In something of a turn-up for the books, Rebel Wilson has been formally tapped to head up Amazon Prime‘s continued push into familiar waters by way of the global giant’s first ever Australian-produced original series.
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Wilson is set to serve as the host of the competition-style LOL: Last One Standing, a battle-of-the-bands-ish competition show for stand-up comedians.
The six-episode series is based off a format previously run in Japan and Mexico by Amazon, and will feature “10 Australian comedic actors and stand-ups competing to make each other laugh first,” with the winning act ultimately taking home a prize of $100,000.
LOL is confirmed to premiere on Amazon Prime in 2020, and will be available to customers in all 200 territories that Prime is currently available in.
On picking Wilson, who recently withdrew from a lead role in the Sydney Theatre Company’s upcoming production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Amazon Studios’ head of originals James Farrell stated that “Australia was an easy choice as the next country to bring [the format] to,” and that “Rebel Wilson was at the top of our list to host and star.”
The announcement, middling as the show concept may seem, is a significant step forward in terms of Australian content on global streaming platforms; despite being heavily entrenched in the Australian market for a number of years, the first Australian-commissioned Netflix Original series Tidelands only arrived on the platform in December of last year.
Amazon officials confirmed they will reveal the “leading Australian comedians” that will make up the cast of the show over the coming weeks.
Colour us intrigued, yet sceptical and suspicious.
