'Last Comic Standing': First semifinal

Welcome to Las Vegas, where 16 comedians are vying for five spots in the finals of Last Comic Standing. Can the people who were funny in the audition rounds continue to be funny? Can people who were less funny but made it through anyway get funnier?

There's a two-drink minimum with these spoilers.

So the answer to those two questions, in my mind, are: Kind of, and not too much. Here is where I issue the standard caveat about comedy being subjective and all that, but this was kind of an underwhelming group. A couple of the comedians I liked in the audition rounds didn't raise their game much, and a couple others seemed really, really nervous.

Here's how I ranked them:

The best

I really enjoyed Erin Jackson's set. Her jokes about taking a white trophy wife when she makes it big probably got my biggest laugh of the night, and I liked her easy delivery too.

And lord help me, I laughed at Israeli prop comic Lioz Shem Tov too. Like just about everyone who's encountered him in the two shows he's been on, I can't explain why his exceedingly odd jokes work for me. They just do.

Coin purse-carrier Phil Palisoul wasn't quite up to that level, but his set had a nice flow to it. I think he's on to something with the I-know-I'm-a-jackass signal.

Also decent

Dan Naturman has been at this for a good while, and he has a polished, Ray Romano-ish thing going (the "ask your doctor" line worked especially well). I was a little disappointed, though, that he repeated the online-dating material from the audition rounds.

Shania Mirza repeated herself too, which was a bit of a letdown after what was one of my favorite auditions last week. She seemed a little nervous on stage, too, and combined with the fact that I was hearing a good portion of it for the second time, some good material didn't quite live up to its potential.

I still don't know how I feel about God's Pottery. I will say this: They do a spot-on impression of a couple of youth ministers I've met in my life. I'm not sure, however, how I feel about them being part of a stand-up comedy competition. It just doesn't seem like quite the right fit.

I didn't quite get Brit Paul Foot either. There seems to be some good stuff in there, but his delivery was a little off-putting. I'm all for firing off non-sequiturs on stage, but the fact that he kept pointing out that he was moving on to completely unrelated jokes seemed a little odd.

The rest

Adam Hunter's antic delivery didn't do a whole lot for me. Yes, as talent scout Steve Schirripa pointed out, he plowed through a lot of jokes -- but that was kind of the problem for me. He didn't let any of them breathe.

Jeff Dye's riff about doing Ecstasy at the gym was something I hadn't heard before. That's good. An extended bit about women's workout wear? That's not.

I remember Erin Foley being better in the audition round. The baby-shower stuff wasn't bad, but there wasn't really a punchline there. Ditto with the riff on female sideline reporters.

Dale Jones: Anyone know what that was?

If Ron G had only done the high-voiced "um-I-uhhh" bit once, it might have been OK. That it was basically his only joke was very much not OK.

Same for Drennon Davis, who went on waaaaay too long with a joke about the heavy bass he heard streaming from numerous limos in Vegas. Also, he did the "I won't have herpes" joke for the hotel front-desk staff at the end of the last episode.

Schirripa wasn't alone in not quite getting Winston Spear. He copped to being really nervous, and it showed. That said, the guy could probably make a living doing movie-trailer voiceovers.

Andi Smith was a semifinalist last year; I find it a little odd that no one's mentioned that on the show this time around. Anyway, she didn't seem to have the room, and thus her meta-jokes about doing comedy in other venues landed kind of flat.

Finally, the Meehan Brothers' shtick -- two of them describing various fake charity events while the third acted them out -- didn't seem like a good fit for as big a stage as the one they were on.

And of course, my thoughts are in no way similar to those of the people picking the finalists. So the first half of your final group is: Adam Hunter, God's Pottery, Ron G, Paul Foot and Jeff Dye. Sure.

I take consolation in the fact that several people I liked will be featured in next week's second semi. How about you? What did you think of the performances tonight, and did any of the five finalists make you chuckle?

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