The newest season has barely begun, but Last Comic Standing has already announced its fall tour dates. The live standup show will stop at the Lyric Opera House Nov. 2. (Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.)
If you missed Thursday's season premiere, check out the recap video above.
After two hours of filler (Carrot Top? Really?) and Bill Bellamy botching the intros to both finalists' families (calling Lavell Crawford's mother and stepfather "Mr. and Mrs. Crawford" and calling up Jon Reep's parents and at first entirely ignoring his fiance, who was sitting between them), the winner is ...
Jon Reep.
In case you haven't gotten enough of these folks lately, the Last Comic Standing tour hits the Lyric Opera House on Sept. 30. According to its web site, the lineup is:
Tickets are available here.
I'm watching Last Comic Standing tonight to see if finalist Amy Schumer, a graduate of Towson University and thus our de facto local contestant (pictured), makes it to the final three.
I don't watch this show often -- I like the comedy segments with the finalists, but shouty host Bill Bellamy exhausts me, and the first featured comedian of this evening was awful. Airport security jokes, talking-in-sleep jokes, wookiee-noise punch lines. Nothing much new or entertaining there.
The next featured comic, though, is Josh Blue, who won last season. In an interview, he says he's been performing about five shows a week and that it's been intense. I bet. He has been in our area at least two times that I can think of off the top of my head. A lot of his act plays off his cerebral palsy, and it's definitely full of lines you haven't heard before. And that's a good thing.
First to find out he's safe is Gerry Dee. He performs, riffing on drunk friends and strip clubs.
Then, Lavell Crawford is told he's safe. Lavell is a big dude, and he jokes about diabetes and the doctor's office.
It's down to Amy and Jon Reep. Bill calls them both super-duper competitors and then reveals that Jon is in the final three, so Amy is out.
She tells the fans thank you and, "Support live comedy, and if a girl takes the stage, give her a chance -- she may surprise you."
Last performer of the evening, then is Jon Reep. He talks about living in L.A. with his huge Southern accent and how people are just waiting for him to say something dumb. (Side note: I was so terrified of that happening to me that I lost my accent within months of moving to Oregon from Texas when I was 14. But he's funnier than me, so it works for him.)
So, someone who did not graduate from Towson will be winning this show. But good show, Amy, and nice exit line, too.
(Photo courtesy of NBC)
I haven't been following Last Comic Standing religiously this season, but I have seen a few repeats here and there. I watched last night's show, on which the final eight comedians competed, and the head-to-head challenge ended up being between Debra DiGiovanni of Toronto and Matt Kirshen of London.
I was thrilled that Matt won because I haven't really found Debra that amusing at all. Her stuff just felt like you'd heard it all before on some generic Comedy Central standup special, while Matt's jokes sometimes catch you off guard. I much prefer the latter.
UPDATE: Hey, I just noticed that finalist Amy Schumer graduated from Towson University. We do have a local person on the show after all.
Comedian Josh Blue, winner of the last season of Last Comic Standing, performs March 30 at Goucher College’s Kraushaar Auditorium. More info is available at missiontix.
