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

[Nobiggerthanyourhand]

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

This was me. Joe Wilkinson's RNLI thing had me snort laughing whenever I remembered it.

The vote doesn't make much sense, both are true. There's more to women's comedy but they are entitled to do it.

I actually can imagine Joe Brand or French & Saunders doing similar things, with Brand or French in particular because it'd be a sort of "ironic" "look at me I'm doing a striptease even though I've not got the body stereotypically associated with women who do them" way.

I remember reading that Dawn French stopped doing their show because she felt that she had lost control of the joke … it was something to do with Anastasia.

I think this is the same space where I found the sexualised performances and the sexual banter in the programme a bit disappointing.

In the 90s, there was ‘ladette’ culture and reclamation of characteristically-masculine behaviours reframed for women… but haven’t we all moved on from that? (and seen that mocking something doesn’t necessarily put you in control of it?)..

None of that bothered me in the slightest, i laughed all the way through, including tears. Was brilliant, just my humour 😂

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 😀

I’m pretty sure Lou Sanders did an interpretive dance of her own birth alongside her mother. She came down a slide through her mums legs.

It possibly wasn’t her actual mother 🤣

We loved this series and have watched some episodes twice. Dh actually commented that it was a shame they felt the need to go there, (vibrator and striptease) they are both such funny women, it felt so old fashioned.

I was sad when Judi left though, thought she’d take the whole lot of them out as she has such an infectious laugh! 😆

I thought it showed a huge range of humour topics and styles. Men can’t do sex jokes at all as they’d be cancelled.

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.

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….

What a particularly nasty comment!

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.

No one was accusing you of being funny.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

i didnt find it funny…

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 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).

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

Does ping-pong balls shooting out count as sexual?