Mike Baldwin drove out from Missouri to participate in the comedy competition with an initial thought of earning enough prize money to pay for his food, a cheap motel and enough gas to get back home. When all was said and done, he was holding a check for $5,000, the biggest payday of his career and a return plane ticket for a Victory Engagement at the Comedy Underground, Dec. 9-11, Baldwin tells his audiences, “I’m dumb but not that dumb. I just like to act that way to mess with my friends” and, boy, does he ever. With impeccable timing, a likable stage presence and unique voice, he truly is a major new discovery on the scene.

Mike Baldwin earned himself a check for $5000. In addition, he will be offered a $1000.00 advance towards a recording contract with Uproar Entertainment.

If you saw Mike during the comedy competition, come see him do his complete set. If you didn’t see him, come now and treat yourself to an early Christmas present.

The rest of the top five are:

• Mike Baldwin, Kansas City
• Mrs Hughes, Pismo Beach
• Rick Kunkler, Seattle/Los Angeles
• Rodney Sherwood, Seattle
• Patrick Keane, Los Angeles

For the full highlights of the 2011 Seattle International Comedy Competition, visit: http://seattlecomedycompetition.com

Sherwood will now vie against Mike Baldwin from Kansas City, Mrs. Hughes from Pismo Beach, CA, Patrick Keane from L.A. and Rick Kunkler from Seattle for a $5,000 first prize, a recording contract and glory amongst their peers. The finals get underway Tuesday night at a private show in the Washington Athletic Club.

Then it will be on to Wednesday night at the Vashon Theatre, Friday at Mt. Baker Theatre in Bellingham and Saturday at the Admiral Theatre in Bremerton before the winner is announced at the Comedy Underground in Seattle on Sunday. Tickets are still available to all these remaining shows and can be purchased at http://www.seattlecomedycompetition.com

Early in the semi-finals, which began in Seattle before appearing to Edmonds, Olympia, Skagit, Kelso and Tacoma, it became apparent there was only one spot in the finals still up for grabs. For the remainder of the week, Sherwood and Sam Demaris from Houston eyed each other from the stage wings before going out and giving their all to see which one of them would move on.

In front of a sold-out crowd at Theatre on the Square in Tacoma on Sunday, Demaris went up second and rocked the house with a routine that included the chronicling of the adventures of a black man in Idaho and Montana. “I’ve got it,” he whispered as the evening progressed.

But later in the show, Sherwood had a strong set as well. Dressed in a suit and wearing thick glasses, with his wife watching from the audience, he offered up an amazingly energetic performance with the catch phrase, “Come on!” His set included the chronicling of the adventures of a Puget Sound man journeying into eastern Washington.

Still, when it was announced that Demaris had placed fourth for the night and that newcomer Xung Lam from Seattle had surprisingly come in third, emcee Jim Short glanced over and saw a visibly crestfallen Sherwood.

It was certainly understandable. The names Baldwin and Hughes had yet to be announced and they had been coming in one-two pretty much all week long. Then, “placing second tonight, Mike Baldwin.” It was the only time all week Baldwin had not taken first. Could it be?

Short relished the moment before bringing Sherwood onstage. It was a Hollywood ending but it’s not over yet. Backstage, with tears in his eyes, Demaris accepted a well-paying gig at a California casino from producer Jon Fox as a consolation prize.

Performing in the Finals:

Mike Baldwin	Mrs Hughes	Patrick Keane
Rick Kunkler	Rodney Sherwood

For more information on comedians, venues and nightly updates, visit: http://www.seattlecomedycompetition.com

Uproar Entertainment will be making the first ever recording of the event. The Seattle Times is sending a reviewer to determine for herself if these acts are as good as the producers say they are. It should be a hilariously memorable night.

After Seattle, the Competition continues it’s tour of venues around the Puget Sound which includes shows in Edmonds, Olympia, Skagit, Kelso and, finally, Tacoma, where this year’s finalists will be announced Sunday, November 20 at Theatre on the Square.

“This has been an amazing year so far,” comments executive producer Jonathan B. Fox, “My only regret is that we have had to say good-bye to some very deserving talent who went to a lot of time and expense to come to the northwest and compete, only to be denied. There are comics who are now gone who would have advanced most any other year. I’ll try to figure out how to do right by them once this is all over.”

Which is to say the remaining group of ten will be putting on shows this week that just should not be missed by anyone who really likes (or needs) to laugh.

Performing in the Semi-Finals:

Mike Baldwin	John Beuhler	Sam Demaris	Patrick Keane
Rick Kunkler	Eric Krug	Xung Lam	Mark Normand
Rodney Sherwood	Will Weldon

For more information, visit http://www.seattlecomedycompetition.com

Over the month of November, 32 comics will compete in clubs, casinos and theaters all around the Pacific Northwest.

The competition is an elimination style competition that follows the same setting as the San Francisco Comedy Competition with two weeks of preliminaries, one week of Semi-Finals and a week of Finals. The winner will be crowned November 27, 2011 at Comedy Underground in Seattle.

You can follow along by visiting http://seattlecomedycompetition.com.

Sean Kent from Austin let it all hang out after the announcement that he had fulfilled his Joe Namath-like guarantee to win the 36th Annual San Francisco Stand-Up Comedy Competition. With tears pouring down, the 37-year-old road veteran talked of having watched a early version of the fabled contest on TV at the age of 12 and vowing he would someday join its list of champions. He also disclosed his battle with cancer that still threatens to cut his life short, perhaps instilling in him an urgency not seen in comedy since the likes of Bill HIcks.

As fascinating as were his remarks, his fellow competitors grew restless standing next to him on stage. Runner-up Alex Koll fetched a broom and began cleaning the stage and when that didn’t bring the festivities to a close, he came back with an industrial vacuum cleaner. Producer Jon Fox, although enjoying the litany of accolades and insults coming his way from the stage, felt obliged to give Kent a flashing light indicating he had gone overtime. All in all, it was a memorable ending to a memorable year that also saw two very talented young contestants, Grant Cotter and Stroy Moyd, fail to advance out of the preliminary rounds only due to time point violations.

And so it shall now be recorded:

1. Sean Kent
2. Alex Koll
3. Sal Calanni
4. John Hastings
5. AJ Finney

1. Sal Calanni
2. Alex Koll
3. Sean Kent
4. John Hastings
5. AJ Finney

The finals will be a photo finish.

The Top five for the night are:

1. Sean Kent
2. AJ Finney
3. John Hastings
4. Sal Calanni
5. Alex Koll

Next Up: Berkeley at the Marsh.

As always it was a great crowd. The Student union was packed.

The top five for the night are:

1. Sean Kent
2. Alex Koll
3. Sal Calanni
4. John Hastings
5. AJ Finney

Tonight we head to Cache Creek Casino in lovely Brooks, CA to double down on the buffet line. You should be there.

1. Alex Koll
2. Sal Calanni
3. John Hastings
4. Sean Kent
5. AJ Finney

Next up: We’re off to the Capital for a show at Sacramento State University.

For the night:

1. Sean Kent
2. Kevin Shea
3. AJ Finney
4. Alex Koll
5. Shawn Felipe

On to the next round (in order of finishing):

1. AJ Finney
2. Sean Kent
3. Alex Koll
4. Sal Calanni
5. John Hastings

We’re off to the Finals! The first public show starts October 6 at Sacramento State University.

1. AJ Finney
2. John Hastings
3. Sean Kent
4. Shawn Felipe
5. Alex Koll

Sal will have to skip Medford. He left here right after his performance to be on a commercial shoot set at 9 a.m. in SF.

1. AJ Finnney
2. Sal Calanni
3. Kevin Shea
4. John Hastings
5. Sean Kent

Tonight the show heads to Humboldt State in lovely Arcata, CA. You’re probably in the caravan with them heading there right now.

Sal Calanni “intimidates” Kevin Shea (see the video). Apparently it worked as Sal came in third and Kevin was not in the top five.

Otherwise, the top 5 for the night are:

1. Sean Kent
2. Alex Koll
3. Sal Calanni
4. Shanti Charan
5. Shawn Felipe

Sean Felipe managed fifth place even with a half-point time violation.

Next up: We’re headed to Redwood City to Angelica’s Bell Theatre.

The Top five from each week of the Preliminary Rounds are coming together to compete against each other for the first time. Only five of them will advance to the Finals.

The Semi-Final Round comics are:

Shanti Charan, Union City
Sal Calanni, San Francisco
Shawn Felipe, Honolulu
AJ Finney, Kansas City
John Hastings, Toronto
Sean Kent, Los Angeles
Alex Koll, San Francisco
Jimmy Ouyang, San Diego
Kevin Shea, San Francisco
Derek Sheen, Seattle

Update: Earlier we listed Nathan Brannon and omitted John Hastings as moving on to the Semi-Finals. Although we love Nathan and would love to spend another week with him, John Hastings was number two for the week and really funny. We apologize about the confusion.

This is still going to be a really great show. Don’t miss it!

It’s also final show for the preliminary rounds of the San Francisco Comedy Competition. With the addition of Sal Calanni, we had 11 of the 16 comics make it into the top 5.  That tends to make the scores even closer overall and puts even more comics into contention for moving on to the semi-finals.

The top 5 for the night are:

1. Kevin Shea
2. Sal Calanni
3. Jimmy Ouyang
4. Nathan Brannon
5. John Hastings

And now, the week results.

Moving on to the Semi-Finals are:

1. Kevin Shea
2. John Hastings
3. Jimmy Ouyang
4. Sal Calanni
5. AJ Finney

The Top 5  the Marsh are:

1. Jimmy Ouyang
2. Kevin Shea
3. John Hastings
4. Owen Straw
5. Nathan Brannon

Next up, it’s back down to Santa Cruz for comedy at the notorious Crows Nest. Best of luck everyone!

The top 5 for Lodi:

1. AJ Finney
2. Kevin Shea
3. John Hastings
4. Mike Stanley
5. Stroy Moyd

Tonight we return to San Francisco to the Marsh Theater. We know it will be a great show and there’s a few tickets left.