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Commercials for last night’s Last Comic Standing boasted the “Most Shocking Audition Ever”. The episode started with more fanfare than a Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.

We watched a ticker in the top right-hand corner of the screen, creeping closer and closer to the moment when our minds would explode on impact after viewing the MOST SHOCKING AUDITION EVER. See that people? I used caps lock.

My heart is currently pounding with nervous anticipation. Here goes nothing!

Heeeeeeeeey! Wait a minute. I’ve been duped. The only thing truly shocking about that exchange was French Stewart’s date-rape joke. This just in: sexual assault is still not a laughing matter. Poor taste buddy. It’s clear now why he slipped into irrelevancy shortly after 3rd Rock went off the air.

I was too distracted to focus on the rest of the program. But here’s what else happened …in haiku form

Acts from two countries

Funnier than in the past

Judges picked wisely

Add a haiku or two in the comments. Two points for rhymes!

Photo: NBC.com

Last week’s episode of Last Comic Standing was unremarkable at best. There were a few standouts, but on the whole, things were off to a piss poor start. Tonight’s episode made up for the last week’s lackluster laughs ten-fold.

Bill Bellamy and British assistant host Fearne headed to Los Angeles and Houston to scout for top talent. Both cities were teeming with stellar comedians, especially of the fairer sex.

Three ladies made it to the semi-finals including Andi Smith, a funny lady with a funnier accent. (Her MySpace page says she’s from a small town in Wisconsin though, so the jokes on me.) She’s a working comedian with a lot miles on her and tonight she took the Last Comic Standing camera crew on a tour of her motel room. Let’s just say I’ve seen more habitable fraternity house bathrooms.

Other standouts tonight were Erin Foley, who did an fantastic set on the oddities that can be seen driving through Mississippi and the over-eager employees in the Wachovia commercials. Read More »

Last Comic Standing is a funny reality show…no pun intended. You don’t get too attached to the host (Bill Bellamy is great but I think he peaked during Cousin Skeeter) and because of an American Idol style set-up, you don’t know who to root for for a few weeks. Instead, you get 3 to 4 lead-off episodes riddled with crappy comics and 30 to 90 seconds worth of quality humor.

One thing of note was the female presence wasn’t as strong as in year’s past. There are still a several audition cities to go, but as of right now only one of the six semi-finalists is a woman…and frankly she wasn’t very funny. Funny ladies were in full effect last year and Amy Schumer even made it to the top 3. Let’s hope the women can bring it back next week.

Anyway, the fellas came out swinging.

Louis Ramey was the king of night one. As an African-American, especially one from Wisconsin, I can appreciate his jokes about getting double takes on the ski slopes. He was creative, shocking and had impeccable timing. He appears to have the most experience but he kind of lacks star power. Read More »