Day: July 20, 2010

Breaking news?! Earlier, I thought you might want to know how the seventh season of NBC's Last Comic Standing would play out. Turns out NBC and the producers have modified and solidified those plans, and confirmed them to me this evening. Right now, it's down to our Top 7: Mike DeStefano, Felipe Esparza, Rachel Feinstein, Tommy Johnagin, Myq Kaplan, Jonathan Thymius and Roy Wood Jr. As host Craig Robinson implied at the end of Monday night's telecast, only one comic will be eliminated on the July 26 broadcast. The Top 6 will perform that day for your votes. On Aug. 2, one more stand-up comedian will be eliminated on the broadcast, leaving the Top 5, who will be performing for your votes to decide the winner, who will be revealed Aug. 9, along with performances from special guests (perhaps including this year's judges, Andy Kindler, Natasha Leggero and Greg Giraldo) and extra hoopla. That means that, just as in 2008, our winner will be determined in a five-way vote. Crazy, but nonetheless true. So make your votes count, American comedy...

Previously, we watched this seventh season of NBC's Last Comic Standing through the magic (and sometimes witchcraft) of several-weeks tape delay. The comedians themselves could have forgotten how their performances had gone, only to see them slightly changed in the editing room. But not now. Now the final 10 have flown and/or driven to Glendale, Calif., for same-day competition, with morning tapings set for broadcast that same evening. They would know, and we would know, how it all shakes down today. Oh, and our judges — Andy Kindler, Natasha Leggero and Greg Giraldo — all have returned to the arena of comedy battles, all of them also fresh off of their own performances at Montreal's Just For Laughs festival. Host Craig Robinson opened with a LeBron James joke before re-introducing us to the LCS 7 Top 10. Would the results of last week's voting be drawn out for the full hour, a la American Idol? Nope. Not too long at all for four comedians, as Roy Wood Jr., Mike DeStefano, James Adomian and Myq Kaplan are asked to step forward (all others, Robinson says, should shuffle offstage). Robinson gives the OK to DeStefano, then Wood. It's down to Kaplan and Adomian, who exchange creepy smiles at each other awaiting their fate, as only one of them will continue onward. It's Kaplan! Who in his close-up, breathes a very realistic...