Carey and Butler were both obviously upset that their favorites didn’t make it. It seemed clear in particular that comedian Dan Naturman was among the favorites with the judges and the audience, but all he got was a Bronx cheer.

Judges and viewers eventually learned that the finalists are chosen by NBC and the producers, after considering how the comics fared with the judges. That is made clear in the fine print at the end of the show, but a lot of viewers wouldn’t have noticed it and would have figured that, well, the judges were morons.

I can understand why NBC doesn’t base its final 10 strictly on comedic talent — “Last Comic Standing” is a reality show that has the 10 comics live together in a house, so the network wants that part of the show to be intriguing. That means it needs conflict and candor, so laid-back comedians like Naturman might not make it.

But what the network executives had done was the same thing many bosses do: They only pretended to give the employees influence, and their insincerity showed.

Companies often do this by forming committees —usually a death knell for a project — pretending the employees will have a voice in some major decision. But then the committee’s recommendations are either rejected or ignored by management — leaving the employees to feel as chagrined as Carey and Butler were.

Sometimes managers have to overrule employees’ feedback. But if they’re not honest about it, no one will be left laughing