For the ten competitors in the Semi-Finals Week of the 35th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition, Night Six was big. The room at the Snoqualmie Casino was big...the stage theyd perform on was big...the pressure on each of them was big...because the stakes were...huge. Half of the field would find out that theyd be moving on to the Finals, with a chance to become this years champion...while the other half would have their competition experience end right there at the Snoqualmie Casino. ...and, going into the night, all ten comedians were mathematically capable of moving on. Thats not to say that each of the ten had the same chance to move on...because thats not how math works. Having generated scores on the previous five Semi-Finals Week shows, a few performers knew that they were a lock to move on to the finals...but most knew that they either needed a strong set to hold on to one of the top 5 spots for the week...or they needed to both knock it out of the park, themselves, and hope that a couple of others would stumble... Once again, Brian Moote, our host for this evening, had the daunting task of taking a big room and turning them into a comedy crowd. As strong of a job as Brian did, our performers found that early in the night, this crowd was a little tight--they werent able to just laugh, but were thinking a little too much about the scenarios our performers were painting. Jokes that had been crushing all week were suddenly getting concerned Ohhhh...s for performers up early in the night. As the night progressed, this would fade away...possibly thanks to the energy provided by Sterling Scott or the aggressiveness of Guy Branum. Loosened up, the audience responded strongly and the judges scores seemed to rise accordingly. On this night, Seattles Billy Anderson knew that he pretty much needed to win the night and he needed at least seven others to do poorly. That didnt happen on this night...and Billy knew it. Still, considering that Billy was an emergency alternate just to get into the competition and an alternate to get into the Semi-Finals...Billy also knows he had a great run, impressing judges, audiences and the producers of this event by having great sets every night he performed. Washington DCs David Tveite also needed to knock it out of the park and have others struggle. David, who was dominant in his Preliminary Week and performed just as well in the Semi-Finals Week, ended up having to be happy that his second run in the Seattle International Comedy Competition Semi-Finals was better than his first run...which suggests that next time he competes in this event, hell do even better. W. Hollywoods Guy Branum had an up and down week. He was strong in the shows in the city--Seattle, Tacoma--and less strong in the shows we traveled to--Edmonds, Olympia, Bow. This topsy turvy week ended strongly for Guy, with a Top 5 finish...but I think he knew it wouldnt be enough to push him into the Top 5 for the week. Such great fun having Guy around in this competition...but his run would end here. Spokanes Harry J. Riley came into the night in seventh place, a fraction of a point behind Seattles Scott Losse in sixth. They would book-end tonights show...as Scott went up first and Harry went up last. Scott had to deal with the crowd as they were tight...but Scott has improved so much since his first SICC run, that this wasnt a problem...and he delivered another great performance that might have been enough to push him past one of those in the weekly top five and steal one of the advancement spots. Unfortunately, when the Nightly Top 5 was announced and Scotts name wasnt called, the writing (and math) was on the wall. Harry, on the other hand, crushed the big room to close out the night and the judges scores reflected that...and when the Nightly Top 5 was announced, Harry Riley, just barely one whole point behind the performer in fourth place going into the night and less than that behind the performer in fifth, was announced as the winner of the night. Hed then have to wait to find out if it was a big enough win to get him into the Weekly Top 5. Would Harry be able to pass Edmontons Sterling Scott? Going into the night in fifth place--a situation created when Sterling had unexpectedly poor results on the first two shows of this week and had to roar back to a grab as many big scores as he could to survive--Sterling brought the energy up early in the face of that tight early crowd and won over the judges enough to grant him a third place finish for the night. That result must have troubled Harry a bit, as he wouldnt be able to tell if his first place finish gave him a score big enough to push Sterling out of the top 5. Meanwhile, Kyle Bottom from Vancouver was sweating bullets. Hed followed Sterling Scott on this night, and he has a very different energy than Sterling has. When he saw that Harry and Sterling had made tonights Top 5, he had to be worried that his fourth place standing could easily slip out of his grasp and he could find himself on the outside looking in. For Everetts Cory Michaelis, Bostons Matt Donaher and Portlands Nathan Brannon, there wasnt as much tension... Theyd earned scores during the week that locked them into the Finals. So, when Cory wasnt announced in the Nightly Top 5...it neednt have worried him. And when Matt and Nathan WERE announced in the top 5, it was just par for the course...as both made every single Nightly Top 5 for the week (and Matt has made every Nightly Top 5 in his entire competition run...which will continue in the Finals, as there are only five performers each night...) With the Top 5 for the night announced, the big moment arrived. Would Harrys first place finish be enough to push him past either Sterling or Kyle? Was Kyles score on this night enough to keep him in the Top 5 for the week? The weekly Top 5 was announced. Moving on to the Semi-Finals would be: Matt Donaher, Nathan Brannon, Cory Michaelis, Sterling Scott (who moved up from 5th place to 4th place), and...Kyle Bottom. Harry J. Riley of Spokane, the winner of Night Six of the Semi-Finals Week of the 35th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition, ends the week in 6th place...only 0.13 behind Kyle Bottom. Thirteen hundredths of a point, after six shows and 20+ judges in the Semi-Finals Week (not to mention the six shows and 20+ judges in the Preliminary Week just to get this far), is all that separated Kyle and Harry...and was all that kept Harry J. Riley from moving on to the Finals. Math can be cruel to some and a huge relief for others...as Kyle knows that he dodged a bullet on this night... Now, the slate is wiped clean for our five finalists. Theyll have five shows to build up the scores theyll need to try to grab the crown...five shows to prove that they should be and will be...the 2014 Seattle International Comedy Competition Champion... Your 2014 Finalists are: Kyle Bottom (Vancouver, BC) Nathan Brannon (Portland, OR) Matt Donaher (Boston, MA) Cory Michaelis (Everett, WA) Sterling Scott (Edmonton, AB) ...and the Finals Week begins on Tuesday, November 25th, with a private show for the Washington Athletic Club. After that, we go to the Vashon Theater on Wednesday, the Kirkland Performance Center on Friday, the Admiral Theater in Bremerton on Saturday and it all wraps up on Sunday November 30th at the Comedy Underground, Seattle. For showtimes and ticket information: seattlecomedycompetition.org pg PS--I have to say again that this Semi-Finals group was as wonderful as can be... Every night, they brought the funny on-stage and off... Im proud of them for all they did and I would encourage all of our Facebook friends to become fans of all ten of these comics...and check them out whenever theyre performing near you!
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 19:48:14 +0000