The Last Laugh to return for new tour

Paul Hendy’s The Last Laugh will return for a UK and Ireland tour in 2026, opening at Malvern Theatres on 28 April and visits 21 venues across the year.

Written and directed by Hendy and produced by Jamie Wilson Productions and Emily Wood for Evolution Productions, it imagines three of Britain’s best-known comedians – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – in a dressing room, reflecting on comedy, mortality and what it means to be funny. The play premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 before transferring to the West End and New York.

The play features Steve Royle as Morecambe, with Damian Williams as Cooper and Simon Cartwright as Monkhouse. Richard Hodder joins the company as the walking cover for all three roles.

The creative team includes set designer Lee Newby, composer and musical arranger Ethan Lewis Maltby, sound designer Callum Wills, lighting designer Johanna Town, costume designer Amy Chamberlain and casting by Kate Roddy.

The Last Laugh tour will open at Malvern Theatres from 28 April to 2 May 2026, followed by the Theatre Royal Plymouth from 5 to 9 May, and Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury from 12 to 16 May. The production then visits the Kings Theatre, Portsmouth from 19 to 23 May and the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne from 26 to 30 May. It continues at the Princess Theatre, Torquay from 9 to 13 June, Watford Palace Theatre from 16 to 20 June, New Theatre, Cardiff from 7 to 11 July, and the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham from 14 to 18 July.

Further dates include Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple from 28 July to 1 August, New Theatre, Peterborough from 4 to 8 August, Jersey Opera House from 12 to 15 August, Darlington Hippodrome from 18 to 22 August, and Buxton Opera House from 25 to 29 August. The autumn leg visits Theatre Royal, Nottingham from 1 to 5 September, Wolverhampton Grand from 9 to 12 September, Floral Pavilion Theatre, New Brighton from 6 to 10 October, Curve Theatre, Leicester from 13 to 17 October, and Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells from 20 to 24 October 2026.