Wondering what could have convinced some of the now successful comics of last summer's original Last Comic Standing series to come back from this fall's Last Comic Standing 3? In a word, money -- and quite a bit of it.

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With the premiere of the hastily assembled third edition of the NBC reality series quickly approaching, NBC has begun to release additional details about the format of the series, including the news that unlike the first two seasons, Last Comic Standing 3 will offer more than just an NBC Universal Studios talent deal and Comedy Central special to its winner. Instead, Last Comic 3, which will drop the challenge aspect of the previous editions in favor of weekly "battle of the best" showdowns, will feature some more tangible rewards for the comedians participating in the series -- namely over $500,000 in prizes that will be awarded throughout the season.

The addition of the prizes go a long way toward explaining why some of the more popular and successful comedians from the first series of the program -- such as Dave Mordal, whom series co-creator Jay Mohr recently bragged is now making $10,000 a week on the stand-up circuit -- would give up their paying gigs to participate in another edition of the series.

While the exact format of the cash prize distributions remains unannounced, NBC has announced that the third installment of its Emmy-nominated reality series will be centered around a special "Battle of the Best" showdown featuring weekly stand-up battles between the comics from seasons one and two, with viewers getting to determine the winner of each battle and the victor being announced the following week.

Last Comic Standing 3 will debut with a special 90-minute "preview" on Monday, August 30 (9:30-11PM ET) and with a second original episode on Tuesday, August 31 (8-9PM ET). In addition to the weekly "battles" and prize awards, NBC promises that many other twists, turns, and surprises are in store for the fall edition of the series.

Last Comic Standing 3 will feature Season One finalists Geoff Brown, Rob Cantrell, Tess Drake, Tere Joyce, Cory Kahaney, Sean Kent, Ralphie May, Dave Mordal, Dat Phan, and Rich Vos versus Season Two finalists Alonzo Bodden, Ant, Todd Glass, Gary Gulman, John Heffron, Corey Holcomb, Jay London, Kathleen Madigan, Tammy Pescatelli, and Jessica Kirson (Jessica, a Las Vegas semifinalist, will replace Bonnie Mcfarlane, who chose not to participate in Last Comic 3.)

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