Last Comic Standing season 8 is coming to a close tonight. There are only three comics left — who will win? Is the answer obvious, or is the competition wide open?
We’ll find out tonight, but I want to start off by talking about an injustice that occurred during last week’s episode. The judges eliminated Joe Machi. Why did they make such a huge mistake? The way I saw it, he was already the winner weeks ago; it was just a matter of him still coming out and being a strong comic to warrant giving him the win at the end of the season. And he did that, so why was he cut? Even the contestants knew he was the biggest threat since they put him in the Head to Head Challenge multiple times — and he won every time.
Of course, the judges are to blame. But I don’t blame all three of them. There is only one judge that is to blame: Keenen Ivory Wayans. None of the four comedians last week received any sort of criticism exept for Joe Machi. And who was the one to deliver the critique? Mr. Wayans.
Because I’m a huge fan of Last Comic Standing, I’m not going to stop watching just because Joe is gone. There have been seasons where the best comic was cut too early. The same happened here.
That’s not to say that there are no longer any worthy competitiors left. That’s not the point, though. A show like this should be about choosing the funniest comedian. When Wanda Sykes came on board as executive producer to revive the series, I thought the point of taking control away from America and putting it solely in the hands of the judges was so that a situation like this wouldn’t happen. I guess judges aren’t always better than America when it comes to talent competitions.
Thank you for bearing with me as I let out my frustration before moving on to the finale. So what do we do now? With three comics left, one of them will win. Will it be Rod Man, Nikki Carr or Lachlan Patterson? Let’s take a closer look at each one and predict who will win season 8.
Rod Man
I became a fan of Joe Machi right from his first appearance on the show. And over the course of the season, Rod Man quickly became one of my favorites as well. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been of the mindset that even though Joe should win, Rod Man is the most worthy comic to win after him.
His style of comedy is quite unique, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. It’s the way he talks and his mannerisms that elevate the already-hilarious jokes to a higher level. His comedic timing is superb, the writing is top-notch and he knows how to keep going further and further with a joke/topic without making it feel like he needs to move on.
Look at his most recent set last week. “You can’t make love with a rag on your head, I can tell you that.” He could have stopped it there and moved on; he got the laughs he wanted. But he took it even further: “You can make biscuits, you can make some good ass biscuits.”
Later on in the same set, he talked about changes that occur as you age. It seems like every comic under the sun has brought this up in their act. But with Rod Man, they didn’t feel like been there/done that jokes because he has a completely fresh take on it.
So even though Joe left us last week, at least we still have Rod Man to keep the show entertaining.
Nikki Carr
Nikki is the last female standing. And it’s a tragedy that there has been only one female winner in the history of Last Comic Standing.
But let’s put the gender issue aside because this should be solely about the talent. She is one of the funniest comics this season, and she’s in the final three for that very reason. Rod Man is the funniest of the remaining contestants, and Nikki is right after him.
Last week, one of the things she talked about was slavery: “It bothers me when people say black people are lazy. I mean, come on! We weren’t the ones with the slaves.” She took a stereotype, pulled no punches and took it right back around to humorously disprove the stereotype. Then later on, she brought up the differences between African Americans and Latinos, and how it would have been so much better to have Latinos as their friends during slavery mainly because of the songs. That was a take on slavery and race that is uniquely Nikki Carr.
And that’s the thing with Nikki: her sets are full of topics that we’ve heard many times before, but she knows how to put her own spin on it, whether it’s slavery, her appearance or homosexuality.
Lachlan Patterson
And then there’s Lachlan. How he survived over Joe is beyond me. I’m not going to hold back on my displeasure here. And it’s not only because of Joe’s elimination. Lachlan is just not very funny. I don’t know how he wasn’t cut weeks ago. There’s nothing that stands out about him. We’re at the final three — I’m sorry, but he should be a lot funnier at this point than he is.
Let’s take last week as an example again. Probably the only funny joke was the bit about putting the microwave in the oven. Pretty much the rest of the time, like I always end up doing with him, I sat there with rarely a hint of a smile on my face. I mean, even the “Wit yo fine ass” bit was just okay. Maybe some of these jokes would work better if it was a different comedian delivering them, someone who knew how to write strong jokes, because then they’d be able to turn it up 100 notches, put their own spin on it and have every single person in stitches.
Who Will Win Last Comic Standing Season 8?
It’s obvious who should win: Rod Man. And I’m also predicting that he will win.
Tonight, Rod Man, Nikki and Lachlan will perform one final time before the judges decide the winner, so you never know what will happen, of course. Rod Man could come out and be less funny than he normally is, and Lachlan could all of a sudden come out swinging and deliver a winning act. Strange things like that have happened before on these competition shows, whether it’s American Idol, America’s Got Talent and even Last Comic Standing.
I wouldn’t be against Nikki winning either. I guess what I’m saying is that I’ll be happy as long as the weak link doesn’t win. But when it comes down to it, the funniest person should win, and of these three, that is Rod Man. Not only with the audience and viewers, but the judges have also been blown away by his comedic talent. And regardless of their mistake last week, I’m sure they’ll make the right decision tonight. They have to … right?
Aside from finding out the winner, judges Roseanne Barr and Russell Peters will take to the stage to perform, as will the winner of the online “Comic Comeback” competition, Alingon Mitra.
Only three days have passed since the death of the comedic genius known as Robin Williams. The two-hour finale tonight will be full of comedy, of course, and I think that’s what we need most of all right now, to sit back and take some time to laugh. So no matter who wins, let’s celebrate comedy — for Robin.
The Last Comic Standing season 8 finale airs tonight at 9pm on NBC.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
