Writer/Director: Paul Hendy
Writer and director Paul Hendy is obsessed with comedy – more specifically the ‘old-school’ style of comedy he remembers as a child. The Last Laugh began life in Edinburgh in 2024 before hitting the heights of the West End and now nears the end of a national tour. A love letter to a bygone era, the show is a charming and hugely entertaining delve into three comedians (and the wider comedic spectrum) that underpinned British music hall and televisual light entertainment in the second half of the twentieth century.
The dressing room mirror lights flicker ominously as the show goes up. There is a certain air of an eerie spectral quality that punctuates the show, juxtaposed with the genius wit displayed by the unforgettable Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecombe and Bob Monkhouse. The set is a dated and shabby dressing room of an unknown theatre as the trio prepare for the stage, comparing notes on comedy and dropping in a few of their best gags. Channeling the mannerisms, idiosyncrasies and voices of these legends are Damian Williams (Tommy Cooper), Simon Cartwright (Bob Monkhouse) and, in this performance, understudy Richard Hodder (Eric Morecombe). Hendy admits that, although each comedian brings a different quality of performance to the melting pot, the reason why he chose these particular three was that he knew some great actors who could play them. And indeed, they can! Blink twice and you could be transported forty years into the past and be watching the real deal. Special mention must go to cover Richard Hodder playing Eric Morecombe in this performance. A daunting feat it must be to understudy all three of these giants with such diametrically opposed affectations.
Hendy is interested in the word funny. How do gags work? Why do we laugh? What exactly is the secret of comedy and why is something funny? Double act or solo performer? Gag teller or gag writer? What is funny? “You chisel jokes. I use a sledgehammer,” Cooper quips to Monkhouse. This is the essence of the show. The smart thing about The Last Laugh is that Hendy allows this discussion to be aired through the gags themselves. They come thick and fast. A bit of Cooper eccentricity one minute, an Eric Morecombe song the next punctuated with a polished Monkhouse traditional set-up and punchline. Hendry celebrates the beauty of the differing styles of this era and in turn they refer back to the generation that inspired them – George Formby, Arthur Askey, Max Wall, Max Miller, Max Bygraves, Sid James all the wall of the dressing room. Hendry leans heavily into the dramatic irony of Cooper’s onstage and live televised death at His Majesty’s Theatre in 1984. With the flickering lights, the pictures on the wall and the reminiscing of times gone by, the setting has more the feel of a ghostly waiting room rather than a dressing room.
With a running time of eighty minutes the show does exactly what it is meant to. It will always appeal to a certain generation who wish to remember Tommy’s Fez, Eric pipe and Bob’s tanned face as shiny as his patent leather shoes. It is extremely funny and excellently performed. Bulked out with an interval followed by a thirty-minute question and answer session it allows the audience to wallow in nostalgia. Hendy could be accused of writing more of a presentation than a play. As humorous the discussions are there is a lack of narrative drive. We get the sense that Cooper may well be venturing out from his dressing room for his very last laugh but the play sometimes gets a little bogged down in exposition of backstory and is especially on the nose for Monkhouse. As interesting as these revelations are from events in their personal lives there is something a little crowbarred as opposed to organic in their inclusion in the writing.
For anyone who fondly remembers these greats, The Last Laugh is a celebration of Tommy, Eric and Bob’s talent and genius and an exploration into what makes funny … funny . They may be ghosts now but the laughter will remain forever.
Runs until 20th September 2025
