Roisin Conaty's top 10 comedy picks

It was the TV hit no one saw coming. When Last One Laughing landed on Prime Video last year, it became the fastest word-of-mouth sensation we’ve seen at Radio Times. A brilliantly simple idea, it locked 10 of Britain’s sharpest comics in a room and challenged them to do the unthinkable: not laugh.

So, to celebrate its return, we asked comedian and co-host Roisin Conaty to talk us through her top 10 comedy picks from TV and film.

From a 1970s stand-up special to the sitcom that Roisin says inspired Gogglebox, it's a list that with humour in all shapes and sizes. So which titles will you add to your watchlist?

1. Withnail & I

This is my all-time favourite comedy film. I use it as a tool to work out if I'm going to get on with other people — by seeing whether they like it or not. I used to know every single word and we would say it out loud as we watched it.

I first saw it when I was 18 at my friend Ollie's house, and then we got very stoned and watched it again, and again, and again. It gets better every time you watch it because as you get older you see the themes more: 'They’re selling hippie wigs in Woolworths, man." Great movie! Also I think Richard E Grant should’ve won an Oscar – I don’t think there is a better performance than Richard E Grant in Withnail & I. Sorry!

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry David is my all-time hero. This show is so, so funny: it's cringe comedy, but really it feels like he says the things that we all want to say in those situations. I love it. I think it's also very original, considering that he'd already written Seinfeld. It's amazing to have this hit after that.

3. Keeping Up Appearances

This was a sitcom that really inspired me. There’s no better TV comedy performance than Patricia Routledge’s physical performance in this.

Even though you’ll find that sometimes she does the same thing in different episodes — like when she falls up the path going to visit her brother-in-law's house — each time it makes me laugh. Her whole character and the way she performs is so funny.

4. Major Payne

I watched this when I was about 14. It’s not that well-known in this country. Damon Wayans is the lead. He’s an army vet who is struggling with PTSD and has to go train up a kid's cadet and he's very ill equipped for that. It's brilliantly offensive! I have really fond memories of one summer in Ireland when we just watched it again and again.

5. Only Fools and Horses

An incredible sitcom, which is even more incredible when I think that I loved it when I was 11 and it's about three middle-aged men ostensibly living in a flat and doing crime… albeit soft crime!

It's so clever and it can be on at any time and we'll always watch it. Also without blowing smoke up my own trumpet — can you blow smoke up your own trumpet? — it’s like Last One Laughing, in that it’s a good show to have on when you’re feeling low.

6. Seinfeld

Now, I was late to Seinfeld. When it first came on, I didn’t get it. Then in my early-to-mid-20s, I watched it again. The writing is just unbelievable – and there's just so much of it. You think you've seen it all but there's so much to watch and it’s all so, so, funny. I love it.

7. Blossom

I watched this when I was a kid. It’s about a girl living with her dad and her brothers — one is played by Joey Lawrence and was very similar to Joey in Friends, and the other is an alcoholic. Her mum doesn’t like her very much too… but she’s only about 11! It’s absolutely brilliant.

In the first episode she's doing a monologue to a video camera, like she's on a Saturday night show, and I think it really inspired me to do stand-up. It’s one of the all-time great shows, but it’s doesn’t get brought up. It was written by Saturday Night Live writers.

8. Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin'

This is Richard Pryor's first stand-up special – it's on YouTube. He’s on stage and the audience is still taking their seats. That would be unheard of now because specials cost so much to make! This is my all-time great stand-up special and anyone wanting to do stand-up should watch it. He gives all his body parts personas. It's under-produced, it's under-edited. It's really clever but really joyful.

9. Blades of Glory

This is one of my favourite comedy films. It’s really silly, Will Ferrell is amazing, Amy Poehler is divine: there’s a great scene where she and Will Arnett are trying to walk up an escalator in ice-skating boots that is perfect physical comedy.

And I would also add another Will Ferrell film in here: The Other Guys. The scene in the office when they try to do good-cop-bad-cop is one of the great comedy scenes. Mark Wahlberg is extraordinary in it: I don't think anyone quite has the same comic timing as him.

10. The Royle Family

Caroline Aherne was a genius and this is just a perfect show. I think it really inspired Gogglebox… they should definitely be getting some beans off that production company!

It's so beautifully done and the hard work that goes into making something look that simple and effortless must be immense. It's so warm but it's not saccharine. We'll always watch it at Christmas; we'll always watch the specials.

Last One Laughing UK season 2 continues on Thursday 26 March on Prime Video. Season 1 is available to stream now. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Prime Video and pay £8.99 a month after that.

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