Is ‘Last Comic Standing’ changing their audition process entirely for new season?

As someone who has covered “Last Comic Standing” for many years, we’ve been intrigued for quite some time about the new revival, which is being executive-produced by Wanda Sykes. However, one of the big problems with it has been that the show really hasn’t released hardly any information that is coming up. What about the auditions, the host, or the format? It’s been radio silence, which is probably the least-funny thing that any comic can do.

Well, it seems that we at least have an answer now to why there hasn’t been any notices about open calls happening for the season, which it feels like there would have been if the new season is in fact coming up this summer. According to LaughSpin, there are no open casting calls this season. Instead, NBC and producers are relying more on agents, managers, and other people in the industry to try to figure out the cast.

While we’re somewhat-bummed about this news for the people who do want to audition, what we will say about this for the time being is it’s hardly like “Last Comic Standing” has always been about undiscovered comedy in any way. Everyone from Lavell Crawford to Amy Schumer to many more have all had extensive careers before being on the show, and we would expect as much. Comedy is something that takes way more practice and preparation than almost anyone guesses; you can get up on stage maybe once as a newbie and have a good set, but where do you go from there? The truth is you need a huge catalog of material, otherwise you are pretty doomed to fail.

What do you think about the idea of “Last Comic Standing” operating a little bit more without some of the tradition audition structure: Are you okay with it? Share your thoughts below, and head over here if you want to get some more updates from all of your favorite shows via the CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC