with as they please.

Now, I didn’t keep track of the people from the episode who made it to the semi-finals, so if you’re looking for results, go elsewhere. Instead, I’m going to gripe a bit about the show’s overall format: it’s great for folks who have been doing comedy for years. Indeed, a number of the contestants are folks who have been doing this for a decade or more, and are recognizable faces to the judges (on more than one occasion, each of the judges greet a contestant like they’re old pals). My sister even recognized Guy Torry from his rather extensive film and television work. So it makes it harder for new stand-ups to come to the forefront.

These folks feel like ringers meant to generate buzz or provide recognizable faces for audiences beyond the judges and the host. They may even walk away with the contest, depending on how voting goes. I think the show would be more exciting if it was relatively new comedians being mentored, basically an American Idol with stand-ups. Sure, the show doesn’t have the time to craft and mold new comics the way that Idol can do with singers, but it would make for better TV, I think.

The episode keeps the freak and weirdo auditions down to a minimum, which is reward since I’m never interested in seeing those folks on any show. But despite running for two hours, the episode felt a bit sparse in terms of potential contestants. I can only assume that not very many people were funny, or funny enough to make the cut for the episode’s airing. Instead, much of the episode is the judges cracking wise, showing why they’re the headliners: they’re the funny ones here, folks, not the people on stage.

We’ll see if I can make it through next week’s episode (thankfully only an hour long), but I’m not optimistic.