Jimmy Carr reveals why late friend Sean Lock would have been perfect for Last One Laughing – as Roisin Conaty talks dream cast members

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

"I knew straight away on the day we were recording that it was like catching lightning in a bottle. It was obviously good stuff,” says Roisin Conaty. “It was a great antidote to watching the news,” adds her co-host Jimmy Carr. “It’s impossible to be sad or angry while laughing. Right show at the right time.”

For this second series of LOL: Last One Laughing UK Carr and Conaty are back to preside over the shenanigans, watching from the comfort of their “control room”, where they have the added benefit of being able to laugh whenever they please.

They’re on the lookout for even an inkling of a chuckle from the 10 contestants, with about 40 cameras documenting every angle. If they’re caught, the stars are given a yellow-card warning. A second infraction means a red card and elimination, at which point they join Carr and Conaty in the control room.

“People came in having watched series one, and no one wanted to go out straight away, so everyone was locked and loaded to win. It’s like watching someone hold their breath – they’re going to have to breathe at some point,” says Conaty.

“I’m pretty on it,” she adds. “At one point, I stopped them, because they were swaying too much. Jimmy is more ‘good cop.’ He’s like, ‘They’re allowed to live...’”

There are many techniques the comedians use to hide their laughter – looking in cupboards, needing to use the toilet suddenly, bending down for too long – but some slip-ups are pretty obvious. “We had a couple where we thought, ‘You could hear that down the street.’ I thought perhaps we needed an exorcist for one laugh – it was like a guttural utterance,” says Carr.

But not laughing is only half the game – you also have to trip up your competitors. Carr says the best tactic for the “joker”, where the comedians perform a pre-prepared act, is to play against type. “Be the opposite of what people are expecting from you. For me, if I did some real, proper slapstick, people would go, ‘What?’”

Carr thinks his late friend Sean Lock would have been great on the show. “He was incredibly surreal and had amazing flights of fancy, and also was very competitive. Someone put together a really nice montage of me crying with laughter at Sean on the shows we did together.”

For her part, Conaty lists Jennifer Saunders, Tim Key, Lolly Adefope and Mo Gilligan as dream contestants.

The format of the show came from a Japanese series called Documental and there have been multiple versions, including in Ireland, Spain, Australia and Canada. “But I think the UK one is the best,” says Conaty. “It just doesn’t feel overproduced. It doesn’t make you cringe. It’s not try-hard. In the UK, we’ve got an ecosystem of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and of TV panel shows, so everyone’s aware of what the other person is capable of.”

As it turns out, they’re capable of turning six hours of jokes falling flat into one of the funniest things on television.

The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.

LOL: Last One Laughing UK season 2 begins Thursday 19 March on Prime Video – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.