Episode Guide
NBC's stalwart summer reality competition looks a little different this year. This time around, the Peacock opted for a trio of new judges — all LCS alumni: Ant, Kathleen Madigan and Alonzo Bodden — and a living host, Bill Bellamy.
But the comedy was left to the contestants, and while no one blew me away (except perhaps Mel Silverback, the half-Jewish, half-gorilla comic, whose "I can't believe I banged Tony Shalhoub," line is still making us howl), we did find ourselves chuckling quite a bit. First up was New York.
We really liked Dwayne Kennedy, who did the bit about Farrakhan visiting Jewish doctors. His attitude was refreshingly laid-back (so many other comics looked like they were on speed) and his point of view was original. Chris Whit was also funny. Bodden called a lot of aspirants out on their lack of charisma, which was true.
To finish with New York, we thought overall the competition was strong. And even when the comics did suck, we always found ourselves laughing at Bodden's incredulous reactions, usually a combination of disbelief and pain. While we agreed with some of their choices — the aforementioned Dwayne Kennedy, Joe DeVito was cute and Arj Barker, whose bit about insulated vests started off slow but ended with a bang and a hilarious Mork & Mindy reference — we were surprised that Amy Schumer (lame), Lori Chase (lamer) and Capital One winner Jane Condon (the audience chose her as their fave?!) moved on.
Deb DiGiovanni was the real deal, despite the fact that she reminded us a bit of Kirson. Although the single-lady-with-a-cat stereotype has been done to death, DiGiovanni managed to wring more laughs out of it with her infectious personality.
And then came San Antonio. Sabrina Matthews cracked us up. Someone named Andi Smith, who made little impression on us, moved on, too. But Ralph Harris, who was the second Capital One winner of the evening (apparently Montreal didn't get one because credit cards don't work in Canada?), didn't do anything for us.
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