The hungriest people win. I was living out of my car and had to win. You have to rise above pressure, exercise discipline, and edit. Focus on the craft and your relationship to the audience. The people who win are usually aware of their character, giving an audience more than just jokes.
Competitions are pretty silly.
It's a subjective art form and the idea of competing is ludicrous. They're mainly a promotional tool. Actually, everyone on Star Search competed against the spokesmodels, but I worked with a lot of funny guys. They put me with Jenny Jones in the finals. The sets were two minutes long.