Part of what's so nice about living and watching in the era of the best streaming services we've ever known is that sometimes, shows come out of the blue to become massive surprise hits. On occasion, these are from little-known overseas studios, but sometimes they come from closer to home.
Right now on Prime Video, there's a breakout hit in the making, and it's from the comedy factory that you could call "the UK" – starring several of our finest comedians in sparkling form. Last One Laughing UK is a local spin on a tried-and-tested format, and it's rocketed up the charts in multiple countries.
The format is simple – a bunch of comedians get locked in a house together, and the last one to laugh out loud wins the contest. Each of them is therefore trying their best to get other comics to break out into chuckles, but they have to be careful not to make themselves laugh in the process.
The time is broken up with challenges and games that push things even further, and there's also an observation deck of sorts, where hosts get to actually react to the hilarity properly, so that everything doesn't just play out in awkward silence as the contestants try not to laugh.
What's worked so darn well about the UK version is that it's chosen its list of contestants just about perfectly, with the amount of comedic chemistry in the room almost hard to believe. Part of this is because much of the cast has already been on shows together, with many people pointing out the number of Taskmaster alumni on the show.
That show is cultishly popular for a reason, and it's entirely possible that Last One Laughing UK will grow a similar brand. We don't yet know if there's another season in the works, but based on how this one's doing, you'd have to assume Amazon will be on the case.
So, if you're a Prime Video subscriber and you want some absurdist fun for a few evenings, fire it up – it's astonishingly good fun, can really surprise you and isn't like most of the other big-budget streaming successes you could hope to see right now.
