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The series was hosted by , Tere Joyce , Sean Kent , Dave Mordal , and Rob Cantrell . Season 2 aired in , Tammy Pescatelli , Bonnie McFarlane , Jay London , Kathleen Madigan , Todd Glass , and Corey Holcomb . ''Last Comic Standing'' was picked up for a third season in summer 2004 for airing in Fall of 2004. The third season consisted of a competition between the final ten comedians from both seasons 1 and 2. The grand prize, unlike previous seasons, was a flat $250,000 (no development deal or Comedy Central special). Alonzo Bodden, the runner-up from Season 2, ended up winning the title. Due to lackluster ratings in the third season (falling as low as 74th in the prime-time Nielsen Ratings ), NBC cancelled the show before they would have aired the last episode in the third season. That episode was later shown on Comedy Central rather than NBC. Some say the low ratings were due to overexposure, as the third season started quickly after the second ended. However, NBC recently ordered a fourth season, with casting already underway. February 21 , 2006 , marked the beginning of the fourth season. Over 200 people stood in line all night on Melrose Boulevard in Los Angeles as casting began at the IMPROV. This season will be hosted by Anthony Clark(from the show Yes Dear ). PREMISE The game begins when Talent Scouts hold open casting calls around the United States in search of 40 comics to go to New York and compete against each other at the Radio City Music Hall . There, two competitions are held as the group is divided. From those two groups of 20 people, 10 are selected to be sent to Las Vegas , where they again compete against each other in front of a live audience. Here, 10 finalists are selected to live in a Los Angeles house together for the duration of the series, while each week one of them is eliminated from the house. Each week the players have to compete in different games and tasks, all related to Stand-up Comedy . So far, players have had to perform stand-up at a local laundromat, work as a Tour Guide in LA, and participate in a Roast at the Friars Club Of Beverly Hills . Also, the winner of each contest is rewarded, the biggest one usually being immunity in the stand-off. After the weekly competition, contestants choose another who they think they are funnier than. The person with the most votes chooses someone out of the players who voted for him and they compete at the Last Comic Theater to determine who's voted out for the week. At the end of all the competitions, one player will remain and be known as the Last Comic Standing. CONTROVERSY One of the concepts of the show involved the fact that a panel of four celebrity judges were utilized to help whittle the 40 semi-finalists down to 10 finalists. However it was revealed unintentionally that the celebrity judges did not actually have any legitimate power over what final contestants were chosen. During the second season when the 10 finalists were announced two of the celebrity judges, comedians Drew Carey and Brett Butler responded in outrage and stormed away from the judge's table. The two were then shown backstage arguing with producers; they did not understand how the finalists who were announced could possibly be correct as it did not add up with their votes. It was revealed that a panel of four producers were also casting votes in the process, assuring that unless all four celebrity judges cast the exact same ten votes, a highly unlikely event, their voting power could be usurped by the four unanimously agreeing producer votes. (If for some reason all four celebrity judges did cast the exact same votes, the worst the producers would be faced with is a tie.) Carey became further outraged upon learning this information; he expressed that he was infuriated that he had been lead to believe he had an actual say in the outcome of the show when "all you wanted was our faces" (In other words, their presence was meaningless except to draw in viewers based on their star power.) Ultimately, the legitimacy of the program and contest was compromised as it was proven that contestants were not being chosen based on the quality of their stand-up comedy, but in fact at least partially on how entertaining their interactions while living together would be for a television audience. |
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