Last Comic Standing is All Dat

By Jorgio Castro

The final votes are in from NBC's primetime funnyman contest, "Last Comic Standing," and the viewers have decided, crowning San Diego native Dat Phan as "the funniest person in America."

Viewers selected from the five comedians pictured here on the shows finale. Courtesy of Nbc.com

The latest spin-off in the reality T.V. genre, "Last Comic Standing" combined a search for the nation's finest undiscovered talent (a la "American Idol") with a voyeur-like housing arrangement where the 10 finalists lived in the same house as they competed against one another (a la "The Real World" or "Big Brother"). The Holy Grail awarded to Dat comes in the form of an exclusive talent contract with NBC, and their very own special on Comedy Central. The 2 hour finale aired August 5th, with Dat Phan proclaimed the winner with 35% of the vote.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, Dat Tien Phan escaped during the communist takeover of his home country with his family when he was just 2 and a half months old. Since coming to America, his family has moved from an Arkansas refugee camp, then to Chicago for 5 years, until he and his mother finally moved to San Diego when one of his sisters found work there at a beauty salon. After not being able to reach or contact any of their family, Dat and his mother ended up spending nights sleeping on city streets and bus stops. "It was my mom that raised me…That's why so much of my material is based on my mom," says Phan. Eventually, his sister saved up enough money to open a beauty salon in Santee (a suburb in San Diego), to which he and his mother moved.

Dat rose up from humble beginnings to being on the brink of stardom. Courtesy of Datphan.com

It was these most difficult times in life, growing up in poverty and on the street, that shaped his humor and fueled his determination. After moving to L.A. in January of 2002, Phan lived in his car for 2 months, doing small stand-up gigs just to survive. "But I never thought about giving up," he says, "because I remembered when my mom and I lived on the streets in San Diego. I realized that if we made it through that, I can make it through this." Phan's determination and perseverance led to him landing a spot on "Last Comic Standing" in January of 2003. His can-do optimism also helped him survive the comic house, where the other contestants comprising the "Coalition" conspired to vote him off multiple times. He foiled their strategy by winning immunity one round and by winning two head to head comic elimination battles in the others. His victory was an upset to quite a few, as many favored Ralphie May to win among the final five.

His use of charts to graph average laughs per minute and odd behavior while in the house (i.e. practicing martial arts moves on the furniture) were strange to say the least, but the end result cannot be argued with, as viewers favored him by a wide margin. Speaking on his comedic style, Phan is adamant that "I've been tired of using my Asian material for several years now. Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of my Asian heritage," explains Phan. "I'm just ready to speak more about being an Asian American." This may be the foot in the door that Phan needs to propel his career onto the next level.

In an informal APA poll of 25  college-aged students:
	68% think that Asian accents are funny comic material, in the right context 84% would like to see more Asian comedians, 12% are indifferent

Only time will tell if his fame lasts more than a fleeting fifteen, but the show has already started to bring Dat into the limelight of celebrity. As a result of his role on the show, he has had a walk-on role on the NBC comedy "Good Morning, Miami," and appeared on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn." No word yet on the exact date of Phan's T.V. pilot, but you are sure to see more of his comedy in the future, whether at a comedy club or television screen near you.

August 15, 2003