Reprieve for Last Comic Standing?

Stand-up talent competition Last Comic Standing could be returning to American TV screens.

The NBC network is in talks to bring back the show after dropping it from 2009’s schedules, according to Entertainment Weekly – although former host Bill Belamy is said to be for the chop.

Paul Telegdy, the former BBC America chief who is now NBC’s ‘reality tsar’, is reportedly looking to rejig the format for the summer schedules, where it could run alongside America’s Got Talent.

In the last two series, Last Comic Standing specifically targeted British comedians to take part alongside the Americans; hosting a heat at the London Comedy Store in 2007 and flying a sizeable group of UK comics to auditions in Miami in 2008.

Gina Yashere and Matt Kirshen made the final ten in 2007, but were the first and fourth to be eliminated; Paul Foot and Papa CJ were despactched similarly quickly after making the final 12 in 2008 – but Jim Tavare made it as far as the final episode, where he finished a creditable fourth.

The 2008 series averaged 5.2 million viewers, not a spectacular figure, but it did perform particularly well with wealthy, younger people that are so attractive to advertisers. us incomes.

Published: 31 Dec 2009