Thanks RickJay.
Now that you mention it, I do remember Carey/Butler being judges but hadn’t heard of the sordid details. It doesn’t suprise me in the least that the producers would pull that kind of crap. Its gotten to the point now where every reality based “game show” has me wondering out loud to Lady Fried “…I bet you the producer told him/her to say/do/judge that for ratings.”
Oh well, such is mordern entertainment.
I didn’t like Amy at first, but she won me over with her jokes to the bimbo about 'don’t you hate being used for your brains?" and “Howie Mandela ending apartheid.” Those were hysterical. Her timing was just perfect.
Out of curiosity, do you have a cite for this? Not that I don’t believe you, but I hate me a joke thief and would like to know how bad he is.
As for the final five, I’m disappointed. I saw Ralph making it. Even if his act isn’t funny to some, it’s polished as hell. He builds off of each laugh or at least keeps them going. That was where Matt and Doug failed. They got laughs but the set ups were long enough to let them stall before they could get the next off. What gets me is that Matt is gone (a victim of his own lack of experience more than anything) while Gerry Dee and John Reep are still on. Gerry Dee has slowed his delivery down and sounds like nearly every other crap comic out there. John Reep is like a bad cross between Dane Cook and Bill Engvall. “Hickory” indeed. Amy Schumer is funny, but I think her inexperience will cost her in the end. The man to beat (for me) is Lavell. His material is all fat and black, but the man is funny.
Her joke with the Jews and “Have you found Jesus?” killed me. She’s my new favorite now that Matt is gone.
Final Five: Who Brought The Funny?
With bonus YouTube links!
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Lavell Crawford – Oh look…fat jokes and black jokes, whadda surprise. I chuckled exactly one time, and don’t even remember what the joke was. He’s so unfunny it’s almost painful. He has no audience connection, his timing is horrible, and all his halfway decent material is stolen. Yeah, that was a great bit about how much more would’ve gotten done if we had used Mexicans for slaves. Maybe if you weren’t the third comic I’ve heard tell that one in the past two years, I’d think it was funnier. :rolleyes: Get off the damn show, you hack.
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Ralph Harris, Jr. – Opens with a suck-up non-joke, and then proceeds to tell a grand total of two “jokes”: He spends a minute and a half on how his aunt has skinflaps on her arms and two minutes on how his uncle is a drunk. Now, I’m going to assume he has some friends that he uses to try out material, and I’m also going to assume that these friends like him. So why…why…would these friends not tell him that spending fully half your act stumbling around, speaking incoherently, might not be the best move? The “Uncle” bit would’ve been funny if he kept it to 20, maybe 30 seconds. Two minutes? You’ve gotta be kidding me…
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Gerry Dee – The waiter bit fell kinda flat, the wedding gift bit was so-so at first (the “one plate” bit), but picked up nicely after that (the gravy boat part hit home nicely, since my wife is a gravy addict). Pretty funny overall, but he still makes me wonder if he’s on something – I think it’s supposed to be part of his shtick, but when he’s on stage I often find myself wondering if he has Parkinson’s.
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John Reep – I thought his opener about the cell phones was going to fall flat, but the whole “public vs. private” bit wound up working nicely. Too bad he went for the “people who wear a Bluetooth look like asses”…yes, we know it…the only ones who don’t know it are people who wear a Bluetooth. The beer bit was good, especially the mocking of cheap beer (something I had a lot of experience with in my teens – “Milwaukee’s Best, New Jersey’s cheapest!”). I’m almost finding myself getting over the HemiHate.
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Amy Schumer – Dear God, this girl knows how to bring the funny. The mid-part about her mom and all the husbands went on too long, but other than that it was a top-notch set. Boo to the producer for cutting to the audience when Amy was doing a visual joke.
Deserving of the boot this week: Lavell Crawford
Getting the boot this week: Gerry Dee
My three favorites were Lavell, Amy, and Matt. As time goes on, though, I think Amy’s pulling ahead. Not sure if it’s because I’m finding her funnier or if I’m just becoming attracted to her, although I’m sure it’s a bit of both 
Hal is right that Lavell seems to talk about the same things over and over.
I never got much out of Jon Reep, but he did make me laugh the most with his most recent performance.
We sat in awe at the unfunniness dished out in the final five.
I mean, wow, what a bunch of crap… especially Ralph.
Gerry gets my vote for the only decent set of the bunch. He got the only laugh for us with 17 sides of gravy.
I missed Gerry’s set the other night. Our power went out literally from a minute before his performance to a minute after. I was not fated to hear about the 17 sides of gravy, apparently.
My rankings:
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Amy Schumer. This wasn’t actually a good set by her standards but she’s still funny. On a re-view of her set, it actually was much weaker than she’s shown us before… it dragged a lot at times. So I’m not sure if I’m ranking her above Dee for this set or because she was so much stronger before.
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Gerry Dee. I honestly hadn’t giggled even once at the guy until this show but he brought out some very high quality jokes in the last half of his set. Maybe he was saving his Grade A jokes for voting situations. I hated him before but credit must be given where it is due.
(HUGE GAP)
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Ralph Harris. Not really very funny, but I laughed a bit at some of the sight gags. The drunk uncle joke felt like it went on for about eight hours. Harris obviously really, really wants to be Richard Pryor, and he’s just not good enough. He was bad, but not as bad as…
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John Reep. I’ll be damned if I know how this guy got on this show. Wow, a joke about cellphones. That’s only the 7,000,000th time I’ve heard that one. Maybe they just recently got cell phones in Hick’ry.
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Lavell Crawford. That was racist, uncomfortable, and completely unfunny. And frankly, looking at the man actually makes me tired. He’s so goddamned fat it’s actually uncomfortable to watch him dying. He has to crane his neck down to look over his fat at you. He makes Ruben Studdard look like Will Smith. At least be funny, but he wasn’t.
Getting the boot: John Reep
Deserves the boot: Lavell Crawford.
Anybody watch the bloated finale last night?
I enjoyed the roasts and a few of the bits, but Carrot Top? Really?
Surprised that **John Reep ** won out over Lavell Crawford. Shocked, actually. I don’t think either are that funny. Reep has the redneck thing going and I feel all of Lavell’s laughs come from his size and funny voice. His jokes aren’t that good. Still though, he’s been the most popular comic throughout the show and I didn’t think he wouldn’t have any trouble trouncing Reep in the finale.
**Amy Schumer ** was there last night and looking as lovely as ever. She should have won.
Thoughts?
PS, Who was that older comedian they had on as a guest. I didn’t recognize him at all. Should I know who he is?
I just watched the finale last night on the Tivo. Based on the number of replies to this thread, I guess there weren’t many people gathered around their sets anxiously waiting to see who won.
I was surprised John Reep won. Lavell was a strong comedian and very popular.
Amy Schumer wasn’t ready yet…but, she’s new to comedy. Given time, she’s going to be really good.
I haven’t watched since Matt Kirschen got bounced, but I am slightly horrified that John (HICKORY!!!) Reep won. I can’t honestly think of a single joke that he told that was funny. His audition was lousy. His performances were weak. Nearly every comedian who was on the show was better than him in every way. How on Earth did he manage to steal this show? Did the “I don’t have a hemi either” crowd come out with sympathy votes?
Well, if you haven’t watched since Kirschen was voted out, you’ve missed Reep’s best stuff…he was making me laugh towards the end of the show. Although all of his earliest bits were passable at best.