Welcome to the inherent drama of sport.
"Do you believe in miracles??? YES!!!"
--Al Michaels, 1980 Winter Olympics
The 28th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition
Preliminary Week One--Night Six
November 5, 2007
Comedy Underground, Seattle
After the soul crushing night in Bellingham, the warm and comforting arms of our home club welcomed us back to Seattle. Hello, Comedy Underground...it's been too long, we're glad to be back.
With twelve competitors still fighting for three available slots to move on into the semi-finals, this was going to be a very exciting show. Having this be "industry night"--where the judges are representing the very people who can help bring any talented performer to "the next level"--means there couldn't possibly be more incentive for every performer tonight to give it their best effort tonight.
They'd be putting this effort out for a good sized-crowd for a Monday night at Seattle's longest running comedy club...and, as such, this should not only be a good-sized crowd but they should be a good crowd--or, as Heneghen said, "Everyone's happy to be back in Seattle. All of the smart jokes are gonna work tonight."
Yes, our host would once again be the legendary Heneghen...slipping into his home club like a favorite pair of jeans. There are only so many places on the face of the earth where you can say, "I've been to jail...and I was the prettiest motherfucker in the place..." and get the kind of love that Heneghen got tonight at the Comedy Underground.
OK, enough stalling...let's talk about how everyone did...and see who moved on to the semi-finals...
Competitor Review-----
Entering the night in 3rd place but not locked into the semi-finals, KEY LEWIS knew that he would need to either pull off a strong performance while biting the bullet as the first performer of the night, or he'd have to sweat out the entire night to see if those battling to take his place away from him could manage to do so.
While Heneghen did his job and got the crowd warmed up, the crowd seemed to clamp down again when the competition sets began--so, Key's opening few jokes landed on the crowd to a rather weak response. Key is a compelling performer, but sometimes that's not enough to overcome the problems of going up first (witness Geoff Lott, who had a strong set in the bullet spot at the Edmonds Center for the Arts--which was his lowest placement so far in the week.)
"(Being half-black and half-white) is messed up. I used to steal shit and bring it back"--got a good laugh.
This crowd was very discerning...and they seemed to run very hot & cold with Key as he pursued his material, especially on his comments about looking Mexican. He'd get a laugh with one punchline, lose them on the next, get them back on the one after that...and so on. It meant Key wasn't getting the momentum he'd managed in other venues.
Still, the "Don't clap, it's not mine" stock line got a good laugh...and Key easily earned himself his encore point...so, it might have been as much as could be expected out of the bullet for Key. The question quickly becomes--would it be enough to keep him moving forward in the competition? We wouldn't know for a couple of hours... (Do not envy Key that particular torture.)
One of the raps on LUKAS SEELY was that he had gained a reputation as being a very strong performer--at his home club, Giggles Comedy Club in the U-District--but not able to do as well in other venues. I'm happy to say that Lukas has proven this reputation is unearned--as he made the top 5 twice--neither time, obviously, at Giggles. His chances of moving on in the competition now rested on his ability to tackle the Comedy Underground audiences--who haven't been as warm to Lukas (leading to that unearned reputation, I believe.) It was a lot of pressure for a performer going up this early in the night...
Now, how a performer responds to pressure is important to considering how they'll fare throughout their career and I have to say that I was impressed with Lukas this entire week in not letting any cracks show. Whatever the circumstances, Lukas took every stage and gave a strong performance. I should also say that his material is much stronger than it was a couple of years ago--and it was good to get to see Lukas work, as I don't often have the chance to do so anymore.
Tonight, he showed his ability to calmly take the laughs that he was getting from this audience. Lukas wasn't trying to force the issue. He wasn't setting the expectation level so high that it became obvious that the laughs weren't meeting them. It seemed to be the right energy level for the room at this point in the night. He comes across as casual, confident in his ability to deliver a professional job.
This audience (on this night, in this venue, in this position of the show) is giving Lukas some good laughs but, he's not hitting home runs...and, unfortunately, the cruelty of math suggests that he needs some home runs.
As the set goes on, Lukas looks and sounds very natural--which is sometimes at odds with how he comes to the stage. He often takes the stage appearing awkward and goofy. Perhaps there's some disconnect here--Is he goofy or is he natural? Sometimes both.
After selling the "Salmon Technique" act-out, Lukas announced to the crowd--which didn't come close to matching the love for that same bit in the three previous venues that he's done the bit, "That's my best joke--do you know how hard it is to jump up and down?"
That might have been the only evidence of Lukas' frustration with the tepidly pleasant audience response tonight.
He ended up closing on a bit where he couldn't help himself from mimicking the voice of an Indian taxi cab driver--a joke that the audience gave Lukas his first really big applause break for...which lead to Lukas getting a strong encore cheer. As deserved. As to his scores, we'll have to see if the judges enjoyed his casual style...because that could be the key to his chances of moving on.
This is the third attempt for GEOFF LOTT to tackle the beast that is the Seattle International Comedy Competition--the first time, he came very close to making the semi-finals but he ended up self-torpedoing his chances to move past the preliminary week. (The second attempt was during a transition time for Geoff in his comedy and the less said about it the better.) Tonight, after some recalculation of the revised official scores from what had been reported at the time of the previous night's show in Bellingham, Geoff entered the last night of competition holding onto 5th place for the week. Everyone was gunning for him and his slot in the semi-finals tonight...and it could be a cause for concern--a worry about another moment of self-destruction for such a talented performer.
Except that this is THIS year...not four years ago (and certainly not two years ago.) This is Geoff in bloom. (He's the one who likes all the pretty songs.) Geoff simply commanded the stage as he has done every night this week. He simply produced a strong, personal night of sharing his opinions and enjoying the audience's reaction to what's shared with them. No sense of pressure, no serious missteps. And, as it had five times already this week, it worked very well.
Tonight, specifically, his response to what odd mixture he's taken from his parent's medicine cabinet, "Call it The Hefner," got a good laugh tonight.
In looking for elements to review critically in any Geoff Lott set, there's a rather insane question that needs to be asked. Is he "too smooth"? I don't know even what that means--but there's always the risk that Geoff can cross over from being confident, professional, smart and well-spoken...and becoming smarmy, or worse, arrogant. I think those are demons he fights--and so far in this competition, he's definitely been winning those fights. (Demon fights? It's like he's playing Doom...with his ego. Even thinking of that analogy makes me motion sick.)
No worries about being too slick tonight, though. I just felt the need to say something to balance all of the slurping I'm doing.
Geoff didn't have a perfect set tonight. He actually missed a couple of vital words in his DUI bit that might have hurt people's understanding of the joke...but his attitude got his point across. S
And, as it seemed like he was cruising to another strong set, he got to a certain point and lost a little momentum. That had to have put a chill in his heart.
He chose to end a bit that involves tweaking with the audience's willingness to absorb some comments about causal racism--exactly the topic that Seattle clubs get most squirrelly about. It was a risk. Sure, the strength of "I'm white, people think I want to work--I don't. Not at all..." got him a great laugh. And, I love the irony of "the hate has to stop" tag that followed it.
But, right at the end, going into the Canadian swerve...that's a joke that seemed to cross the line for many in the crowd...and had he gone on for even five seconds more, he might not have ended up with the good graces of that crowd. But Geoff didn't flinch...and he had the smarts to close when he still had them--and boy, did he have some of them...as he got a very loud encore cheer.
Nice work, Geoff.
One of the nicest surprises of this year's competition has been seeing the evolution of SCOTT MORAN from being thought of as just another alt-comic wannabe who relied on odd stunts, thin mildly ironic material and a dependence on the absolute love of a complementary audience...into being a performer who could be counted on to entertain any audience in any venue. I was really looking forward to seeing him do as well as he'd been doing in the previous nights in front of some industry people who could see what we were seeing.
And then, Scott had somewhat of a self destructive set on this important night.
Yeah. That happens, sometimes, doesn't it?
Scott opened by announcing to the audience, "OK. Here's my shittiest joke." On a meta-comedy level, that's funny...but from that absolutely buries you as a performer in any traditional perspective of a comedy performance. It was a ballsy gambit...and certainly something that I've come to expect and appreciate from Scott, as he's always had a need to play with the form and confound expectations, even from his earliest days as an open-mic'r--but, even if I saw the genius in the fog, I wasn't certain how he'd score with it.
"Score me one point for audience rapport" he called out after having merely acknowledge the fact that someone in the audience responded to him. This became a pattern as Scott kept referencing the judges and the scoring process throughout his set. Almost a willful attack on his even being part of what's been going on--after a week of fully participating in it.
Scott lost place after his first joke and looked at notes. I'm going to repeat that. He lost his place after his first joke and looked at his notes. Oh, and he drew attention to this...by telling everyone that he lost his place and pointed out that he was looking at his notes. He did this more than once during his set--although, he did make good fun of having done so...and he worked it into his crowd work and stage patter in between his bits...
"What's my next joke? Yeah. Oh, by the way judges, I meant to do that."
The more he did it, the more it worked with the audience.
It did, however, make him look somewhat sloppy and unprofessional...
...in front of the industry.
Just saying.
I couldn't tell if this was a strategic move or if this was, really, the first "break" of the week. (Some might consider what Darren, or Jaqi, did in Bellingham to be a break...but what they did was perfectly in line with what they'd have done there anyway.)
It continued through the entire set--when he made a minor stumble on a word in his last example of new slogans for Supercuts, he called attention to it.
During another pause in his set, Scott asked, "Peter, how much time do I have left?"
(Hey! He mentioned me on stage! If I had a judges sheet, I'd give him an extra point! Seriously, though, that's the most insane "local reference" pimp move ever! If he knew everyone's name in the audience and said it, he'd HAVE to win!)
One thing that might have been happening that I couldn't understand from where I was sitting was that Scott kept reacting to a guy in the crowd that most of the audience couldn't hear, saying at one point, "I've done this exact same set every night of the week and THAT guy was at all my shows."
When his time was finally winding down, Scott announced, "Well...time to power through my closer, here..." and then paused as if to deny the whole possibility of a closer.
Ironically, his closer did work...and everyone was laughing...and, in the end, isn't that exactly what Scott was supposed to do?
He got the encore point...and I hope some of the judges enjoyed how he played with the format. It'd be nice to see Scott get some reward for his strong efforts this week.
What a rollercoaster ride this competition has been for JAQI FURBACK. The places first in the first show, gets a strong score in the second show, struggles in two theater shows and merely survives the whirling blades of disruptive death wielded by the Bellingham audience. Could she bring the whole ride into the station with a strong performance back in Seattle--in a club where her dark but charming style should find a more hospitable welcome?
It quickly seemed like a return to her top contender form was not to be, tonight. She just wasn't getting a lot of reaction to her stuff...and a dark cloud began to form in the room. People started to sense the fact that other people weren't laughing...and when your act, like Jaqi's, is pointing out your own foibles and insecurities...it leads to a intersection between depression and empathy--neither path leads to laughter.
What I'm sensing from the audience is a distinct whiff of Eau de I-don't-want-to-listen-to-this-whiny-girl-complain-about-her-being-fat-or-being-drunk-or-being- slutty" cologne--missing, of course, the fact that Jaqi's material is smart, clever and it tweaks with whining without ever falling into being whiny.
They DID laugh at her 90% on a test, her pinned by a ceramic pig and her hug the shit out of her mom jokes...but, honestly, not much else. She got absolutely nothing on her personal trainer material.
Some of the audience members have begun tuning Jaqi out...which brings out something new to realize--that she's actually getting some laughs--but only from some of the women in the audience. Her dark insecurities are proving relatable...but they're not translating to everyone.
And I'm sorry, but her "Random fits of bulimia brought on by alcoholism" bit got some love, but it deserved more laughs than it got. In fact, her entire set deserved more laughs than it got.
Jaqi stuck to her guns throughout the rollercoaster ride...up and down, she didn't back down or compromise. She kept to her pacing, she kept (with the exception of some of the TRULY dark stuff she unleashed on Bellingham--but, as she explained, they pissed her off...so, they deserved that...) her chosen material. I hope she keeps the feeling of having placed first, by FAR, on that first night with this approach...and doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Her comedic voice is right there--it just needs tweaking to make certain that what happened to her tonight--where she never was able to welcome the audience into feeling comfortable laughing WITH HER at herself and, instead, got their sympathy instead of their laughs--doesn't happen as often as the good shows do.
I should add here that after show, Jaqi told me how someone in the left upper seating area, in the pause between her saying "Hey everybody? How's it going? Good?" and the punchline of "I don't care" that follows the pause, said (loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough that I could here where I was sitting) "Not funny." Jaqi said that this idiot basically announced the fact that she "wasn't funny" to a significant part of the audience right as she was starting to prove that she was... To her, it must have felt like a body blow. Either that threw her off or it poisoned that side of the room--either way, in her mind, it impacted her chances.
I feel for her--but I also know no one thing should be able to torpedo an entire act...and maybe the opening should be tweaked to make it dominantly funny over any contrary thought and anyone foolish enough who may want to claim otherwise.
Jaqi got enough cheers for encore point, but the set felt very weak and unappreciated...and it appears that the rollercoaster ride will end disappointingly soon, considering how high the hill it released from after the first night's victory, here in the Preliminary Week.
Following an awkward set like Jaqi had might be difficult for some performers, but not for the Swedish Killing Machine: LEIF SKYVING. Not much to describe here--as Kurt Sudden did what Kurt Sudden does.
By the way, smart move in not confusing the audience by identifying Kurt Sudden as being different than Leif Skyving, as Leif did twice. Only being up on stage for five to seven minutes, there's no point in defining the character that you're going to stay in for the entire time you're on stage as something other than simply you.
Either way, with his barrage of crisp and powerful jokes, Leif picked up the energy from a dead room and kept that energy building and building through his act.
For a change, the audience DIDN'T clap reflexively for the first breath of air that Leif took while warming up his harmonica blues. Evidently, when it comes to harmonicas, Seattle audiences aren't quite the sheep that others are... These goodly people waited until the ACTUAL break in the joke-less blues wailing to clap. Seattle audiences are not sheep, they are merely sheeplike...in that regard.
In the blues, I have to point out that the "Yeah, women..." line kills me every time.
As expected from a progressive audience like Seattle's, Leif got cheers for his Bush/Kerry/oil joke.
And, once again, he pulled out a good, if however stunt-y, "Scottish Blues" closer and Leif earned himself a rather big and well deserved encore cheer.
Some of you who know me (or have read my never-ending rants on a variety of other message boards) know that one of my big pet peeves in comedy are the needless rhetorical questions in a comedy set--especially to start a set. It invites too many idiots, like the one who threw Jaqi off her game, to insert themselves into the driver's seat as the show travels on the one way expressway where the entertainment is supposed to be flowing--which is from the stage to the audience. You give an audience the chance to drive wherever they want with their answers to a question that you really don't need to know an answer to, you're making a mistake that you might not recover from.
ADAM NORWEST opened with a rhetorical question, about if anyone happened to see him on the cover of a non-existent "Firemen's calendar", and sure enough, that allowed the audience to start getting chatty.
And, for Adam's style to work...you have to pay attention to him. He's going to be quick with some clever word twist jokes...and if you're not paying attention, you're not going to get anything out of his performance--which will lead you to be more chatty--it's a vicious cycle AND a vicious circle (pick your vocabulary poison.)
So, with a chatty audience...and a very Seattle audience, that has already proved to be some what sensitive towards the issues that Seattle audiences are always sensitive towards, it wasn't surprising when Adam's NASCAR/racism joke got both laughs...followed by then "oohs."
Once again, as happened too often this week, Adam's getting laughs--but they're small laughs. Small laughs just don't get you the momentum a performer needs to truly carry his performance into becoming an enjoyable "whole." It's like seeing someone read you jokes from a joke book--at some point, you start to think that it doesn't mean anything...and it doesn't work quite as well.
Tonight, even the STDs bit--which ALWAYS kills--didn't go over as big as it almost always does...and his masturbating in school zones joke got more "oohs" than laughs.
Some performers might have just accepted their fate and finished their set, getting what they coudl get. Adam, however, is used to generating laughs in difficult crowds--with his improv/murder mystery background...
When his Naomi/rhyming bit went down in flames, Adam reverted to goosing it with some additional crowd work. He found someone he could pick on in the front row...and, when that got some laughs, he would go back to it...like a prospector going back to pan in a previously successful spot in the river. Adam let his performer's instincts take over...and he kept goosing laughs by continuing to hump the air, towards the general direction of his front row friend. He humped the stool, he came back and humped the air again.
This worked, to some extent...and he probably saved his set by doing it. Adam got his encore point and hopefully this week will have helped him learn what he'll want to work on for the next step in his development as a comic. He held his own...now, it's time to refine things and improve.
One understands where a young up and comer like Adam Norwest might want to subject himself to the process of this competition. It not only could open doors but it could help you refine your performance style...and, it's good to know how you might stack up against your peers.
Why would MIKE WALLY WALTER drag himself around the state with a bunch of kids who all wish they might end up with half the career that Mike Wally has?
Is it for respect? Is it to see if he's still got "it"? Is it to reclaim some former glory? Or, is he just a working comic and being in competitions like this is simply what working comics do, from time to time?
Going into this final show, Mike Wally was lead to believe by the announced unofficial scores that he was on the outside of the Top 5 looking in...but he thought he'd scored far better in Bellingham than was listed. It turns out that Mike Wally's intuition was right, as Official Scorekeeper Wally Glenn found a computational error with the previous night's results...and the revised scores indicated not only that Mike Wally Walter had made the previous night's Top 5...but that he was actually in the Top 5 for the week...going in to tonight's show.
However, the crowd that filled up most of the Comedy Underground sure seemed rather young--and this was not Mike Wally getting a golden opportunity with the Edmonds crowd or the Longview crowd. This was a traditional comic striving to remain relevant in a world where the form of comedy is being tweaked and re-evaluated with every new and inspiring performer that captures the public eye.
I think, if relevance was the goal, Mike Wally remains so... Now, the question is...could he be competitive--and could he hold back all of the upstarts who want to snag his Top 5 position away from him?
Mike started with a pimp for the troops and went into his Michael Jackson jokes--which died again. This lead off a rather slow start for the fingersnap quickness that Mike likes to work with... He didn't really grab the audience and start dragging them along with him until he got to the 635 pound woman as DUI test joke. That one got 'em--but, for the most part, he was skimming the surface with this audience.
Sheer professionalism can't be denied--and make no mistake, Mike got his encore point...and he may have scored high enough to defend his position in the semi-finals, depending on how others do--but he didn't connect with this crowd on this night--as exemplified by how he got an "oooh" at his signing a biker chick's boob bit. That, and his topless review one-liner, just didn't get as much as it did in other places.
That makes me wonder--is it Mike Wally...or Jaqi...or anyone else who got "oohs" instead of laughs...or is the Underground really getting audiences that are THAT sensitive?
If so...it's probably a good thing that DARREN FROST wasn't there to suffer one more night of audiences not letting him be who he is...a profanely funny man. Instead, Darren was not there--he had prior commitments...so, he wouldn't be getting a score that might lift him into the semi-finals.
Darren had actually thought of a clever way to try to compete in tonight's show, despite being over a thousand miles away. He printed out a photo of himself and was going to have someone hold a phone up to the microphone so he could actually "phone it in." This plan, clever as it may have been, was nixed by the Executive Producer of the competition, Jon Fox--who was in attendance and enjoying the show tonight.
So, no Darren tonight. Of course, Heneghen was giving the encore point to everyone...had it been allowed, I wouldn't imagine that Darren wouldn't have gotten it, too...
So, with no Darren Frost, we quickly move on to getting to see GREG REID do his thing on the stage. Greg, who won last night under difficult circumstances in Bellingham, left the club thinking that he would be holding on to 5th place for the week and a slot in the semi-finals only to find out, due to the revised numbers mentioned above, that he was actually on the outside looking in...and he needed to score well tonight to assure himself a chance to move forward.
Now, typically, Seattle audiences--especially those that are mostly white--tend to adore performers of color (or gender or orientation...pretty much anything that isn't exactly them...) That would seem to favor Greg--but, remember, Greg claims that he's "Not THAT black. You know, not blackity-black black. Not Jay-Z or Eminem black."
That may be...but Seattle was already liking you, Greg...and that joke got 'em going.
One thing I haven't mentioned to this point--in a bit about there being a lot of drug commercials during televised sporting events, Greg kept using "Lakers game" as his example--until tonight, when he changed it to "Clippers game." This may be accurate for him, as a California comedian...but would it have hurt him to localize this reference? He localized OTHER references (like putting "Levitra" on a corner in the Central District)--just not THIS one. Did he think that the Sonics had already moved to Oklahoma City?
(He could have spun a good local awareness joke about that very issue--by saying something like "I would have said 'during a sonics game'--but I wasn't sure anyone actually still WATCHING Sonics games any more..." Sigh. Should have thought of that sooner, I suppose.)
To be sure, this crowd LOVED his bit about drug-based names...but the same left corner that was giving Jaqi and some others problems started talking again during Greg's set.
Rather than slamming them, as many comics have been trained to do, Greg decided to engage them constructively. Since they responded to his "drug names" joke, Greg sent a shout out to them--and called them his "Druggie Corner." This worked perfectly with his friendly, easy going style--and it would have been confounding had he dealt with them in an aggressive or negative manner. So, really interesting strategy--and it gave him a solid ad lib, where he said "Let's get together after the show...maybe we can talk about...injections...or something."
It was surreal and funny and perfectly timed...and unexpected, as Greg really hadn't shown off any adlib skills--sticking pretty closely to his prepared set each night. What a time to play THAT card--during INDUSTRY judging night, of all nights... He did it and he was successful with it. Nice work, Greg.
Then, in the middle of that...as a lead in to the Justin Timberlake parody that he knew would kill, he brought in the idea that hip hop dj's record scratching sounds like the N-word, as in comparing "wicki-wicki" to "nigga-nigga"--and that brought all of his momentum to a curiously Seattle "can't handle laughs about the certain topics related to race"-style crashing halt. What was surprising is that this rule rarely applied to performers of color--but evidently Greg was right in saying that he's not exactly blackity-black black.
Greg didn't get too distracted by this one joke not working--he got 'em back, as expected, on the Justin Timberlake parody...and then closed strong as he had done every night, with his James Blunt parody closer.
With very big encore cheering, it's looking pretty good for Greg...and not so good for Mike Wally.
The random order of performance sure dealt SHARON LACEY a difficult hand. She had to start the competition following Darren Frost...twice. And then on three of the remaining four nights, she had to follow Greg Reid's crowd pleasing performances. Obviously, comedians will have to follow many different styles of performers...but there might have been other combinations that might have worked out better for Sharon and her comedic style.
Whether or not order of performance impacted her performance, Sharon did suffer throughout the competition in getting small laughs per joke--just as Adam sometimes found himself getting. The jokes that Sharon tells just haven't been connecting fully with these audiences--either the jokes aren't strong enough to generate more than small laughs, or interesting enough to be compelling. Even her jokes that rely on shock value aren't getting the kind of crowd unifying responses that can help propel a set towards its destination...
She did get laughs...and, unfortunately, groans...for her "I could tell by the stitches" joke. And she got very good laughs for her "now, give your teacher a lap dance" topper--although, the joke it topped didn't get nearly as good laughs.
Sharon is actually very good at act-outs...but her skill at these act-outs actually sometimes points out the disconnect between her intelligence and her performance skills...and her sometimes crude material. In the context of her set tonight, her act-out on Build-A-Bears seemed a bit fussy, a bit precious. It shouldn't...and I hope that Sharon concentrates on elevating her material so that it matches her act-out performance level.
She'll improve when her act is more honest. She'll improve when she's more herself on stage and her material will improve when she bases it on her own emotions.
One thing that's been bugging me all week. Is there a disconnect, and if so, is it on my end--between what the public knows about Build-a-Bear shops in malls...and Sharon's joke that suggests that these are consider to be high-end/expensive items? I never got the sense that Build-a-Bears were highly valued...more of a fun, hands on, customizable item. If being expensive and high end IS the right take on Build-a-Bears, then I as an audience member, needed to be given the information for me to agree with her take on it...rather than for her to simply assume that I had the same awareness that she has on it so she can go on with her joke.
I've got to say that the girls in the audience sure like her "Build-A-Boyfriend is better/Boys in bars are like shopping at Goodwill" stuff. And she earned an encore point.
I know it wasn't as fun as doing well in San Francisco, but hopefully this experience will continue Sharon on her way in being a strong comic. I get the feeling she wants that...and she seems motivated to get what she wants.
Next up, ANDY HAYNES. Kind of a rough week for Andy. He, like Jaqi Furback, started really strong--Andy took second place for the night, after going up last, at Laughs in Kirkland...only to struggle later--as Andy ended up taking second to last the very next night in Tukwila when he bit the bullet. He's never truly recovered, scoring wise--although he's had decent sets. He's seen his friend, and somewhat similarly styled performer, Scott Moran place in the Top 5 twice while he's been languishing in the middle of the pack.
Tonight might just be about pride, as he goes into this night in 12th place...but, mathematically he still had a chance. He'd need to win tonight...and then nearly everyone else would have to score near or lower their drop scores just for the chance.
Starts off good for Andy, as his opening joke, about how the phrase "shit's gonna hit the fan" might have been coined--a joke that Andy dropped at some point during the week as it wasn't getting all that much--killed.
Andy was killing right out of the gate...and he was on his way. He wasn't getting small laughs, either--he was getting that kind of avalanche momentum that allows laughs from previous jokes to build the laughs for the next joke you're telling.
His excellently written bit about how comparing homophobia with a more legitimate fear of zombies...and how fear of zombies might seem more foolish if people reacted the same way those who are homophobic react to gays...absolutely slaughtered the room. It was sooooo good to hear this crowd react to material that deserved the love it was getting.
His "things you'll never hear" bit--especially the "Pottery Barn" part of it--killed (although, I worried that he might be dipping into the yelling thing too often).
When Andy extended his bit about a gun that shot out babies instead of bullets and used it to call back a previous joke about there being nothing guaranteeing people health care in the Bill of Rights...it killed--proving that people were paying attention.
"Fuck Teeth!"--killed.
Technically solid throughout tonight's set, Andy held for an excellent pause as he relates how his dental hygienist asked him if he does meth. That pause multiplied the laughs he got from his response by a factor of 3, if not more.
With the crowd totally behind everything he's been giving them, Andy didn't stop his set short at the first set-ending level laugh he got--he continued his meth chunk all the way into a bit about mouth rape and gay prostitution--tying it back into his "meth user dental appointment" bit...because he had their trust, he had their energy...he had their laughs...
And Andy closed on an applause break with six seconds before a time penalty...and he received the biggest and most earnest encore point cheer we'd heard this entire night, so far.
Too bad he's in 12th place.
Taking the reins on this rumbling avalanche of comedic momentum, RODGER LIZAOLA found himself in perfect position to have an excellent set that might just send HIM up into the top 5 and into the semi-finals that he missed out on by mere percentage points the last time he competed in this competition.
On this night, Rodger was in good spirits and clear of mind--and from the instant he took the stage, he generated a lot of love in the room. He took the momentum that Andy had built and made it his own very fast.
Rodger pretty much stuck to the same set he did every night of the competition...and on this night, nearly everything worked well...and it was, for the most part, pretty much exactly the set he wanted to do...the set he needed it to do...
The only question became--will it be enough?
If anything, the encore applause break for Rodger was even louder than the one for Andy. I wouldn't be all that surprised if one of them moved on--and since Rodger was a little closer to the goal (Rodger goes into this night in 9th place, Andy in 12th)--I might give him the edge... It might even be possible for BOTH of them to move on...and wouldn't THAT be an amazing finish to the week!
Even closer to contention than either Andy or Rodger, was LIZZY PILCHER. After a disappointing opening night's set, Lizzy had quietly reeled off a string of top quality scores putting her into a similar position as she was in two years ago when she went into the final night of her preliminary week with a chance to move on.
That time, some catastrophically timed audience interruptions torpedoed her chances on that night...but that was elsewhere, that was two years ago and THIS was the Underground and tonight--and she'd get every opportunity to do her best tonight.
She's been so good lately, transitioning into her material in a very natural way...that I was a bit surprised by how dark her comment about how "You never know what'll happen to you in Pioneer Square. You could get stabbed or raped leaving the Comedy Underground." While true...it didn't easily lead her into her material...or into anything else, much less something else that was funny.
She took the anti-Bush pop from her opening joke and added some good energy to goose her "baby under a pile of clothes" bit into good, solid laughs.
Lizzy has a very strong, placid deadpan face--that allows the audience to put their own reactions into what she's saying, rather than simply agreeing with her on her take on things. It's an interesting strategic decision...one that puts a lot of trust in the intelligence of her audience to take her lead--but, when it works, it pays off with a bonus, because the audience feels like they solved a puzzle on their own...and people like that feeling, especially when it comes with really good laughs. Lizzy's material and her ability to hold a look certainly does that...
That said, some open mic-y tendencies crept in to Lizzy's set tonight--for example, at one point, she complained about the mic stand when nobody either noticed that she was having an issue with it nor cared about what was a momentary distraction for her.
When she got to the joke she'd been using as her closer, I got the sense that she wanted to leave a bigger impression. She had plenty of time...so, she pulled out one more joke--a joke about how her dad gave her a Bible as a present from him when he was in jail and the dedication in the book that told her to get to know her heavenly father.
"Great. Now I've got TWO dad's that won't be there for me."
She struck a pose and milked the audience's laughter for a long applause break...
...and then...she admitted that she's so tired that she actually forgot to leave the stage after she did her closing joke.
Read that last line again.
Seriously, she stayed on stage as the applause died...and then her eyes widened and she said "I'm so tired, I've just forgotten to leave the stage."
Such an endearingly silly and yet unimaginably unfathomable mistake--it earned Lizzy another long applause break for her encore point cheer as she left the stage with that...but it wasn't exactly the kind of dismount that performers dream about in closing up a closely fought comedy competition in front of industry judges, I'm sure.
Certainly, it was a good set through and through, though...and it might be enough to push her forward... I'm already realizing that the math is going to be INSANE, with how well these last few sets have gone.
Now, while everyone is scrambling, the person in the cat bird's seat--the person currently in first place for the week...and the person who can't be dislodged from that first place position for the week, no matter what anyone does tonight...has nothing on his mind than impressing the comedy industry judges.
That person is KYLE HARBERT. And he's been fighting some sickness over the last couple of days...so, one hopes that he can deliver a solid performance here tonight.
On one hand, with the week already in hand, I thought Kyle might stray from his competition-5...but when he opened with "Let's get depressed" and went on to talk about student loans, I realized that he was sticking with the girl he brought to the dance. Nothing wrong with that strategy--especially with industry in the house.
Unless it doesn't make anyone laugh.
Kyle's doing his best stuff...and he's giving it his all, they're just not going for it. At all. This crowd is no selling him and his act like they were Hulking-up in the face of some knife-edged but suddenly ineffective Ric Flair chops. Seriously, Kyle's getting nothing, or, at best, weak small laughs--something I've never witnessed from a set from Kyle in five straight solid sets.
What's going on here? Is it him? Is it the club? Kyle's got an excellent joke that hammers on President Bush--something that is typically catnip for Underground audiences...and yet, tonight, Kyle gets half--if that--of what it normally did. His bit slamming on Paris Hilton, another prime target, typically, for Underground audiences--and again, tonight for Kyle...it gets nothing.
Earlier in the night, Kyle cornered me and discussed what is meant by "tv clean." Typically, in contests' past, there's been a night designated as officially "tv clean"--and that was, typically, on industry night. However, that wasn't officially designated tonight--although, at some point in time, Kyle was advised by Competition Producer Ron Reid that doing tv clean on industry night might be a good idea.
Unfortunately, Kyle claims to not watch television. (The concept is incomprehensible to me...a pop culture whore by my own celebrated admission.) Understanding what is meant by an amorphous definition as "tv clean" is based on context and the understanding of nuance--what is ok in one instance is not in another...and that's hard to convey in 30 seconds of an answer to "what should I do?" when the REAL answer is "do what you do best to make the tv people like you and let THEM bleep you or vet your material in advance..." No point in doing tv clean when you're not on tv--especially if you don't really understand, much less embrace, the concept.
So why was Kyle here now trying to force himself to edit his act on the fly to try to make it some bowdlerized version of a "tv clean" set that he had no particular commitment to? No one else tried to be tv clean--not obviously, anyway. Worse--Kyle's simply not all that good at it (most likely because he's not committed to doing it.) He'll choose a weaker word than what he'd been proving to be very successful over every other night of the competition...without understanding what makes something unbroadcast-able, content wise.
He's just shooting himself in the foot with no possible benefit...and it hurt to watch.
I think he psyched himself right out of his head and off his game. Not that it totally matters, as he's moving on to the semi-finals, no matter what he did tonight...but, here was a chance to impress industry people...and he's making the least of the opportunity.
Now, let's get real. He wasn't absolutely bombing--it wasn't crickets and silence. But, for every joke...it seemed like a losing game of tug of war, like the "Waiting in line for a Pauly Shore movie" movie joke worked, but then, his equally as solid Ted Nugent joke did get ABSOLUTELY nothing, so much so that Kyle pointed out, "That joke killed in Longview--screw you guys."
I got the sense that Kyle thought that this audience didn't know who Ted Nugent was... I think they did. They just weren't connected with it as other audiences had been. And, if they didn't know who Ted was...it was up to Kyle to give them the information they'd need to find it funny anyway.
Things that never happened to Kyle before in this week are happening. The people in the left elevated seating area started talking during his set, and he reacts very negatively to them in order to slam them shut--but the sad truth is, those idiots are talking during his set because he's not compelling enough to this audience to keep their attention...or get many of their laughs.
What an odd night for Kyle. Get well and come back and kill in the semis and make the memory of this night go away. Encore point, obviously...but he certainly didn't do well enough to earn his fourth first place finish of the night...which opens the door for someone else.
Could that person be STEPHEN O'KEEFE? It'd be nice. Stephen has been consistently scoring decently everywhere he's gone...but he's never been able to crack the top five.
Tonight, Stephen tried out a new joke about speaking like someone who is telling someone that there is a bear behind him. It's a good visual and a funny joke--but it needs a bit of polish to get the elements right. Finding a way to make the concept clear and still being able to shorten the set-up would be a good start...and I'd even go bigger with acting out trying to say "there's a bear...a bear...A BEAR" and then acting out the bear...would make this joke truly sing.
The bottom line for Stephen is that all of his jokes--with the exception of the "lying to kids" joke, which hadn't been working all week...but tonight, at least, the first two parts worked very well (the "you can achieve anything you want" part comes across as too cynical for the person that Stephen projects. It seems like someone else's joke--not in a Carlos Mencia way, but in a "that joke doesn't sound right coming from you" way.)
The people who were chatty during Kyle's struggle set actually shut up for Stephen (which, again, is somewhat ironic, because of all of the performers that a little stray table talk wouldn't throw off his game...Stephen's the guy)... I think they shut up, both, because Stephen needs more attention due to his speech, but also because stephen is a compelling performer.
Stephen only fails to get the bigger scores that might propel him to the next level, I think, because he gets good, solid laughs at a slower pace than others. He doesn't have that building of momentum aspect of the top performers--where a run often seals a big closing bit. Stephen is slow and steady and funny. I don't know if he can really get more laughs squeezed in. If he goes faster, he loses clarity--he really needs to speak as distinctly as he can, as that's all ways going to be a concern. And, if he can't go faster...he needs his material to be so incredibly strong that he generates far bigger laughs per punchline. His material is good, but it just seems that he doesn't yet have the material or technique or...that whatever-it-is...to get the really big laughs.
If I knew how he might get it, I'd have told him...because I was honestly impressed with his work this week and wouldn't have minded seeing him do even better.
And it's a very good sign that while Stephen wants more...he wants the big laughs and he wants the big scores...he simply goes on stage and gets what he can...and what he can get is damn good.
He ended the week with good encore-worthy applause and, hopefully, an awareness that he completely held his own in a very competitive week of comedy. Nice work, Stephen.
So, that was it. That was the last night of the first week of this year's competition. Sixteen brave performers. Five are moving on. We added up the judges scores--and I'll be honest, the representative from Comedy Central was crystal clear and honest with her assessments. Unlike many judges, she actually used all the numbers available to her between 1-10. Those she liked, she scored well. Those she wasn't as much of a fan of suffered the slings and arrows of her numerical assessment. The other judges scored as they saw it... All of the scores were tabulated...all of the other shows scores were added in...
And that's when Al Michaels' famous US Olympic Ice Hockey team call started echoing in our heads...
But first, let's clue you in on who had done what for the night...and then for the week...
Are you sitting down? Are you holding on to something? OK...
And...the top five for the night are...???
Fifth place--Leif Skyving.
Fourth place--Lizzy Pilcher.
Third place--Rodger Lizaola.
Second place--Geoff Lott.
...and, the top performer for the night...
First place--Andy Haynes.
(L to R: Lizzy Pilcher, Leif Skyving, James Heneghen, Rodger Lizaola, Geoff Lott and Andy Haynes)
And, since the drama and suspense during this night were over the final openings for the semi finals, I'm going to flip this around and announce the top five for the week from first down to fifth.
...and the top five for the week, moving to the semi-finals, are???
First place--Kyle Harbert.
Second place--Leif Skyving.
Third place--Geoff Lott.
Fourth place--Key Lewis.
...and, the final performer making it to the semi-finals from this week...
Fifth place--Andy Haynes.
...and the top five for the week, moving to the semi-finals, are???
First place--Kyle Harbert.
Second place--Leif Skyving.
Third place--Geoff Lott.
Fourth place--Key Lewis.
...and, the final performer making it to the semi-finals from this week...
Fifth place--Andy Haynes.
(L to R: Kyle Harbert, Geoff Lott, Leif Skyving, James Heneghen,Key Lewis, Andy Haynes
Going into this night, it was mathematically possible for Andy Haynes to make the semi-finals--but, no one really thought he could do it. Andy was in 12th place, for heaven's sake...and this has been a very consistently strong week of competitors. Pretty much, the only way that Andy could make up the ground between 12th place and 5th place was going to be if he won the night...AND if nearly everyone else scored below their previous drop scores.
And that's exactly what happened.
This being "industry night," the scores were very clear as to who were impressive in a "could see them on Live at Gotham any day now" versus a "hey, they were pretty good" sort of way that some of judges we find at some of the other venues we go to can be expected to offer... That meant, those that earned top scores got 'em...and Andy, more than anyone else on this night, got his.
It also meant that those who might not have completely knocked it out of the park--even though they may have had perfectly good sets--found themselves with a lower than typical score from the cruel reality of industry perspective.
And that opened the door for a miracle.
...a miracle that the cynics and skeptics who make up the production crew for this competition couldn't believe it.
Here is the photographic evidence, taken by Pavel Simsa, of the very moment when Official Scorekeeper Wally Glenn realized that the Andy Haynes miracle had happened.
...and another photo when Wally informed me of what was happening...
...and another photo of when Competition Producer Ron Reid came over to make certain that we hadn't completely lost our minds...or that we hadn't made some sort of horrible computational mistake.
We hadn't.
A true, blue spectacle--a miracle had come true.
(And a nice bit of photojournalism there, Pavel...)
Congratulations to Andy Haynes--he's moving on to the semi-finals...along with Key Lewis, Geoff Lott, Leif Skyving and this week's top performer, Kyle Harbert. We'll see them in Walla Walla in a week.
In the meantime, we've got 16 (it just turned into 16 with the announcement of Ruben Barron to the previously announced 15 performers in week two) more competitors ready to battle it out over their own six night tour...to cull 5 more from the heard to join them. It all starts all over again Tuesday night at the Comedy Underground.
But, before we leave Preliminary Week One--a shout out to those brave eleven performers who are not moving on. To Rodger Lizaola, who once again came up less than a point short of making the semi-finals--this year, he was .12 behind Andy's final score (--and what will give Rodger nightmares for two years to come is wondering if the night he took a .5 point time penalty is the reason he's not a semi-finalist.) To Lizzy Pilcher, who was consistently strong all week and, like Rodger, was a mere fraction of a point away from the top 5. To Greg Reid and Mike Wally Walter, who each had their reasons and the scores behind their reasons for thinking they were in the driver's seat for making the semi-finals...and each had solid sets tonight--only to get caught up in tonight's perfect storm and both fell just short. To Darren Frost, who after a contentious second night's show, was picking up momentum only to be called away from the competition at the worst strategic time. To Stephen O'Keefe, this week's most consistent performer...who was always in the mix but never made a nightly top 5. To Lukas Seely and Scott Moran, who each hit the top5 twice during the week and were stronger than perhaps their scores on other nights might suggest. To Jaqi Furback, who started the week with a strong performance and an unexpected top finish for the night, and managed to maintain her composure and her confidence in her performances when repeating that result proved elusive. To Adam Norwest, who may have been the least experienced of the competitors this week, but who offered up a week of strong performances and exits the week having earned valuable experience that might have taken him years to acquire otherwise. To Sharon Lacey, who faced the disappointment of not building on her recent success in the San Francisco Comedy Competition with a smile...and nary a complaint or anything less than her best effort.
What a great first week...all thanks to you.
NEXT SHOW: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6th, Preliminary Week Two-Show One takes place at the Comedy Underground in Pioneer Square, right here in Seattle. Show time, 8:30pm. Look for a report from THAT show posted late tonight and into tomorrow.
LINKS:
SEE PHOTOS FROM THE ACTION AT SEATTLECOMEDY.NET'S FLICKR
OR GO TO THE OFFICIAL SICC WEBSITE
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS:
PRELIMINARY WEEK ONE
1) Kyle Harbert
Kirkland: 10.67
Tukwila: 11.00
Edmonds: 11.00
Longview: 11.00
Bellingham: 10.31
Underground: 8.43
-----
Total: 62.41
Drop: 8.43
Score: 53.98
2) Leif Skyving
Kirkland: 10.64
Tukwila: 10.57
Edmonds: 10.30
Longview: 9.90
Bellingham: 10.93
Underground: 8.71
-----
Total: 61.05
Drop: 8.71
Score: 52.34
3) Geoff Lott
Kirkland: 10.42
Tukwila: 10.50
Edmonds: 9.11
Longview: 10.02
Bellingham: 10.17
Underground: 10.47
-----
Total: 60.69
Drop: 9.11
Score: 51.58
4) Key Lewis
Kirkland: 9.87
Tukwila: 11.00
Edmonds: 10.59
Longview: 9.50
Bellingham: 10.29
Underground: 8.09
-----
Total: 59.33
Drop: 8.09
Score: 51.24
5) Andy Haynes
Kirkland: 10.83
Tukwila: 7.28
Edmonds: 9.50
Longview: 9.05
Bellingham: 9.98
Underground: 11.00
-----
Total: 57.64
Drop: 7.28
Score: 50.36
===============
6) Rodger Lizaola
Kirkland: 10.53
Tukwila: 10.45
Edmonds: 8.89
Longview: 9.38
Bellingham: 9.93
Underground: 9.95
-----
Total: 59.13
Drop: 8.89
Score: 50.24
7) Lizzy Pilcher
Kirkland: 8.23
Tukwila: 10.74
Edmonds: 10.o7
Longview: 9.57
Bellingham: 10.24
Underground: 9.43
-----
Total: 58.27
Drop: 8.23
Score: 50.04
8) Greg Reid
Kirkland: 9.64
Tukwila: 9.14
Edmonds: 9.88
Longview: 10.21
Bellingham: 11.00
Underground: 8.66
-----
Total: 58.53
Drop: 8.66
Score: 49.87
9) Mike Wally Walter
Kirkland: 8.12
Tukwila: 9.31
Edmonds: 10.98
Longview: 10.57
Bellingham: 10.60
Underground: 7.47
-----
Total: 57.05
Drop: 7.47
Score: 49.58
10*) Darren Frost
Kirkland: 9.33
Tukwila: 8.76
Edmonds: 10.30
Longview: 10.45
Bellingham: 10.55
Underground: 0.00
-----
Total: 49.40
Drop: 0.00
Score: 49.40
10*) Stephen O'Keefe
Kirkland: 10.07
Tukwila: 9.85
Edmonds: 9.64
Longview: 9.86
Bellingham: 9.98
Underground: 8.23
-----
Total: 57.63
Drop: 8.23
Score: 49.40
12) Lukas Seely
Kirkland: 8.17
Tukwila: 8.40
Edmonds: 10.91
Longview: 10.74
Bellingham: 9.43
Underground: 8.23
-----
Total: 55.89
Drop: 8.17
Score: 47.71
13) Scott Moran
Kirkland: 8.33
Tukwila: 8.88
Edmonds: 10.34
Longview: 9.57
Bellingham: 10.41
Underground: 7.85
-----
Total: 55.38
Drop: 7.85
Total: 47.53
14) Jaqi Furback
Kirkland: 11.00
Tukwila: 10.00
Edmonds: 8.39
Longview: 9.00
Bellingham: 9.12
Underground: 6.95
-----
Total: 54.45
Drop: 6.95
Score: 47.50
15) Adam Norwest
Kirkland: 9.98
Tukwila: 6.97
Edmonds: 9.86
Longview: 7.71
Bellingham: 9.07
Underground: 7.19
-----
Total: 50.78
Drop: 6.97
Score: 43.81
16) Sharon Lacey
Kirkland: 7.87
Tukwila: 7.62
Edmonds: 8.09
Longview: 9.21
Bellingham: 9.36
Underground: 6.33
-----
Total: 48.48
Drop: 6.33
Score: 42.15
(NOTE ONE: There are additional decimal point differences between Darren's and Stephen's scores--due to the averaging of scores throughout the process. However, the scores are essentially the same...so, I've listed them as being tied here.)
(NOTE TWO: Comparing this year's Preliminary Week One to last year's, a compliment must be made regarding the depth of talent in this year's field. Even into the lower positions, the scores across the board were stronger this year--up to five to eight points higher than comparable positions the previous years for those who did not make the semi-finals. Perhaps those who did not move on this year can take some consolation in that--and perhaps those who have moved on will know that they do so after surviving tough competition.)
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