Last One Laughing is a riot – but one person is getting on my nerves

The wait for new episodes of Last One Laughing UK to drop was agonising.

The first three episodes of season two were, to put it simply, sensational. The premise – the clue is in the name – ensures absurd humour at its finest, with belly laughs galore. It was the light-hearted reprieve I personally needed.

Part of me wished I could have binged the whole thing in one go, but I was also glad that I had time to urge people to check out the show if they hadn’t already. I couldn’t believe how many of my friends still hadn’t caught up. 

A week later, episodes four and five are finally out. You’ll gag with laughter, and possibly nausea after a disgusting moment courtesy of national treasure Mel Giedroyc. 

But there’s one person on the series who’s increasingly grinding my gears. 

So, let’s talk about him: Jimmy Carr. He’s a polarising figure to say the least. I’ve watched him on TV for years, and loved the dynamic that he had with Sean Lock and Jon Richardson on 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Then you have his stand-up specials, which have featured incendiary remarks that have sparked masses of rightful backlash, including jokes about the Holocaust in his 2021 Netflix special. 

Comedy does need to push boundaries, but I can’t bear it when comedians feel as though they have a free pass to be as offensive as they’d like.

I know that there are topics that I daren’t joke about that professional comedians would be able to get away with, because they know how to deal with them in smart and sensitive ways. I also know that it’s ok to say when comics have gone too far.

As for Carr’s role hosting Last One Laughing, as much as viewers love the show, there were some who pointed out that they found his presence infuriating when the first block of episodes was released for season two. 

‘Do they do a version where they don’t cut to Jimmy Carr going “Oh, that’s a great joke” every five seconds?’, one fan called Samantha wrote on X, referencing the way the camera regularly cuts to Carr in the control room, laughing uncontrollably at the contestants’ antics.

At the end of the day, he is the host, so his role warrants a significant amount of screen time. I do find the way that he declares ‘Doors!’ whenever he enters the main room fairly amusing, and he clearly has a great rapport with the other comedians on the show, most of whom he’s known personally for years.

Nonetheless, while watching episodes four and five, I could feel my infuriation building over Carr’s involvement. He wasn’t just an overseer – he was actively affecting the outcome of who’s going to make it to the end.

At one point, a contestant is called to the locker room, and when they open a locker, they find Carr’s face poking out of a hole. The host proceeds to make a series of absurd statements – and of course, causes the comedian to laugh. That comedian then gets a red card and is out of the game. 

Carr did make it clear that he can change the rules of the competition where he sees fit, and it’s likely he was told to do this by the producers, but this still felt highly unfair to me.

Of course, the aim of the game is for the comedians in the cast to try and make each other laugh (with the exception of guest stars such as Danny Dyer and Richard Madeley). But the host stepping in that heavily shouldn’t be allowed, in my view.

Aside from Carr’s puppet-mastery getting on my nerves, Last One Laughing is still an absolute riot, and I can’t wait for the series finale to drop next week.

Several strong contenders have now been eliminated, and the ‘joker’ performances have gone from outlandishly hilarious to downright surreal.

In my five-star review of the first two episodes, I gave Sam Campbell a shoutout for being one of the standouts of the series for me. He’s still the person I’m least familiar with out of all of the comedians in the lineup, and he remains one of my favourites.

And Mel. Oh Mel. She’s gone from brightening up my evenings on The Great British Bake Off to making me never want to eat a cookie again after her disgusting Last One Laughing prank. Yet my love for her has grown even more.

I’m already anticipating feeling sad when the show is over next week, but there are spin-offs in almost 30 other countries to sink my teeth into when I’m done. And I’ve been drawing up my dream list of comedians to compete in season three.

Russell Howard, Sarah Millican, the queen of TV, Alison Hammond… with the right cast, Last One Laughing could keep getting better and better.

Last One Laughing season 2 is streaming on Amazon Prime. The season 2 finale is due to premiere on Thursday April 2.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jessica.aureli@metro.co.uk. 

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