A reliable source informed me that these are your first five comedians advancing to the finals of the 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest:
Nate Bargatze, Esther Ku, Julian McCullough, Stone & Stone, Reese Waters
They'll join five others who advance from tonight's semifinal competition at Stand-Up NY. Finals Nov. 5 at Carolines. My notes from last night...
I had to bolt midway through last night's show (also at Stand-Up NY) so I could bring you another interview (which you shall see shortly), but these are curious results. Bargatze and Ku went up early, and the crowd wasn't exactly giving up a lot of laughs at that point. So, um, hmm, yeah. Tough work for our comics. I wonder not only how the rest of the night went, but also whether the judges didn't subtract points, so to speak, for audience reactions. McCullough got the crowd rolling, earned an applause break, and then seemed to do a bonus five minutes. I suppose that didn't work against him in the eyes of our judges, especially since he did well, and is a returning finalist from last year. Lee Camp also was a 2007 finalist in this contest, and certainly delivered some funny politically-minded jokes, although it appeared even from my vantage point that he was reading notes, which is an odd move in a contest set. Not surprised that Waters advanced, as he has done well in previous contests this year. Stone & Stone? They have their niche and all, but didn't we go over this duos in a solo act competition before, on TV? And a couple of technical notes: DC Benny and Pat Dixon did not perform in the first semi (don't know if they withdrew or got moved to the second group), while Jonathan Powley switched groups. In case you're wondering.
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