\n<\/p>\n
In early 2016, James Farrell, then the head of content at Amazon Studios for Japan, was looking for original programming that could help the streamer gain a foothold in the region.<\/p>\n
After months of searching, Farrell recalled recently, he was open to any concept, no matter how strange or unconventional. Then, over a late night dinner, one of the country\u2019s most prominent comedians, Hitoshi Matsumoto, suggested an idea to Farrell that he said the Japanese networks had never let him do: Ten comedians gather in a room and try to make each other laugh. The last one to keep a straight face wins.<\/p>\n
It might not sound like much. But Farrell, who is now a vice president at Amazon Studios, based in Los Angeles, thought \u201c\u2018That\u2019s it. That\u2019s the one,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI was so certain that this was the monster I was looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The resulting program, a four-episode, roughly three-hour comedy game show called \u201cHitoshi Matsumoto Presents: Documental,\u201d<\/a> quickly became one of the most popular shows on Prime Video in Japan, producing a rabid fan base and 13 seasons over the past eight years.<\/p>\n It also launched a sprawling international franchise, with local versions in more than a dozen territories around the world. Rebranded abroad as \u201cLOL: Last One Laughing,\u201d the format remains almost exactly as Matsumoto first pitched it, with each version drawing contestants from the country\u2019s top comedians and comedy actors. It now has iterations in Italy, Mexico, Spain, France, Canada (both in French and in English), Denmark, Colombia and more \u2014 each of which, almost without exception, has found an enthusiastic audience in its country of origin.<\/p>\n \u201cOn paper, the idea of people not laughing for however many hours doesn\u2019t sound like it\u2019s going to be entertaining,\u201d said the comedian Graham Norton, the host of an Irish version of \u201cLOL\u201d<\/a> that premieres Friday. \u201cAnd yet when you watch it, you realize that it is fun \u2014 it is oddly entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n The comedy antics \u2014 some prepared, some improvised \u2014 are often amusing. But it\u2019s the contestants\u2019 strained efforts to suppress their laughter that is really compelling. They moan and scream; their faces cramp and contort wildly. There\u2019s an air of frenzied desperation. \u201cI think of it almost like a psychological experiment, a human experiment,\u201d said the actress Anke Engelke, who has starred on \u201cLOL Germany.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s an intense experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In its early days, the franchise\u2019s success didn\u2019t seem guaranteed. Even after the runaway success of \u201cDocumental,\u201d Farrell and his colleagues had a hard time persuading producers in other territories to take a chance on the format. Part of the problem was the Japanese version\u2019s style of humor, which skewed ribald and scatological: Some of the contestants stripped nude to make their competitors crack up, and the gags could sometimes get outrageously suggestive. \u201cI\u2019d show it to other countries,\u201d Farrell said, \u201cand they\u2019d be like, \u2018Uh, we don\u2019t have to get naked, right?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Bully Herbig, a German comedian who hosts \u201cLOL Germany,\u201d was put off immediately. \u201cI thought it was too weird,\u201d he said. The show\u2019s German production company, Constantin Entertainment, convinced Herbig that theirs would be a more family-friendly version. He ultimately agreed, in large part, because he assumed \u201cLOL Germany\u201d would be a niche show: \u201cI said, you know what? Let\u2019s try it. Nobody will ever see it anyway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Instead, it became the most-streamed series on Amazon Prime Video in Germany, spanning four seasons and a Christmas special, and was recently nominated for an International Emmy Award. \u201cNobody could have ever imagined how successful this would be,\u201d Herbig said. \u201cIt\u2019s the best job I ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLOL Germany\u201d is made by Germans for Germans, and despite its Emmy nomination it has not found an audience elsewhere: pretty much the only people watching \u201cLOL Germany\u201d outside of the country, according to Farrell, are Germans living abroad. That\u2019s been the true of each version of the show. \u201cLOL France\u201d is a hit among French viewers; \u201cLOL Mexico\u201d is adored in Mexico and Mexico alone. It is specific, highly localized content, entirely by design.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Pretty much the only place \u201cLast One Laughing\u201d is not a hit is the United States. Prime Video\u2019s American programming teams, Farrell said, are responsible for big-budget spectacles such as \u201cReacher<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Rings of Power<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Boys<\/a>\u201d \u2014 broad, widely accessible action and fantasy blockbusters which draw audiences across the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBut for the price of one of those big U.S. shows, I can make 20 versions of \u2018LOL,\u2019 and in aggregate those 20 \u2018LOL\u2019s will do as well as any of the big tent-poles,\u201d Farrell said. According to Amazon, the third season of \u201cLOL France\u201d had the biggest day-one launch ever on Prime Video, and \u201cLOL Italy\u201d is its most watched Italian show.<\/p>\n That allows \u201cLOL\u201d the freedom to lean in to cultural specificity. The Japanese version had its over-the-top raunchiness; the Germans are milder and more PG. Though the format never changes, each version, owing to the national character of the humor, feels unique.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things I enjoy about the show is that they didn\u2019t try to make it bland, or international,\u201d like so much of contemporary TV, Norton said. \u201cThe Irish version \u201cis so Irish,\u201d he said. \u201cLots of the references in the show are deep-dive Irish references, things that a U.K. audience wouldn\u2019t even understand.\u201d (A possible British version has been rumored<\/a>, though not confirmed.)<\/p>\n Not every iteration of \u201cLOL\u201d has been a resounding success: The Australian, Hindi and Tamil versions only had one season apiece. But because \u201cLOL\u201d is so inexpensive and quick to produce (it takes about a day and a half to shoot a series), and because it features a group of famous comedians, \u201cit\u2019s always going to do at least OK,\u201d Farrell said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt isn\u2019t something that can really bomb,\u201d he added. \u201cThe floor is really high.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n