I’m late again! This time I was at the beach, and then I didn’t rush to the Tivo to watch LCS after I got home. I think that’s okay, though.

Let’s go straight to the competitors, again from those I thought were least funny to those who were funniest:

Stone & Stone:
They mainly did material they had already done. I didn’t laugh at it this time; last time was pretty good. The audience seemed to like them, as did the judges and Fearne.

Heath Hyche:
Very high energy, I can give him that. I didn’t know we had two prop comics in the competition, though. The audience seemed to like it, though the judges didn’t. I didn’t really care for it.

Papa CJ:
Relatively new to comedy, he did a lot of the same material he did at the tryouts. That’s probably not a good sign, but the new stuff was pretty funny. He also has the confidence, even cockiness, that good stand-ups often have. Fearne should have given him a harder time about that!

Dan Cummins:
Pretty good and I laughed; some people posted a comment on my blog saying he steals material, and a lot of people were searching for him. I don’t know if that bodes poorly. I like him when he’s up there.

Eddie Pepitone:
There was a lot of yelling on his part, and some laughing and smiling on my part. Self-deprecating humor can work well in some of the sequences they do on the show when you make it through, and he is a master.

Bob Biggerstaff:
“The world’s only push-up cummerbund.” Very laugh-worthy, and they always need at least one “fat guy” comedian on the show.

Jackie Kashian:
She ended with “there’s more to that” and I definitely would have been willing to hear more. I didn’t laugh out loud, but I respected that finally, a white comedian could do a whole set making fun of their parents.

Iliza Shlesinger:
When she’s on the stage telling jokes, I’m laughing. I don’t think she did anything funny, though, in the interview beforehand or after with Fearne. She could be a fierce competitor in the house but maybe not a funny one.

John Evans:
I laughed, and I don’t just think he’s funny I liked him too.

Esther Ku:
I didn’t know what my expectations here were. She has sort of a combination of the Asian family humor I liked from Dat Phan and “I’m a cute girl and I know it” I liked from Amy Schumer. She is definitely funny. Fearne gave her two thumbs up.

Marcus:
He didn’t do any impressions! This is quite surprising, since they’re his strong suit, but his set was pretty good which shows important range. I didn’t laugh out loud but I respected it. Then he did his Walken on the way out! Fearne and the judges made the same conclusions as me.

Louis Ramey:
He did wall-to-wall jokes, with no relief, and most of them landed. Again, a couple times he repeated material from the tryouts, which seems a little strange, since he has so much experience and probably a huge repertoire.

Pete Lee:
He always makes fun of his own name! But at least it’s in a different way, not a repeat of material. I laughed a lot during his set, really enjoyed it.

Mary Mack:
Hooray! Funny and fun. I liked her just as much here as I did in the tryouts. The judges say she took too long to get out the first joke, but I think it was worth the wait, just to establish her stage presence.

Sean Cullen:
Great set! A funny and well-sung song and some jokes beforehand that I don’t even remember after the song. It really only had a couple of jokes in it, but they were good. He reminded me of an old-timey bard.

Jim Tavaré:
Great performance! I laughed the most of any and I think it’s pretty amazing that he can do that with a Bass on stage in a tuxedo.

This weeks comics were more consistently good than last weeks, in my opinion.
I would have been happy if all the girls had moved on. As it is, only two did. I would have also liked to see 7 or 8 move through from this group rather than only 5. I don’t know how they divided up the group into 16s, but they didn’t do a great job!

Anyway, the comics they chose to move on, as you can see, I am much happier with than last week. Given the little I have seen, I think I will go with Jim Tavaré to win it all. That being said, whoever I usually predict to win goes home about 4th from the end. We’ll see if my record continues.

This is the last time I can choose someone who should have gone forward, because the eliminations will be in 1s and 2s from here on out. I’ll choose Mary Mack, because I have a crush on her.

All my last comic standing posts.

I am sunburned and contented. I’m very happy to have a few days before I have to be back at work, to recuperate from my recuperation. Now I need to tend to my Internets and see if I missed any important happenings (I doubt it).

I’m supposed to be packing for my trip to the beach but I’m hooked on the episode of Saturday Night Live that NBC aired yesterday. It’s the very first episode, which featured George Carlin and they aired it as a tribute to him. It is consistently good; the sketches are much much shorter than they are today, there are way more musical acts and comedy routines, and there’s much less focus on popular culture, which means most everything still resonates today. I hope that by doing this they learn a little about how they should be doing the show today.

I’m trying to figure out what to pack. I need towels and a bathing suit, some clothes, and a nice shirt since my Dad is taking me out to an “executive” golf course (that means 9 holes and short ones at that). But the most important thing is board games! I had a request to bring Whoonu and Cineplexity (I’ll have to review that one when I get back). I think I’m also going to bring Rock Band, though I don’t know if I’ll have any takers on that. The adults all claim the songs are “noise” and are intimidated! Maybe if it’s a rainy day.

I haven’t been blogging much lately. Google downgraded me for some reason so my hits dropped and that was disheartening, also I just haven’t had too much to say. I’m not leaving for the beach until Tuesday but I’m going to be busy tomorrow night and am leaving straight from work, so unless I find some great Internet there (which is doubtful) there probably won’t be any posts in the near future, either.

This week: a semifinals episode, where half the comics are eliminated. This is the first of two two hour episodes, so we get four full hours of semifinals! I hope they are acceptably funny. Richard Belzer and Steve Schirripa (I remembered how to spell that from the last time he was a judge!) are back, having made the trip from New York to Vegas. Bill Bellamy was not on the top of his game warming up the crowd; reminded me of back when Jay Mohr was the host.

I’ll go over the comics in the order I thought they were, least funny to most funny. I came up with this order before I saw who got to move on. Comics who moved on are in bold. I also mention when the comics got to talk to Fearne or the judges.

Phil Palisoul:
He has a good personality and solid material but I didn’t really laugh.

Ron G:
Most of his set was him doing a funny voice, which was funny, but not super funny. I didn’t laugh.

Jeff Dye:
Many of his jokes got applause more than laughter; I think he did some pretty good physical comedy on exercise machines. He got an interview with Fearne.

The Meehan Brothers:
These guys do something totally different every time, which is respectable. They can think things up. I didn’t laugh at all, though, in the end.

Shazia Mirza:
Another instance where she got some applause as well as laughs for her jokes, and she did the rapid-fire delivery as well. It seemed like she was a little nervous. Fearne interviewed her and she seemed very nervous.

God’s Pottery:
They only have time to perform one song in the sets they show on the show. It’s hard to judge them just based on the one song but I don’t know if they will fit in well with the rest of the show. Judges comments: they never break character, which is respectable but a little creepy. They got a Fearne interview.

Andi Smith:
I’d go see her in West Virginia! Smiles all around but no laughing. She does the low-energy thing pretty well and she’s fun. No interviews!

Drennon Davis:
Lots of smiling from me, no laughing. He’s very much a personality and I respect anyone who can pull off a whole chorus and verse of a fake rap song. Fearne interview.

Paul Foot:
I didn’t want to like him, because I didn’t really like his set on the international show, and he comes off a little cocky, but I smiled throughout. He did alright. The judges talked him up, as did Fearne.

Lioz Shem Tov:
As a prop comic, it feels like he’s a bit of a long shot, has to prove himself. He might not have that much material, it appears, as I think we’ve seen the turtle before. No laughs, but he made me smile consistently from beginning to end, which was also the judges comment. He got judges and a Fearne interview.

Erin Jackson:
Produced some laughs, she has a very laid back personality. I think she would do well writing and starring in her own sitcom (it’s too bad NBC took that prize away this year, but it figures since none of the other winners ever got theirs). Again, she’s from DC so she has a hometown advantage for me. She got a Fearne interview.

Winston Spear:
I don’t remember seeing this sort of act from him before, the sort of nervous and strange footwork and posing. It worke for me, though. I laughed. Winston got to talk to the judges and they gave him somewhat negative comments which was unusual.

Erin Foley:
I would consider her very sardonic if I am right about what that word means. She was the fourth comic on stage and the first to make me laugh out loud.

Dale Jones:
A southerner with a little bit of a similar sensibility, though a little less crazy, won last year. He very much has an interesting personality. He definitely produced a guffaw or two from me during his set.

Dan Naturman:
Very funny, he produced some laughs in my case. He has kind of a Maxwell Smart delivery which I appreciate, and it’s timely!

It seems like they went for diversity and charisma over funniness, which is pretty common with this show. They selected no females, though, so expect to see at least two females move on next week.

Four of the five winners got an interview with Fearne; eight out of sixteen performers did, so it seems like a Fearne interview is strongly correlated with being selected. We’ll see if that holds next week.

All my last comic standing posts.

Guest post: by poober

So today at work I stumbled across a redonkulously ginormous beetle and me being me had to scoop it up and take it home with me. I didn’t figure out what kind of beetle it was until I got back and googled it. It is a Giant North American Rhinoceros Beetle: otherwise known as Grant’s Rhinoceros Beetle.

I originally took it back for a friend who has a collection of crazy looking bugs, but on the drive home (as he scrambled around in a Gatorade bottle with holes punched in it) I grew mildly attached to him. After getting all sorts of information from the Internets I found out that these beetles eat fruit and nectar, can’t bite or harm you in anyway, and are all around excellent pets. He loves to climb all over my arms and though he has pincer claws on his legs and a huge horn on his head, he tickles more than hurts.

The website I looked at said they could fly very well, but mine doesn’t appear to be able to. While they spend three years as larvae, they only spend one year as actual beetles, so I hope he may be a young beetle and hasn’t developed his wings yet. My friend with the bug collection gave me a nice terrarium and the rhino beetle is playfully bulldozing sliced apples in it right now so I think I’ll try and keep him as he is very fun to play with and seems like little maintenance.

The only problem I have now is what to name him.

I’m thinking Cervantes, but I’d love some other input. Cant remember what the beetle from Godzilla was called. Anywho, for more information on Rhino Beetles check out CentralPets.com where I got my info.

So yesterday at Mayorga my brother let me play around with his Spore creature creator. I was hoping there would be some nerdy girls around who might be enticed by the creative geekiness of it all, but no luck. And yet! We created some pretty excellent monsters.

Unfortunately you can’t actually play with the monsters until the game comes out. But no worries, we can have our very own monster battle on this very site! Sort of a thefunniest.info sort of thing, except only once, and you don’t really get to vote unless you comment.

My brother sent me these and I forget the names; they didn’t show up in the e-mails. Which Spore creature is better? Mine is on the bottom! (hint, hint, nudge nudge)

Over the past week I did something of an experiment: I gave up instant messaging. One of my favorite ways to explore my own habits and my own willpower is to give things up. For example, at the beginning of the week I also gave up my car for a few days, and that helped me learn that taking the bus to work and back isn’t all so bad. In short, I like giving things up.

Giving up instant messaging wasn’t too hard; it didn’t take a lot of willpower to just sign out and not click the sign in button for a few days. All I missed was the feeling that somehow I was “in the loop,” but even that passed after a few days.

I mainly did this experiment to see if being a little more bored (not talking to people) and a little less tied down to the computer would lead me to do anything differently.  I was changing the incentives:  e-mail is more exciting when you’re away from the computer a little while so you have a chance to accumulate a few.  I don’t think this worked as well as I would have hoped, but it did work.  I ended up doing a little more reading and being a little better on chores.  I didn’t end up going out more and seeking out new experiences and new people, which is what I thought might happen.

In any case, I’m back on IM now, though I may be on less than I was.  Giving it up was overall a positive experience but there are a few people I chat with that I missed terribly.  I grew up chatting online and had given it up for a great number of years, and things are very different now than they were 10 years ago.  Technology marches on.

The “international” episode of Last Comic Standing this season was a little less exciting than previous seasons…

I don’t know exactly how the producers chose who would be appearing in the international auditions, but obviously someone had to choose. I doubt that all those comedians could have afforded to fly to Miami for just a 2 minute audition. Do you think they had auditions in each country that they didn’t show us?

Judging this episodes were Lonny Ross and Keith Powell from 30 Rock. I think they were the best judges thus far this season; they worked together and had good interplay, and generally made pretty good selections. Plus, 30 Rock is a great show and they are great on it.

They finally seem to have decided to do something with the little box they put the comics in. They seem to have directed all the international comics to sing the national anthem, instead of flailing about trying to be funny in the little box. This maybe ended up slightly funnier than it otherwise would have been. I still think they should just lose that box.

The international crowd seemed to be a little freer to do racial humor. I counted three jokes that were a little more racially charged than usual for this show. I don’t know exactly why that is but I’m just pointing it out. The international comics weren’t as good as I remember from previous years. We ended up with three out of five semifinalists being from the UK, and none from Oceania. That doesn’t seem very balanced, but maybe the producers are trying to go for funny in this crowd instead. The one I thought should have made it: Chris Radburn from Australia.

I had compiled a list of all the semifinalists before this show aired so that I would be ready to post them when it ended. Then they decided to end their show the same way I was going to end my blog post. I’ll still post the list here so that everyone can find it; hopefully I don’t spell anyone’s name wrong.

Before I post, I just want to mention a few people who I’d like to see get past the semis: Mary Mack, Marcus, and Jim Tavaré are my favorites, for the moment, though there are a number of others I’d like to see go forward. Lioz Shem Tov is one, but he repeated some material tonight and he’ll need to make sure he has plenty of unique stuff.

Okay, here’s the list of semifinalists:

New York

• Louis Ramey
• Stone & Stone
• Esther Ku
• God’s Pottery
• Dan Naturman

Tempe

• Marcus
• Phil Palisoul
• Adam Hunter

Los Angeles

• Erin Foley
• Ron G
• Eddie Pepitone
• Jackie Kashian

Houston

• Andi Smith
• Bob Biggerstaff

San Francisco

• Drennon Davis
• Iliza Schlesinger
• The Meehan Brothers
• Jeff Dye

Toronto

• Winston Spear
• Sean Cullen

Minneapolis

• Pete Lee
• John Evans
• Dan Cummins

Nashville

• Heath Hyche
• Erin Jackson
• Mary Mack
• Dale Jones

Miami

• Shazia Mirza
• Jim Tavaré
• Paul Foot
• Lioz Shem Tov
• Papa CJ

All my last comic standing posts.

Those of you who saw my bookcase filled with recommendations may have noticed two books on there by Cory Doctorow: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe. I am a fan of Doctorow’s work, and his newest title, Little Brother, did not change that. Like all of Doctorow’s books, you can read it online for free. This is the first book of his where I went that route instead of buying the hard copy.

Ostensibly written for the young adult crowd, Little Brother is the story of a young man from San Francisco who gets caught up in a DHS dragnet after a terrorist attack.  He is treated like a suspected terrorist and vows to take his revenge the only way he knows how: by using and spreading technology that will help people keep themselves safe and secure, and that will foil any DHS plans that violate the bill of rights and the freedom of Americans.

Doctorow always writes very simply and forthrightly, and I think that he did not have to work very hard to fit his style to the young adult genre.  The book is perfectly accessible to adult audiences as well, and actually some of the simplified explanation of various technologies such as cryptography and DNS is helpful to the average adult reader as well.

I thought the book very good; I generally don’t review things I don’t like, but I did find a few faults, and no review would be complete without at least mentioning them.  The characterization, I felt, was pretty weak.  I didn’t identify with the characters as strongly as I thought I would; I generally share their politics and their passion for technology but their personality and personal details were left very vague.  The somewhat stilted nature of the romantic and sex scenes didn’t help.

Overall the strength and passion of the politics of the book are what make it worth reading.  What is a society like when everyone is a suspected terrorist?  What is it like to be arrested and imprisoned as an enemy combatant?  Why is the bill of rights important and in what ways is it being trampled?  Do we have a responsibility to fight for freedoms we cherish dearly?  I’ll leave you with a quotation from the Declaration of Independence which features prominently in the book:

Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Revolutionary!  Read this book!

Okay, I don’t actually refry the beans myself. I just spoon them out of the can, at which point they are edible, but then you have to do a little something something to make them great!

I had these tonight, by the way. When I’m over to my parents for tacos, my mom usually makes me do the beans. My brother said they were very good this time!

In a saucepan, combine:

• A splash of water
• One can vegetarian or fat free refried beans
• Half a jar of your favorite salsa, usually medium spiciness (my usual instructions are: add as much as you think is prudent, then half again as much)
• a palmful of diced dehydrated green and red bell peppers (these can be hard to find, but are sometimes with the spices at the store; I assume you can also dehydrate them yourself, somehow)
• slightly less than a palmful of dehydrated onion flakes
• one fresh tomato (or three roma), diced
• a tablespoon of ground parsley
• a tablespoon of ground black pepper
• If you like it spicy, 4 dollops of your favorite hot sauce; otherwise Tabasco
• If you aren’t a vegan, half a cup of grated cheese.

Stir and simmer.  When it starts farting and popping, move it to the warmer.

Serve as a dip with chips, as a side dish, or as a topping for tacos and other tex-mex delights.  Also good leftover.

I made them once in college for some vegans, and accidentally used the “traditional” beans, which contain lard.  I felt pretty terrible about that.  The fat free and vegetarian beans actually taste better anyway.  I recommend using the dehydrated peppers and onions because they absorb the essence of the rest of the ingredients quite impressively.  Fresh onions are not as good and I’ve never tried fresh peppers, though they seem like they would be too crunchy.