Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The five finalists on NBC's Last Comic Standing pulled out the stops last night for their final showdown, with the audience voting for their favorites to win.

I'll have to admit, it was a harder choice than I thought it would be.

Last Comic Standing is a blend between a reality show and a contest. Ten comics were chosen by comedy veterans (including the late Buddy Hackett) and then they lived together in a house. Each week one comic was eliminated based on house voting and a comedy showdown.

Since I first saw excerpts of his audition, Ralphie May was one of my favorites. He has superior comic timing, and when he gets into one of his classic rants, he's unbelievable. Last night, he didn't deliver his best, though. He did a rant about how he's glad they went to Iraq because he wants cheap gas. But he was a little slow getting started this time around, and was a bit repetitious.

Still, when it came time to vote, I remembered his previous work and decided he was still the king.

Dat Phan surprised me, I must say. When I first saw excerpts of his audition, I thought he was trying a little too much to be a male Margaret Cho, with comedy routines built around his Vietnamese mother, delivered in her heavy accent. The difference being that Margaret's bits about her mother tease her affectionately and still convey a sense of her personality. With Dat, it seems more like he's just making fun of his mom.

But as I've heard more of Dat's work, I've reluctantly begun to admire his writing. Some bits work better than others — one of my favorites is when he talks about dating a girl whose father is a Vietnam vet — but when they work, they work. He grows on you.

I've also grown to like Cory Kahaney, who talks a lot about raising a teenage daughter. She's kind of the "cool Mom," and of all the contestants is the one who might actually do the best with an NBC sitcom. You could drop her into a typical family sitcom and she'll make it the next Malcolm in the Middle or the next Roseanne.

That wasn't how we were supposed to cast our votes, though. It was supposed to be on how funny you thought each comic was.

Since the beginning, I've been willing to give Terry Drake a chance, but while one minute she's engaging and funny, the next she turns me off. She does a lot of preening and bragging, which can wear on you after awhile. Her entire set last night consisted of claiming to have been a stripper, which is supposed to get laughs because of her size. Considering that she's supposedly so confident, she relies a lot on assumptions that the audience thinks she's fat.

And Rich Vos, I must admit, has also grown on me. He's your basic, classic standup, and he's been in the business a long time. Throughout the show, he's proven that he's more likable than I first believed. But his routine was nothing stellar, nothing terribly fresh. His timing is good, and his jokes weren't bad. It just didn't stand out compared to some of the others.

It will be interesting to see who's going to be the last comic standing. My guess is either Ralphie May or Dat Phan, but it's truly anybody's guess. Either way, I can't wait to see what series they end up developing, to bring some fresh new talent to TV.

More thoughts on Last Comic Standing:

July 9, 2003 - Really Funny

August 6, 2003 - Still Standing

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson
Images from NBC.com

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