The Last Laugh
The Eric Morecambe Centre, Harpenden
This brand-new play imagines three of Britain’s all-time greatest comedy heroes – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – sitting in a dressing room, discussing the secret of life, death, comedy and what it means to be funny … really funny!
The Last Laugh is written and directed by panto producer and former TV presenter Paul Hendy, and stars Bob Golding as Eric Morecambe, Simon Cartwright as Bob Monkhouse and Damian Williams as Tommy Cooper. All three members of the cast have portrayed these characters before, Golding in the Olivier Award winning Morecambe by Tim Whitnall, Cartwright in the 2015 smash hit The Man Called Monkhouse and Williams in the 2013 national tour of Being Tommy Cooper.
The idea of a play centred around the life of a famous person is hardly unusual however here Hendy brings three of Britain’s all-time greatest funny men back to life together and the result is comedy gold. It is very rare to watch three actors ‘impersonating’ three of your television heroes and completely forget that is what they are – actors.
On screen, John C. Reilly managed to do this in Stan and Ollie, the wonderful biopic of Laurel and Hardy and Elizabeth Debicki did the same thing as Princess Diana in The Crown. On stage, only Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate in Dear England springs to mind and yet in this production all three members of the outstanding cast are simply superb.
The show is based on Hendy’s short film of the same name which won ‘Best Film’ at the Manchester Film Festival, ‘Special Audience Award’ at the Oxford Film Festival and ‘Best Comedy Drama’ at The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Credit must be given to Hendy for not only writing and directing such a touching and insightful play but for casting it magnificently.
It’s clear Hendy is a huge fan and the play delves deeply into the mechanics and intricacies behind comedy itself. 2024 marks the fortieth anniversary of the deaths of both Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe, and whilst this is a celebration of a golden age of television comedy, it doesn’t do so at the expense of today’s comedians as is so often the case. It is nostalgic without being critical of a new generation of comics many of whom were greatly influenced by these three very funny men.
The wall of the dressing room is festooned by black and white photos of the comics who inspired this trio of first class comedians and we watch with delight as they playfully impersonate such giants as Robb Wilton, George Formby (Golding complete with ukulele) and the irrepressible Max Miller (look out for the gas mask joke!)
This is a World Premiere and indeed I saw the very first performance of a play that has ‘hit’ written all over it. After 3 performances in Harpenden the show travels to Edinburgh for the Festival. It will be a hot ticket so if you are in the area make sure you see this production before anything else and before it inevitably sells out. In short, it is an exceptional theatrical experience.
The Last Laugh is warm, funny, nostalgic and poignant. You are unlikely to see anything better this year not only in the Scottish capital but anywhere in the UK. Hendy has created something very, very special – just like that!
The Last Laugh runs at Assembly George Square Gardens at 13.20hrs from 31 July to 25 August.
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Reviewer: Patric Kearns