The last two presidential candidates standing will appear on Last Comic Standing when the NBC reality competition airs its season finale.Senators John McCain and Barack Obama each pretaped mock "campaign ads" poking fun at themselves. McCain lets himself be dissed as not funny but "funny-looking" (always comedy gold), while Obama jokes about his... bowling.[Crickets.]Yeah. Last Comic Standing airs Thursday at 8 pm/ET. — Matt Mitovich
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Bill Bellamy, Last Comic Standing
Tonight, The Office's Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez evaluate yuksters in L.A. with the blessing of irreverent Last Comic Standing host Bill Bellamy, the man perhaps best known for coining the phrases "booty call." He gave us the scoop on this season's comics.
TV Guide: What's new with the show?Bill Bellamy: It’s going to be an exhilarating, funny, super-duper show. The scope — the world wide search — is bigger [this year]. It’s like the Super Bowl of comedy! I think people are going to get committed to the comedians. Not only are you going to get an opportunity to see funny people, you’re going to know their story. It’s a lot of fun. TV Guide: How does the talent level compare to previous seasons?Bellamy: We’ve gotten better because more comics are seeing it. Wh
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So You Think You Can Dance by Kelsey McNeal/Fox
Thursday's few highlights:• Ugly Betty wrapped up its season with an audience of 8.75 million total viewers, a 250K week-to-week gain. • Fox's So You Think You Can Dance returned to 8.6 million viewers, down 600 thou from its Season 3 kick-off.• Grey's Anatomy surged a mil in its final week, but still was off a few mil from its year-ago season-ender.• Last Comic Standing (5.9 mil) was down 14 percent from last season's premiere.Related:• Cheers & Jeers: Lindsay Lohan Gets Ugly• Recap blog: So You Think You Can Dance
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The Office drunk is in NYC, and I'm only slightly hung over. I am here in the city that doesn't sleep with the cast that doesn't sleep. The cast of The Office is in town for the announcement of the new season. It's the same week that our Season 4 wraps up in a nice bow [Thursday at 9 pm/ET]. I am one lucky redhead. I am a former New Yorker and the only thing better than being back in NYC is being here with Dwight, Andy, Kevin, Phyllis, etc. I passed my old restaurant, the Red Eye Grill on 7th Ave. (across from Carnegie Hall). A lot has changed in nine years. NYC loves The Office. I took a picture on 6th Ave. with a family who had run into and taken a photo with Kelly (aka Mindy Kaling) one hour before! Now I am just representing Dunder Mifflin, the people's paper company (what was that jingle that Darryl wrote?). We are bringing a little Scranton to the Big Apple.The one-hour finale will be this Thursday, and get ready. We all signed confidentiality agreements so I can only say that...
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Welcome back, everyone! I know, I know. Long time no see. I guess you are aware that there was a strike. A very strange and frantic strike. But now it’s over. It is behind us and it is now time for the drunken redhead to move forward and face the world again. To say that I have missed you all terribly is an understatement. The strike was an altered state. A constant off-balance feeling. A "FOG," which stands for “Freakin’ Opportunity for Growth”. I had my doubts and fears like anybody on TV who used to wait tables for 20 years. I have been busy performing, picketing, auditioning, working with a singing coach, getting political, doing some charity events, waving in a parade and just plain worrying.I’ve just returned from Minneapolis with the very funny and talented Mr. Brian Baumgartner. We were the judges for Last Comic Standing there. We had a ball. Angela [Kinsey] and Oscar [Nunez] did the same thing in L.A. It was interesting sitting through all that sta...
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Kate Flannery and Brian Baumgartner by Chris Haston/NBC Photo
Think you're funny? As NBC's Last Comic Standing changes gears Season 6, this is your chance to prove it. Starting Thursday, comedy vets will host audition nights across the U.S. and Canada to find the next laugh riot.Exec producer Peter Engel tells TV Guide, "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the cast of... sitcoms like Cheers cast the [next] comics who are all hoping to be like them?" And that's exactly what they're doing: The first open audition is Feb. 7 at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York, with celeb judges Richard Belzer (SVU) and Steve Schirripa. The next stop comes Feb. 14 at Toronto's Yuk Yuk's, with Dave Foley (NewsRadio) and Richard Kind (Mad About You). Then it's on to Minneapolis (Feb. 19, with The Office's Brian Baumgartner and Kate Flannery) and Houston (Feb. 22, Scrubs' Neil Flynn and Fresh Prince's Alfonso Ribeiro. The Office's Leslie David Baker will be on hand in Tempe, Arizona, on Feb. 26, while Josh Gomez (Chuck) and French Stewart (Third Rock) hit San Francisc...
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Angela Kinsey by Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com
There will be plenty of familiar faces when Last Comic Standing returns to NBC this spring. And, no, we don't mean comedian-turned-reality TV host Bill Bellamy. The show once again will scour the country to find funnymen and women in open casting calls. But this time, producers will replace regular judges with a revolving door of celebrity talent scouts. "I'm going to be nice and pregnant, so entertain me," quips Angela Kinsey, who will whittle down Los Angeles-area wannabes with The Office costar Oscar Nunez. "I tend to really love comedians who weave the fabric of their lives into their stand-up, because I think real life is always better than anything you can write!" Auditions for Season 6 will kick off on Jan. 29 at the Hollywood Improv.For more information, log on to NBC.com/Last_Comic_Standing. — Dana Meltzer Zepeda
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Jon Reep by Chris Haston/NBC Photo
NBC Universal has signed the three finalists from the most-recent edition of Last Comic Standing — champ Jon Reep, Lavell Crawford and Amy Schumer — to talent holding deals…. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Daniel Baldwin, who failed to appear for a progress report on his drug rehab stemming from an April 2006 arrest…. DVD releases have been set for Groundhog Day: 15th-anniversary Special Edition (Jan. 29, 2008, featuring all-new bonus material such as a commentary by director Harold Ramis and newly discovered deleted scenes), Tootsie: 25th Anniversary Edition (Feb.5) and Groundhog Day: 15th-anniversary Special Edition (Jan. 29).
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Well, this is it, the final two. It's close — Jon and Lavell both had good sets. Now let's see what America, Canada, the U.K. and Australia think. The international comics were great, but its an American finale.Sorry, Gerry Dee, you had a great run. What's up, Canada? You guys couldn't get enough votes for the hometown guy. I love Canada but I bet Gerry went up against preseason hockey or something. OK, whose idea was it to make the best of the worst a top eight countdown. Countdowns are top 10 and believe me, there were more than enough to fill 10 spots. I think the guy who won "the best of the worst" should have to give money back to the show. That was frightening. I remember that and why did I have to watch it again? I would have voted for combat dancing but each was disturbing in its own way.Kathleen Madigan, hilarious as always. Rednecks and chemistry is always going to be funny. I love her.Greg Proops, great job. I loved the persuasive arguments and I'm voting for the wom...
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Well, I guess the voters resolved my confusion about Amy. She's gone but had a great run, especially for only three-and-a-half years in. Good luck out there, Amy. It was great to see Harland Williams. He cracks me up. Only Harland would wish the crowd a "Merry Christmas" in early September.Josh Blue was funny, but I'd love to hear him do some other topics besides his handicap. He was funny teasing the comics about being back to defend his title.The comics all seemed a little weak again this week. Gerry had a lot more setup than punch. The setup about women drinking and driving didn't pay off much. I guess if they name the comics moving on in the order of votes received, Gerry is in the lead. Let's see if he maintains it.Lavell was funny as a crossing guard. I liked that bit. His set was up and down. He got a little blue and had to be bleeped — not good. Then again, he was doing the bit about an anal exam. It's been done to death by every male comic around 40. I heard so many jo...
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