Game Show NewsNet

The Wild Card - July 27

Now THIS is what I've been waiting for. For the past 5 weeks, we've seen 5 rotten comics (well, 3 rotten ones and 2 decent ones) find their way out of the competition.

Or so we thought.

Well, the ratings, dictated otherwise, so now we have some more comic competition. The good news is that this is the stuff that I want to see more of in LCS2. The bad news? Well, this is coming from the comics that I wanted to see less of.

After getting the mandatory recap, Jay Mohr reminds us that the power is now in our hands. Jay comes up to do some stand-up for us. He tells us that the 5 comedians have 4 minutes to perform, and when the time runs out, so does the power in the microphone. "Life is tough. Wear a cup." You can call, internet in, or text message your vote - and one of them will be allowed to go back in the game. Everyone can get a second chance - except the agent that put him in 'Pluto Nash'. Heh.

We reintroduce ourselves to the contestants - Todd Glass, Bonnie McFarlane, Corey Holcomb, ANT, and Jay London. Here are my rules - I will be unbiased and only judge the comics based on this one performance. The one exception - and repeated material will be frowned upon, since we probably all want to see new stuff.

Corey Holcomb starts the show - and he is still disappointed that he was so close to getting to the final 5. The Wild Card show motivated him to get some new, original killer material - and he starts off by not talking about the ghetto portion of the show. He talks about people who have low values but who have special qualities. He also talks about rewriting the marriage values. 'Dearly beloved, we are here to see the unification of this fool's bank account with this woman's possessions.' And, of course, we get the ghetto portion of the show. 'For Christmas, we didn't have a tree, we had a green blanket wrapped over the coat rack.' His material was very original, and he was fairly funny, to boot. It's a strong start and he set a decent bar.

Next up is Bonnie McFarlane. She reiterates her 94%-6% loss, and she couldn't believe that almost no one voted for her. She relates this as a chance to lose again and it's obvious that she hasn't gotten over that loss. It's really obvious when she starts her set and asks the crowd, 'Where's my 6% at?'. She talks about finding love and rips off a sketch that Lang did earlier on this season called 'Lesbian or Midwestern'. She continues to be controversial 'I take Spanish from 7 to 9 - or until the construction is finished on the house next door' and she continues to be lightweight. During her skit, I was pining to see a performance from Dan Naturman - or even, for that matter, from Buck Star.

I would also like to see a performance from Jay London - and I'll get that now. He felt heartbroken that he got knocked out from the family, and if there is ever a sentimental heartfelt Dat Phan-like character to make a run, he would be it. He does his self-deprecation act - and I love the new material. 'Do you think the Motel 6 in Amish country keeps their light on?...My doctor said that I had acute appendicitis. I said compared to who?'. He did have to look at his notes during the show which was noticeable, so I have to take off some points there, but I love his act, regardless. We get a shot of someone standing up and a sign under him saying 'Jay's Friends'. That's not very nice...though appropriate.

ANT, after getting knocked out by Gary Gulman, got a good night's sleep. He regrets that he didn't have more fun in his stand-up set, and he vows that he will get that opportunity this time around. "So I lost 31 pounds. Atkins and Crystal Meth are amazing." He talks about life in the bar, with alcohol and drugs. He does bring back the Boxing Joke from season 1 that got Buddy Hackett and Joe Rogan arguing at each other. He does have a funny skit, but I'll give him the same comments I gave him in his head-to-head - the material is funny for the people who like it, but he will not get the mainstream vote using that sort of material.

Last (and to me, almost least) is Todd Glass. He lost a close match to Tammy Pescatelli - and he reminded everyone that he didn't clap for her victory. He promises to have a good time - after cursing everyone else out. He talks about the machismo of males and people who don't tell the truth. He also talks about What If - and by trying to get off by impersonating the cookie monster and annoying your second grade teacher. 'When they were handling out personalities, you must have thought they said who wants to be a mean whore?'. It's a brand of comedy that I just don't like - but at least he was better than Bonnie.

We get one last recap and a speech from Jay on how to vote. You can vote as many as three times on three different mediums (that's 9 votes, total). We finish this one up by having all 10 comedians back on the stage. When the show is done, everyone goes over to talk to Jay London, then everyone congregates in the center of the stage - except for Bonnie and Corey. Just in case you were unconvinced about the hate that Corey has for ANT and the hate that Bonnie has for everyone else, that picture speaks volumes.

So who do I think won? Here's my rankings.

1. Jay
2. Corey
3. ANT
4. Todd
5. Bonnie

I think that the battle is going to be between Jay and Corey to get into the house. If you add the sentimental factor (and that factor was a major role in Dat Phan winning it all), then that puts Jay over the top. Will that put him back in the competition? We'll all see on Thursday.