Gbemisola Ikumelo: "I shouldn't be here, trying not to throw up into my dress because I can't laugh".

“Before I’d seen any of it [Last One Laughing UK] I was seeing people’s commentary and people sharing clips of it.” explains actress and writer, Gbemisola Ikumelo on how she fell into the world of Last One Laughing. 

I had a similar experience - seeing an online clip of series one contestant, Judi Love break down in laughter. The moment is made even funnier by the fact that the other contestants surrounding Judi are unable to laugh with her and all slowly disperse into other parts of the room. 

“Her moment of laughter was so blooming iconic, because I remember her laughter was like this bomb that had gone off… and everyone went and scattered. I just thought it was absolutely brilliant just seeing her just go. That was brilliant.” reflects Gbemi on the previous series’ performance of comedian Judi. 

Gbemisola stars in Series Two of the beloved franchise, which sees celebrities and comedians contend with one another in a room for six hours.

The goal? To be the last one laughing. 

“I remember watching it going, if I was in it, “I think I’d do this and that and the other,” and then it was almost like I'd manifested that moment, because very shortly after I'd said that, I got that call from my team.” 

Production kept the full cast a secret from each other right up until the final moment before filming began, “I was doing hair and makeup, and they wouldn't let me leave the room.” Gbemi mentions that she was worried “Romesh would be there”, but no one could’ve guessed that they’d bring back reigning victor, Bob Mortimer. 

Some of the series’ best moments are when the contestants have accidental “own goals”. It’s an incident like this in Series One which makes Gbemi think she would’ve loved to have been in the room with Daisy Cooper, who was carded for laughing at her own joke. She also reflects on how it would’ve been “fun just for the culture” to go head to head with Judi Love because “she’s brilliant.” 

On her actual time spent on the series (Gbemi won’t mention how far she made it), “it felt like low level torture in places,” reflecting on what it was like to hold back laughter around fellow comedy writers and comedians. 

“I was speaking to Mel [Giedroyc] who said, just from like, clenching, she'd damaged her bone, or something in the back of her mouth, from just all the jaw clenching and the dentist or someone's said, “Do you grind your teeth?” and it's that damn show.” 

It’s clear that the show elicits some form of impact greater than simple laughter. It’s something Gbemi has thought about a lot since her time on the series.

“I genuinely think there's a physiological response to suppressing laughter for that long. I'm now intent on doing research in connecting laughter and lack of it and torture. I'm gonna go back to university and do a whole PhD; that would be my thesis,” she states seriously.

And there 100% is something about that old adage “laughter is the best medicine“ and something in the phrase “if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.” Laughter can be transformative and for lots of people often comes at the most unfortunate time. 

I wanted to understand from Gbemi whether she had a gameplan going in and what other contestants had up their sleeves. Her own strategy was, “to just not laugh, rather than attempt to try and make other people laugh”, which I personally think is a pretty good route to take. 

She explains how as a comedy writer, for her the show was a different kind of beast as you don’t have time to sit and craft immaculate jokes (unless you’re Bob Mortimer, who carried a little notebook as well as a laptop filled with music so he could serenade his fellow contestants). 

In her career as a writer, Gbemi explains the process as being akin to, “getting five people giving you a note on one joke, and you can finesse that joke over many months. And then, finally, you film it and someone edits the best bits. It is like your joke goes through the biggest kind of purification process, rather than being there live and just being funny in the moment.” 

There’s nuance to being successful in Last One Laughing, simply because everyone is funny in their own right. The stand up comedians are quick to quip, sketch writers build off of what’s happening in the room and then you have the pre-prepared performances, the ‘Jokers’.

We’re treated to Mel Giedroyc performing on stage with a host of people in green morph suits supporting her as she flits between outrageous costumes and prose. Alan Carr asking fellow contestants to guess as to whether he’s concentrating or constipated. It’s amusing in the silliest of ways. 

After her experience on LOL, I’m keen to discover if Gbemi, who views herself firmly as an actor and writer over a comedian, would ever venture into the scary world of stand-up comedy. 

“Stand up is my Everest. I'm always like, it's something I'll probably do, just so I can say I did it and I didn't let the fear of it stop me from doing it… I just fell into comedy, I didn't intend to do it. I was like, I should be doing some very serious Shakespeare right now. You know, in Stratford someplace, I shouldn't be here, trying not to throw up into my dress because I can't laugh. It's like crazy, the direction my career is taking. I don't know how I got here, but I'm very thankful, very grateful.” 

Gbemi has had a fruitful career in the British comedy space, from her break out role in 2015 comedy series Sunny D, where she played the twin sister of Dane Baptiste through to her more recent work with collaborators Akemnji Ndifornyen and Hammed Animashaun on their BAFTA winning series, Black Ops. She also starred in The Paper, a spin-off of the much beloved mockumentary The Office US, produced by the same creative team. 

Describing Black Ops as a “sexy thriller with a comedy budget”, it’s this genre that she wants to see more risk being taken with. Panel shows simply aren’t enough anymore. 

Harking back to her strongest influences she loves her peers, Samson Kayo, “he has funny bones” but also gives flowers to fellow British Nigerian comedic legend Regina Obedapo Iyashere, or Gina Yashere, to many of us. Gbemi tells me about a story from her early days where she once saw her idol in a cafe and invited her to see a show she was in at the time. 

“She was so sweet,” she recalls fondly. “She went, “I would love to, but I'm actually moving to the States this week.” I remember thinking that was an excuse, and now I'm like, well, she definitely did, because she's now killing it in the US. So, that was just my luck.”

Last One Laughing UK Series Two is available now on Prime Video.