'Last' laughs
‘Last Comic Standing’ finals return to Glendale’s Alex Theatre
By Carl Kozlowski 07/15/2010
Glendale’s Alex Theatre has been the home of countless entertainment events since its opening in 1925. But for the next three Mondays, the Alex is where one of the funniest comedians in America will win the title of “Last Comic Standing” on the NBC TV series of the same name. In fact, producers are hoping that area comedy fans will come help fill the vaudeville-era entertainment palace for the competition tapings.
“We’ve been home to Last Comic Standing for most of its run,” says Maria Sahakian, marketing and events manager for Glendale Arts and the Alex Theatre. “They started filming there in 2004, when they did the season finals. We sometimes have not been able to host those, but this year we’ve been fortunate to have them for both the semifinals and finals.”
“Standing” hit TV airwaves in 2003 with comic Jay Mohr as its host for the first two seasons. The show follows the model of the FOX Network ratings jugger-naut “American Idol” by inviting aspiring comedians from across the nation to stand in line for hours or even days at comedy clubs in hopes of being seen and invited to Hollywood by a panel of talent scouts.
The winning comic receives a series development contract worth $250,000 with NBC, as well as a solo TV special that airs first on Comedy Central and later on the Bravo cable network. Yet, despite being on for seven seasons, the series has had a rocky history.
The first season was a genuine effort to discover a new star, and the winner was a Vietnamese immigrant comic named Dat Phan, who was selected by a phone vote from the national television audience. However, it soon became apparent that Phan didn’t have enough material to do a full hour-long special and merit his own sitcom, which was obscured by the fact the show only required comics to perform two-minute sets each week so no one noticed that all he had was a total of about 25 minutes of A-grade material.
In subsequent seasons, more veteran comics were allowed to enter the mix of competitors, which improved the quality of the comedy and ensured the winners would be prepared to handle their series and special obligations. Even so, season two celebrity judges Drew Carey and Brett Butler infamously walked out on a live episode as a protest against what they considered vote-rigging by the judges.
By the end of season three, ratings dipped so low that the season finale wasn’t even aired on NBC, but instead was carried on Comedy Central. It took more than a year after that — skipping an entire season — before NBC brought the show back as a summer series, a placement it has maintained ever since.
After relying on has-been Bill Bellamy and never-was Fearne Cotton to host the series the past two seasons, NBC finally picked
a viable star as the “LCS” host this season, hiring Craig Robinson to host season seven. Robinson has been a blazing-hot, rising presence on the comedy scene over the past two years, landing significant roles in films like “Zach and Miri Make a Porno” and “Hot Tub Time Machine” in addition to working his way up from guest appearances to series regular status on NBC’s acclaimed sitcom “The Office.” In fact, rumors are abuzz in Hollywood that Robinson’s character may replace Steve Carell’s Michael Scott as the office’s boss when Carell departs the series at the end of next season.
Chicago native Robinson began performing comedy by hosting shows and attending open mic nights during his college years at Illinois State University. But his most memorable early experience — when, he claims, “Comedy chose me” — came when he had rubber chickens thrown at him during one of his first shows in his hometown.
“I was always kind of funny, but then I did this open mic in Chicago called Hecklers Heaven. There were three people in the audience who got chickens, and three others got scorecards, and if you had all three chickens thrown at you, you had to get off the stage,” Robinson recalled for this reporter in a 2007 Pasadena Weekly interview that was the first of his career.
“For the first three minutes, nobody could bother you, but you were onstage for eight minutes total, so they could be ruthless for five. That first week I just told jokes, got a low score and jumped offstage when two chickens hit me. But I returned the next week with my keyboard, I got a whole lot of love but no chickens, and that was all she wrote.”
In addition to improving the show’s credibility and integrity, Robinson has kept the show’s new group of producers happy by helping up the ratings this season. With the show’s renewed focus on standup comedy ahead of the wacky “challenges” past seasons’ comics were also subjected to. Add top-notch judges like Andy Kindler, Natasha Leggero and Greg Giraldo, and “Last Comic Standing” has at long last become a worthy place to find new comic favorites.
“Credibility is a key component to the show this year,” says Executive Producer Jayson Dinsmore. “We wanted to take the show back to its roots and make it a pure standup comedy competition. Adding three highly respected comedians as judges has opened the door for us in helping secure a higher level of talent in terms of contestants. In addition, we really have only one rule — if it's funny, put it in the show!”
“Last Comic Standing” films its semi-finals and finals rounds at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 26 and Aug. 2 and 9 at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Call (818) 243-ALEX (2539), or visit alextheatre.org to register for free tickets.
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