Comic Genius

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 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.