Though the title of the blog is Ranting..., rarely do I rant. Yet something interesting was noted to me earlier today. If you put in the word ranting in the Yahoo! search engine, this site comes in #2. Dumb algorithms.

Last summer, NBC successfully launched the show Last Comic Standing, in which amateur comedians vote the least funniest each week before the group is small enough for the audience to decide who indeed is the last comic standing. They picked an outstanding comedian in Dat Phan, whose act was really funny for about two seconds before it got repetitive, unfunny, and cringing to watch (overlooking the hilarious Dave Mordal). 6 months later channel surfing, I saw him performing on BET, that bastion for comedy. And you know what? He did the same exact material that made him famous. That's just lame.

Anyway, they've brought it back for a second season and while I don't think it can work the same magic as it did in the first season (we'll see), it's already brewing with controversy. Hundreds of comedians are widdled down to 10 finalists and supposedly, 4 judges have a say in this decision-process. Two of the judges, Drew Carey and Brett Butler are already crying foul over the selection of two finalists, agreeing that they weren't funny to be qualified. To top it off, these two are represented by the executive producer of the show, who also represents the host, Jay Mohr. Of course, the exec recused himself from all decisions.

A spokesman for NBC said the judges weren't clear on what their roles were in the decision-making process and that they weren't choosing folks to become finalists. Celebrity judging is simply a factor in the process.

Something about it all doesn't sit right but I'd rather have successful comedians, okay, comedians who used to be successful, be talent scouts for a comedy show rather than a bunch of stiff execs calling the shots. You don't see 3 lawyers judging talent on American Idol, do you? Good thing too; they might conclude William Hung is the American Idol. Shudder at that horrifying thought.