One of my faves shows (especially now that they’ve gotten rid of the stupid “live in big house together and go through elimination challenges each week” element) is Last Comic Standing.
This year the format is comedy routines, straight up, and there is a nice variety of comedic “styles,” ranging from impressions to several un-related quick-laugh jokes, to spinning a story towards a big punchline. Ron Wood Jr., one of the comedians still in the running as of this week, leans towards the “weave many jokes around one topic” genre. You can imagine my surprise when he did a routine based on swimming.
Heck yeah, Michael Phelps is as close to a household name as any swimmer is going to get. But I think going out on stage with swimming as a stand up foundation is a sign that the sport may has reached a new national awareness high.
After all, Last Comic Standing is a competition. So, one would assume that to get the most laughs and thus stay on the show until earning the big win, comedians would choose material that lots of viewers (i.e. “competition voters”) would know of and identify with.
So again, I was surprised Ron Wood Jr. chose swimming. It seemed to have worked though, because the monolouge carried him safely though that elimination round.
Today, more than a week later, I’m still wondering why he was thinking about swimming in the first place. Beijing (and thus peak swim media coverage) is long past now. And, while trying not to be judgemental, I must confess that based on his appearance and assumed lifestyle (I’m thinking comics have a lot of late nights that involve hanging about in clubs, drinking, smoking and eating fast food), that Ron himself is not a swimmer.
Hmmm, maybe I could drop him an email to find out. He might even perceive it as “fan mail” and get a morale-boost out of it. Or it could inspire him to talk more about swimming next week…
Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist