Fury as US stand-up show axed

America’s NBC network has dropped its reality show Last Comic Standing – with just the final episode to air.

It means viewers wanting to find out which stand-up won the series will be left in the lurch - and served up repeats of an animated comedy about tiger-tamers Siegfried and Roy, called Father Of The Pride, instead.

The show had been suffering mediocre ratings, but host and producer Jay Mohr is furious with the decision.

On his website, he wrote: “NBC was not happy with the rating of the show and decided to pull the plug.  

“Keep in mind there is only one episode left and on that episode we were going to ANNOUNCE THE WINNER!  Amazing.  Why would a network cancel a show with only one episode left?”

He also said that the third series – a face-off between winners of the previous two series - was only made this summer at the insistence of NBC, even though he and his fellow producers were worried about exhausting the franchise

He said: “We argued that having a separate version of 'Last Comic' so soon after season two concluded would burn the audience out.

“The ratings stayed pretty consistent all season with around eight million viewers but that didn't stop NBC from hitting the panic button.  The biggest question I have is why would you wait until the final episode to pull the plug.  I feel terrible for the comics.”

NBC has not announced if or when the final will be aired, but cable channel Comedy Central is also broadcasting the show – and this may be where the finale winds up.

Former chat-show host Arsenio Hall is to make a documentary film about America’s black stand-up circuit.

The feature-length project is tentatively titled The Other 23 Hours, and will look at comedians’ off-stage lives as well as their acts.

He said the film will focus on relatively unknown up-and-comers.

Published: 8 Oct 2004