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Much of the reaction to tonight's episode from fans of the show will revolve around the twist: Two extra comics moved on to the house, joining the initial 10. Was it planned, was it a reality-TV gimmick or a 3rd act plot twist? The truth is that the standard of comedy from the final 40 was exceptionally high, and it was impossible to agree who should make it to the house.
This raises the question that is most frequently asked about Last Comic Standing: Who decides who makes it to the house? No doubt the boards will be lighting up right now with speculation about it.
If you read the small print at the end of the show, or if you saw season 2 of LCS you will know how it works. For those of you who can't read 60 word disclaimers in 2 seconds, and if you missed Peter Engel's explanation in season 2 following Drew Carey and Brett Butler's meltdown, this is how it goes down:
Bob Read and Ross Mark tirelessly scour the country looking for comedic talent, accompanied by a team of producers and representatives of the network. Together we decide who makes it through to the round of 40.
The celebrity talent scouts, Garry Marshall, Kathy Griffin and Tim Meadows all have years of experience in the comedy business and each has their own unique insight into what it takes to make it as a comedy star. The celebrity talent scouts watch each of the 40 comics and score their performance. They note down who they think should go through. We, the producers, sit down with Bob and Ross and the network executives and then we try to cut the 40 down to 10, using the talent scouts notes as a guideline, as well as our own notes on the performances we have seen at the theater and during the audition process.
Ultimately we are there to pick a group of people who have the potential to become stars of comedy, and who will be entertaining to watch as they compete for the title.
The audience in the theater chose Josh Blue from the first group and Gabriel Iglesias from the second (both would have been on our list too – they killed). That left 8 berths to fill. But comedy is about as subjective as you can get, and while everyone, talent scouts, producers, and network representatives agreed on maybe 4 of the 8, fierce debate ensued about the rest. Eventually, someone suggested that we bring 12. Although there were disagreements about the 12 also, these proved to be resolvable. Thus was the problem solved and the "twist" created.
Whether you agree with our choices or not, look at it this way: You get to choose the winner, and from here on out the audience always decides who stays and who goes. And you will not be disappointed by what happened when we put these 12 in a house together. Look out next week for some epic personality clashes, and a challenge that had everyone who saw it crying with laughter. |
