Trivia / Last Comic Standing

• Executive Meddling: The first season nearly had this backfire on the producers. After the last round of auditions, the final cut for who was going to be in the house and actually contestants was supposedly going to be decided by a panel of celebrity judges including Drew Carey. When the final cast was announced, the judges stormed out because their picks for who were the best comedians had been overruled by the producers' picks for who would generate the most in-house drama. The producers managed to turn this around for themselves by turning the judges' anger into a drama spot.
  • Actually, it was revealed later within the episode mentioned that the producers had votes themselves. While the judges were initially angry at the outcome, they were reminded of this fact and apologized for the outburst. It's still executive meddling, but not underhanded like is suggested above. This was how the voting system worked from the start of the show.
• Screwed by the Network:
  • The first two seasons experienced a decent amount of success, causing NBC to rush out a third season right after the second. Audience fatigue meant lower viewing figures and the show's first cancellation.
  • John Heffron's prize was an exclusive "talent development contract" with NBC. Absolutely nothing came of this and the exclusive nature of the contract meant that Heffron had to pass up lucrative opportunities offered by other networks. After the contract ran out, the heat he'd received from winning the program had cooled off and he had to go back to being a jobbing comic. In the end, all he got from participating was the standard appearance fee that every other contestant also received.
• Un-Canceled: The show seems to only survive in 3 season blocks. It ran its first 3 seasons, then got canceled. Then it came back and ran for 3 more seasons, and then got canceled. Now it's back again. Make up your minds!

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