Last Comic Standing 2: Episode 9
Return Of The Losers
Recap By C.C. McCandless
July 21, 2004
The final house-based episode of Last Comic Standing promised "a night of many twists," with the five spots for the finals up for grabs. Gary Gulman returned home from winning his second straight head-to-head competition, and he wasn't exactly thrilled about his victory. "I took no pleasure in beating Jay London," he said, and he meant it. But it did get him one step closer to winning the whole thing.
Jay Mohr arrived to remind everyone that "reality shows are nothing without surprises." And for once, a show actually did pull an unexpected stunt, as three Speedo-clad himbos marched in through the front door. While trying not to look directly at them (kind of like an eclipse), I couldn't help but recognize one, but only because of one of the greatest lines in recent memory that was delivered at his expense on Average Joe: Hawaii.
Fredo, one of the Joes, bashed him by saying "he tells everyone he's a pilot…the guy works at Chili's!" And it really was that guy. "I'm sorry, Average Joe is the next castle over," Jay told the dudes, and sent them off. Very odd…but surprising
The real twist was that the other comics who had been voted off came back. They were not eligible to compete, but only to vote on who would meet in the final head-to-head. And, in Ant's case, to milk the remaining few seconds out of his fifteen minutes of fame by acting like a complete ass again. Gary was happy to see his buddy Todd Glass back, but John Heffron did not enjoy the surprise, and he proceeded to vent his anger by tossing a lawn gnome into the hot tub in mock rage. Which, on this show, is an appropriate enough gesture.
The final immunity challenge was an exact duplicate of one from last year in which each of the comics would have to devise a sitcom premise starring themselves and then pitch the show to a focus group. "Normally, I would be uncomfortable about a group of strangers ripping me apart," said Gary, but then he sagely observed that it couldn't be any worse than the treatment he got from the Beverly Hills friars. The pitches didn't exactly light the world on fire. One of the group members watched Corey for about two seconds and stated "I already don't like him," but another viewer found Corey "unaffected by his fame." Umm…what fame? Meanwhile, Alonzo summed up the proceedings as well as anyone could, saying "when else in your life will you hear people, like, agree that they hate you? And for no reason?" My highlight was watching a woman call out Tammy's pitch because of "the same, lame jokes with the goomba uncles…it's been so done." That could be a line straight out of this column.
Unfortunately, the rest of the focus group didn't agree, because Tammy won the damn thing, edging out Kathleen and John. Thus, the Sicilian Drama Queen is automatically advancing to the final five. Back at the house, the remaining contestants and the rejects then cast their votes for who should battle that night, with John receiving four votes. He elected to challenge Corey. But with this being reality TV and all, it was time for another twist. Jay Mohr then revealed that there would be yet another vote, with Alonzo, Gary, or Kathleen joining John and Corey in a three-way showdown, with the top two moving on. It couldn't be Gary again, could it? Even Eminem didn't have to deal with this many battles in "8 Mile." Kathleen continues to receive tons of respect from her fellow comics, and she wasn't the choice either. So, with five votes in the second election, Alonzo Bodden was picked to take the stage for the first time since entering the house. It also meant that Gary and Kathleen advanced to the finals, and it's worth noting that Kathleen was the only person who did so without ever taking the stage in a challenge-was she the puppet master behind the alliance after all? Was this brilliant strategy on her part or sheer, blind luck? Either way, the scenario can only help her, since almost all of her material will seem fresh for the voters at home.
Corey went first and delivered the funniest set that he's ever done on the show. He clearly felt like he had to bring his "A" game, so we got some re-used jokes that he felt were his best. But he seemed very comfortable on stage and was definitely as good as he's been. Alonzo went next and tore the place up. You can tell he's been prepping for his first performance the whole time, and it showed. Granted, he got the short end of the second vote scenario, because otherwise he would have cruised to the finals without performing, as Kathleen did. But Alonzo was definitely on. John wrapped the night up. He's the most unpredictable of the three, and it served him well. His energy was very high and the crowd bought what he was selling.
Jay Mohr announced that Alonzo received 55 percent of the vote, and Mr. Bodden was visibly psyched at this news. I think he was the only person who thought he had anything to worry about. So who would be the last finalist, Corey or John? Heffron looked like he thought he was beat…but he wasn't. He took home 38 percent of the audience vote, leaving Corey with a meager 7 percent and the brutal fact that he was the last comic on the bubble. However, throughout the whole show, the NBC promos hyped the fact that there was one more big twist…and then they didn't say anything! But in the previews for next week, we learned that there will be a wild card round. It looks like all of the eliminated comedians will get one final shot to advance. And, sadly, this probably also means that we'll be subjected to one more set of Ant and his stale jokes. Get ready to cast your votes and make him an official Last Comic Standing three-time loser.
C.C. McCandless is an independent filmmaker and freelance writer. He has a Bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
You can contact C.C. here: ccmcc33@msn.com
