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Original poster

Last One to Laugh - did the female contestants need to do sexualised performances for laughs?

59 replies

Nobiggerthanyourhand · 02/04/2025 13:07

I really enjoyed Last One to Laugh but was a bit perplexed by the female contestants doing strip teases and erotic dancing,

I don’t watch stand up any more but can’t imagine French and Saunders or Jo Brand twerking at a dog for laughs. Or Bridget Christie.

And the male contestants didn’t do sexualised performances.

So, YABU: it is ok that the women did sexualised performances, and the men, not
YANBU: there is more to women’s comedy than strip teases and twerking

OP posts:
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LizzieSiddal · 04/04/2025 14:00

Friends of mine watched it and joined in with the trying not to laugh, they didn’t last long 😂

CheeseWisely · 02/04/2025 22:40

Me too @@WhereIsMyJumper. I enjoyed the nervousness at the beginning that even the mundane would make them laugh. Also the subtle dressing up that some of them did, a genius approach really as (for example) Richard couldn’t see the ridiculousness of the yellow cap balanced on his Afro, but the others could.

WhereIsMyJumper · 02/04/2025 22:25

RufustheFactuaIReindeer · 02/04/2025 17:03

Right at the start, Bob Mortimer asked Rob Beckett if he had a kitchen island and you could see Rob already thinking he wasn't going to be able to cope

this 😀

This set me off at the start as well. Most of the funniest parts for me where the more random ones, rather than the contrived ‘acts’ and I found it funnier watching people trying to keep serious faces on whilst someone was in front of them performing a crazy skit. They were just sat there looking at it like they were contemplating a series piece of art in a gallery and it cracked me up

RufustheFactuaIReindeer · 02/04/2025 21:33

MasterBeth · 02/04/2025 21:13

Stop saying "skit"!

No

Original poster
Nobiggerthanyourhand · 02/04/2025 21:19

MasterBeth · 02/04/2025 21:13

Stop saying "skit"!

What would you prefer, a ‘turn’?

OP posts:
Redpeach · 02/04/2025 21:19

Simplegazette · 02/04/2025 19:18

Does ping-pong balls shooting out count as sexual?

Er yes

MasterBeth · 02/04/2025 21:15

GreyCarpet · 02/04/2025 18:14

But... that just wasn't funny. What was funny about it? Just not funny...

Show quote history

All right, Margot Ledbetter...

MasterBeth · 02/04/2025 21:13

Stop saying "skit"!

Haveyouanyjam · 02/04/2025 21:10

I didn’t think there was much sexualised comedy. Harriet was the only one I didn’t know and I didn’t find her act particularly funny but I imagine it would have been different if I were faced with it. I think Lou’s tactic was a lot more about what would make people uncomfortable and therefore laugh rather than just using humour, and it clearly worked as she got a few people out.

It was great. Watching people who love to laugh try not to was so funny. Daisy’s facial expressions were amazing, as were everyone walking off when they couldn’t handle it.

Simplegazette · 02/04/2025 19:18

Does ping-pong balls shooting out count as sexual?

Perculiar · 02/04/2025 19:15

Wildywondrous · 02/04/2025 19:10

I loved the series and didn't notice the women being more sexual than the men but if they did then I think it reflects reality.

Not related but I think that Richard deliberately threw it at the end so that Bob would win.

I also thought Richard did that! I think he could have outlasted bob but wanted bob to win

SorenLorensonsInvisibleFriend · 02/04/2025 19:11

I liked the show generally and found Rob Beckett a lot funnier than I’d originally thought. Snorted laughing at Joe Wilkinson’s RNLI joker, he was one of the few people who could break Sean Lock, who I always loved. Also, made me develop my crush on Richard Ayoade (my deep fondness and adoration for Bob has lasted the last two decades!).

I really appreciated the commitment to putting in a good balance of female and male comedians, especially as I didn’t know Lou Sanders or Harriet and dont particularly find Judi Love funny. I loved seeing Bob Mortimer moving quickly away from Alison Hammond as she’s precisely the sort of person who’d make him giggle. It made me wonder about who I’d choose as replacement women comedians - i guessed Jennifer Saunders, Miranda Hart, Catherine Tate and Victoria Coren Mitchell would be proper heavyweights (and yes, mourned the loss of Victoria Wood who could surely break anyone).

Wildywondrous · 02/04/2025 19:10

I loved the series and didn't notice the women being more sexual than the men but if they did then I think it reflects reality.

Not related but I think that Richard deliberately threw it at the end so that Bob would win.

RufustheFactuaIReindeer · 02/04/2025 19:01

But... that just wasn't funny. What was funny about it? Just not funny...

i didnt find it funny…

Fairislesweater · 02/04/2025 19:00

I quite enjoyed it but amongst all the comedians, it was Danny Dyer’s vocal exercise that made me genuinely belly laugh

TheWonderhorse · 02/04/2025 18:46

Nobiggerthanyourhand · 02/04/2025 18:39

I think there was a generational thing with Bob Mortimer - he was the oldest by some way (and a bit of a legend). I think they were all a bit starstruck.

He might also be one of those people who you only have to look at to start giggling.

The interactions with him were quite touching.

Show quote history

Oh it was lovely. He is the funniest man, and the nicest guy too.

They were clearly very deferential with him. I'm so glad he's recognised as the absolute legend he is. But he still makes me pee myself with shameful regularity.

Original poster
Nobiggerthanyourhand · 02/04/2025 18:39

GreyCarpet · 02/04/2025 18:14

But... that just wasn't funny. What was funny about it? Just not funny...

Show quote history

I think there was a generational thing with Bob Mortimer - he was the oldest by some way (and a bit of a legend). I think they were all a bit starstruck.

He might also be one of those people who you only have to look at to start giggling.

The interactions with him were quite touching.

OP posts:
Whatafustercluck · 02/04/2025 18:21

I found it unfunny after the first couple of episodes, with jokes focused on bodily functions and genitalia/ sex. I'm not a prude, but to me it just wasn't funny.

Daisy May Cooper's rollercoaster was brilliant. The ping pong ball routine was cringe and the funny faces game in the final episode felt like they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. I prefer cerebral rather than physical humour.

Bob Mortimer is great on panel shows, and is a thoroughly interesting man. His surreal personal life stories are a treat to listen to. But I don't find him laugh-out-loud funny in the way I find Richard Ayoade's dry humour funny.

I like Judi Love, Joe Lycett and Sara Pascoe and wish they'd stayed in it longer.

The most puerile jokes (whether about sex or not) were from Harriet Kemsley and Lou Sanders. And i just don't find that humour funny.

GreyCarpet · 02/04/2025 18:14

RufustheFactuaIReindeer · 02/04/2025 17:03

Right at the start, Bob Mortimer asked Rob Beckett if he had a kitchen island and you could see Rob already thinking he wasn't going to be able to cope

this 😀

But... that just wasn't funny. What was funny about it? Just not funny...

SuspiciousChipmunk · 02/04/2025 18:07

Redpeach · 02/04/2025 14:45

Not being funny but....i dont find drawings of penises funny

No one was accusing you of being funny.

GreyCarpet · 02/04/2025 17:57

I'm just amazed so many people watched it and found it funny.

I watched the first 15/20 mins and couldn't bear it any longer.

It was absolutely dire.

KarCat · 02/04/2025 17:56

Luckingfovely · 02/04/2025 17:47

I think you have to work pretty hard to be bothered by just a few moments in the series that vaguely referenced sex in any form.

But if you are that bothered I can only recommend staying away from anything vaguely relating to comedy. Or possibly real life.

What a particularly nasty comment!

CheeseWisely · 02/04/2025 17:54

Redpeach · 02/04/2025 14:45

Not being funny but....i dont find drawings of penises funny

I think that was intended to make them laugh through the shock of the unexpected, rather than because drawings of penises are funny although they are.

Someone above mentioned Victoria Wood and now I have ‘Let’s Do It’ in my head. Beat me on the bottom with the Women’s Weekly….

Original poster
Nobiggerthanyourhand · 02/04/2025 17:52

Luckingfovely · 02/04/2025 17:47

I think you have to work pretty hard to be bothered by just a few moments in the series that vaguely referenced sex in any form.

But if you are that bothered I can only recommend staying away from anything vaguely relating to comedy. Or possibly real life.

That’s not really the point that I am making. Sexual content per we isn’t necessarily offensive; it’s the peculiarity that the most puerile jokes were among the women, ironically.

OP posts:
Luckingfovely · 02/04/2025 17:47

I think you have to work pretty hard to be bothered by just a few moments in the series that vaguely referenced sex in any form.

But if you are that bothered I can only recommend staying away from anything vaguely relating to comedy. Or possibly real life.