The principle of Amazon’s LOL: Last One Laughing is as simple as it is ingenious: 10 comedy stars are locked in a room for six hours and are not allowed to laugh. Together with regular stand-up performances by the participants and nasty challenges such as the appearance of one of the greatest comedy legends of all time, this task usually turns into a crazy spectacle.
As well as the concept of LOL has worked for four seasons, the Amazon format could use a few changes by now. I have three wishes or demands collected.
1st LOL change: Bully has to suffer too!
In every LOL season, Bully embodies the sympathetic game master who can hardly stop himself from laughing. He’s been resting in that comfortable position for far too long now. It’s about time that Bully sometimes gets his own medicine to swallow.
In the next season, one of the previous stars like Max Giermann or Hazel Brugger should take over the position of the game director, while Bully himself is one of the participants and has to fight not to be allowed to laugh.
2nd LOL change: The cast has to rely on lesser-known faces
In the previous LOL seasons, the 10-strong cast consists of an estimated 90 percent stars, who mainly trigger nostalgic feelings and have a lot of fans. This factor is so strained by the Amazon show that many participants such as Martina Hill or Kurt Krömer were allowed to compete several times.
LOL should focus a lot more on lesser-known stars in the future, in which unpredictable or chaotic potential plugged. The personality of a Max Giermann, for example, has become quite predictable on the Amazon show. Especially when it comes to his (nevertheless brilliant) parodies of Klaus Kinski, Jorge González, Stefan Raab & Co. On the other hand, I want to see a lot more from comparatively less well-known talents like Jan van Weyde!
3. LOL change: The real-time concept must finally be fully exploited
LOL is always recorded for six hours. In the end, however, we only get to see six cut episodes with a total length of three hours. The Real-time concept à la Big Brother we must never pursue it in all its glory.
Of course, in this way the Amazon show protects us from “boring” idle or rather irritating scenes. LOL could still reinvent itself in the short term through such a radical experiment, exploring reality TV depths that have only been hinted at until now.
Especially the interpersonal moments, like the surprisingly malicious Christoph Maria Herbst in season 3, could appear even more often. More complex character facets in the style of a psycho war like in the jungle camp are also possible. Besides, would the intensity of the challengereally having to hold out with the stars for six hours at a time, automatically increase.
Finally give me the full six hours LOL!
Podcast about LOL: The strengths and weaknesses of the best German Amazon series
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In this edition of Streamgegeför, self-confessed LOL fans explain what makes the best German Amazon series so appealing, share favorite moments and formulate wishes as to what the show needs to change in order to have a ridiculously long life. Listen up!
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