Last Comic Standing – Comics stand up in a stand off

by Tara Shrodes

We're down to the final five on 'Last Comic Standing', and my predictions continue to come true. It was the last week for America to vote ... let's see if my streak continues.

He’s gone! Jonathan Thymius has finally gotten voted off of Last Comic Standing! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he didn’t seem like a nice guy. It’s just that. Well. He wasn’t funny. At least not funny enough to win 250 g’s. That’s a lot of dough.

Why am I talking like a gangster? Could be the influence of fellow competitor Mike Destafano. I really didn’t like Mike at first, but he’s grown on me. And it actually has nothing to do with his appearances on the show. See, I moved across the state last week. And I was listening to this NPR show called “The Moth Podcast.” It’s an interesting show, featuring celebrities and other notables, telling real life stories. And Mike was on. He was talking about his wife Frannie, and her illness and subsequent death from AIDS.

Here’s the link. Give it a listen if you have the time. His story is really beautiful, and his struggles will make you root for him to win Last Comic Standing. I don’t think he will though. My pony is still Tommy Johnagin.

Tommy never runs out of material. He has a great conversational and confident way about him. He’s definitely got the judges and crowd on his side. I do believe it’s his competition to lose. But!

As I said last week, here comes Roy Wood Jr. He gets better every time he steps on stage. His delivery is different from Tommy’s. Not better or worse, just more rapid fire.

Both Tommy and Roy talk about their “real life” experiences, which I love in a good comic. And both make their experiences universal in their writing styles. Those two will make an interesting finals.

My pick to heckle out the door next week is Mkq Kaplan. Mkq is O.K. However, O.K. can’t cut it anymore. And I’m sick of people spelling perfectly normal names in a funky way in order to try to stand out. So there!

I loved, loved seeing Ron White make a special appearance! It is too bad he got busted for the pot and cowboy booted from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. But, he doesn’t need those jokers anyway. He’s sarcastic, smart, biting, topical and out of the ordinary. Ron’s done just fine on his own, thank you!

So, voting is now closed on Last Comic Standing. I hope you’ve kept in your favorite. I’m looking forward to the home stretch!

Photo Credit: NBC