the comic's comic

Interview/preview/review: Louis C.K.'s "Chewed Up"

Louis CK has a new stand-up comedy concert film (why aren't we calling it a special? foreshadowing!) debuting on Showtime on Saturday, Oct. 4. It's called Chewed Up and refers to a NSFW part of anatomy, and anyone familiar with CK knows that his brutally honest comedy is also quite brutally funny. More than a few people, including Ricky Gervais, have called him the best American stand-up comedian working today. I'm not going to disagree with that. Louis CK can walk onstage and just talk about whatever is on his mind and you'll find yourself laughing along with him, and as he told me earlier today, that's an integral part of his writing process. What do I mean by that? Read on, my friends. Read on.

First, a clip! Not Safe For Work, obviously:

OK. Louis CK has divulged a lot of great insight into his own life, work and comedy in the past couple of months to such folks as XM's Unmasked, The Sound of Young America (audio embedded after the jump), and A Special Thing. I wanted to get his thoughts on the fact that his longtime friend and comedy partner, Chris Rock, also tackled the nature of the words "fa&&ot" and "ni&&er" in his new special, but CK told me he hadn't seen Rock's HBO special yet. So that will have to wait. But talking about his writing process, directing and editing Chewed Up, his new stab at a family sitcom on CBS, and communicating with fans? Let's get to it!

Your act always has seemed brutally honest, even going back to your 1995 Young Comedians Special. When did you decide to get even more personal and honest onstage? "I've never decided generally to do anything. I think a lot of years went by. I've done this for 23 years now. At some point…you stop living from joke to joke. Why don't I actually try to move a few steps forward and try stuff I don't know is going to work? Once you do that a few times and succeed at it, you're not really afraid anymore."

"But when? I think once I had kids that was a big part of it...(there's a knock at the door, his door)...Hold on, I've got to put some pants on...2004. I had done a half-hour for Comedy Central, in like 2002 or something, and I felt that I had burned a lot of my material that I'd done for a long time, and I felt I needed to sit down and start from scratch."

You're listed as editor and co-director on Chewed Up. How much control did you want to have over the look and feel of this special this time around? "I think a lot of specials, people get carried away with the word "special." There's a temptation to make yourself look like a star. They say they make you want to look like a rock star when you come out. I'm not a rock star. So, why? They put chandeliers in the theater and the place gets bigger and bigger, and the comic gets smaller and smaller. They make everything brighter so you can see everyone in the audience, and then they'll cut to people in the audience for their reactions."

That's not what he wanted. Nor what he thought marked a great stand-up comedy special. "Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, and Bill Cosby: Himself are the greatest. All of Carlin's specials are great in their own way. But those two are the hallmark. It's just a dude on stage doing his act. For a bulk of the material, there's no backdrop. I wanted it to feel like a live concert. Not a television event."

"As for editing it myself. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have that experience already in television. It's something I know how to do."

There's a camera angle in particular that strikes me, when you cut to a spot behind you on the stage, looking up from the floor, and we see you in the spotlight, talking into the darkness. How does your act change when you're on a large theater stage like that, compared to an intimate comedy club when you can see the audience's faces?

"You still feel the audience reactions...Every year I still am on the road, I'm preparing to make the next hour better...In the theater it's more of a presentation. To me you need both, because in the clubs you have an idea of how strong the material is and how good it is, but in the theater, you can let it breathe more...It's like clubs are 80 percent grit-sandpaper, and theaters are like 220-grit."

I've heard you talk about a need to find audiences who don't know you or aren't quite loyal fans of yours so you can test material.

Live 30 Rock goodies coming on DVD

Sometimes, all blogs that share a love of funny things can agree to love the same funny thing, even when we know we're making PR people feel even better about their jobs. Such is the case with me and my friends at Dead-Frog and Videogum, in that we all want to share these clips that are featured as extras for the 30 Rock season 2 DVD collection coming out next week. The Emmy-winner for outstanding comedy returns for season 3 on Oct. 30, 2008.

Because, really, watching the cast at a table read for last season's finale, "Cooter," lets you know how good the writing is:

And we missed out, as many did, on the special Writers Guild strike edition live staging of an episode at the UCB Theatre, so we can relive that here, too:

Interview: God's Pottery

I recently got on the phone with the boys from God's Pottery. You can read part of our chat in print in today's New York City edition of the Metro newspaper, in advance of their Thursday, Oct. 2, show here at Comix. Or you can read all of it, right here, right now!

God's Pottery made television history this summer as the first comedy duo to compete on NBC's Last Comic Standing. Make that the first acoustic Christian folk music comedy duo. So who do Jeremiah Smallchild and Gideon Lamb think they are, anyhow? Do they think they're big shots now? Let's ask them!

What made you decide to enter a televised comedy competition?
Jeremiah: "We just went to the New York audition. They said, 'Why don't you come on by.' Maybe they had heard of our Web presence."
Gideon: "Or heard us in churches…Sometimes we'll just be telling a funny story and they'll be laughing, and then we'll talk about the Lord."
Jeremiah: "I thought they were going to gang up on us. Look at these silly guys talking about Jesus."
Gideon: "But they opened up to us."
Jeremiah: "Even (celebrity judge) Richard Belzer. He's Jewish."
Gideon: "Half Jewish."
Jeremiah: "But he loved us, and…"
Gideon: "And I think we're getting somewhere with him."

Here's a clip from a recent performance, in case you aren't already familiar with God's Pottery:

Any regrets about going on TV?
Both: "No, NO!"
"We had the opportunity to be on a television show, but aside from the hundreds of people we reach, there's free chips, and snacks, and drinks. You have to be careful with all the free sugar snacks we can get."
"Who are we, Carol Burnett?"

It gets weirder from there.
Jeremiah: "We should be going back to Vegas."
Gideon: "A lot of unfinished work."
Jeremiah: "A lot of progress we need to do."
Gideon: "There's a lot of mountains out there, but I'm talking about mountains of sin."
Jeremiah: "There are mountains, too."
Gideon: "And we'll have to go back and make some of those mountains go away."
Jeremiah: "The metaphorical ones."

Have you gotten any strange or crazy offers since being on TV?
Jeremiah: "Well, we don't consider any gig strange or crazy. We'll go wherever the kids need us. We have gotten offers to go around the country, open some community centers."
Gideon: "We're just excited to get all these new email buddies."
Jeremiah: "We have gotten lots of new email buddies, and MySpace buddies."

Review: Brian Regan's "The Epitome of Hyperbole"

Patton Oswalt recently wrote that anyone looking to become a comedian should simply watch Brian Regan: The Epitome of Hyperbole and try doing what Regan does. "You won't even come close, but your attempt to come close to the pure brilliance that is Brian Regan will, by default, make you a better comedian than you are, or could have been," Oswalt wrote on his MySpace blog earlier this month. "I should know. It's worked for me."

What is it about Brian Regan that sets him apart?

Regan doesn't seek out controversial topics, joking about reading, art, jury duty, TV cooking shows and the like. Nor does he litter his performance with profanity. Rather, he jokes about everyday subjects with an Everyman quality, hunching his body and bobbing his head while darting across the stage (though not as physical now as he was years ago), oftentimes adopting a quintessentially dumb guy approach to observational humor. He jokes about not reading newspaper stories that continue past the front page. He jokes about knowing nothing about art. And whatever he's joking about, he makes it easily relatable to audiences. As his manager, Rory Rosegarten, says on the DVD, "The audiences embrace him tremendously." While other comedians go into acting in TV and movies, or writing gigs, Regan has continued to pummel premises and tour the country as a stand-up for the past two decades, the past five years or so selling out theaters. Here's a bonus clip from Regan explaining his methodology:

Regan also has proven an ability to turn over new material, producing three different hourlong specials in the past four years. If there's anything to quibble about on the new DVD, it's that you want more. His set clocks in just under 41 minutes, with a three-minute encore in which Regan obliges audience requests for his bits on Dora the Explorer and walkie-talkies. There's also a 13-minute "making of" feature that shows you what goes into, well, producing the show. In the end, of course, Oswalt is right. If you want to become a stand-up comedian, you'd do well to sit yourself down and watch Brian Regan first. Because Regan already is doing whatever it is you think you're going to do. And he's doing it quite successfully.

Have you seen Bananas Comedy?

I happened to arrive home late Saturday night, but not so late that when I turned on my TV, I couldn't see a new listing at 1 a.m. Sunday on my local FOX station for something called Bananas. All the info button would tell me: "Taylor Mason 2." Comedy. New. So I had to watch/DVR it. Obviously. Turns out it's a stand-up comedy showcase series that has been around, at least in the Midwest, for a year or two, but new to the national airwaves. In NYC, it airs on FOX at 1 a.m. Sundays, or right as SNL is ending. Been a few years since we had a post-SNL stand-up comedy showcase (my memory tells me twas an up-and-comers stand-up show filmed in SoCal and hosted by Louie Anderson in the late 1990s). Anyhoosiers. Or should I say, anyohios, as this Bananas Comedy show is filmed at the Funny Bone in Columbus (a faded set of bananas appears on the brick wall behind the stage), and has a particular aim on showcasing clean (and sometimes classified as "Christian") comedians. It's produced by Guardian Studios, which also sells videos such as Every Man's Young Battle, which, of course, is all about the temptations of pornography. Where was I? Thor Ramsey hosts the comedy shows. And it makes sense that I first saw the episode featuring Taylor Mason, since Ramsey and Mason tour churches and clubs together as The Mason & Ramsey Comedy Expedition.

Here is the teaser video for season three:

You can buy DVDs of most of the comics from the four seasons of Bananas Comedy. The biggest names probably include Mason, Greg Hahn, Fred Travalena and Bob Nelson (but if you want to see the full list, click here). Curious to know when and where this show airs in your part of the world...

2008 SF Comedy Competition: Finalists

And here, ladies and gentlemen, are your five finalists competing this week for the title of the 2008 San Francisco Comedy Competition, including a veteran comedian/actor, the 2007 winner of the Andy Kaufman Award, a beatboxer from Boston by way of Portland, and two guys who prove that living in the Mountain West makes you have to be funny. In alphabetical order: Tyler Boeh (Boston, via Portland, Ore.), Derick Lengwenus (Wyoming), Leif Skyving (Idaho), Brent Weinbach (San Francisco), and Steve White (Las Vegas). Finals begin Tuesday in Mill Valley. Winner named Saturday in Brooks. Good luck, fellas!

Clockwise from bottom: Boeh, Lengwenus, White, Skyving, Weinbach.
Photo thanks to SFstandup.com and Stanovision Productions

The Comedy Festival (Vegas) unveils full slate of headliners

Anyone who doubted whether TBS could or would pull together a full slate of A-level comedy talent for its first edition of The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas without HBO as a partner, well doubt no more. Over the weekend, TBS unveiled its first look at the official schedule for Nov. 20-22 at Caesars Palace, which includes Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld, Dane Cook, Katt Williams, Jim Breuer, Kids in the Hall, Russell Peters, Jim Norton, a roast of Cheech and Chong, David Alan Grier, Jeff Dunham, Laffapalooza hosted by Tracy Morgan, Andrew Dice Clay, Mike Epps, John Oliver, and Caliente Comedy with Gabriel Iglesias, Pablo Francisco and Anjelah Johnson. The network also says it'll have 25 up-and-coming stand-up and sketch acts performing in a separate LOL Lounge. Full sked after the jump!

FOX cancels Do Not Disturb

And the first casualty of the 2008 fall TV season is...Do Not Disturb! The half-hour sitcom on FOX probably didn't help its chances when the production team sent a letter to TV critics last week saying, in part, that they were sorry  "for being the perpetrators of such bad television." That ended up in Variety and everywhere else in the media! FOX confirmed the cancellation on Friday. The TV listings have the show's star, Jerry O'Connell, appearing on Jay Leno on Tuesday night. Maybe not.

Three episodes of Do Not Disturb have aired and are up on Hulu. Dare we watch them and discuss? Or should we obey the title and let it be?

MADtv #14.3

We haven't forgotten about MADtv, which also aired its third new episode of the season on Saturday night, and really put a focus on new cast members Eric Price and Matt Braunger, having them open the show as guys wanting to live like Mad Men, which was fun and would have been more meta-fun if Crista Flanagan had reprised her actual Mad Men secretarial character!

Coincidentally, on the same night SNL made repeated jokes about Facebook, MADtv had the social networking site in its sights, with Braunger playing an assistant to John McCain (Bobby Lee) trying to help him learn Facebook in a recurring sketch. Braunger also got his own segment portraying John Mayer, while Price got additional face time in a recurring sketch as a reporter covering the launch of a new iPhone, a shot at Tim Gunn, and played host of "Albania's Got Talent." Also of note: Nicole Parker turned in more than passable interpretations of Dina Lohan, Kathy Griffin, Sharon Osbourne and Sarah Palin, in the latter character taking questions from the audience. Though it seems as though this show arrived late to the Palin parody sweepstakes. And oddly, at the end of the show, only six cast members were on hand to wave goodbyes?! Hmmm. The episode is not yet up on Hulu. Further hmmmm.

Review: Chris Rock's "Kill the Messenger"

Chris Rock's new HBO special, Kill the Messenger, began with a bold statement, displaying the breadth of his popularity on his current stand-up comedy tour: 8 countries, 4 continents, 554,781 fans. Filmed in three venues -- Johannesburg, South Africa; London, England; and New York City's Apollo in Harlem -- Rock is telling the world, and in turn, us viewers, that he is a global comedian. What he has to say about race and gender politics, as well as American politics, translates around the world. How many other American stand-up comedians can make that kind of claim? Doing so in black-tie (Johannesburg), a crisp monochromatic suit (London) and a shiny leather jacket (Harlem), Rock and his production team can show just how well it translates, as well have fun with comedy remixes, repeating phrases up to three times. I'm surprised they didn't also try to capture some footage from Bonnaroo, where Rock performed for 65,000 music fans this summer in Tennessee, to show even more how broad his appeal has become.

You can see this special again tonight and later on the various HBO channels (and predictably, someone already has uploaded it in eight parts onto YouTube).

SNL #34.3 with Anna Faris, Duffy

I wonder if the new m.o. at Saturday Night Live is reaching out to any and all past cast members whenever they fit the roles they're looking for. Tina Fey returned again for another dead-on takedown of Sarah Palin, and also Chris Parnell returned to the fold for a sketch. Last year they invited Chevy Chase back to the Weekend Update desk. So who's next? Mull it over as I begin my official recap...right after this apology to my Canadian friends for their inability to watch clips on Hulu. You can watch them on the NBC site, right? Alrighty then. Let's recap!

The cold open: Katie Couric's interview with the Republican vice presidential nominee provided so much fodder for mockery that it almost seemed too easy, and yet so easy that if you're running a timely comedy show, you have absolutely no choice but to joke, joke and joke some more. Tina Fey as Palin is almost too good, too, because it might make some dumb viewers convinced that they should vote for Palin just because of Fey -- which, of course, completely misses the point of how completely overwhelmed the Alaska governor is trying to understand and grapple with the issues facing the Lower 48, as it were. Amy Poehler played the amazed Couric. They got in solid jokes about Palin mistaking more than 20 taxi drivers for Osama bin Laden, going to a movie called The Bush Doctrine -- "It was not about politics" -- being disheartened by all of the foreigners at the United Nations, meeting world leaders such as Bono, "the King of Ireland," telling the Russians each morning "to shoo" from Alaska shores, and even getting her own "Nicholas Fein-style" ramble into incompetence.

Anna Faris hosted this week, and well, Britney looked good, didn't she? Oh. Wait. That wasn't Britney Spears? Right. Anna Faris. Thanks for reminding me. For all of the hype I read from my colleagues in the movie criticism business, I expected much more from Faris, because said critics always write about how funny and adorable she is in the movies and if only she had a chance to do more. So, why didn't the crew at SNL give her the chance? Her monologue about being "a dumb blonde" was, well, a throwaway. She did get to sing later in the program, a stirring speech as a stripper and a recurring gag at the end of the night, but nothing that I'd classify as viral video-worthy.

Take the first post-monologue sketch, in which Faris and Jason Sudeikis drop off another couple (Bobby Moynihan and Casey Wilson) after a double-date and deconstruct what went wrong at their dinner, noting all of the mishaps they made. Some funny lines, but most of the really funny lines came via asides by Sudeikis. "Well, you're on a cleanse," he said to defend her all-wine diet. "Hey, it's just a penis, buddy. I got one, too," he said later. Weird car crash ending, though.

Chris Parnell had returned for a presidential debate sketch, playing moderating PBS anchor Jim Lehrer. Fred Armisen is still playing Obama. But this sketch really belonged to Darrell Hammond's impersonation of a crazed John McCain, offering to suspend their campaigns for three pie-eating contests, then for three town hall meetings in the nude, then for an all-out search for bin Laden. He also joked about supporting the surge since 1985, and a funny joke that almost slipped past the audience about lowering the earmark for governments to notify sex offenders whenever a child moves into their neighborhood! The biggest joke for Armisen was an odd attempt to play the race card with North Korea. And there's an almost obligatory last-minute appearance by Poehler as Hillary Clinton, just in case McCain couldn't make it. Aw, shucks. Did you know? This sketch lasted more than nine (9) minutes!!!

Faris and Kenan Thompson's musical first date on a rowboat in the middle of the lake was just, well, um, silly. Thompson was supposed to be a hitman out to get Faris for getting a drug-dealing lawyer arrested, but none of that ultimately matters because the sketch is really about singing their way through the nonsensical plot. And also the first of three, count 'em, three Facebook jokes of the evening! Suck it, MySpace! (J/K, MySpace, J/K)

Duffy sang that one song we know.

Weekend Update opened with bailout jokes, and the second Facebook joke (a guy got "superpoked beyond recognition") but the biggest and most prolonged applause of the evening belonged to Hammond's Bill Clinton, who in the midst of a non-supportive speech for Obama, had this to say about Palin's qualifications: "Look, sometimes women will feel uncomfortable doing something at first." We get it. We all got it.

Kristen Wiig made her first appearance of the evening as travel writer Judy Grimes, aka the "Just Kidding" lady, which is all about the verbal gymnastics of running through her lines. This character reminds me of both an anti-Penelope (Wiig's character who exaggerates and one-ups everyone) and Kevin Nealon's "Subliminal Man" bit. Just kidding. No. Not really. Just kidding?

Did you know the financial crisis also means no champagne room for Scores, the big Manhattan strip club? Where will the investment bankers go now? This was the dilemma for the strippers (Faris, Wilson and Wiig) and the club's management, played by Bill Hader and Thompson. Wiig had a Russian accent (nice touch). Faris delivered a stirring speech, which we understand because of the stirring speech music.

Thompson and Andy Samberg (remember him?) brought back the MTV4 "Deep House Dish" routine, which inexplicably has become a recurring sketch, but let's try explicking it. Sure, explicking isn't even probably a word, but I'm not going to go look that up just to make you feel better as we look at a sketch that has as its central "conflict" a sidekick that makes bad jokes and gets that fact pointed out over and over again by the lead character. Really. Why? The only real humor in this sketch is seeing what new techno music stars they come up with each time, and how well the characters sell those singing acts. This week, we got Wiig (and her midriff, hello!), a three-man group called Bear Supply (!), and Faris.

Into the homestretch we come, and Thompson is leading another sketch advertising "Googie Rene's Slightly Stained Wedding Dress Basement." Thompson's character likes to fake-swear a lot. "Shiiia!" "Farrrrh!" Faris plays the bridesmaid assistant. Wilson, Wiig and Poehler are customers. Notable: Third Facebook joke of the night. "Shiiia!" This was the night's weird sketch that worked, which almost always shows up in the final half-hour, because that's where they put those sketches.

After Duffy's second song, Faris led the final sketch as a woman on a double-date who cannot stop talking lovingly at length about her ex-boyfriend, much to the chagrin of her date (Hader). Will Forte played the waiter and got to put on his stereotypical German Oktoberfest garb that he sported in Beerfest, although he opted not to bring the accent with him this time. Sudeikis again got to showcase his understated comedy skills, with a spit-take into his beer and a line earlier in the sketch: "Why don't we cheers it up? Oh, you're going to dive right in. OK."

And that was your show, people. Tune in next week with host Anne Hathaway and musical guest The Killers!

Chris Rock makes case for Obama on CNN's Larry King Live

You know, a lot of comedians making the promotional rounds to hype up their specials will focus on the specials. Chris Rock, who has a new HBO special debuting tonight, Kill the Messenger, isn't afraid to follow President Bill Clinton on Letterman and take him to task, nor continue talking politics on CNN with Larry King. Read part of the transcript here to see how Rock makes the case for voting Obama look like a no-brainer. Or you can watch the whole thing here:

Programming note: Hear me on Comical Radio today

Hey comedy fans, I have to step away from the computer today (and not just because it's my birthday, although that's a very good reason to not spend all Friday tip-tap-typing away), but if you want to know what's going on in the comedy business, you can hear me talk about it today on Comical Radio. Marc Maron, Todd Glass and Tony Woods are also among this afternoon's guests from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern, and I should be on in the 2 p.m. hour. Tune in, why don't you?

Comedy Underground opens new Seattle club

The Comedy Underground, my original home club, has a new home in Seattle's Pioneer Square and opens the doors tonight at 109 S. Washington St. (about two blocks from the spot it occupied from 1981 until this summer, when building renovations forced the move). And yes, it'll still be located beneath Swannie's sports bar. Congrats and good luck! Sorry I cannot be there to help open the doors.

Even Jerry Seinfeld has fond memories of the old joint, telling the P-I last year: "Seattle is my favorite city. It's the first place anyone ever liked me. When I played the Comedy Underground in 1983 I sold out a house for the very first time. That was really the beginning of everything for me. I feel like I owe my whole career to Seattle."

Why you need a little Whiplash

The UCB Theatre in New York City has a tradition of offering great stand-up comedy showcases for free late-night Mondays. For a while, Aziz Ansari hosted the showcase under the name Crash Test. Then Ansari got all Human Giant, and the showcases took a break. Leo Allen has taken over hosting duties in the 11 p.m. Monday timeslot, now known as Whiplash. This week, audiences got treated to Allen, Sean Patton, Eugene Mirman, Janeane Garofalo, John Mulaney and Hannibal Buress. For free! (Well, there is the "Bucket of Truth" to accept your comedy donations afterward, but still...) So imagine my surprise this week to see the house only half full?! You're missing out, people!

Janeane Garofalo, pictured here resting her bad back. "Mama's got a bum stem!" she told the crowd. Photo by Mindy Tucker. More photos at With Reservation.

The return of The Sarah Silverman Program

Are you ready for new episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program to appear on Comedy Central? The show returns to the airwaves on Wednesday, Oct. 8. To pique your interest, the TV gods have prepared this reel of goodies for you to enjoy:

See more Sarah Silverman videos at Funny or Die

EW covers New Yorker cover with Colbert, Stewart

This is supposed to be funny, right? Of course, they forgot to put the flag in the fireplace. They forgot, right? (side-by-side courtesy of goldenfiddle)

Video: Mr. Shake Hands Man meets Bill Murray

Sarah Palin is on my TV right now pretending to know something about foreign policy and defending her decision not to have a passport, which means we need to put up a new silly video. Banzai! How long do you think Mr. Shake Hands Man can shake hands with a man named Bill Murray? I'm guessing a long time...

Mr. Shake Hands Man 2 - Bill Murray
Uploaded by banzaitv

David Letterman bashes John McCain

On last night's program, David Letterman really let loose on Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for president, for bailing out on the last minute on his show...even more so when McCain hadn't rushed back to D.C. at all, but merely gave an appearance to another CBS personality in Katie Couric. Here is one brief snippet from last night's lambasting...

Blogging the 2008 Boston Comedy Festival (finale postscript)

Here were your final results from the 2008 Boston Comedy Festival contest, decided last weekend...

1. Dwight Slade ($5,000); 2. Andrew Norelli ($2,500); 3. Myq Kaplan ($1,000); 4. Dave Waite ($300); 5. Baron Vaughn ($300); 6. Joe List ($300); 7. Rob O'Reilly ($300); 8. Mario DiGiorgio ($300)

How did this happen? Well, let's examine the particulars. The Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston didn't have its usual packed audience -- my memory tells me that festival organizer Jim McCue (who hosted the finals) had a sure-fire headliner in past years with Lewis Black (whom McCue sometimes opens for on tour) to fill the seats, and without that (The Smothers Brothers were the biggest name on Saturday night), the venue didn't even open the balcony. So you've got comedians used to smaller, more intimate club stages moving up to a big theater stage, except they're playing to a half-house (essentially). So you're playing to the orchestra level and a mezzanine. How do you translate your jokes to a mezzanine? There's that to consider. Also, they put the judges in the Muppet seats (as judge/honoree Steve Sweeney remarked) above the stage and near the speakers, where the acoustics were, well, terrible.

As for the performances themselves, I'm not surprised in the slightest at the top three -- Slade, Norelli and Kaplan performed at a higher level than the other five finalists. Those three could have finished in any order and not surprised me. That's how close they were. In the end, however, Slade owned the stage in a way the others didn't, and that most likely gave him an edge on the judges' scorecards.