5 Clues in Amazon’s Bully Show

The comedy show LOL: Last One Laughing, hosted by Michael ‘Bully’ Herbig, was again a pleasure in season 5. Laughing willingly, I surrendered to the series on Amazon Prime * for 6 episodes. However, at least once a season I fall into a brooding spiral because I… Stop ignoring the show’s “mistakes.” can.

LOL Mistake: The Bully Show’s inconsistencies spoil the enjoyment of the comedy

In film there is something called “suspension of disbelief”. It means I can ignore that something is impossible or simply fictional for the sake of entertainment. But what about a comedy show like LOL: Last One Laughing, which is based on the very realistic idea that stars are locked in a room for six hours and are not allowed to laugh?

What happens if I see the “seams” of the show and suddenly can no longer watch Last One Laughing with smooth enjoyment? 5 ways the Bully show takes me out of its cheerful world, don’t let me go. It is therefore time for one maximum to carry out a scientific investigative investigation into the LOL inconsistencies – which, on the whole, produce a disturbing picture. Read at your own risk.

1. When do the LOL stars actually go to the toilet?

The LOL concept is simple. Ten stars cram into a studio for six hours and try to make the others laugh while they don’t. It is understandable that it is not possible to have a continuous comedy stream and that the filming time is therefore condensed into six half-hour episodes. Despite it The time jumps raise essential questions. For example: When are the LOL participants actually allowed to go to the toilet if the forced seriousness takes a massive toll on their bladders?

Maybe the studio doesn’t have a toilet and everyone wears diapers? That would explain why no one asks if anyone is in the bathroom when the bell goes. There is probably an official one on the hour Toilet break, which is simply hidden from the show. But what if nature calls earlier to demand the human right to regular relief? With all the things stars drink and eat to keep their mouths from laughing, that wouldn’t be a surprise. But then going to the toilet could also be used as an escape from a difficult laughing situation. And this “Lies of Omission” are just the tip of the iceberg.

2. When do the LOL interviews take place?

To lighten up the bully show, LOL also sprinkles short interviews into the studio recordings. Here the stars comment on difficult situations or particularly successful performances of their challengers. Logic dictates that these statements be included after the show ends. But can you really remember everything that happened in those 6 hours? Or do they watch it again later and provide their audio commentary like with a DVD extra?

Just why Most of the interviewees speak in the present tense (“Did I just laugh? I don’t know?”) instead of looking back logically at the events? Is this supposed to give the impression that there is a short time after each episode or even in the middle to evaluate what happened? That would break the six hours. The nagging question of how these offset elements fit together disrupts my logical understanding of the LOL experience.

3. Watch Bully and the eliminated really to?

While we’re already looking behind the scenes: How real is Bully’s surveillance back room? and his role as an observer? The show boasts of the dozens of cameras installed throughout the studio, capturing every laugh. But one person alone can’t possibly keep an eye on so many screens at once, and Bully’s video wall only shows a fraction. So there is another one real Surveillance center in which secret Heinzel observes individual cameras and participants and then passes on their discoveries to Michael Herbig?

And what about LOL participants who were eliminated early like Elyas M’Barek and Ina Müller? Are they really going to sit in the back room for five more hours? Her Reactions are into funny things rarely specific, but rather fall into the interchangeable one-player spectrum of “Oh, that’s hard” and “Now he’s fighting.” These doubts increase so much that I wonder whether Bully is just the puppet of secret puppet masters who records a few pithy sayings to press the buzzer.

4. How reliable is Amazon’s LOL watch?

As the six LOL hours progress, Last One shows Laughing repeatedly the countdown clock. But do the hours, minutes and seconds shown there really correspond to reality? It happens suspiciously often (at least twice a season) that an episode ends with a buzzer-beating cliffhanger right on time and we have to wait until the next episode to find out who was caught laughing.

But when time is manipulated in LOL, it opens up a whole new field of fraud. Who tells me that the clock isn’t used completely randomly and that the show actually ends much earlier? Hasn’t anyone particularly funny ever won the season before the six episodes are up?

5. Last One Laughing: Is the prize manipulated?

Ultimately, this drives me to the most serious doubts: What if… LOL winners: a set-up game are? This starts with the question of when does a laugh at LOL count as a laugh. Are some people more likely to turn a blind eye than others? There is a wide spectrum between twitching lips, indefinable Max Giermann grimaces and an obvious grin. Objective decisions suddenly seem like an impossibility.

In addition, the Bully Show can hide a lot with its choice of cameras, unless your name is Hazel Brugger and you are resigned to your own outburst of hilarity. I often believe half a grin in the background to make out. But if what is shown is already the best “non-laughing” camera angles, what rule violations take place off-screen?

Otto Waalkes did not become the expected LOL winner of season 5. The comedy veteran struggled for control from the start. Several times I thought I saw him smiling in the blur. But when you have someone like Otto on the show, you probably don’t throw him out in Round 1, right? What understandable, but still unfair were.

I begrudged Anke Engelke her win after three attempts, but maybe LOL was just fulfilling the audience’s longing for her victory here too? Ralf Schmitz visibly struggled to hold his own against Mirja Boes in the season 5 finale, but because he was such an active participant and the finale had to improve, LOL always seemed to cut away when the twitching of the corners of the mouth became too obvious.

As long as Amazon’s show keeps me hooked through Season 6 and the Halloween special with its most important feature (stars fighting for composure), I can probably continue to suspend my disbelief for the sake of entertainment 80% of the time believe in the lies to have fun. But the remaining 20% ​​I’ll still want to take a look behind the scenes at LOL to find out how honest the comedy format is really is to us.

Podcast about LOL: The strengths and weaknesses of the best German Amazon series

Ten comedy stars, six hours, one studio and no one is allowed to laugh. That is the concept of the currently best German Amazon series, which is hosted by Michael “Bully” Herbig.

In this edition of the Moviepilot podcast Streamgegefrums, avowed fans of LOL: Last One Laughing explain what makes the show so appealing, share favorite moments and discuss LOL’s weaknesses.

*. If you purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.