SNL’s Kenan Thompson joins NBC’s Bring the Funny competition series
Today, the network announced that alongside the noteworthy organization Just for Laughs, they are bringing a new show to the air entitled Bring the Funny. What makes it different from Last Comic Standing is that it’s not designed solely for standup comedians. You can be a solo comic, a comedic magician, a podcaster, a ventriloquist, or really come from any other comedy space you want. You can even be a sketch troupe! There’s a grand prize worth $250,000 at the end of it, and the goal is simply to find a way to make audiences laugh. This feels a little bit like America’s Got Talent (is NBC crowding their own field?), but for strictly humorous acts.
They also announced today that Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson (who may be leaving at the end of the season for a scripted comedy show) is going to be a part of the judging panel alongside model and Twitter personality Chrissy Teigen and then also blue-collar comic Jeff Foxworthy. Amanda Seales will serve as the host for the show.
Is this an interesting concept? Sure, and we do think that the world needs a good laugh here and there. Like any other comedy competition, what matters more than anything is the format, the talent behind the scenes, and whether or not there’s a way for it to stand out from the fold. The Masked Singer this year is an example of a show that in the wrong hands, could’ve turned out terribly. Yet, the producers on that show found a way to create something that was really fun and captured the imagination of the vast majority of viewers out there.
Obviously, we’re excited about anything featuring Kenan as someone who has probably watched him for a good 80-85% of our lives. He’s always going to make us smile, and the idea seemed to be here to bring on board people who all have big audiences. Foxworthy will appear to the midwest, and Teigen’s got one of the biggest social-media followings out there. This is a show with potential, but we’re going to take our time before anointing this officially the next big reality show. We haven’t even seen any footage just yet!
Want to be a part of this new show?
If so, we suggest that you head over to the link here, and check out some of what you need to do in order to take part in this weird/hopefully-funny world.
What do you think about the idea of this new show for NBC? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments. (Photo: NBC.)