'Last Comic Standing': Norm Macdonald Helps a Show That Needs It
Two hours of watching edited routines of comedians on the season premiere of Last Comic Standing left me feeling stuffed and hungry simultaneously. Many of the contestants’ bits seemed shaved down for time, and it was impossible to get a true sense of how much or how little the studio audience was laughing (and how much was sweetened in the editing room). Then too, almost every act was greeted with effusive praise by judges Roseanne Barr, Keenan Ivory Wayans, and new addition Norm Macdonald.
The Season 9 premiere on Wednesday night clearly benefitted from the presence of Macdonald, who brings a different sensibility to the show. A number of times, he placed a performer in the context of comedy history, or commented on the rhythm or construction of an act that allowed us some insight into his judgment. Barr and Wayans are just as smart, but perhaps because they’ve done this before, their reactions tended to be more abrupt. Another good addition is new host Anthony Jeselnik, who was just smart-alecky enough to offer something new to a function that, on other competition shows, is usually fulfilled with vapid enthusiasm.
The comedians were satisfyingly all over the place, ranging from poker-faced observational humor to wacky physical comedy. My favorite was Esther Povitsky, whose meticulously phrased punchlines prompted one of the few moments that approached debate among the judges — essentially a disagreement about the term “edgy” between Wayans and Macdonald that I would have liked to have heard more of.
I also liked Ambrose Jones, with his Southern drawl and deliberate pacing, as well as Amy Miller, whose “white trash” schtick could have been tedious but instead was wittily bleak, and the rat-a-tat rhythms of Ian Bagg (a comic Macdonald knew personally).
In general, Last Comic Standing is edited to give the impression that the judges just adore everyone, which makes their decisions on who to cut and who to bring to the semi-finals baffling to the viewer. Why can’t we hear more of their discussions? Listening to Barr, Wayans, and Macdonald weigh the pros and cons of performers we’ve just seen ought to be fascinating — I mean, if it isn’t an interesting discussion, they wouldn’t be good judges of comedy, and yet each obviously is.
I also wish the show was a bit more honest about contextualizing the performers. It wasn’t until I poked around the Internet, for example, that I learned that Povitsky is an L.A.-based comic who was offered an MTV reality show she turned down, and that she hosts or has hosted podcasts I will now seek out.
I suppose that by now, the producers think they’ve come up with a formula that works, but I’m not sure how many weeks more I’ll tune in for a lot of whittled-down routines, extravagant praise, and precipitous judgments. I want more sparks to fly, both from the stage and the judge’s table.
Last Comic Standing airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
