Results, first semi: 2008 New York’s Funniest Stand-Up

A reliable source informed me that these are your first five comedians advancing to the finals of the 2008 New York’s Funniest Stand-Up contest:

Nate Bargatze, Esther Ku, Julian McCullough, Stone & Stone, Reese Waters

They’ll join five others who advance from tonight’s semifinal competition at Stand-Up NY. Finals Nov. 5 at Carolines. My notes from last night…

I had to bolt midway through last night’s show (also at Stand-Up NY) so
I could bring you another interview (which you shall see shortly), but
these are curious results. Bargatze and Ku went up early, and the crowd
wasn’t exactly giving up a lot of laughs at that point. So, um, hmm,
yeah. Tough work for our comics. I wonder not only how the rest of the
night went, but also whether the judges didn’t subtract points, so to
speak, for audience reactions. McCullough got the crowd rolling, earned
an applause break, and then seemed to do a bonus five minutes. I
suppose that didn’t work against him in the eyes of our judges,
especially since he did well, and is a returning finalist from last
year. Lee Camp also was a 2007 finalist in this contest, and certainly
delivered some funny politically-minded jokes, although it appeared
even from my vantage point that he was reading notes, which is an odd
move in a contest set. Not surprised that Waters advanced, as he has
done well in previous contests this year. Stone & Stone? They have
their niche and all, but didn’t we go over this duos in a solo act
competition before, on TV? And a couple of technical notes: DC Benny
and Pat Dixon did not perform in the first semi (don’t know if they
withdrew or got moved to the second group), while Jonathan Powley
switched groups. In case you’re wondering.

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Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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