Bring the Funny premiere: Orlando Leyba, JK Studios, & Mister Zed

Tonight on NBC, we had the premiere of Bring the Funny — a genuinely weird but wonderfully creative show. We’ll admit that it took a few minutes in order to get on board with the style and tone of the show but when the acts delivered, they did so in a way that really made us laugh.

Below, you can check out four of the acts who stood out to us near the end of this episode. They all did (ahem) bring the funny in their own ways. For more thoughts on the show, check out the video below and subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more.

Jarred Fell – Jarred was a comedic magician, an act who has a super-tough challenge in trying to make sure that he can sell both the tricks and then also the laughs at the same time. It did feel like it took the audience a little bit of time to get on board — but, by the end of the set, they were committed just as much as he was to what he was bringing to the performance.

Mister Zed – This was weird. Weird in an interesting way, but weird. We’ll always have some respect for people who try to create a character for comedy. Not only are you still having to write material, but you have to write it through a specific lens. This is something that Stephen Colbert had to do for many years. Mister Zed is a robot that feels straight out of a 1960’s cartoon and both the jokes and character are funny; yet, we share Kenan Thompson’s thoughts that this could be a tough thing to repeat.

(This is where we remind you that Kenan is amazing at everything he does, including being a judge.)

JK Studios – This feels like an SNL sketch and we don’t know exactly how you build off of some of this. The entire premise was that a kids’ show crew found themselves having to deal with their “new member,” a crazy conspiracy theorist who wanted to sing about Tupac being alive.

Orlando Leyba – He was the final performer of the night and more of a traditional standout. He’s someone who came out and proclaimed that he was starting anew and was a new person with big dreams and aspirations. His material, meanwhile, was about funny stuff like HGTV, his life, and work that you can easily relate to. It’s the sort of stuff that immediately stands out.

Of the four acts that we’ve listed here, Mister Zed is the only one who didn’t go forward — probably due to the fact that it would be hard to replicate what he did tonight.

What did you think about tonight’s Bring the Funny premiere and who stood out to you? Be sure to share in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)