I was once shouted at for smiling during a breakup. I\u00a0had to switch careers when I realised my favourite thing about being\u00a0an actor was making other actors corpse on stage. Situations in which humour is forbidden are hilarious to me. It\u2019s\u00a0the pressure-cooker analogy, I\u00a0suppose. \u201cI\u2019m the kinda guy who laughs at a funeral,\u2019\u201d sang Barenaked Ladies, and I\u2019ve never related more\u00a0to a lyric. Which makes the return\u00a0of Last One Laughing UK (Thursday, Prime Video) very relevant to my interests.<\/p>\n
The show<\/a> is an elimination competition in which 10 comedians are locked in a softly furnished room for six hours, trying to make each other laugh while keeping a straight face themselves. Laughter and smiling are punishable by yellow cards, then red cards, leading to dismissal. It\u2019s hosted by\u00a0Jimmy Carr \u2013 who has such an odd laugh, it\u2019s possible the entire format was crowdfunded by offended gulls who didn\u2019t want to\u00a0hear it any more.<\/p>\n It is a clever initialism, and a better title than the Japanese show that originated the format, called Documental. I assume something was lost in translation. This series, younger jokers such as Maisie Adam, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Sam Campbell join veterans such as Mel Giedroyc, Romesh Ranganathan, David Mitchell and Diane Morgan. There\u2019s the returning Bob Mortimer, who has quietly ascended to national treasure status. And Alan Carr, who has ascended to televisual ubiquity. I think I can still\u00a0see him when I turn it off.<\/p>\n In the first two episodes of the new series, there are more brilliant moments than can be mentioned. Notorious giggler Carr breathes in helium from a balloon under his shirt before making small talk. \u201cI actually sound butcher,\u201d he laments. In response, Ranganathan weaponises the comedic potential of a south-east Asian accent, singing the title song<\/a> from Bollywood romcom Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in Carr\u2019s ear, while wearing a baseball cap backwards. \u201cHave you seen Lagaan<\/a>?\u201d chimes in Campbell, from the other side. It\u2019s so funny, it feels unfair.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all offense. The comics deploy various defensive strategies to avoid laughing, much as one might have done at a church service in childhood. Yawning, lip pursing or simply walking away are popular. At one point Ikumelo starts to cry, her body misinterpreting what is required of it. The experienced Mortimer recommends a \u201csafety face\u201d: a way of arranging one\u2019s features to stifle mirth. Unfortunately, his safety face is a preposterous underbite, which no one can see without snorting. Attack is the best defence.<\/p>\n No one wants to be anywhere near Mortimer, an absurdist Gatling gun. \u201cI\u2019ve lifted Ronnie Corbett,\u201d he\u2019ll say, apropos of nothing, before describing why it\u2019s a deceptively hard feat. These shenanigans are screamingly funny as is. The fact the contestants aren\u2019t allowed to laugh adds a hysterical layer of secondhand torment. \u201cIt\u2019s like lots of delicious food that we\u2019re looking at and throwing away,\u201d notes Mitchell. \u201cIt started to feel painful not to laugh,\u201d reflects Ikumelo \u2013 after her dam breaches, producing a noise she describes as \u201cdemonic\u201d.<\/p>\n Reality shows once aimed to harvest explosive moments. That\u2019s why they were filled with insufferably loud, unfiltered pillocks. Now that social media pumps out sensational content and characters, TV gameshows are exploring different strengths, often social strategy and longer gameplay. Think about Big Brother, where contestants put a lot of thought into group dynamics and self-presentation, an approach far beyond \u201cjust being myself and having a laugh\u201d. The Traitors<\/a> is explicitly built on deception and holding one\u2019s nerve. Last One Laughing is strangest of all, being an active celebration of repression.<\/p>\n It\u2019s best not to think about what that says about who we are. Gathering the funniest people together in a studio and having them muck about used to be enough. Now we insist they\u2019re locked in. Moreover, any contestant reacting normally to a funny moment is punished. There\u2019s a word for a distorted response to natural stimulus, you know. It\u2019s perversion. If you like this show, you\u2019re a pervert.<\/p>\n I love this show, but for normal reasons. It\u2019s inauthentic, unnatural, and a powerfully original thrill. To clarify, I was smiling because I was sad about the breakup. Next time I\u2019ll do it with an underbite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was once shouted at for smiling during a breakup. 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