Sam Campbell: ‘Last One Laughing fans said I was a psychopath’

‘Do I seem upset? Do I seem frustrated? Hey, I’m doing fine.’

This is Sam Campbell’s response when asked if he feels cheated by his runner-up finish on Last One Laughing.

The Australian comedian, 34, was beaten out by David Mitchell in a finale that some fans of the Amazon Prime megahit bemoaned as a damp squib.

‘It was a stitch up, because he’s a big star and he’s in Peep Show and everyone loves him so much,’ Campbell tells Metro matter-of-factly, although I’m fairly certain he’s joking. 

‘[Mitchell] told me his salary and it was double what I was on and he had a much bigger dressing room with a private hot tub, whereas I was in a broom closet and I got really sick from it.’ Definitely joking.

As you might be able to tell, Campbell switches quite seamlessly between bits. These range from the self-mocking to the self-aggrandising and onto the absurd.

For example, one moment he says he does not remember filming Last One Laughing. Then, the next he regales me with elements of the behind-the-scenes set-up and suggests Amazon could explore a making-of documentary.

The answer to whether he would return to Jimmy Carr’s fifedom to reclaim his robbed title is first a joke (‘I would. Not because I’m a fan of that show, but because I’m a fan of Amazon and Jeff’s a mate’) and then surprisingly honest: ‘A lot of people said, “You’re a psychopath because you didn’t laugh”, but the whole point of the show is not to laugh.’

At one point he jokes his answers are being fed to him via earpiece by Channel 4 boss Ian Katz (I suspect he’s got bigger fish to fry at the moment). At another, he tells me I can make up his quotes, which I assure him I very much cannot.

Separating Sam Campbell (persona) from Sam Campbell (person) is about to be top of mind for TV viewers, given that he stars as Sam Campbell (artsy-fartsy but cack-handed director) in the new Channel 4 comedy Make That Movie, which he also wrote.

The show sees Campbell joined by a crack team of film enthusiasts, who roam the UK turning harebrained ideas from members of the public into movies. The loopiness of the premise is matched within the six episodes, which are sprinkled with graphics fans of his stand-up will appreciate, as well as more conventional TV staples like character progression.

Campbell says he’s playing a version of himself that’s ‘ratcheted up by about 30 per cent’, but adds: ‘Hopefully I’m not that malevolent.’

The writing process sounds as off-the-wall as the show. One part involved filling in a collective comic strip with director Joe Pelling, who was behind Don’t Hug Me, I’m Scared and also co-wrote certain episodes of this.

‘Because it’s quite hard, you just try and find anything you can do to procrastinate,’ recalls Pelling, who speaks to me alongside Campbell in Channel 4 HQ. ‘Most of the time we spent was drawing and trying to find some other outlet to do stuff that wasn’t just the grind of actually writing the script.’

Campbell came in with a clear vision and Pelling says he tried to make it doable on screen. If certain ideas weren’t, Campbell admits he liked to sulk.

‘This guy’s catch phrase was “No, no, no, no, no. Not funny enough, not good enough, not beautiful enough”,’ says the comedian, doing a voice that doesn’t sound terribly similar to Pelling’s. What such ideas might have been are kept under wraps, lest they’re deemed broadcastable for series two.

The state of comedy? We think it’s in a very unhealthy place and that this show will turn it all around.

TV viewers who discovered Campbell through his triumphant Taskmaster series will find plenty of other show alums here as guest stars.

‘These people are just looking for the next paycheck,’ Campbell jokes, relaying tales about a couple of them which I shan’t repeat because, again, I’m fairly certain they’re bits.

The set sounds like it was a pleasure to be on, which is probably no surprise with this calibre of comedians. Pelling describes it as one of the best experiences of his life, to which Campbell quips: ‘And my life has been a lot more colourful and interesting.’

On-set improvisation was encouraged, although much of it ended up on the cutting room floor. I suggest a deleted scene compilation, but it’s vetoed by Campbell. ‘If you’ve seen some of the stuff that made it in – imagine. If that’s the best, I’d hate to see the rest.’

For all the joking (there’s a lot I too have left on the cutting room floor), Campbell seems apprehensive about the show’s release. When I bring up the high character count, he has questions: ‘Wait, was it hard to keep track? Were you having to do diagrams, like who the f*** is this?’ and suggests they still have time to ‘shave one off’ in the edit.

He questions whether Make That Movie makes sense and/or is creepy. He’s surprised I enjoyed the voiceover. He jokes that the second season will be his character with an entirely new cast of inept supermodels (male and female).

I’m sure it’s nerve-racking to put out something that seems to be a distillation of Campbell’s idiosyncratic brain. He kicked off his award-winning 2022 Edinburgh Fringe show with the gag: ‘My mind is a prison full of crazy ideas – I think there’s going to be a jailbreak!’

This show is said jailbreak.

With some hesitation, I volley a serious question about the state of TV comedy. Campbell initially says that forming big opinions on things is hard because he’s ‘always running late for something or being attacked’ (?!), but then adds that Make That Movie will be the tide-turner on all the doomsdaying.

Towards the end of our time, he admits: ‘It’s really hard making a show. It’s better to watch a show.

‘There’s a big, serious threat of it being turd of the year.’ It’s a phrase he repeats a few times and jokes could be the headline of this interview. But having watched the show, I doubt that it will be.

Make That Movie launches on Channel 4 on May 28.

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