LOL: Last One Laughing | Jon Lajoie returns to the spotlight

You lost track of Jon Lajoie since The Black Dog Inn ? Rest assured. Fourteen years after experiencing a meteoric rise thanks to viral music videos Everyday Normal Guy, showme Your Genitals and F**k Everything on YouTube, he seems to spin the perfect happiness in Los Angeles. Converted into a songwriter of film music, the Quebecer has however decided to put on his humorist hat for Amazon Prime Video.

Marc-Andre Lemieux
The Press

As of January 18, you will be able to follow Lajoie in LOL: Last One Laughing, a new reality show hosted by actor Jay Baruchel in which 10 Canadian comedians, gathered in the same place, try to accomplish the following mission: to make others laugh… without emitting the slightest laugh. Because if they laugh themselves, they undergo elimination and must leave the competition.

Proof of the iconic status achieved by Jon Lajoie at the turn of 2007 and 2008, he shared the show’s starring role with several big names in English-Canadian humor, including Caroline Rhea, Tom Green and Dave Foley.

Filming for the six episodes took place last August in Toronto. If Lajoie seems relaxed at the start of the adventure, it’s because he was hiding his game well. Zoomthe main interested party says he asked Baruchel for the location of the emergency exits, in case he had a panic attack.

But knowing all this, why did Jon Lajoie accept the invitation of Last One Laughing ?

“That’s a good question,” replied the 41-year-old. Normally, just by reading the title of the email, I would have refused. But after a year and a half of the pandemic working alone at home, I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to be with other people!” It looked fun. And then there was a chance to win $100,000 for Doctors Without Borders. I knew I was going to be super anxious, but I wanted to give it a try. »

Due to an embargo imposed by Amazon Prime Video, several details of the show must remain secret. This is why Lajoie’s comments on the flash – but highly noticed – appearance of a hockey player very popular with Quebecers in the second episode will remain on our recorder until further notice. Small consolation: we can transcribe his general impression of the other competitors.

“Maybe it’s because we were all Canadian, but everyone was really nice! »

Still a CH fan

LOL: Last One Laughing allowed Jon Lajoie to take a break from a certain pandemic and visit his loved ones (he comes from a family of nine children), who still live in Montreal.

Before flying to Toronto, the comedian landed in Quebec, the time to spend time with his family and fully appreciate the crazy epic of CH in the playoffs.

“It was amazing! exclaims the hockey fan.

Of course, the return to earth was brutal. Six months later, Lajoie follows with a deliberately distracted eye the (counter-)performances of Dominique Ducharme’s men.

“I’m always going to be a fan, but this year, because it’s misery, I’m taking a break,” he says, smiling.

Expatriate

Although he has lived in the United States for 13 years, Jon Lajoie does not feel like an American. Laughing, he evokes a return to Montreal in a few years, depending on the result of the presidential election of 2024.

Lajoie jokes, because since he is pursuing a prolific career as a songwriter on the small and big screen, it would be surprising if he left California to return home. Among his recent accomplishments are catchy songtheme song of the second Lego moviereleased in 2019. Since January, we can also hear his compositions in The Afterpartya new series from Apple TV+.

In an interview, Lajoie explains that after spending six years playing in The Leaguea sitcom on the FXX network that aired from 2009 to 2015, he took some time to reflect.

This little break turned out to be decisive. “I realized that I like to create things, but that I don’t have to be in the spotlight all the time,” says the jack-of-all-trades.

Back to basics

In terms of humor, Lajoie found his way back to YouTube at the start of the pandemic by posting Thank God for the Nerds, an earworm as a tribute to scientists. Last year, he drew the wrath of anti-vaxxers by launching One Thing, a ballad in which he mentions having received his two doses. “I didn’t realize there was potential for controversy,” Lajoie says, suppressing a grimace.

This unexpected “back to basics” excited a large number of Internet users, who were bored of the subversive character who sang Everyday Normal Guyhis first viral clip dating from 2008. When we talk about this particularly effervescent period, Jon Lajoie smiles.

Can we expect more quirky offerings of the genre over the next few years? Hard to say. One thing is certain, Jon Lajoie is preparing the next album of Wolfie’s Just Fine, his “serious” musical project with folk accents that he created in 2016.

“It’s exciting because it’s very different from all the other things I do. Writing a song that doesn’t need to make people laugh is more relaxed. And it’s more personal. »

The first season of LOL: Last One Laughing lands on Amazon Prime Video on February 18.