Try not to laugh

This week I’ve been watching the UK version of Last One Laughing where 10 comedians try to make each other laugh until only one comedian remains. It was adapted from a Japanese TV show called Documental, which I’ve seen bits and pieces of before, but Japanese humor doesn’t seem to translate as well for me. Thankfully there are a lot of international spin-offs now.

The UK version also stars a lot of comedians I know from panel shows. For some reason I enjoy the laid back, chatty humor of a UK panel show. Two seasons have aired so far and I was able to figure out very quickly who the two last contestants would be. The format favors the quick-witted straight man who who can deliver a funny line with a deadpan expression. You can’t win by not laughing alone. You also have to make other people laugh.

The show is actually a bit stressful, both for the comedians and for me watching. Because I’m always looking and scanning faces for signs of laughter it becomes engrossing, and it triggers some kind of sympathetic stress response when I see someone about to break.

Interestingly, many of the laughs are self-inflicted. It kind of makes sense that the humor a person uses is what they themselves find funny. A good strategy for the format is to reflect a comedian’s gag back at them.

The emotional journey makes the show work. A bit like Taskmaster I can see myself watching the show for years to come.