Day: May 16, 2008

A columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune weighed in today on the reality behind "reality" TV show Last Comic Standing, which begins its sixth season on May 22. That’s right. The sixth season. A little late for a journalist to get around to figuring out what’s really going on with the show. Especially since we already knew from the very beginning that NBC casts this as a TV show, and not as a search for the funniest stand-up comedian. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The funniest comedians don’t need Last Comic Standing, because they already have enough exposure and certainly don’t want to have to compete against each other (though that still would make for a very intriguing show), so this is more aptly thought of as the Search For The Next Comedian We Can Turn Into A Household Name, Or At Least Make Some Money From Them. Producers always have the first and last say on who made the cut each season. And all of those thousands of wannabes who stood in lines for hours each winter would see that the only times their linemates made the TV show were to be made fun of — for all of the comedians with agents and managers bypassed the open call lines for timed auditions. This is and always has been the case. We can start...