Comic Genius
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Comic Genius was the world's first online stand-up comic contest that was open to all Canadians. It was sponsored by The Comedy Network and the CTV comedy, Corner Gas. It began on September 26, 2005 and ended on November 27, 2005.
During each week until November 20, 2005, the contest was open to auditions by any Canadian (excluding residents of Quebec) who had registered as a resident, or member, of the online Corner Gas community. An audition consisted of a digitally-recorded audio clip of up to two minutes of a person doing a stand-up comedy routine. During the week, any member of the online Corner Gas community could vote on the submitted routines and submit comments of praise or criticism.
After each week, the top ten entries, based on ratings and judges' discretion, were promoted to "contestants". The top two contestants from the previous week then became "semi-finalists".
The top five who advanced from the contest were flown to Regina, Saskatchewan to compete on a live comedy special on The Comedy Network, which was hosted by Corner Gas star Brent Butt, himself a Canadian Comedy Award winning stand-up comedian. The top two finalists earned an appearance on Corner Gas, and the winner received $10,000.
[edit] Structure
- Opening week: September 26 to October 2. (auditions were voted on and the top ten advanced to be the first contestants)
- Weeks 2 to 8 (October 3 to November 20. (auditions were voted on and the top ten advanced to be contestants; the contestants from the previous week were also voted on. The top two for each week (16 contestants) advanced to the semi-finals.)
- Wildcard week: November 21 to November 27. (auditions were voted on and the top two automatically went to the finals.
- Semi-Finals - the top 8 of the top 16 from weeks 1 to 8 went on to the top 10 (the Finals).
- The Finals - the top 5 went to Regina to participate in a TV contest, where the winner was determined.
Participants in the semi-finals and finals also had to submit a longer videotaped stand-up comic session.
[edit] Winner
John Beuhler was the winner of the first Comic Genius contest - 2005.
