If we asked an expert, he would probably tell us that human psychology has a penchant for prohibited activities. And so, following the principle that if we are told not to think of an elephant we immediately visualize the image of a pachyderm, at the warning not to laugh we should all hold a deep breath so as not to explode into a thunderous laugh. Do not laugh is, in fact, the challenge that ten comedians are called to face in LOL: Who laughs is out, the new original format of Amazon Prime Video which will be available on the platform on April 1st with the first four episodes (the last 2 will arrive, instead, on the 8th). The program, an adaptation of the popular Japanese series HITOSHI MATSUMOTO Presents Documental also from Amazon, sees a group of comedy professionals forced to resist for 6 hours inside a soundstage facing a “battle of laughter” behind closed doors.
To try their hand at the company are Elio, Caterina Guzzanti, Lillo, Angelo Pintus, Frank Matano, Katia Follesa, Ciro and Fru of The Jackal, Michela Giraud and Luca Ravenna: all with clenched teeth to try both to make the opponents give in and to resist to hold back even the slightest hint of a smile. To check their microexpressions from the control room are Fedez, in his first experience as a host, and Mara Maiochi who, unlike the competitors, are allowed to laugh with laughter without clicking either the yellow card of the warning or the red one that sanctions elimination from the game. The winner, as can be easily guessed, will be the one who will resist the longest without laughing, which will be worth a symbolic prize of 100 thousand euros that will be donated to a charity. Although the premise may be simplistic, what strikes and is really underestimated in the program is the psychological strength of the protagonists, forced to deal with the running counter and with the attempts of sabotage of the opponents who, through disguises, jokes, stand -up and improvisation, they will try in every way to make them collapse (with all due respect to those who, even if they try very hard, cannot even tickle their colleagues starting to develop serious problems on their self-esteem).
To make it interesting LOL it is, of course, the first-rate selection of competitors (Amazon has the resources to afford them and it is certainly not a secret, it has also shown us with the cast of the second edition of Celebrity Hunted) and also the different styles that will lead each of them to draw out the best weapon to move forward in the game. Without spoilers, suffice it to say that the names that seemed destined to leave immediately have, against all odds, resisted with honor until the laughter exploded in his mouth and Fedez did not have to peep to communicate their fate. The starting idea is good, the balances hold, but what risks screeching and boring for the viewer is the length: the episodes last half an hour each, but at a certain the mechanism becomes repetitive and it is necessary to give a steering to speed up times and understand where you want to go. It is no coincidence that such a program, produced by EndemolShine and particularly playful and colorful, exploded in Japan, even if it was then replicated in Mexico and Australia before arriving at the same time in Germany, Spain, France and Italy. Removing the big names like Elio and Matano would risk collapsing the house of cards and this is the perplexity for a next edition which, if it could not count on such a strong cast, would risk going unnoticed.
(Credits: ©️Prime Video & Amazon Studios)
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