NBC.COM TO LAUNCH SEPARATE ONLINE COMEDY COMPETITION WHEN "LAST COMIC STANDING" PREMIERES ON MAY 30

BURBANK, Calif. � May 23, 2006 � NBC.com will host their own online comedy competition in conjunction with NBC's "Last Comic Standing" when the Emmy-nominated series kicks off its fourth season on Tuesday, May 30 (8-10 p.m. ET; regular timeslot will be Tuesdays, 9-10 p.m. ET).

The special online competition will primarily feature comedians who make it to the semi-finals but don't make it into the "house" � which in this season is actually the Queen Mary, the luxury ocean liner docked in Long Beach, CA. It will also include comedians who applied to be on the show but didn't make it as far as the semi-finals.

Each week, comic performances of five comedians will be posted on NBC.com, and viewers can watch their routines and vote online for their favorite performer. A total of 30 comics will be showcased during the online competition, with a winner chosen each week based on online voting.

In week seven, the six weekly winners will go head-to-head in an online "semi-final" round, which narrows the six finalists down to two. Then those two finalists will get primetime, national exposure when they perform on the penultimate episode of "Last Comic Standing," and viewers can vote for their favorite online finalist at NBC.com.

The ultimate winner of the online competition -- and the winner of the broadcast competition -- will both be revealed in the final episode of "Last Comic Standing."

Anthony Clark ("Yes, Dear") is the host of the series, which is produced by Peter Engel Productions, Magical Elves and NBC Universal Television Studio. The executive producers are Peter Engel ("Saved By the Bell," "City Guys"), Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz (Bravo's "Project Runway" and NBC's "Treasure Hunters") and Barry Katz ("Action," "Dane Cook's Tourgasm").