As far as press nights go this will be one that will stay with me. The Noel Coward Theatre in The West End was almost a full house for the press night of The Last Laugh. It’s very rare to see an almost full auditorium of famous faces from the world of television and comedy, some of which are legendary in their own right.

The Last Laugh ran at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 to sell-out performances. Now it is starting in the West End in The Noel Coward Theatre before going on tour across the UK.

Comedy has changed over the decades. The Last Laugh offers a trip down memory lane for many older audience members as the comedians would have been the favourites of their parents and grandparents. Tommy Cooper for example is a comedian that I have appreciated as I have got older. His timings, facial expressions and total command of the audience without saying a word were incredible.

Tommy Cooper is played by Damian Williams whose uncanny similarity to the legendary comedian was striking. Williams has studied Cooper’s performances in detail through his body language, facial expressions and the silent command of the audience throughout the play. Along with the iconic Fez that Cooper always wore.

Williams is joined onstage by two other comedy legends Bob Monkhouse (Simon Cartwright) and Eric Morecambe (Bob Golding) there’s a mutual respect between the three comedians as they openly discuss the highs and lows they face being in the public eye. Out of the three Cooper appears to be the one on the surface who is affected less by the stress of performing.

The entire performance is set in a tatty older dressing room, one wall is littered with old playbills and another has a “wall of fame” photographs of deceased comedy legends from Max Miller, Tony Hancock and Sid James with one space that at some point had a photograph there by the discolouration around the empty gap.

For anyone who remembers the night that Cooper died on stage, the ending will not be a spoiler. The ending isn’t important it’s taking a trip back memory lane and appreciating the work and craftsmanship that these legends left behind in the archives of comedy history which writer and director Paul Hendy has brought to the stage for the next generations to hopefully watch and see why they are renowned as comedy legends.

For more information about The Last Laugh please visit the link below.

Four Stars.

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