I found this on the nbc message board:

I dropped a quick email to Ant this morning, to wish him well and ask what happened with Ralphie getting picked at such a bad time... Here is his response...
Further comment from me follows...

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In a message dated 8/31/2004 10:38:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, ANTcomic writes:
Julie-

We didn't know about Ralphie's dad because we shot the War Room votes the Day before. We were devasted for him when we heard the news. We offered to Re-vote (and give Ralphie the week off) but the legal people at NBC said no.

Words cannot say what my heart feels when I read emails like yours. Thank you so much again for the compliments! Tonight I am on Last Comic Standing 3 (August 31st). It's season 3 and once again, I am asking for you vote. Please tune in and let me know what you think.

All the best, and again many thanks!

ANT

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To those of you that said such horrible things about Ralphie going onstage the day after losing his father just to gain sympathy votes, or picking on him for his 'lack' of performance, I hope you are all really proud of yourselves. How cold hearted some of you are here.

In the meantime, thoughts and prayers go out to Ralphie and his family.

http://www.nbc.com/boards/LastComicStanding3/thread-106074-1.html

~Carrie~

"Men aren't that complicated. They're kind of like plants."