Last Comic Standing Ends with Success

In this day and age, one might think that a black guy talking about tazering a beautiful young woman and throwing her in the back of his rental car would be cause for a quick three-digit dial on your cell phone; Louis Ramey proved that it is actually a very funny joke. Who knew?! From the moment Louis stepped onto the Miller Auditorium stage at Western Michigan University on Saturday night, the crowd knew they were in for a laugh-filled evening.
The show began with fifth-place finisher Louis Ramey, of Atlanta, Georgia, who served as the MC for the night. Judging from the crowd’s reaction, it seemed as though Ramey might have been the season winner, if only Kalamazoo were voting. Between his jokes about giant boobs and wanting women “in the worst way… standing up in a hammock,” Ramey managed to carry the show and segue hilariously between the other four comedians.
Englishman Jim Tavare was second to take the stage at Miller, and his dry humor definitely dried out the crowd. Compared to the laughs induced by the other comedians, Tavare’s performance raised questions as to whether or not he deserved his fourth-place title. This is not to say that he didn’t have his moments. Lugging his 7-foot-tall bass onto stage, he cleverly quipped that this wasn’t actually a bass but an American violin, since everything is so much bigger here than in England. Tavare certainly has a unique style and unquestionably is a funny guy, but he was not a crowd favorite in Kalamazoo.
Next up, following a flattering introduction from Ramey, was the Last Comic Standing heartthrob, Jeff Dye. Dye quickly became a huge success on the show, combining his good looks with his self-awareness of being a skinny guy to give a pleasing mixture of gym humor and some hilarious bits about his mother. Perhaps the most memorable of these jokes was when he began telling the audience about how, now that all the kids are gone, his mother holds conversations with the cats, and actually pretends that the cats have voices and talk back. When Jeff goes home to visit, his mom always tells him what the cats are apparently wanting to say to him, things like “Who is this guy? We haven’t seen this stranger in ages!” To spite his mother, a hardcore democrat, Jeff simply adopts the same squeaky cat voice and tells his mother that the cats are saying “VOTE MCCAIN! VOTE MCCAIN!” at which point his mother informs him that he’s crazy and cats can’t talk.
The final performance of the night was the winner of Last Comic Standing Season 6, Iliza Shlesinger –the only female comic to ever win on the show. Her routine was a hit with the crowd and eliminated any reservations one might have had about her first-place finish. Her unharnessed enthusiasm and obvious sexual appeal make it impossible not to like her and, while she does have a few sexual jokes under her belt, she does not rely on the misfortunes of men for her act. Possibly the most popular joke of the night actually made fun of women and how only a couple inches can mean the difference between a sexy model with beautiful flowing locks and a long-haired religious nut.
The show at Miller was undoubtedly a huge success among the sold-out Kalamazoo crowd as people were still laughing while walking out to cars in the freezing cold. This tour was most likely the very last live tour ever for Last Comic Standing because, as of right now, there is no plan for a seventh season. While this is certainly a disappointment, the show has catapulted many great standup comics to more fame and riches than they could have ever have hoped to know just playing bars and local clubs in their home cities. The Last Comic Standing Live Tour was a great show and made for a hilarious and fun-filled evening for all who braved the elements, including the unfortunate man who decided it was a good idea to wear a squirrel hat to a comedy show and quickly became the target of numerous jokes.