SICC: Preliminary Week One--Night Two

"Everything will work out if you let it..."
--Cheap Trick

There are times when I wonder if the production crew who puts the Seattle International Comedy Competition together are simply gluttons for punishment. 23 shows in 26 days at 16 venues with 32 comedians plus hosts...endless miles and countless fires needing to be put out. We all know that and we sign on for it.

This year, just for fun, we decided to start the competition in three straight venues that the competition has never been in before. Do we ease in to the drama inherent in putting this competition on (and, by doing so, make it easier for the competitors who are thrown into this particular blast furnace) by going to places who we know understand what we need and are set and ready to handle the drama that we bring? Well, of course not... Where's the fun in THAT?

The first show, at Laughs Comedy Spot in Kirkland, went very well--because it's a comedy club and we're a comedy show... Thanks to Dave, Angela and everyone there...everything went very well.

For our next magic trick, the competition scheduled the second show of this week at Gordons on the Green in Tukwila. The show would take place in a banquet room of a golf course country club.

On the plus side, local comedians Marcus Absher and Tony Daniel have booked and promoted comedy shows at this venue and have had good responses to those shows. Concerns, however, included whether or not there'd be a sound system set up for us...and, based on some weak pre-show ticket sales reports, if more than a handful of people would be in the audience for our brave Preliminary Week One competitors?

Not to ruin the suspense, but the night went very well...if a bit long...

And when the top five was announced at Gordon's on the Green in Tukwila, there was a surprise for everyone.

On this night, there wouldn't be a top five.


The 28th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition
Preliminary Week One--Night Two
November 1, 2007
Gordon's On The Green, Tukwila

If Kirkland, home of the previous show's venue, was on the Eastside, from a Seattle perspective, Tukwila is South. Known for the Southcenter shopping complex (oh, I'm sorry...they're calling it "Westfield" now, but if you try to tell someone to go to Westfield, they'll respond with "You mean Southcenter?") and for being close to the SeaTac International Airport, Tukwila is also home to Gordon's on the Green--the restaurant and banquet complex of a golf course country club that has recently begun hosting comedy shows, about once every two to three months.

Personally, I've had the opportunity to perform on one of those comedy shows. If the audience I performed for was, in any way, typical, the audiences seemed to like comedy...wanted to be rather interactive with the performers (in other words, they were chatty...both with each other, but also to the comedian trying to do their act) and they had different sensitive areas than most "Seattle" audiences.

Let me explain. Seattle is known for having good comedy audiences--smart and aware. They're also known for getting a bit sphinctery about certain topics--especially when those topics are brought up by people who those audiences feel don't have "the right" to be the ones making those jokes about those topics. Comedians from other regions of the country are often amazed by how certain jokes which kill everywhere else will totally freeze out a Seattle audience.

Tukwila, however, is not Seattle. Sure, it's close to Seattle...and people from Seattle go to Tukwila (typically, to go to Southcenter...I mean Westfield...whatever, you know what I mean...)...but it's different. So, there are different sensibilities at play here... Knowing what this audience expects, wants and can't handle...well, that'll be one of the unfathomable amount of variables that every comedian has to consider when determining what approach they're going to take with their performance.

That's what THEY had to worry about. As it turns out, everything the production staff might have been worried about was handled. A perfectly good sound system was put together and there were no complaints about that. The attendance concerns, which lingered on as even with less than twenty minutes to go before showtime and only a handful of people were seated in the show room, turned out to be needless...as the room completely filled and more chairs were needed than originally planned for...

Many thanks to the staff and management at Gordon's on the Green for their help in making this event come together

And thanks, again, to David Testroet for helping out and stepping in as host for a second night--as health concerns continue to keep Lamont Ferguson away for at least another night.

Let me also address this right here--every performer has their own style and their own way of handling the duties of being a host...and no one is every going to confuse David's rough and tumble road-tested style with the more stylish and controlled finesse of Lamont Ferguson. There's been some rumbling amongst the competitors from last night (and it continued on this night) on the role of (and expectations of) the host in this competition.

I understand some of the whispered (and not so whispered) frustrations that I've heard from some of the competitors. On the other hand, the simple truth is that any concern regarding the host is just one of the seemingly infinite number of variables in this competition...and its something that every one in this competition is dealing with at the same time.

And, say what you will about certain aspects of his hosting technique, David did a very good job of warming up the crowd at Gordon's on this night. I got the feeling that he would definitely be a performer that they'd like to see booked at this club again. He gets his laughs quick and he definitely understands a crowd that sometimes looks at a comedy show like they're a birthday party at a Chuck E. Cheese...they WANT the staff to come out and embarrass the birthday kid...and some comedy audiences seem to really want the "battle" between a crowdworking comic and a table that's "getting picked on."

It's not everyone's cup of tea...but there's definitely that scent in the air at Gordon's...and David, like a comedy bloodhound, picked up on that scent...and got the ball rolling.

(And, he came in and helped out at the last minute. Props for that, David.)

Competitor Review-----

Last night, ANDY HAYNES closed out the long show and ended up a top 5 finisher. On this night, he was in the exact opposite position--he bit the bullet and went up first. Going up last is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but going up first is almost always a tough spot for any performer. The crowd--and the judges--have just started to get into the show.

Andy bit down hard on that bullet...and he had 'em. HE HAD 'EM. And then he lost them on a joke that absolutely killed the night before--remember what I said about this audience having a different sensibility than others. Andy never really got them back fully...so, it wasn't THAT much of a surprise when he didn't get an encore point.

Can you say "probable drop score night"?


After his set, MIKE WALLY WALTER came up to me and whispered, "I felt I had to try something different tonight." Whether or not that was inspired by my reporting on last night or just a veteran performer's instincts--what was surprising was to think of a performer as experienced as Mike Wally Walter is would be so ready to change his style.

How much of a change was there? Well, I got the sense that he was going much faster...and his talking accelerated, if anything, during his set. However, what I noticed even more was that this audience was really enjoying his crowd work (remember what I said about Chuck E. Cheese?)--to the point where his crowd work was what was scoring with the audience. The audience gave him an encore point-level cheer even before Dave came back to the stage to make the encore point pimp... Score one for Mike Wally.


Next up, RODGER LIZAOLA.

Seattle, proper, is pretty white bread. South of Seattle, less so...and Tukwila is definitely "south of Seattle." Now, on this night, we're talking about a country club gig--south of Seattle or not--so you wouldn't automatically think it would be true, but it has been my experience that performers of ethnicity--especially African-American and Mexican-American performers-- seemed to do well here at Gordon's on the Green's previous comedy shows. Part of that is the "south of Seattle"-ness of the venue's location--but the entire Seattle/Tacoma metro corridor has a certain affinity for celebrating the artistic endeavors of different ethnicities--kind of like dipping white bread into a guacamole spread.

Sure enough, there was a table right up front that could instantly relate to Rodger's point of view...and they gave him mad love, especially on his "Mexicans in the future" chunk.

And who, other than Rodger, can end a joke by singing the praises of "Retarded Honeys"?

Rodger also showed some competition savvy, when he cut his closing joke short when he got a show closing laugh on one of the punchlines of a run, rather than continuing on to the end like his performance was on rails.

Great decision, Rodger...and he was rewarded with a BIG encore cheer and the encore point.


Before going up, LIZZY PILCHER asked me if there were any Putt-Putts in the area. As I too often do, I went off on a longwinded Cliff Clavin-like ramble about the various styles of miniature golf courses...and described the difference between the "adventure golf"-style courses (with waterfalls, rock formations, multi-levels) and the Putt-Putt style of short, flat and technical-style mini-golf. Unfortunately, Lizzy was only asking me because she wanted to use Putt Putt in a joke, which would have worked very well...and instead, took from my answer the idea of calling it "Adventure Golf" in her joke instead. Putt Putt would have worked better and I should have told you that ahead of time, Lizzy. Sorry.

Lizzy stuck to her guns and did her best, most-time tested material. Tonight, she took to the stage with...and maintained throughout her set...with more energy. Typically, Lizzy works more casually...but tonight she found a higher energy level that works for her (and with her chosen material.) She seemed to grow in confidence as her set went on--so, her energy level felt more and more natural. One of her early jokes makes fun of President Bush, and it generated some good hearted booing from one large table towards the back, filled with country club members--as a country club in Tukwila might be one of the few places in Western Washington where you might run into more than a handful of card-carrying and out of the closet conservatives.

One of the most amazing moments that I've EVER seen in a competition show happened completely by accident. Lizzy, as a standard localizing transition, added the name of the venue to the first line of a joke...and Lizzy, being Lizzy, adds a cynical sauciness to it...kind of drawing attention to the inherent silliness of what is an effective technique.

What she said tonight was, "I don't smoke weed, Gordon's...on the Green.."

And in the moment that she paused before continuing her joke, one of the judges quickly recognized that her pause and her delivery of "on the green" was easily interpreted as a sly accusation...

And with that judge's laughter, before Lizzy could continue, others started to pick up on it...

Before she knew it, Lizzy was getting a strong applause break...for what, to her, was an innocuous transition line. And it was only THEN that Lizzy put the pieces and "got the joke" herself.

You could tell that it threw Lizzy off a bit. How do you possibly follow up on something that you didn't plan on doing? As she tried to work her way towards her closer, she started stumbling over her words... She must have known that she was tripping on her way to victory, so after one more misspoken word, she just said "Fuck it!" and closed without bothering to get to the joke.

THAT HONESTY and having won the crowd over already, earned Lizzy one of the biggest encore points of the night.

I wouldn't advise her to close with "Fuck it!" every show--but, what do I know? I couldn't even agree on suggesting Putt-Putt.

Sometimes GEOFF LOTT is too smart for his own comedy good. He learned that in two previous attempts to move forward in this competition and it's a lesson that he continues to show improved mastery over in THIS year's attempt.

On this night, Geoff did a smart thing--as he tried to connect himself to the show with a callback to Lizzy's opening joke. Good thought, but after Lizzy's dramatic closing moments, no one in the room could be expected to remember anything that had happened before it...even from as recently as the beginning of her set--so, his opening line fell flat. That, I think pushed Geoff, a bit, out of the extremely confident and comfortable tone he enjoyed last night.

That sense of Geoff being slightly off-kilter continued when he went into his crowd rhetorical start to his "does size matters?" joke--the joke itself, is a great, quick, crisp transition joke that balances out his longer more cerebral material. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, this particular room really likes to interact with the comments--so, asking the women if "size matters" didn't give Geoff the simple "yes" answer that helps his joke--he got crowd chaos as the topic spurred a negative first reaction and then a scientific investigation into that answer, complete with a PowerPoint presentation and lengthy anecdotal evidence.

Geoff surfed that crowd chaos--he's experienced with all manners of crowd work, but this was a competition and he needed to get his best material out there for a chance to score well. When he forced his original joke back into the crowd chaos--it quieted the room. Ironically, that's not exactly what Geoff was hoping to do by telling the joke, I'm sure.

Still, when you've got an upfront table that includes a couple of police officers laughing at your jokes celebrating the ability to drive while drunk--you're doing something right. Geoff ended up strong and got his encore point.

Remember what I wrote earlier, in Rodger Lizaola's competitor review, about how it has been my experience that this area, and this venue in particular, seems to do well by performers of different ethnicities. The other side of that coin is that audiences in this area are instantly judgmental of any performer who does jokes about an ethnicity other than their own. That side of the coin jumped up and bit ADAM NORWEST on this night.

Adam, a Boy Scout-ish young white man as has ever been born, has a delightfully edgy joke about how Colgate is the only company that can get away with using the phrase "Extreme White Power." It's a funny line--so, he often uses it very early in his set. Unfortunately, tonight, it totally froze the room. That's the thing about walking on the edge--if you step over it, it could hurt you.

Perhaps because of this, I got the sense that Adam switched to "auto-pilot" mode. He started to speed up his delivery and, worse, he started to mumble over key words in some of his jokes. Things didn't improve when his joke about being in a gang that carries knives and lights things on fire--Boy Scouts--flopped.

However, perhaps instinct took over as Adam began to slow down. Either that, or he'd lost so much momentum with this audience that it seemed like time slowed down. Either way, it was a rough go for this promising young comedian. No encore point for Adam.

Once again, donning his wrap-around shades and a jacket, LEIF SKYVING took to the stage--or rather, I should say, Leif's alter ego, Kurt Sudden, took to the stage. I'd totally failed to recognize, in my report for the previous show, that this is a character piece that Leif is doing... Interesting decision--and a successful one, so far.

What Kurt allows Leif to do--is to generate quick laughs with a surreal edge--and have that mindset in place the minute that Leif walks towards the stage. He needn't waste time explaining who Kurt is or what Kurt's about--Kurt is defined by his look, his attitude...and he demonstrates it with the material that Leif uses, as Kurt.

"Am I Mimi? Am I Meemer? I am many dogs"--John Riggi

Yeah, it can get confusing. Just imagine if Dolph Lundgren had played The Terminator and told jokes like Bob Zany--that's Kurt Sudden...and that's what Leif Skyving is doing tonight.

The jokes are solid. I especially liked how Kurt told the audience that he was in 'Nam. "I killed 37 Vietnamese. That was in 1982. Because, it's not over until I say it's over."

Evidently, that's not one of the ethnicity jokes that elicit concern from this audience--as they seemed to like this, and his other jokes, as much as I did. Give Kurt and Leif an encore point.

With one exception, this week's contestants are a low maintenance bunch--just one person in one microphone (and, in Leif Skyving's case, a harmonica--but that's going into the same microphone, so no big deal there.) The one exception is GREG REID--who uses music from a CD for some of his jokes and he has a keyboard he plays at the end.

That would be a challenge tonight, as the minimal sound system was cobbled together at the last minute. Greg, able to roll with the punches, eschewed using the CD on this night...and he tried to let the keyboard's internal speakers be picked up by the one microphone (as he'd done the previous night at Laughs.)

Not having the CD didn't hurt Greg--as he's got material that doesn't require it. I particularly liked a bit about "ethnic time sharing." But I think that properly amplifying the keyboard is important if you're going to use it--so, I have to image that we haven't seen, or more precisely, heard Greg do as well as I think he'd do. Not yet anyway.

Still, he's a very likable guy and the crowd liked him--so, give Greg an encore point.

What happened next was that David, our host for the night, was supposed to do a couple of minutes of material while we gave the judges a chance to use the restroom if they needed to...but without announcing that to the audience. Unfortunately, that instruction might not have been clear--as David announced that there was a break--and a significant number of people left the room to go smoke a cigarette or use the bathroom themselves. While the show, itself, didn't stop--as David filled the time with his own material--the momentum of the competitors was broken...and it can be difficult to get them sitting still and remaining quiet once they've been allowed to get up and do what they want.

The big question became--would this impact the first performer to go up after this break? Sometimes, performing after an intermission is like taking a second bullet...would this be the case tonight?

Well, for KEY LEWIS--it didn't seem to negatively impact him...as he comes across as a bold, brash, "take the attention of everyone even if they're reluctant to give it" kind of performer. His self-confidence--responding to a weaker than expected reaction to a joke, Key let the audience know "You ain't seen no swimming sperm joke. This is NEW SHIT right here."--is infectious.

One criticism that could be leveled at Key is that some of his material and some of his attitude seem cribbed from others. I don't mean to say that it's stolen--this isn't a Joe Rogan pointing at Carlos Mencia accusation by any means. I'm just saying that I'm hearing echoes...

It's always a fine line between being inspired by a performer or taking on a variation of a standard theme...and going past that point and being unoriginal. Right now, Key's on the good side of that fine line--but there are elements of his performance that push rather close...and some judges may note that.

On this night, however, whether it's being upset by homeless guys who don't ask him for change or signs that call for drunk drivers to call 911--what was on Key's mind was definitely hitting home with this audience...and he got a strong encore point cheer.

Imagine booking Rage Against The Machine for a Sweet Sixteen party.
Imagine booking Al Sharpton for a Knights of Columbus dinner in Nebraska.
Now, imagine booking DARREN FROST to do a country club banquet room.

I'm just saying, some things aren't meant to be...

Let's be honest. Darren doesn't want to tiptoe around the edges of a self-satisfied group of country club members. Darren wants to smash a grapefruit in their faces and tell them how fucked everything is... Darren wants to get laughs that are deep and uncontrolled--and he's used to getting them by going wherever the fuck he wants to go to get them... I can see he's chomping at the bit and that frustration (added to others--as I get the sense through Darren's comedic perspective that MANY things frustrate him) began to show through tonight.

Darren's been frustrated because David, the host, would call attention to Darren's being Canadian. David did this both nights. Darren didn't ask him to do that...didn't want him to do that...and it bothered him. And then, when it became clear that after a good start, this audience was going to clench up...and simply wasn't going to give him the slack necessary to do the material that would be cathartic for him to do...it was pretty much over.

At one point, Darren had to remind himself, out loud, "Do happy jokes, Darren." The thought must have appalled him, because Darren--vocalizing his interior monologue--answered himself by saying to the audience "I'm freaking out...I don't fucking care."

Darren, trying his best to salvage what he can from the situation, after selling his "being a Blockbuster greeter on the busiest day of the year made me sound like a dolphin on crack" bit with gusto...and not getting the reaction he wanted, reminded the audience "Clap, motherfuckers...THAT was a DOLPHIN."

Dolphin or not, Darren--frustrated by the process and the circumstances...and knowing that he's talented enough to be be doing better in this competition and that's weighed against the investment he's made to be part of it--did not get an encore point tonight.

Put in the position of following Darren Frost for the second time in two nights, SHARON LACEY must have taken some heart from finding out that there were fellow Portlanders in the audience on this night. It's always good to have your friends close by during difficult times.

And these were difficult times for Sharon, not only because her style seems so safe compared to where Darren is willing to force a crowd to go--but also because by this time in the night, the crowd's patience is wearing off...and the effect of their cocktails is kicking in. At one point in time, the entire front table took the topic of one of her jokes and began their own conversation on the topic--and that's got to be frustrating for any performer.

That said--she did connect with them over a number of jokes. In one, she imagines a woman showing her parents the results of a Brazillian wax, "Hey look! Just like the old days!"

Sharon is also very good at using pauses. Her timing--perhaps thanks to her work as a teacher--is solid. She seems very comfortable and she manages to make her technique seem quite natural.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to earn her an encore point on this night.

Between Sharon and the next performer to compete, LUKAS SEELY, the crowd was admonished to "shut up" by the host. This is always a difficult manouver--as you want them to pay attention to the show and allow others to enjoy the show...but, comedy is also meant to be fun...and it's hard to have fun when you've got a guy yelling at you to shut up. David tried to win the crowd back with a particularly Michael Buffer-esque intro for Lukas...who tends to take the stage in a quirky way that really couldn't take advantage of the wind-up intro he was given--so, all in all, it was an odd sequence of events.

Especially when the crowd ignored David's instructions and shouted "NICE HAIR" at Lukas, before Lukas got his first words out. Now, granted, Lukas has styled his hair in a style more reminiscent of a Final Fantasy video game than something that you'd get at a Tukwila Super Cuts, but that's still no excuse for an audience member at a competition show yelling out some stupid shit.

Lukas, to his credit, deflected that with a perfect riposte--pointing out that the person who yelled that was, in fact, bald himself. Proves all of those nights dealing with some drunken idiots over at Giggles came in handy--as Lukas seemed completely unfazed by the entire interaction. He transitioned into his actual material skillfully.

Lukas pulled out a classic joke of his that I love--the "check your facts at the factory, bitch" joke...and, perhaps sprurred on by the attempted heckle, I thought Lukas went a little bit dirtier than he had been at Laughs.

And closing with a call back to his hairstyle at the end of his set was a good move--but a less good move was going over his allotted time. He managed to earn the encore point but give half of it right back with a time penalty. Good news, bad news for Lukas then.

It was impressive to see KYLE HARBERT make his aggressively progressive and cynical political rants work with an Eastside crowd. He didn't change a word when he decided to take on the country club types at Gordon's.

At first, that didn't look like such a good decision--as he got actual boos from some of the back tables, for his "My car is like America" joke. However, those boos were playful...and those boos were mixed in with enough cheers that Kyle wasn't thrown off too badly by it.

He found more consistent traction by taking on some annoying celebrities--but the cool thing about Kyle's approach is that even as he's playing with the general public's weariness with celebrity culture, he's doing so in a way that continues to push his perspective on social issues.

Of course, there's not much social commentary to suggesting that we send Ted Nugent to Iraq--because all he'd need is a crossbrow and some freezer space.

"Haaaaaaaah. He's gonna eat 'em."

By taking a risk and going forward without fear or compromise, Kyle earned his encore point tonight.

One thing that STEPHEN O'KEEFE needs to do, every time he steps on the stage, is to give the audience enough information about himself and his deafness to allow the audience to adjust their expectations. Then, he has to meet or exceed those expectations by being funny--and not just funny "for a deaf guy."

"If I'm too loud, please let me know. If I'm too quiet, too bad," is one of the brilliant ways that Stephen takes care of his first objective and quickly on to his second, "Welcome to my deaf world."

Unfortunately, there are things that Stephen can't pick up on--like knowing when someone 's cell phone goes off (which one did) or when someone, rudely, starts table talking (as someone did...briefly.) What is nice to see, even from this audience which was getting louder and more chatty as the show went on, is that the need to pay careful attention to what Stephen was saying so they'd be able to get some very good jokes outweighed any rudeness. People really do listen to Stephen--and that basic human reaction clears a path for Stephen to do what he does successfully.

"I dated a deaf girl. When we argued, everything would go right in one eye and out the other."

Brilliant. Encore point...without a doubt.

Whatever grace the Gordon's group was giving Stephen ended the minute he left the stage, because before SCOTT MORAN could even open his mouth, someone in the back of the room--probably the same person who shouted at Lukas Seely--shouted out "NICE JACKET!"

Of course, it should be pointed out that Scott WAS wearing a nice jacket. He kind of looked like something between Fred Armisen and Elvis Costello. That's really not the point.

Competitors, trying to do their best with everything on the line, shouldn't have to put up with idiots like that...but, as we all know, that is an unfortunate reality seemingly anywhere you might look in the comedy universe--so, it should be expected that any performer good enough to be in this competition should be able to handle things without much concern.

Scott didn't even flinch. He diffused the situation with ease, saying:

"Thank you. I've got a nice jacket. That's a point."

Sorry, Scott. There's no category for wardrobe on the judges' score sheets.

Scott's easy going pace and casual style seemed to give the audience a misinformed sense that they were allowed to comment about what he was saying while he was saying it. That seemed to lead to Scott going "joke to joke" for his laughs--rather than getting them laughing and keeping them laughing. It was like THEY were going to judge whether or not each individual joke was worth enjoying and part of that process was to be able to discuss the concept behind the joke.

Sigh.

Scott reached into his bag of tricks to pull out a joke I haven't heard him do in awhile. It's a joke about taking magic mushrooms as a hangover cure. It's a fun joke that truly allows Scott to pursue his surreal side and let his imagination roam free. It also suffers from a certain schizophrenia. The early part of the joke is too on the nose...and the second half of the joke is too surreal for a country club audience that has been drinking their way through a very long comedy show that should be nearing its end.

I still think it's a funny joke--but it, like much of Scott's act, got a mixed response. That, combined with a "yawny" dismount meant that Scott didn't get an encore point tonight.

But his jacket is in the running for top five for the night.

Typically, going last in a preliminary week show is a tough position to be in--I mean, what could possibly be left to joke about after 15 other comedians and a host have clearcut the comedy woods?

But, tonight, it almost seemed like a reward for JAQI FURBACK, who opened up this year's competition with a surprising (but not shocking) top finish in last night's opening show. Would her slow paced, self-deprecating, darkly edged and clever material work as well here as it did last night?

Her mom and her sisters were in the audience hoping to help her prove that it could.

And it could. But it didn't.

Make no mistake, Jaqi had a solid set--and she handled the remaining hecklers without much distraction. There just weren't a lot of laughs to milk out of the fully milked udders in the room at this point in the night.

What's clear about watching Jaqi perform in this competition is that her darkness is countered by a Cheshire cat smile...and that her ability to laugh at herself makes her a compelling and likable performer, whatever she might want to talk about. The tightrope she walks is to not go too far in making fun of herself--either on the side of being whiny...or deserving sympathy. The key, as she found last night...and as she continued to display in this second night's performance...is to make certain that everyone knows that making fun of yourself is something that you're enjoying...

Because people want Jaqi to be happy. And, to that end, the people in the audience at Gordon's gave her the encore point.

With all of the performances out of the way, it was all up to the judges to determine if last night's results were going to repeat themselves...or if others would get their moment in the top 5 spotlight.

And, when it came to counting the scores, something became quickly apparent. Two of the judges--both of them, having spent the entire night loudly laughing at all of the comics throughout the show while taking plenty of pictures of themselves with their camera phones during the show--had scored EVERYONE with low numbers. I didn't get the sense that these numbers were low because they didn't like the performers--I just think that they started at one level at the beginning of the show and felt that everyone was nearly as good or slightly better.

There was a third judge who scored things generously--much more in line with the way that most judges score shows during the competition.

It is for precisely this reason that this competition is not scored by "total points" but by the arcane system of weights and measures that it uses to determine who is considered to have done well and who has considered to have done not quite as well.

So, what the numbers those used mattered less than the differences between the comedians in those numbers...and when that was tallied...and after one final harmonica song from host David Testroet...it was time to reveal the top five for the night.

Except, of course, if you remember the beginning of this report...I told you that there wasn't a top five from tonight. The explanation for this will become apparent by reading below.

And...the top (however many there were, if I'm saying there wasn't a top five) for the night are...???

Fifth place--Rodger Lizaola.
(Second night in a row, Rodger takes the podium in 5th place.)

Fourth place--Geoff Lott.

Third place--Leif Skyving.

Second place--Lizzy Pilcher.

...and, the top performer for the night...

...well... ...actually, there's a TIE for first place tonight.

First place--Kyle Harbert & Key Lewis.

(Back Row: Lizzy Pilcher, Key Lewis, Leif Skyving Front Row: Kyle Harbert, Rodger Lizaola, David Testroet, Geoff Lott)

ANALYSIS: I suppose the biggest surprise from the scores was how far Andy Haynes had fallen from the previous night's 2nd place finish--but biting the bullet can do that to anyone.

By going last, last night's winner, Jaqi Furback, produced a thoroughly decent 7th place finish...with a score good enough to keep.

Of the six performers in tonight's top six, three of them were in the top five last night...and three of them were brand new to the top five. If this competition teaches us anything, it's that you can't put too much stock into initial results...so, for anyone who hasn't made the top 5 yet--remember, it's early yet...and this is still anyone's contest. Being consistent can be more important than taking home a top spot--just ask last year's winner, Damonde Tschritter.

(I'd ask you to ask the 2005 winner--Lamont Ferguson--but he's dealing with some health issues that will mean that he will NOT be available to be this week's host. More information on who WILL host the remaining shows of this week--as David Testroet is unavailable for the remainder of the week--in the next report.)


NEXT SHOW: FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2ND, Preliminary Week-Show Three takes place at Edmonds Center For The Arts in Edmonds--show time, 7:30pm. 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