Jerry Rocha kicked things off with a bit about his racist uncle and the root of his family’s poverty after coming to the US from Mexico. He was pretty funny and made it through to the showcase. Mike Vecchione was also funny with his routine about how he looks like a cop – the kind of cop who racial profiles.
As soon as Mr. Zed showed up, I was not impressed. What was that? A robot? A guy in a mask and a shiny suit? It was completely lost on me. I mean, he’d make a fun street performer or something, but I wouldn’t want to see a whole act of a guy pretending to be a robot. I was glad he didn’t make it through. In general, I’m not a fan of prop comedy. I laughed at the clown who said “Most comics start out as clowns”, but not because I thought he was funny – because I was cracking up at the thought of Dave Chappelle in a clown suit.
After a bunch of unfortunate prop comics, Kyle Grooms came up. He had me laughing as soon as he said “We have a beige president” and I cracked up during his impression of Barack Obama. Ryan Hamilton was also funny with his kind of nerdy, awkward delivery of jokes about feeling like an immigrant during a boat tour. I also liked what I saw of Carmen Lynch, who said she had a three year-old daughter who is actually a sponsored child in Bolivia. Jordan Carlos had be cracking up too when he described himself as a “preppy black guy” because he’s skied before and uses the word “leisure”.
Nikki Glaser had me laughing in her intro video, where she dressed up as though she was in Sex and the City to walk on a treadmill. She’d tried out for the show four years earlier when she was in college and didn’t make it through. She’s definitely improved, because I thought her act was hilarious – she doesn’t look homeless guys in the eye because she believes in love at first sight and doesn’t want to risk it? Hilarious!
The montage of Jewish humor was kind of funny – not because all the jokes were funny, but because the Jewish judge was getting kind of touchy.
I didn’t have high hopes for Myq Kaplan when I saw him packing vegetables on his way to a show, but I did dig his girlfriend/wife who said goodbye with “Don’t sleep with anybody”. His act didn’t include any celery, though, and was actually not bad. However, I am not OK with how he spells his name.
Brian McKim, whose wife was also an auditioning comic, was just so-so. But his demeanor was funny, so I was glad he made it through. Later in the show we saw that his wife made it through as well. I had to Google Jordan Rock, because I wasn’t sure if he was actually Chris Rock’s brother. He is. He wasn’t very funny, but he’s only 19 and might have the raw talent to improve.
I really enjoyed Adrienne Iapalucci’s joke about being afraid of a black guy on the street at night before realizing that it was actually her boyfriend. Sometimes racial humor can be tricky, but that was a really good twist. I was excited to see what she’d bring to the showcase.
And then it was time for the second showcase in New York! It seemed like the episode had delivered a lot of talent, so I was excited to see who would make it through.
Kyle Grooms performed first. I’d liked his Obama impression in his original audition, and his bit about how the name “Kyle” and his glasses did not help him earn street cred. Nikki Glaser was also pretty funny. Traci Skene (Brian McKim’s wife) was funny, as was my favorite nerdy guy Ryan Hamilton. I loved how he said that people from New York and California think that everything in between is “the mid-west”. I’m guilty of that and had to laugh. Myq Kaplan wasn’t my favorite comic, but he was OK.
Brian McKim did a hilarious bit about getting the flu shot – he’s now licking rails, kissing babies and sucking on elevator buttons! Jason Weems was one of my favorites with his bit about how Magic Johnson said eating KFC with Michael Jackson was the best moment of his life. Adrienne Iapalucci was really funny too, and didn’t use racial humor for her showcase bit. I like to see that comics have a variety of material.
Then it was time to find out who was making it to Vegas. A lot of comics made me laugh, but I didn’t have a favorite after the episode. Some of the people who made it through were Jerry Rocha, Carmen Lynch, Kyle Grooms, Jason Weems, Ryan Hamilton, Adrienne Iapalucci, Myq Kaplan, Nikki Glaser and Brian McKim. I was hoping to see Jordan Carlos move on and I felt bad that only half of the married couple made it through, but I was happy that a lot of the comics I’d thought were funny made it through. Overall, I thought it was a pretty successful episode – what did you think?
