‘The Half-Hour’ premieres Friday on Comedy Central with Rory Scovel, Michael Palascak (Videos)

By Dylan P. Gadino | May 7, 2012 at 11:58 am | 3 comments | feature slider, News, TV/Movies | Tags: Comedy Central, Comedy Central Stand-Up, Michael Palascak, rory scovel, The Half Hour

One of the reasons I became obsessed with stand-up comedy was Comedy Central Presents, Comedy Central’s long-running series of 30-minute stand-up specials, which shined a light on great up and coming comedians. I even made my own “mixtape” of sorts, where one VHS tape housed CCPs from Greg Giraldo, Nick Swardson, Mitch Hedberg, Zach Galifianakis and more. Don’t make fun. This was long before these things were available on iTunes.

But the time of the Comedy Central Presents is gone, folks. And in its place, as part of Comedy Central Stand-Up is the simply titled The Half Hour, which premieres this Friday at 11 pm EST. And in honor of The Half Hour, each Monday, we’ll bring you previews of that week’s new episodes. So, let’s kick it off, with the pair of comics who will usher in a new era of 30-minute comedy specials: Rory Scovel and Michael Palascak. Enjoy!

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About the Author

Dylan P. Gadino

Dylan is the founder and editor in chief of Laughspin. He launched Punchline Magazine in 2005 (which became Laughspin in the summer of 2011) with childhood friend Bill Bergmann. Dylan lives in northern New Jersey with his wife and two sons. He hopes the Shire is real.

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So we’re only going to get a 6-week season? Didn’t Comedy Central Presents have somewhere around 24 episodes per season?
TC McCartney (Boise)

As a fan of “Comedy Central Presents” for the past 15 years, I watched these two specials excitedly (at first) and for the life of me I couldn’t laugh at Rory or Michael, even though I wanted to and was in a good mood. It wasn’t simply “not funny”, it was that (especially in Michael’s special) there were people close to the microphone laughing every time he said a single word, instead of at the designated time (punchline?) and the loudest lady had an annoying Bart Simpson type of hard-hitting laugh that kept distracting me from the actual jokes. These specials just seemed “off” for some reason, maybe it’s the general program layout of the new “The Half Hour”. I know that ever since “CC Presents” began, the crowd is somehow selected (free tickets) and coached a bit about laughing in a way optimal for television taping ( all standup TV specials usually are) but this new show seems like there are actual actors placed in the front row and theyre told to just fake laugh their asses off the entire time no matter what the comic says. Some of the laughs sound like the people are microphoned individually for greater effect. Whatever it is, I think I may have to stick with old specials to make me laugh because the new show layout and the crappy new “clean” upstart comics they’re willing to give shows to aren’t gonna make me even crack a smile. TC McCartney (Boise)
TC McCartney (Boise)

Also, besides sounding ridiculous compared to “CC Presents”, doesn’t “The Half Hour” sound a little too close to HBO’s “Comedy Half Hour”? Wtf?