The new season of Last Comic Standing is going beyond trying to find the funniest person in the country. Opening up the competition internationally, they are now looking for the funniest person in the world. Executive producer Dan Cutforth assures patriots that this is no slam on U.S. talent.
Dan Cutforth on Last Comic Standing
"We found a lot of great comics in the U.S. this year," he said. "I think the success of the show returning last year brought out a lot of great people and some names that I personally was very excited to see show up. But we also felt like there was an opportunity to really explore the comedic talent that exists outside the U.S. in the English-speaking world. And we also had some great finds in London and Montreal and Sydney as well."
The new season also changes some of the reality show aspects of previous competitions. "They won't be living in a house together this year, actually. We're changing the format a little bit to do the show in real time. So what that will mean is, if you're familiar with the format of the show, in times gone by, these three guys had to all move into a house together and laugh and cry and fight together. Then we had what we call head-to-heads where two or three people would go and compete against each other. We had the audience in the theater vote on those head-to-heads. What we're doing this year is allowing America to decide who stays in the competition, which means the competition actually happens in real time, which will be a real departure for us. For that reason we're not putting people together in a house because it's just too hard to edit all that stuff. But there will still be challenges and, as I say, these head-to-heads that America can vote on."
Doing a real time show also means more live broadcasts. Known how comedians can be, producers have to make sure they won't get in trouble for their contestants. "Because we get to edit the early parts of the show, for the early parts of the show, we kind of let them go and say whatever they want to say, sometimes with mixed results. They sometimes say stuff that you could never use on TV. Quite often that happens, actually. But once they actually get to the semifinal stage, we actually do look at their sets and give them advice. Until they're on live TV, we don't tell them, 'No, you can't say that.' But we give them advice about what is going to fly on television and what's not. And obviously, if they want to get into the competition and stay in the competition, they have to use material we can use on TV."
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