the comic's comic

Watch Doogie Horner make Gettin' Laid Lemonade with Emily Gould (flowchart not included)

Doogie Horner joined Emily Gould for the latest episode of her web series, "Cooking the Books," because why not? Horner wrote a book.

And here he is demonstrating how to make a batch of "Gettin' Laid Lemonade." Make sure you have at least 13 minutes of free time. Ready? Roll the clip!

 

The flowchart for this recipe from the book is not shown. But I can show you his charts for coming up with a heavy metal band name, tattoos, and the formula for tragedy becoming comedy. We've known about Doogie Horner's prowess for years!

Want to see the other charts? Buy his book, "Everything Explained Through Flowcharts":

Watch Doogie Horner perform live on network TV for a spot in the finals of "America's Got Talent"

Here's the thing. Stand-up comedians have a tough road if they want to win NBC's America's Got Talent. You know it. I know it. Even judge Howie Mandel knows it. So it's interesting to watch the path of Philadelphia-based stand-up Doogie Horner, who faced a hostile crowd at his first performance, had no crowd outside of the judges in his Vegas performance, and now had to perform live in primetime tonight in Hollywood as the only stand-up remaining in the field. How'd he do?

Roll the clip and find out! And if you see it tonight and dial his digits 1-800-602-4805 before the voting period ends, maybe you'll see him make the final 12. Certainly, all three judges were impressed by his delivery and overall silliness. Roll it.

Chipps Cooney, Doogie Horner, Ronith and Rudi Macaggi make America's Got Talent's final 48

If you think that replacing the Hoff with the Howie Mandel might have helped the cause for comedic acts in this season of NBC's America's Got Talent, then you would be right.

The final 48 were selected last week (and again tonight in a repeat), and this year, several acts going for the million-dollar, Vegas headlining prize, are just trying to make you laugh.

Rudi Macaggi already won a prize in the first season of America's Got Talent in the "wild and crazy" category, but this season, he seems to be focusing less on the humor and more on the acrobatics. Here's his initial audition this time around:

Chipps Cooney has been around for years. Not that you couldn't tell that. But semi-seriously, folks. Chipps featured his special blend of comedy and magic in a 1993 short film by one Louis CK called "Ice Cream." His fans also include Jim Norton, who voiced his support for Chipps on Twitter recently. Here's his initial audition on the show:

Doogie Horner had a tough time of it in his initial audition, as we were shown deliberately by the producers. Close to a half-million views on YouTube so far, though. Nice going, Doogie!

And then there's Ronith. Who. Well. Just watch this and tell me something that makes sense afterward.

Doogie Horner fights to win over the crowd and judges on NBC's "America's Got Talent"

Doogie Horner may not be featured on NBC's Last Comic Standing this summer, but overnight, he became a TV sensation on the same network -- at least if Howie Mandel and the producers of America's Got Talent have anything to say about it.

Horner (who made my November 2009 list of funniest comedians working in Philadelphia) performed on Tuesday night's episode of the NYC auditions, and the Philadelphia stand-up comedian met with a hostile crowd. How hostile? They started booing him Apollo-style immediately after his first one-liner. Of course, it didn't help (at least as the show was edited) that, as host Nick Cannon said, forty other supposed stand-up comedians had taken the stage and bombed. But Horner, perhaps remembering what Bill Burr had done when he met with a barbaric audience in Philly four years ago, decided to lash right back into the crowd. Mandel loved it. So did Sharon Osbourne, and Horner got passed through to Vegas over the objections of Piers Morgan. This clip doesn't show what happened next, as producers played the theme from "Rocky" -- a great touch since Horner is from Philly -- then had cameras follow him outside the theater to interact with the audience some more. When I get that clip, I'll share it. Here's what they have for us for now. Roll it!

On a side note, I don't know why I find it odd that America's Got Talent would have comedians competing when they could be on LCS. After all, they have plenty of singers, too, and they could have been on American Idol. Grandma Lee made the finals of AGT last year, and ventriloquist Terry Fator won the grand prize before, too -- which at a million dollars and a running show in Las Vegas, is quite a different prize from LCS. So why not?

Further reading: In 2008, Doogie Horner also created this handy guide to comedy via flow chart!

Updated: So here is the full final segment of the show from last night, which I include because the producers completely set the show up as bad for comedians but uplifting for Horner, from Mandel talking about his hopes to find a good comedian, through the incorrect use of the Laugh Factory sign to denote New York comedy (as the club no longer has a branch here and hasn't for a couple of years), then through the montage of horrible "comedians," which leads us to Horner, the dubious judgement of Piers Morgan and what happens afterward. It's really worth watching the entire thing as the rest of America saw it on their TVs. Roll the clip!