Comic Ant Bugs Out!

In last week's episode of Last Comic Standing, flamboyant funnyman Ant's hopes of winning the title were, ahem, squashed. (Cheap humor, yes, but we're on a budget, folks!) Not only that, but the former Unhappily Ever After costar had been portrayed as the most conniving queen bee since Joan Collins doffed her Dynasty shoulder pads. Yet, as TV Guide Online chatted him up just prior to this week's show (airing tonight at 9 pm/ET on NBC), we realized that he was the one Ant with whom we'd prefer to picnic than nitpick. Read on and decide for yourself: Doesn't he seem like the sort of fellow who's less likely to stab you in the back than to pat you on it?

TV Guide Online: Ant, to this day, I can't figure out why you were so scheming. Your final set was killer; you've got the goods!
Ant: You thought I was scheming? I wouldn't call it scheming. I would call it having a great time and living the reality [TV] experience — the strong survive, the weak don't. So [my strategy was to] form a good alliance so I could have some control over a situation that you have very little control over — and do a lot of praying. You didn't see a lot of it on television, but believe me, I was praying! They edit out all the spiritual moments.

TVGO: God bless editors. Moving on, Todd Glass told me he thought you were doing an impersonation of what you thought someone on a reality show would be like rather than just, you know, being.
Ant: I really wasn't. I was playing the game the way I set out to. This show was, first of all, about comedy, and second, it was about winning a contest. Todd and Bonnie McFarlane didn't go into it with that attitude. They thought, "This is going to be fun and games!" And it is kind of fun and games. But there's also a big prize at the end, so you have to, as my father used to say, keep your eye on the prize.

TVGO: Obviously, at least one person is doing that — the "puppetmaster" you mentioned on your way out. Is it safe to assume you were referring to your partner in crime, Tammy Pescatelli?
Ant: Do you think I'm going to answer that? You're going to have to tune in and watch!

TVGO: Don't have to tell me; see if I care. I already know it's Alonzo Bodden.
Ant: You're not going to get a comment out of me.

TVGO: We should have done this interview over drinks. Then you'd tell me!
Ant: I'm sober two years.

TVGO: Okay. That would have slowed me down. What did Todd say on the tour bus that set you off?
Ant: Faggot.

TVGO: Can you really be offended by anything he says? I mean, he's a goofball comic!
Ant: If he'd said it to be joking, I wouldn't have been offended. There's also a difference between fag and faggot.

TVGO: If comedy doesn't work out, you have a bright future in semantics.
Ant: No, if comedy doesn't work out, I have a bright future folding shirts at the Gap or being a tour guide. They edited that show to make it look like that whole incident happened after the challenge. In fact, it happened before. I honestly felt like Todd had said it intentionally to throw me off.

TVGO: Boy, did that plan backfire. You kicked their butts. You know, you're not nearly as nasty as I expected you to be. You're downright nice.
Ant: A lot of [my chicanery] is just editing. They needed a villain, and I knew that going in. Someone had to be, so why not me? People online are calling me Omarosant, which I love!

TVGO: Let's polish your image a little. Tell me something lovely about yourself that we wouldn't know from watching the show.
Ant: I am a recovering Republican as of six months ago. I had to sober up to see the evil that they do! [Pauses] I hate talking about the deeds that I do, because I was once told that it's not a good deed if you have to tell someone you've done it.

TVGO: Your secrets are safe with me. Already, you have a new show, VH1's A2Z (airing today through Thursday at 11 pm/ET).
Ant: Yep, I'm one of the comic hosts. We take a celebrity like Pamela Anderson and go through the alphabet. Every letter represents something about that star that you knew nothing about.

TVGO: Can't wait until you get to the Olsen twins.
Ant: I'd love to do them. Oh my God! What I don't get about the Olsen twins is that one is supposedly on drugs or anorexic, and she's 92 pounds. But the other one is considered healthy at 93 pounds? That's so ridiculous to me!