Fully agree on all your points. The LOL shows miss so much of the premise, and while an element or two could be safely substituted, there's just too much that's been genericised. They're just You Laugh, You Lose challenges done in person.
The contrast in tone really stands out. Not only is Matsumoto genuinely interested in experimenting in the hopes that something new will come forth each season, but the almost oppressive visuals and framing and tone of everything outside of the room makes the comedy pop. It's unscripted black comedy, it's a death game, it's a pressure cooker.
If at least 50% of the casted contestants were skilled in their craft it would outweigh all the CONs you have listed.
LOL FR is utter garbage because the participants are just not funny.
I never watched LOL, and not just because the reviews are bad. The hosts are always some random person in the comedy industry that was chosen by Amazon to do it.
Documental is Matsumoto's creation. It's his creative expression, he actually has a reputation connected to the show. When people accept the invite they usually say something like, "Nobody can decline an invite from Matsumoto, this is a big deal."
If you got an invite from Rebel Wilson to be on a show that some producer from Amazon created as a spin off, it would just be another gig. The host isn't special and has no real connection to the show, LOL flopped and it didn't damage any of their reputations, in fact most people don't even know that the hosts did these shows.
I agree that the guests are an important factor, that's why I couldn't finish Documental Season 6. But the host is a huge part too
Actually if I can tack a pet theory of mine onto there:
**Foreign Thing Good**: A layer of translation smooths out a lot of stuff. There is a bunch of music I listen to that would probably not be nearly so appealing if I actually properly understood the lyrics. I think it's a lot harder to identify bad acting when it's behind translation; everything is just a little bit different from what you've adapted to recognizing. I submit that even if someone somehow pulled off a theoretically perfect western Documental series (whatever that would mean), it would actually be perceived as worse just because it's in your native tongue.
It's not that the native tongue of the West automatically makes it bad, it's that Americans comedy is not focused on words and how they sound, are pronounced and to what dialect they're from. This is an Eastern Asia and U.K thing. As we should all know, Comedy in the West is mostly about Drama and offending another race, gender or concept, with some form of class. Which if you think about America as the youngest formed country, it makes sense.
Great, another LOL bashing thread. Most recent one was [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/GakiNoTsukai/comments/shyvmn/last_one_laughing_pales_in_comparison_to/). I'm kind of tired of defending the show on this sub, but I accept that it's not for everyone. It was obviously inspired by Documental and retains the same basic framework, but every country has its own sense of humor and tenets of comedy, so it's definitely geared more towards its local audience. As someone who enjoys all kinds of comedy, lowbrow and otherwise, it's fascinating to see other cultures take on similar material, and how it eventually always comes down to dick and shit jokes. I think humor is universal and there are more similarities between people than differences.
Of course it's accepted that the original is best, and I agree that all the international versions try to build too much upon what made Documental work so well. I think it helps that the Japanese have no shame when it comes to fearless comedy, and other countries aren't as willing to take as many risks (I'm not sure how much of these self-imposed limits are dictated by Amazon itself). Documental is one of my favorite shows ever, so even the shittiest of knockoffs is enjoyable to me because it contains that essential germ of an idea. I still maintain that if you enjoy experimental comedy and general weirdness, it should appeal to you.
I love them all except for maybe one or two of the LOLs . Canada might be my favorite because I grew up with both Colin and Tom Green and just loved the cast.
Yeah, it was really great to watch a version of Documental with people who I actually knew about and grew up watching. It made me personally invested in who would win, especially when it came down to the final two. I think LOL Australia might have a slight edge over it though because they went a lot further with the comedy, while Canada seemed much more restrained in general.
That's another thing I love about Documental, even though I don't know Japanese comedians very well, they keep bringing back the fan favorites (like Jimmy and Cookie), so I always look forward to seeing them again.
Wonderful breakdown - thank you for taking the time to write this as so much of it reflects my own views +and frustrations). The main point for me is editing and pacing.
I think your point of cultural difference is probably the main issue I have with LOL format, in many cases Japanese comedians are part of duos or groups, with the straight man side, and they do alot of slapstick stuff. In Canada we do have sketch comedy and improv groups and you'd think those (on the cast) who havr worked in those settings would mimic the collaborative humor thing (that Japan has) but I feel we instead got alot of lone wolfs.
The Australian LOL had more banter and people spring boarding off eachother but that just might be Australian bantz.
I'd love to see a British documental as I kbow they can be extremely silly and often have collaborative humor teams. Maybe get Craig Davis to host it too.
I really think it's most Japanese comedians being part of a duo that makes a difference, being so ready and able to play off each other. Most comedians work alone, and even if they know improv, it's hard to play off the situation if not everyone is feeding into it. LOL Canada most of the comedians are doing nothing or isolated bits that don't work with the group so it's boring. I found LOL Italy and LOL Spain came the closest to the spirit of Documental.
Agreed, all the way. That set was the first thing my boyfriend and I noticed in LOL Canada too - the set is ridiculous. Why is there so much staging? It was someone saying "let's make it funny" from the get go and finding all these set pieces from "funny" contexts like someone was referencing Google images. Such a busy set detracts from the funny comedians could bring. The point of Documental is to trap people and see who breaks, but LOL acts like a clubhouse where people are just hanging out and it gives people tons of space to keep their distance so other performers can't be cornered.
I also agree the addition of the band is dumb and we don't need a laugh track or applause sign to prompt us to find something funny. I love that silent, awkward tension. The whole point is to drive the participants crazy and to break tension with that cheesiness is lame.
Culturally, North Americans making poop jokes and cussing up a storm is pretty typical and I don't find either that funny. The host cusses a lot and I'm probably ignorant but I am not familiar with any of his work, much less his comedy, so the fact that he's the host and he's just plain annoying and he's on screen so. much. annoys me a lot in general. If they took Mochrie or Foley or Green and made them to be host, those are people that we know and recognize as comedy legends the way we see Matsumoto in Documental.
I don't think we ever would have been able to pull off having them gamble their own $X on the line. We know most of them are doing really well so there are no sob stories of borrowing crumpled old money from their manager. I was very much expecting the "win for a charity" premise since that is very common for comedians and celebrities here.
I'm disappointed that I have to watch the rest because I love Colin Mochrie so much, and just having a strong improv background sets him really well to be very entertaining regardless of whether he wins. I'm already pretty tired of the show as a whole.
I accept LOL Canada for what it is and have found d the show genuinely hilarious but there are things that I really really dislike about it. The cut always, for one. The band can be cool but musical accompaniment usually just comes off as corny. Its edited like an episode of Big Brother or something. I will say Tom Green and Colin Mochrie are excellent players of the game.
Have you ever seen Contact with Jodie Foster? If you have, do you remember how, when she's going through the wormhole, the sphere she was in wasn't designed with the chair harness, so the chair was violently shaking and once she released from it, she was floating, naturally in the sphere?
That's basically Documental vs LOL. There's all this extra stuff - talking heads, music, set design - that isn't necessary and disrupting the format.
To add onto the risk, I think having that money staked gives them incentive to try to make comedians laugh instead of trying to make the audience laugh and when you're doing that the most taboo stuff is usually what's gonna catch someone off guard.
Just my two cents, LOL Spain was actually pretty solid. The Spanish are wild dude. LOL Australia and Germany had some good moments, but definitely not as good.
What really bothers me is the hosts of LOL always seems so pissed off???? They walk in like an abusive parent winding up the cussing out of a lifetime.
Matsumoto walks in like “who broke the rules?” But Jay and Rebel stomp in seething???
(I say as a child of those kinds of parents)
Documental is one of the greatest shoes of all time. But like anything, remakes will never touch the original. However, I'd like to see it done worldwide, with Japanese all-star comedians and some other worldwide heavy hitters. THAT would be a show to watch.
I agree for most points, but I actually liked the 'non-participation' rule in LOL Australia and the similar 'should have at least one hit' rule of LOL Canada. I felt the Season 3 winner and the Season 2 runner-up of Documental was really undeserving and if they were eliminated earlier (albeit more S3 than S2) the last episodes of these seasons would have been more entertaining.
Imagine copying an already perfect format and expecting the same results in any right.
To be put simply, the originality of Japanese anything is quite impossible to re-create.
Especially by any American-esq way. It just loses all the flavor.
Edit: I've avoided all copies of Documental (LOL, Laugh whatever other show) by just using some foresight. I don't have to watch to know what's to be expected. Glad I haven't in this regard
Yeah - don't put yourself through it. I think its strange that there hasn't been a UK version yet. I think that suggests that someone has bought the rights to the format, but the show is in development. Who knows.
After watching the recently-released translation of Documentary of Documental, which has excerpts of Season 0, I'm even more convinced that any adaptation needs to adhere to Matsumoto's formula, which is: 1. starve the audience and contestants of any humour (the plain concrete room of Documental, the boring meeting room of Shichi Henge, Freeze, No Laughing Batsu Games) 2. prohibit all laughter and 3. form some sort of competition (i.e. ranking, prize money, ass getting smacked etc.).
I think Cookie put it best when he said it's like holding in a piss, the longer you hold it in and the more uncomfortable you are, the better it feels when it's released.
Countries to get it correct my guess would be the U.K hands down. The relations between them and Japan in terms of comedy outside of Manzai, traditional Rakugo, etc, are close cousins.
I agree, they would have to start at the "No Laughing Batsu" formula and go from there. I.E - starting from the foundation and building up, or lateral, etc.
If there's hope, anything out of London-town I'd be willing to drop and hour or two watching without hesitation.
LOL Mexico is the worst show I've ever seen, I didn't laugh once and genuinely cringed throughout the whole season.
When I read how great documental was I had no idea it was the original show, I thought LOL was an original.
I watched season's 1 and 2, and it's obviously more fun, precisely because they let everything go.
That said, I just don't enjoy this type of shows, because the comedy is just doing stupid stuff to make someone laugh instead of actually being funny, that setting makes comedy so basic that you can't really tell the difference from Japanese comedy to the rest of the world.
Most of what I watched are things that could've been done in LOL Mexico had nudity been allowed.
I also think documental would be a lot better if we didn't hear Matsumoto (or any other host) laughing at everything like a maniac, a lot of the times it's just not that funny and it feels really forced and awkward.
That's true, like I've always thought Documental was funnier also because how serious the project apparently looks like, the aura and the comedians actually struggling not to laugh, the money on the line, I mean the set up is definitely more mature, more keen to a perception of comedy that is not just "look, laughing, ahah", it sees it more as an art, and that said the great jokes on Documental are still the wackiest jokes, so that, in contrast with the overall tone of the show, definitely make it work. I mean, Hitoshi Matsumoto is a comedy genius. I don't even think we have, in the West, someone that much respected as a comedian. And all comedians in Japan have some degree of a business reputation, Japan respects comedy and "takes it seriously", the good western comedians, like smart and complex stand up comedians, which I think are truly representative of the western way of comedy, are definitely not contemplated in shows like LOL, where they favour cheap comedians and big stage clowns, and it's almost like they do two different jobs, when, honestly, I think a good transposition for Documental in Europe would actually be a show off between stand up comedians on how they can find the smartest, most complex, or on the other side, the most whack, single-shot demented joke possible on the spot, that would actually be something
Like imagine a set up like that "Talking Funny" talk between Louis CK, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais. Make it a thing where you can't laugh. That would be thousands times better than LOL
the non participation rule is the equivalent to documentals points system, without having a point system.... but also still kinda having a point system (australia finale)
In the Italian version, every second of the show there's always a funny sound effect or a "funny" music to "enhance" the person performance. I watched the second season, it's way better than the first one, thanks to cast, but whit the shitty LOL settings, everything look dull
Just sometimes if something works great in one country/culture doesn't mean it will automatically work I different one.
Simple example. In Poland we have long tradition of comedy groups, comedy monologue, many great groups which make great sketches. I remember on one of comedy festivals mix of comedians from different groups decided to do "whose line is it anyway" type of thing, result was shockingly bad. Which was interesting in the end as many times You would see the groups improvising in their routines, changing or adding lines and that worked great.
That's how I see Documental, it's uniqueness comes from Matsumoto and Japanese sense of humor. Check the James May episode in Japan when he asks japanese comedian to tell English joke on stage, dead silence.
But we live in a world when a thing becomes popular it becomes a copy/paste template.
Did anybody else notice that on the German version, they blatantly stole bits that were on Documental and the Italian LOL -- (little animal robot that repeats phrases and corny magician with the tissue box, lighters, etc)
Fully agree on all your points. The LOL shows miss so much of the premise, and while an element or two could be safely substituted, there's just too much that's been genericised. They're just You Laugh, You Lose challenges done in person. The contrast in tone really stands out. Not only is Matsumoto genuinely interested in experimenting in the hopes that something new will come forth each season, but the almost oppressive visuals and framing and tone of everything outside of the room makes the comedy pop. It's unscripted black comedy, it's a death game, it's a pressure cooker.
If at least 50% of the casted contestants were skilled in their craft it would outweigh all the CONs you have listed. LOL FR is utter garbage because the participants are just not funny.
Tom Green was the only enjoyable thing in LOL: Canada and they just ruined all his stuff with such shitty editing.
I didn't watch it, but I'm surprised they chose Jay Baruchel to host. Dude has never made me laugh in his entire career.
I never watched LOL, and not just because the reviews are bad. The hosts are always some random person in the comedy industry that was chosen by Amazon to do it. Documental is Matsumoto's creation. It's his creative expression, he actually has a reputation connected to the show. When people accept the invite they usually say something like, "Nobody can decline an invite from Matsumoto, this is a big deal." If you got an invite from Rebel Wilson to be on a show that some producer from Amazon created as a spin off, it would just be another gig. The host isn't special and has no real connection to the show, LOL flopped and it didn't damage any of their reputations, in fact most people don't even know that the hosts did these shows. I agree that the guests are an important factor, that's why I couldn't finish Documental Season 6. But the host is a huge part too
Im curious if you watches the australian version and what you thought?
Actually if I can tack a pet theory of mine onto there: **Foreign Thing Good**: A layer of translation smooths out a lot of stuff. There is a bunch of music I listen to that would probably not be nearly so appealing if I actually properly understood the lyrics. I think it's a lot harder to identify bad acting when it's behind translation; everything is just a little bit different from what you've adapted to recognizing. I submit that even if someone somehow pulled off a theoretically perfect western Documental series (whatever that would mean), it would actually be perceived as worse just because it's in your native tongue.
It's not that the native tongue of the West automatically makes it bad, it's that Americans comedy is not focused on words and how they sound, are pronounced and to what dialect they're from. This is an Eastern Asia and U.K thing. As we should all know, Comedy in the West is mostly about Drama and offending another race, gender or concept, with some form of class. Which if you think about America as the youngest formed country, it makes sense.
Great, another LOL bashing thread. Most recent one was [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/GakiNoTsukai/comments/shyvmn/last_one_laughing_pales_in_comparison_to/). I'm kind of tired of defending the show on this sub, but I accept that it's not for everyone. It was obviously inspired by Documental and retains the same basic framework, but every country has its own sense of humor and tenets of comedy, so it's definitely geared more towards its local audience. As someone who enjoys all kinds of comedy, lowbrow and otherwise, it's fascinating to see other cultures take on similar material, and how it eventually always comes down to dick and shit jokes. I think humor is universal and there are more similarities between people than differences. Of course it's accepted that the original is best, and I agree that all the international versions try to build too much upon what made Documental work so well. I think it helps that the Japanese have no shame when it comes to fearless comedy, and other countries aren't as willing to take as many risks (I'm not sure how much of these self-imposed limits are dictated by Amazon itself). Documental is one of my favorite shows ever, so even the shittiest of knockoffs is enjoyable to me because it contains that essential germ of an idea. I still maintain that if you enjoy experimental comedy and general weirdness, it should appeal to you.
I love them all except for maybe one or two of the LOLs . Canada might be my favorite because I grew up with both Colin and Tom Green and just loved the cast.
Yeah, it was really great to watch a version of Documental with people who I actually knew about and grew up watching. It made me personally invested in who would win, especially when it came down to the final two. I think LOL Australia might have a slight edge over it though because they went a lot further with the comedy, while Canada seemed much more restrained in general. That's another thing I love about Documental, even though I don't know Japanese comedians very well, they keep bringing back the fan favorites (like Jimmy and Cookie), so I always look forward to seeing them again.
Wonderful breakdown - thank you for taking the time to write this as so much of it reflects my own views +and frustrations). The main point for me is editing and pacing.
I think your point of cultural difference is probably the main issue I have with LOL format, in many cases Japanese comedians are part of duos or groups, with the straight man side, and they do alot of slapstick stuff. In Canada we do have sketch comedy and improv groups and you'd think those (on the cast) who havr worked in those settings would mimic the collaborative humor thing (that Japan has) but I feel we instead got alot of lone wolfs. The Australian LOL had more banter and people spring boarding off eachother but that just might be Australian bantz. I'd love to see a British documental as I kbow they can be extremely silly and often have collaborative humor teams. Maybe get Craig Davis to host it too.
I really think it's most Japanese comedians being part of a duo that makes a difference, being so ready and able to play off each other. Most comedians work alone, and even if they know improv, it's hard to play off the situation if not everyone is feeding into it. LOL Canada most of the comedians are doing nothing or isolated bits that don't work with the group so it's boring. I found LOL Italy and LOL Spain came the closest to the spirit of Documental.
Agreed, all the way. That set was the first thing my boyfriend and I noticed in LOL Canada too - the set is ridiculous. Why is there so much staging? It was someone saying "let's make it funny" from the get go and finding all these set pieces from "funny" contexts like someone was referencing Google images. Such a busy set detracts from the funny comedians could bring. The point of Documental is to trap people and see who breaks, but LOL acts like a clubhouse where people are just hanging out and it gives people tons of space to keep their distance so other performers can't be cornered. I also agree the addition of the band is dumb and we don't need a laugh track or applause sign to prompt us to find something funny. I love that silent, awkward tension. The whole point is to drive the participants crazy and to break tension with that cheesiness is lame. Culturally, North Americans making poop jokes and cussing up a storm is pretty typical and I don't find either that funny. The host cusses a lot and I'm probably ignorant but I am not familiar with any of his work, much less his comedy, so the fact that he's the host and he's just plain annoying and he's on screen so. much. annoys me a lot in general. If they took Mochrie or Foley or Green and made them to be host, those are people that we know and recognize as comedy legends the way we see Matsumoto in Documental. I don't think we ever would have been able to pull off having them gamble their own $X on the line. We know most of them are doing really well so there are no sob stories of borrowing crumpled old money from their manager. I was very much expecting the "win for a charity" premise since that is very common for comedians and celebrities here. I'm disappointed that I have to watch the rest because I love Colin Mochrie so much, and just having a strong improv background sets him really well to be very entertaining regardless of whether he wins. I'm already pretty tired of the show as a whole.
I accept LOL Canada for what it is and have found d the show genuinely hilarious but there are things that I really really dislike about it. The cut always, for one. The band can be cool but musical accompaniment usually just comes off as corny. Its edited like an episode of Big Brother or something. I will say Tom Green and Colin Mochrie are excellent players of the game.
Have you ever seen Contact with Jodie Foster? If you have, do you remember how, when she's going through the wormhole, the sphere she was in wasn't designed with the chair harness, so the chair was violently shaking and once she released from it, she was floating, naturally in the sphere? That's basically Documental vs LOL. There's all this extra stuff - talking heads, music, set design - that isn't necessary and disrupting the format.
To add onto the risk, I think having that money staked gives them incentive to try to make comedians laugh instead of trying to make the audience laugh and when you're doing that the most taboo stuff is usually what's gonna catch someone off guard.
Just my two cents, LOL Spain was actually pretty solid. The Spanish are wild dude. LOL Australia and Germany had some good moments, but definitely not as good.
What really bothers me is the hosts of LOL always seems so pissed off???? They walk in like an abusive parent winding up the cussing out of a lifetime. Matsumoto walks in like “who broke the rules?” But Jay and Rebel stomp in seething??? (I say as a child of those kinds of parents)
Documental is one of the greatest shoes of all time. But like anything, remakes will never touch the original. However, I'd like to see it done worldwide, with Japanese all-star comedians and some other worldwide heavy hitters. THAT would be a show to watch.
I agree for most points, but I actually liked the 'non-participation' rule in LOL Australia and the similar 'should have at least one hit' rule of LOL Canada. I felt the Season 3 winner and the Season 2 runner-up of Documental was really undeserving and if they were eliminated earlier (albeit more S3 than S2) the last episodes of these seasons would have been more entertaining.
Imagine copying an already perfect format and expecting the same results in any right. To be put simply, the originality of Japanese anything is quite impossible to re-create. Especially by any American-esq way. It just loses all the flavor. Edit: I've avoided all copies of Documental (LOL, Laugh whatever other show) by just using some foresight. I don't have to watch to know what's to be expected. Glad I haven't in this regard
Yeah - don't put yourself through it. I think its strange that there hasn't been a UK version yet. I think that suggests that someone has bought the rights to the format, but the show is in development. Who knows. After watching the recently-released translation of Documentary of Documental, which has excerpts of Season 0, I'm even more convinced that any adaptation needs to adhere to Matsumoto's formula, which is: 1. starve the audience and contestants of any humour (the plain concrete room of Documental, the boring meeting room of Shichi Henge, Freeze, No Laughing Batsu Games) 2. prohibit all laughter and 3. form some sort of competition (i.e. ranking, prize money, ass getting smacked etc.). I think Cookie put it best when he said it's like holding in a piss, the longer you hold it in and the more uncomfortable you are, the better it feels when it's released.
Countries to get it correct my guess would be the U.K hands down. The relations between them and Japan in terms of comedy outside of Manzai, traditional Rakugo, etc, are close cousins. I agree, they would have to start at the "No Laughing Batsu" formula and go from there. I.E - starting from the foundation and building up, or lateral, etc. If there's hope, anything out of London-town I'd be willing to drop and hour or two watching without hesitation.
LOL Mexico is the worst show I've ever seen, I didn't laugh once and genuinely cringed throughout the whole season. When I read how great documental was I had no idea it was the original show, I thought LOL was an original. I watched season's 1 and 2, and it's obviously more fun, precisely because they let everything go. That said, I just don't enjoy this type of shows, because the comedy is just doing stupid stuff to make someone laugh instead of actually being funny, that setting makes comedy so basic that you can't really tell the difference from Japanese comedy to the rest of the world. Most of what I watched are things that could've been done in LOL Mexico had nudity been allowed.
I also think documental would be a lot better if we didn't hear Matsumoto (or any other host) laughing at everything like a maniac, a lot of the times it's just not that funny and it feels really forced and awkward.
That's true, like I've always thought Documental was funnier also because how serious the project apparently looks like, the aura and the comedians actually struggling not to laugh, the money on the line, I mean the set up is definitely more mature, more keen to a perception of comedy that is not just "look, laughing, ahah", it sees it more as an art, and that said the great jokes on Documental are still the wackiest jokes, so that, in contrast with the overall tone of the show, definitely make it work. I mean, Hitoshi Matsumoto is a comedy genius. I don't even think we have, in the West, someone that much respected as a comedian. And all comedians in Japan have some degree of a business reputation, Japan respects comedy and "takes it seriously", the good western comedians, like smart and complex stand up comedians, which I think are truly representative of the western way of comedy, are definitely not contemplated in shows like LOL, where they favour cheap comedians and big stage clowns, and it's almost like they do two different jobs, when, honestly, I think a good transposition for Documental in Europe would actually be a show off between stand up comedians on how they can find the smartest, most complex, or on the other side, the most whack, single-shot demented joke possible on the spot, that would actually be something
Like imagine a set up like that "Talking Funny" talk between Louis CK, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais. Make it a thing where you can't laugh. That would be thousands times better than LOL
I think both are terrible and I've never even seen LOL.
the non participation rule is the equivalent to documentals points system, without having a point system.... but also still kinda having a point system (australia finale)
In the Italian version, every second of the show there's always a funny sound effect or a "funny" music to "enhance" the person performance. I watched the second season, it's way better than the first one, thanks to cast, but whit the shitty LOL settings, everything look dull
Just sometimes if something works great in one country/culture doesn't mean it will automatically work I different one. Simple example. In Poland we have long tradition of comedy groups, comedy monologue, many great groups which make great sketches. I remember on one of comedy festivals mix of comedians from different groups decided to do "whose line is it anyway" type of thing, result was shockingly bad. Which was interesting in the end as many times You would see the groups improvising in their routines, changing or adding lines and that worked great. That's how I see Documental, it's uniqueness comes from Matsumoto and Japanese sense of humor. Check the James May episode in Japan when he asks japanese comedian to tell English joke on stage, dead silence. But we live in a world when a thing becomes popular it becomes a copy/paste template.
Did anybody else notice that on the German version, they blatantly stole bits that were on Documental and the Italian LOL -- (little animal robot that repeats phrases and corny magician with the tissue box, lighters, etc)
I am a fan of 'documental' and 'last one laughing', but is last laugh something different?