Aisling Bea among cast for Graham Norton’s LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland

By Hannah Roberts, PA

This Way Up star Aisling Bea has been announced as one of the 10 Irish comedians who will compete for €50,000 prize money in a new original series on Prime Video.

Hosted by Graham Norton, Bea will join comics Catherine Bohart, Jason Byrne, David McSavage, Deirdre O’Kane, Emma Doran, Amy Huberman, Martin Angolo, Paul Tylak and Tony Cantwell for the series LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland.

The comics will compete for the cash, which will go to a charity of their choice.

On the show, comics will have their funniest performances at the ready to try and make their competitors laugh and take one step closer to winning the prize.

Norton recently co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest alongside Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina and Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon.

Japanese entertainment show Documental inspired the LOL: Last One Laughing series, which was created by Hitoshi Matsumoto, who was also host of the gameshow.

Speaking about the new show, Norton said he is “thrilled” to be involved.

He said: “I’m so proud of our comedy culture and it’s wonderful to have a platform to showcase Irish talent to a global audience.

“I can’t wait to see what our comedy masterminds do to get the laughter going.”

Bea is no stranger to game shows, having made appearances on QI, Taskmaster and 8 Out Of 10 Cats, while Byrne is known for his Live At The Apollo performances and has appeared regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The format for LOL: Last One Laughing has been duplicated in multiple countries including France, Germany, Italy and Australia, where the show was hosted by Hollywood star Rebel Wilson.

It was recently confirmed by Prime Video that Trevor Noah will host LOL: Last One Laughing South Africa, which will be the streaming service’s first South African original.

The six-part series is slated to launch in 2024.