Last One Laughing is based on a Japanese show (called Documental) and was created by Hitoshi Matsumoto. Amazon Prime saw the potential and snapped it up.
More than a dozen versions have been created, so far, but, although LOL Germany did well with Germans, LOL France with the French (it had the biggest day 1 Amazon launch – here) and LOL Italy with Italians (it’s the most watched Italian show) and so on…but none were a hit with other territories and some (Australia for example) only had 1 series (season).
Step up LOL UK, with Jimmy Carr hosting and Roisin Conaty as his sidekick.
Around the time S1 was announced it was said that Amazon were trying to keep the cast list limited to nationality. I think they felt that if one of the LOL franchise was more successful than others that it might have a bearing on which show people wanted to appear on. With the UK this rule only applied to S1 (see S2, below).
LOL Ireland was released in 2024 and wasn’t a huge success. Graham Norton hosted but it was noted that there was a long delay in red cards sending people to sit with the host and that this meant he was on a sofa, talking to himself. Once LOL UK S1 became a success people tried LOL Ireland (and some of the others) and boosted the viewing figures.
All viewing number statistics, relating to all season, are in the posts here.
2025 Season 1
Filmed September 2024 and broadcast on Amazon Prime Jimmy Carr hosted, assisted by Roisin Conaty:
- Episodes 1-4 released on March 20th 2025
- Episodes 5-6 released on March 27th 2025
Episode names are:
- Shake Your Tush
- Naughty Taughty
- Anyone for Ping Pong?
- Cracking Up
- Meats and Cheeses
- The Last Laugh
The 10 competitors, trying not to laugh, were:
- Bob Mortimer
- Richard Ayoade
- Daisy May Cooper
- Rob Beckett
- Joe Lycett
- Harriet Kemsley
- Sara Pascoe
- Judi Love
- Joe Wilkinson
- Lou Sanders
On March 10th they had a promo shoot (see Getty Images, here) that was probably not needed (I’ve no idea why Katherine Ryan and Natalie Cassidy are there).
On May 15th 2025 Amazon commissioned S2 (see Chortle here).
BARB announced (week 1) that the first 3 episodes alone had views of 2.5m, 2.5m and 3m. Across 2025 viewing it was the 5th most watched UK show, on streaming platforms (here).
It won a Chortle award and has (so far) been nominated for awards by the British Press Guild, Royal Television Society, Broadcast, NTA, Comedy.co.uk and BAFTA – see here.
S1 was #1 in the UK for 24 days (March and April 2025) and hung around the Top 10 for many weeks, across 17 countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE and UK).
All posts relating to S1 (including clips) can be seen here.
2026 Season 2
Once again Jimmy hosted and Roisin kept him company. The Amazon Prime broadcast dates were:
- Episodes 1-3 released on March 19th 2026
- Episodes 4-5 released on March 26th 2026
- Episode 6 released on April 2nd 2026
Episode names are:
- Breaking The Ice
- Imagine The paperwork
- 50 Ducks
- A Spare Thumb
- The Seagull and the Frankfurter
- Here Comes the Aeroplane
The 10 competitors, trying not to laugh, were:
- Bob Mortimer
- Alan Carr
- David Mitchell
- Romesh Ranganathan
- Amy Gledhill
- Gbemisola Ikumelo
- Maisie Adam
- Diane Morgan
- Mel Giedroyc
- Sam Campbell
This 2nd season broke the mould in that Sam Campbell is an Australian but lives in the UK. Changing that “rule” opens up the possibility of future shows including other people, that are not native Brits.
They also brought back popular S1 winner (Bob Mortimer) as a “winner stays on” type scenario.
On the day that S2 went live (March 19th) Amazon announced that there would be a Hallowe’en special and that S3 would be shown in 2027.
A podcast was launched (hosted by Roisin – here) called The Last Laugh.
Within 24 hours it was top 10 in 13 countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, UAE and UK).
All posts relating to S2 (including clips) can be seen here.
2026 Hallowe’en Special
Announced on the day that S2 released – details TBC
2027 Season 3
Announced on the day that S2 released – date TBC
All posts relating to S3 can be seen here.