EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Prime Video is eying a UK version of hit format LOL: Last One Laughing.
Deadline understands the streamer has been scoping out indies to produce the UK version over the past few weeks via an informal tender process, with that process now in its final stages. The show is yet to be greenlit and we understand no final decision will be made until the format launches next year in Ireland, a version that is being helmed by one of the UK’s top presenters, Graham Norton. Trevor Noah, meanwhile, is down to host the upcoming South African version following his Daily Show exit.
LOL: Last One Laughing sees comedians stay in a living room-style studio for several hours during which they must try to make the others laugh by any means possible, while not reacting to their opponents’ attempts to make them break. At the first laugh, the competitor is cautioned (yellow carded), while a second eliminates the player from the game (red carded), and the only way to communicate with the outside is a telephone controlled by the host.
The streamer has taken a unique approach to the format, commissioning versions in territories all over the globe rather than one worldwide offering. The show started life in Japan, helmed by comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto, and has since seen editions greenlit in Australia, presented by Rebel Wilson, Canada, India, Brazil, Nigeria, the Nordics and a swathe of other territories, but not in the U.S. or UK.
Were the UK version to be greenlit, it would air next year at the earliest, following the Irish version, which will feature big local stars including Aisling Bea and Jason Byrne and is the streamer’s first original in that nation. The show would join a roster of Amazon UK unscripted originals including Backstage with Katherine Ryan and the controversial Clarkson’s Farm, the latter of which has been a huge hit for the platform and is likely to be renewed after a year in flux due to the host’s now-disgraced column about Meghan Markle.
Amazon declined to comment on the UK development.
