rubinville

An ethical debate...

For some unknown reason, NBC's "Last Comic Standing" is coming back for another season. The open call for comedians in NYC is next week at Caroline's. I, as a comic, should obviously be going to this, right?

Well, I'm not so sure. And here's why...

When the first season of the show came out, I submitted a tape and got a call from someone at the show telling me to come to the open call, which I did. It was a freezing cold day in the middle of the winter, and they kept hundreds of us waiting outside Madison Square Garden, hoping for our chance. The line was filled with people I had never seen before, and I could see that most of the people there were not even real comedians, just people who wanted something to do for an afternoon. I stayed on the line for about three hours before deciding to go do something more productive with my life.

I should tell you before I continue, that I've watched no more that 5 minutes of the show in it's entirety. Actually, I'm not even sure if this is the second or third season of the show. I do, however, know a couple comics who made it through several rounds of auditions on the show, and not a single one has anything positive to say about it. Not only that, but there are many stories of how the show was fixed at every level and that contestants who moved forward were often managed by people who were involved in the show itself.

Since the last show, I've done gigs with comedians who made it onto the show and got to see first hand that once you do a TV show, you suddenly are a "draw" on the road. Right now, I'm more of a "who's that?", than a draw. For the record, I did just as well as them on the shows, and sometimes even better. (I know, I'm too obsessed with the record, I'm trying to get over it.)

So my dilemna is this. Do I go to an open casting call and wait with hundreds of people for a chance to do two minutes in front of some executives who have probably made their choice's before I even get on stage? Do I compromise my integrity to get on a show that I don't even watch and have only heard bad things about? And, should I even go to an open casting call that anyone can show up to, when I've given my all for seven years as a real comedian?

Comedian Bob Jergeuns once said to me, "Dave, your hubris will destroy you." I wonder if he was right.

Let the ethical debate begin...