Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bring The Funny’ On NBC, A Cross Between ‘AGT’ And ‘Last Comic Standing’ That Works Because Of Its Judges

Talent competitions have been hits for all the broadcast networks for close two two decades. But NBC has had a history of showcasing more than just singers; various acts square off every summer on America’s Got Talent, and for years standup comedians competed in Last Comic Standing (one of the final four in Season 5 was a young Amy Schumer). Now the network has a show that combines both AGT and LCS and brings in comedians in all formats. Read on for more…

BRING THE FUNNY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A montage of acts that will appear on the first season of the show.

The Gist: The setting of Bring The Funny looks like a comedy club, with tables and the judges sitting on a leather banquette. It’s a fitting setting for this show, which is a cross between America’s Got Talent and Last Comic Standing. The show brings acts from all corners of the comedy landscape: stand-ups, sketch groups, variety groups (think funny singers and magicians), and YouTube stars. Amanda Seales, an established standup comedian in her own right, hosts; the judges are Kenan Thompson, Chrissy Teigen and Jeff Foxworthy.

The first episode was the first “open mic” round, where ten acts are presented, the judges give their feedback, and eventually pick six to go to the next round. Eventually, the viewers will get a vote. The winner of the whole thing gets $250,000 and (we assume) a ton of free publicity.

Some of the acts during the first round were a bit weird — a guy who looks like a life-like robot named Mister Zed stayed in character even when the judges were giving their critiques. But most were pretty straightforward, from a sketch group from Utah named JK! Studios to stand-ups like Orlando Leyba to a Jarred Fell, a magician from New Zealand, to a polished sketch pair that calls themselves Frangela.

Our Take: One thing we have to give Bring The Funny, produced by David Friedman and Matilda Zoltowski in conjunction with Just For Laughs, credit for is that they’re bringing acts which are polished and established to the competition. At least that’s the impression we get from the first episode. Frangela, for instance, isn’t an act that just started yesterday; Fran Callier and Angela Shelton met at Second City and have been doing their act for over a decade.

Because of this experience, it makes the critiques by the panel a bit odd, because these acts are being critiqued like they’re not already professional comedians. But it helps that Thompson, who has been doing sketch comedy since he was literally a kid, and Foxworthy, one of the most successful stand-ups of all time, are on the judges’ panel. Even people who have been around the comedy block a couple of times can’t help but look up to the two of them and take their advice to heart. And both of their critiquing styles are encouraging but instructive, with Thompson being a bit more willing to be critical than Foxworthy.

But we’re not sure what purpose Teigen serves. Don’t get us wrong: We think she’s great and her social media accounts are both hilarious and refreshingly self-deprecating. But a professional comedian she isn’t; she’s more in the Jenny McCarthy territory of someone who has a funny personality but is not really a funny writer or performer. And her lack of that kind of experience can be seen in her overly-gushy and all-positive critiques. Sure, every judging panel needs one of these, and it was funny, for instance, that she got sweaty over handsome comedian Matt Rife — to the point where her husband, John Legend, came to the set to see her getting all hot and bothered. And her chemistry with Thompson and Foxworthy is fun and easygoing. But we don’t know where she really makes an impact on the judging.

Parting Shot: The judges call out the acts moving to the next round; and Teigen gets Kenan to take a picture with one of the winners. You can guess who that might be.

Sleeper Star: The biggest laughs of the night came from the sketch troupe JK! Studios, with a surprisingly sharp sketch involving a children’s show. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing them as the competition goes on.

Most Pilot-y Line: Why stuff ten acts into each open mic round if you’re only going to show five in full? It wasn’t a quality issue, as at least one of the acts that moved on got a shortened segment. We’ve never understood how producers of shows like this pick the performances to show in full and which to give to the montage (The Voice infuriatingly does this all the time during its blind auditions), but maybe it’s a sign that they have too many acts in these early round.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Bring The Funny will never give its audience edgy comedy, given the fact that it’s on network TV. But between the judges and the occasionally-hilarious act, it’s a fun summer watch that doesn’t have to make you think too hard.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream Bring The Funny on NBC