Last Comic Standing - Controversy

Controversy

During season two, a panel of four celebrity judges was used to shrink the field of 40 semifinalists to ten finalists. The celebrity judges rated each of the semifinalists as they performed, and cast votes for the 10 top comedians. When the ten finalists were announced they did not seem to correspond with the judges' votes, which the judges noticed. Two celebrity judges, comedians Drew Carey and Brett Butler, left the judges' table visibly angry after the finalists were announced.

The two were shown backstage arguing with producers. Carey and Butler did not understand how the finalists who were announced could be correct, given the way the judges had voted. It was revealed that a panel of four producers were also casting votes in the process, assuring that unless all four celebrity judges cast exactly the same ten votes, their voting power could be usurped by the four unanimously agreeing producers. If for some reason all four celebrity judges did cast exactly the same votes, the worst the producers would be faced with was a tie.

Upon news of this information, Carey became angry that the producers made it seem he had a deciding vote in the outcome of the show, calling the situation "crooked and dishonest." It was also revealed that some of the finalists who advanced were clients or employees of the producers or directors of the show.

Allegedly, some of the competitors in opening rounds were plants hired by the producers to give bad performances in order liven up the auditions on television. For example, Buck Star, a lackluster comedian who followed talent executives Bob Read and Ross Mark to auditions across the country, is rumored to have been a production assistant for NBC. All of his brief auditions were filmed and survived the editing, strengthening the argument that he was a plant.