Last Comic Standing 9 back on track for 2015 premiere on NBC

Does this count as a Christmas miracle?

Last Comic Standing is back on track for a ninth season probably coming to your TVs in summer 2015, with an actual premiere date and time slot still to be determined by NBC.

“We are having final casting showcases in January at the Improv in LA. ‎We’re almost fully booked, but do have some spots left,” executive producer Page Hurwitz told The Comic’s Comic today. “We’re excited about the comedians we’ve booked so far — a terrific mix of veterans and up and coming talent — and look forward to rounding out our top 100 with Barry Katz’s clients.”

Jokes! Inside meta jokes! Katz’s clients aren’t auditioning for LCS, but maybe you are or already have?

Katz was an original executive producer on Last Comic. The current iteration — rebooted this year by Hurwitz with Wanda Sykes and their Push It Productions alongside Javier Winnik — chose JB Smoove to host with Roseanne Barr, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Russell Peters judging, and Rod Man ultimately winning the big cash prize and NBC talent deal at the end of this summer as the eighth Last Comic winner.

NBC quickly renewed Last Comic for season nine, and producers were even quicker to cast a wider net for aspiring comedians, holding preliminary audition showcases in comedy clubs across America this fall. But just before Thanksgiving, potential contestants who already had passed their callbacks were told the season had been put “on hold.”

The Comic’s Comic has learned that the temporary halt to the proceedings was necessary so producers and the network could agree to format changes for how the competition winnows the field from 10 down to 1 — now how the original “Top 100” are selected (that’s “almost fully booked,” as Hurwitz said today), nor how the judges determine who’ll compete in the finals.

This past summer, we saw the Last Comic finalists try to team up for sketches, lead tours at Universal Studios, successfully answer interview questions on an episode of Ellen, and roast Gilbert Gottfried. But what will they do for elimination challenges in 2015? Those are details The Comic’s Comic hopes to share with you soon enough, although it’s likely producers and NBC will try to keep them under wraps a while longer.

If you haven’t already been selected as one of the “Top 100” to reach the Invitationals in Spring 2015, and you think you’re funny enough to make the cut: Please email a link to your website and/or stand-up videos to lastcomicstanding9@gmail.com.

Please don’t email me. Email them.

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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