TVSquad

(S04E08) It's funny how shows like Last Comic Standing look more thrown together as the contest goes along. It's a matter of material; as the number of comics gets winnowed down, the producers have to figure out a way to fill the time that's been freed up. Hence some of the time-killing methods used on tonight's show: immensely long introductions of the five finalists, an excruciating elimination segment, and, most frustrating of all, a set by LCS alum Gary Gulman.

Don't get me wrong; I liked Gulman when he did LCS Season Two. But his bits on fruit and other minutiae got really old during Season Three. And now, he's decided to do bits on what Jews have given the world (polio vaccine, birth control pills, Saturdays off), and a long, drawn out joke about his serious role-playing with his girlfriend.

Ironically, the grizzled LCS veteran had the weakest set of the night. All four of the remaining contestants had strong sets, especially in comparison to the material they trotted out last week, which wasn't all that great.

Oh, did I mention that Roz got eliminated? I mean, it probably didn't need to be mentioned, since she clearly had the worst set last week. To be honest, I'm not particularly sad to see her go; I never got into her act, and her back story, while compelling, wasn't enough to make me root for her. Yes, I'm a cold-hearted bastard when it comes to stand-up comedy.

Like I said, all of the remaining comics stepped up this week and did a good job. Michele Balan made some funny jokes about the flight from New York to L.A. -- "It used to take five hours; now it takes seven. What are we doing, going via Paris?" -- but she also made an tired seat cushion joke. She recovered, though, with a good bit about meeting a woman with a lot of piercings. This routine probably would have put her in the top two last week, but, unfortunately, the routines were so strong this week that Michele comes in last in my book.

Ty Barnett keeps improving. He had a number of laugh-out-loud lines this week, including one about visiting Utah. "It's kind of like Disneyland, because everyone there knew I was just visiting." Another good line: "Wearing black makes you look thin. That's actually true... if you're thin." And his routine on how good a Fear Factor contestant a meth-addicted mom of eight would be was pretty good (though I wonder if he got the idea from Dave Chappelle).

Chris Porter started off slowly but ended strong. His routine about the fact that Costco sells caskets was a riot, especially when he called it a "Costket". And he didn't like the fact that you had to buy them in pairs, "that's how they get ya." He figured parents would use the second one to tautnt their kids: "Clean your room, you son of a bitch, or it's back in the box with ya."

But the night belonged to Josh Blue. He came out in his Paralympic soccer jersey (he was on the US team at the 2004 Athens Games), and pretty much built his entire routine around stories involving being on the team. There were very few of the one-liner jokes which had dominated Josh's past sets. Instead, he settled into an easy-going funny storyteller style that the many of the all-time best stand-ups adopt as their acts mature. He stated how his team did in the last Games by saying, "Let's just say me and my teammates, well, we didn't have to worry about getting tested for any performance-enhancing drugs." About the competition, he said, "The thing I realized is that when you're competing against countries of that caliber, it doesn't matter how many times I watched that movie Miracle... it's just not going to happen." The rest of the set was equally funny. It was so good, that I applauded at the end. Way to go, Josh... you took a chance and scored. It was refreshing to see such an atypical LCS routine, and I think it really worked for him.

So, you can tell who I'd vote for if I actually decided to vote. Remember, you can vote online until 6 AM EDT tomorrow.

Oh, and Anthony Clark hosted. That's all I'm going to say about that.