Richard Ayoade recalls 'stress' being locked in dark room for 'six hours' before Last One Laughing filming
Last One Laughing bosses wanted to hide Richard Ayoade and his series one co-stars from each other so that the cast would not know who was doing the show before filming started.
Richard Ayoade was "stressed" being locked in a dark room for "six hours" before he shot Last One Laughing.
Bosses of the Amazon Prime Video show - which challenges 10 comics not to crack a laugh as they spend time together in a house, with those failing being evicted - wanted its series one stars not to find out their cast members before filming started.
Richard - who did the programme with the likes of Bob Mortimer, 66, Joe Wilkinson, 50, Judi Love, 45, and 44 year old Sara Pascoe - told the Richard Herring podcast: "I found it very stressful to do, like a genuine adrenal level of full anxiety, which is almost my resting pulse, because they didn't want us to know who else was in the show.
"So we were in like blacked-out changing rooms for about six hours, which, if you're maybe a tiny bit on the neurotic scale of things, it's not ideal for a calm disposition going in.
"So I feel adrenalized and uncomfortable for a change."
Due to how "stressful" it was for the cast not to laugh, Richard, 48, cannot remember much about the show - hosted by comics Jimmy Carr, 53, and 46 year old Roisin Conaty.
Richard - who finished as runner-up - said: "It was odd because you have no real recollection of it because it's so stressful trying not to have any response.
"I have a lifetime's experience in not responding. But even so, I'm also counter-suggestible. So those two things started to conflict."
The star is thrilled that Bob won the programme - which is based on the Japanese show, Documental.
Richard said: "I think Bob was very well placed to win because he's very funny."
However, Bob struggled not to burst into fits of laughter.
He told press: "I thought it would be easy not to laugh," he said. "[I] spend most of my days not laughing, so I thought it would be easy, but it's so difficult! [It's] just a strange atmosphere, I was really struggling in the beginning."
Asked how he managed not to laugh, he added: "I just walked away. There was a few contestants [where] I just couldn't look at their faces, so I just veered away."
Last One Laughing is returning for a second series in 2026, and Bob will be back to defend his crown.
He will be joined by David Mitchell, 51, Diane Morgan, 50, Romesh Ranganathan, 47, Amy Gledhill, Maisie Adam, 31, Mel Giedroyc, 57, Alan Carr, 49, Gbemisola Ikumelo, 39, and 34 year old Sam Campbell.
