Amazon pulled out all the stops to ensure the success of the Quebec adaptation of LOL: Last One Laughingwhich will land on Prime Video in early 2023. The global giant has surrounded host Patrick Huard with several big hitters, has learned The Press.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
A total of 10 personalities, most comedians, took part in LOL: Who will have the last laugh? Filming took place in secret last spring in Montreal. In keeping with the parameters of the Japanese-originated format, the star contestants spent six hours cooped up together within four walls, with the sole purpose of making others laugh…without laughing themselves. Because as soon as a candidate gave a chuckle, he was walking out the door.
Yves P. Pelletier, Laurent Paquin and Rachid Badouri took part in the filming. These are the three senior members of the group. On the younger side, we note the presence of Marie-Lyne Joncas, Mathieu Dufour, alias Math Duff, and Arnaud Soly.
Reached by telephone, the latter describes the experience as “a mental and physical tour de force”.
It’s really counter-intuitive to make people laugh without laughing. Because we’re used to empathizing with other people’s humor.
Arnaud Soly
Father of a one-and-a-half-month-old baby at the time of filming, Arnaud Soly says he was in “a rather interesting level of madness” because of the lack of sleep. “I’m telling you about it, and I feel like I’m talking about a funny dream I had or a trip of mushit was so weird, ”says the host of Club Solyon Noovo.
It should be noted that Prime Video is not the only foreign platform on which Mathieu Dufour will operate over the next few months. Last summer, Netflix cameras captured his show at the Bell Center in front of 13,000 people.
Richardson Zéphyr, which many have discovered in Big Brother Celebrities, also took part in the game, as did Edith Cochrane and — surprise! — Christine Morency. We write “surprise”, because all those who know this comedian even a little know how often she laughs… and powerfully! Whether as a panelist at Fantastic of Véronique Cloutier, at Rouge FM, or as a guest on various talk shows or television quizzes, Christine Morency always ends up siler so much she laughs. In other words, we would be surprised if she survived more than ten minutes in LOL: Who will have the last laugh?
But with her contagious laughter, she could lead to the elimination of some candidates by lowering the flag… To be continued.
Virginie Fortin completes the 2022 vintage of the competition. In an interview, the actress and improviser admits to having hesitated before accepting the invitation from Amazon. “On paper, it seemed completely silly, but part of me was intrigued,” says the one who was convinced after taking a look at the Italian and French versions.
Virginie Fortin has fond memories of the recording. The experience also forced her to reassess her view of reality TV contestants.
” When I look OD, I’m often like: “Come on! She is therefore quite silly to have said such and such a case!” But [dans LOL : Qui rira le dernier ?], I’ve seen respectable people stoop to all sorts of things to make other people laugh. Because we quickly forget the cameras. It’s so weird… Coming out of the loft, it’s like coming out of a parallel universe. »
The person who remained impassive throughout the experience won a grand prize of $100,000, which they donated to their desired charity.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AMAZON STUDIOS
Patrick Huard, host of LOL: Who will have the last laugh?
Amazon “very involved”
Divided into six one-hour episodes, the series LOL: Who will have the last laugh? will be broadcast in 240 countries and territories on Prime Video. The production of the Quebec adaptation has been entrusted to Attraction, box behind Live from the universe and Silence, let’s play !
According to Jean-François Boulianne, Executive Producer, Content and Development at Attraction, Amazon was “very involved” in the adventure, in particular to form the group of participants. “They have people who know the industry in Quebec. They knew most of the people we suggested. We could have constructive discussions. They wanted a variety of profiles, styles and ages. »
When the arrival of LOL: Who will have the last laugh? was announced last March, the vice-president of local original productions of Amazon Studios, James Farrell, had praised the “reputation” of Quebec in humor.
LOL: Who will have the last laugh? joins the list of original Canadian — and Quebec — productions recently launched by Amazon, which includes For one night onlyevenings of humor concocted by Juste pour rire/Just For Laughs TV, Three Pinesa fiction series based on the novels by Louise Penny, which is expected in December, and The Lake (in French, Lake), a comedy by Montreal author and actor Julian Doucet.
As for the format LOL: Last One Laughing, he continues to conquer the planet. German, Italian, French, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Australian, Spanish versions have notably been produced. Released in February, the first season of the English-Canadian adaptation was piloted by Jay Baruchel.