Aisling Bea has said that she used knitting as a distraction technique while making LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland, the new show which pits ten Irish comedians against each other in a battle of wits and titters.
The six-part series, which starts on streaming site Prime Video this Friday, sees the funnymen and women cooped up in a room for six straight hours with one challenge - make your fellow comics laugh without laughing yourself.
The ten comedians taking part all come from very different schools of laughs - Bea, Catherine Bohart, Amy Huberman, Deidre O'Kane, Emma Doran, Tony Cantwell, Martin Angelo, Paul Tylak, David McSavage and Jason Byrne.
On the new show, which is hosted by Graham Norton, Kildare comedian and actor Bea is first into the room and she immediately nabs a giant pair of knitting needles, an outsized yarn of wool and formulates her gameplan - knit like the clappers, ignore everyone else and try not to end up in stiches.
Graham Norton: 'Last One Laughing Ireland is a runaway train!'
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment at the launch of the show, she said, "Props to the art department on this show, they’ve done an incredible job because the set is really beautiful and when I first went in, I went straight for the knitting needles and wool.
"I had all this nervous energy because I was on my own because I went in first so I started knitting. I did it for six hours and ended up with a whole scarf!"
Quite simply, on LOL: Ireland, if you laugh, you lose.
10 Irish comedians in a room together… why is no one laughing?! 🤣
— Prime Video UK & IE (@primevideouk) January 4, 2024
LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland drops on Prime Video on 19th of January #LOLIRL #LastOneLaughing pic.twitter.com/Q4DzP2JF5C
However, asked how she feels when she’s on stage or tv and one of her gags is met with tumbleweed, Bea said, "Oh, it’s the reason why millions of people aren’t trying to get into stand-up comedy.
"There was a survey done that found that most people would rather be a dead person at a funeral than have to speak at a funeral."
LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland is Prime Video’s first Irish original series and the format has already had hit Italian, French, and German versions.
Asked what sets Irish comedy apart from the UK or US, Bea, who began her acting career on RTÉ soap Fair City in 2009, said, "When you watch the other versions of this show from other countries, you do see a connecting cultural thing that’s very different.
"Some people use physical humour but for us Irish it’s deadpan and `warm undermining’. It’s never mean. You feel seen when someone undermines you in a warm way. There’s a sense that you’re important enough for someone to come after you."
On the show, Bea’s fellow comedian Emma Doran has her strategy primed from the very start - she immediately targets the perma-smiling Amy Huberman by asking her some rather risqué questions about her husband, Brian O’Driscoll.
"She’s just so smiley and so nice and I thought I’d get her on a smile," Emma said. "Look, I feel she has enough already - she has the straight acting and the comedy acting, she has her books, and she’s married to possibly one of the most beloved men in Ireland.
"So, I decided to ask her some questions about her husband but I thought people would want to know the answers. It was a public service!"
Alan Corr @CorrAlan2
LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland, launches Friday 19 January on Prime Video
