Kristin Key performs at Bear's Place

Kristin Key, the youngest finalist in NBC's "Last Comic Standing," will perform at 10 p.m. Friday at the Indiana Memorial Union and at 7:30 and 10:15 p.m. Saturday at Bear's Place. The show at the IMU is free and open to all ages, but the performance at Bear's Place is $7 and for those 21 and over.\nKey said she knows her visit to Bloomington will be a lot of fun.\n"With younger crowds there's a bit more energy," she said. "(Unlike) really old white crowds, (college students have) a desire to laugh and a better attitude for comedy."\nShe also says that because she is 25 years old, she can relate to college kids better than any other group.\nKey will be performing as part of Comedy Caravan,, "the longest running one-night comedy show in history," said Tim Sobel, the president and owner of Comedy Caravan.\nKey will follow in the steps of comedians such as Roseanne, Ellen DeGeneres, Sinbad, Steve Harvey and Tim Allen, who all have performed for Comedy Caravan.\n"We bring folks straight off of TV," Sobel said.\nKey's performances in Bloomington will give audience members an up-close-and-personal taste of her comedy on "Last Comic Standing."\nAccording to NBC.com, the show involves "outrageous contests, surprise guests and unexpected twists and turns" until only finalists are left. Then viewers vote and choose "the Last Comic Standing." The winner is awarded a contract with NBC and his or her own comedy show on Bravo.\nKey, a finalist of Season 4, compared the show to the World Series.\n"For a comedian with no television experience, this is what we work for through the entire career," she said. "'Last Comic Standing' is like a World Series of comedy. Even if you think you're a hotshot, once you get there, it's pretty tough."\nDespiter her success, Kye said, not everyone has supported her career choice.\n"When I first started doing it, (my parents) told me to stay in college," she said. "Even in the last few years, my mom always told me, 'You know, you can always go back to school,'" Key said.\nHer life took a turn when she decided to try out for open mic at the now-closed Amarillo Comedy Club in her hometown of Amarillo, Texas. She quit her paramedic studies to pursue a career in comedy that same week.\nShe said her career has never been as successful as it is now. "It's been a good year, six years later," she said.\nThe title of her CD, "Preacher's Kid Gone Wild," is reflective of her father's career and her bold style of comedy, which she described as "edgy, honest and observational."\nWith her newfound success, she advises aspiring female comediennes to "not get pregnant, don't marry young and grow really tough skin." And she said it's a bad idea to sleep with a comic.