First there was the Pistons. Then Peabs retires only to realize how important he is to our country this election year, and without warning, he pops back out of the woodwork. Then apparently the party of the century was thrown for Grambo’s 30th. Next thing you know, the blogosphere is rocked with the announcement that Jessica “The Blueprint” Coen is taking over the editorial reigns of the Moses of all blogs — you know, since we all follow it religiously — Gawker.
But no matter how excited I am to see formerly yet still Foxy Jess’ take on all things media and gossip, in my insulated by television world, all that mattered was the result of last night’s finale of Last Comic Standing during which Michigan resident John Heffron received his just desserts and won America’s vote. Seriously … I was actually excited about this. After last year’s travesty of Dat Phan beating Ralphie May, it was nice to at least see three finalists who all performed very funny sets. But not matter how great Gary Gulman and especially Alonzo Bodden were, Heffron was consistently the funniest and most entertaining of anyone who was on the show this time around. He’s not necessarily an innovative or overly risky comic; in many ways he follows the relatively safe observational humor methods of Jerry Seinfeld. However, his energetic delivery and comic timing are near flawless, and he was the guy I was rooting for.
Meanwhile, how stupid was the damn show last night? Host Jay Mohr kept plugging this end-of-broadcast big announcement about the next season of Last Comic Standing. Meanwhile, NBC ran promos for the damn thing during every commercial break tonight; the same promo that aired at least twice (maybe more — I wasn’t always paying attention) during Tuesday’s final competition show. The next season, which premieres the week after NBC finishes off monopolizing the airwaves with the Olympics, is going to be some sort of face-off between the first and second seasons’ contestants. And the big announcement at the end of the show which Mohr kept teasing before every commercial as if it was some big secret said exactly that. They could have promoted talking about next season without trying to pretend that there was some earth-shattering secret. Maybe the producers and the network should actually talk.
Anyway, congrats John Heffron. Your “Go Girl” bit was hysterical. Your energy is infectious without being annoying. This household voted for you several times — multiple phone lines and email addresses you know — so we were very happy you won.
Out of Focus 