There is a lot to be said for reincarnation.

Paul Hendy’s The Last Laugh brings three legends of British comedy back to life: Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse.

Three TV giants who straddled the small screen from the sixties to the eighties, if not earlier (Morecambe) or later (Monkhouse) meet in a dressing room beyond time, swapping stories, trading jokes and reflecting on what it means to make people laugh.

Cooper steals jokes. Monkhouse chisels them. Eric’s are a melting pot of collaboration.

If that sounds dry in what turns out to be a plotless play (and that's not a bad thing at all), the gags keep on coming from the moment a Y-fronted Cooper reveals himself to the audience. Oh, an innuendo is fine. But nothing blue.

Coming on the heels of the BBC cancelling Bob Monkhouse, their former Saturday night, Opportunity Knocks big-hitter, by removing a segment of The Repair Shop repairing his famous joke books , that tells you something about how comedy has changed.

But also how it is timeless too.

Damian Williams’ Tommy Cooper is uncannily convincing. He’s come back to life. Simon Cartwright captures Bob Monkhouse’s polished charm, smarmy smile and wisecracking wit, while Steve Royle, who has recently taken over the role of Eric Morecambe, brings warmth and effortless likeability. They are mesmerising reincarnations.

But they're not impersonations. It's all much more impressive than that. We're re-living these people. It could almost be 'An Audience With...'

The gags are rapid, but this is a show with pathos too, with laughter balanced by moments of genuine poignancy. Cooper and Morecambe are both ill; both have had heart attacks (two for Morecambe, one for Cooper – “I didn’t know it was a competition,” says Tommy. In fact, both will die within weeks of each other in 1984. That we, the audience know this, could be a spoiler – but the play does have a trump card in the final moments.

Behind the catchphrases and media personas we’re seeing the comics, if not in downtime, at least when they’re not on stage – even though they’re on stage, and even though they can’t resist performing to one another. These are three comples men who chose their jobs and worked their craft. “Why do we do it boys? asks Eric Morecambe. Why expose themselves so? That joke’s not in the show, but it wouldn’t be amiss.

A joke dies, they all agree, if the audience has heard it before. And in this, of course, they’re wrong.

The audience for the Last Laugh, largely grey, many bald, not only know the jokes, or the routine (bottle, glass. Glass, bottle), they’re reciting them as we go along. “I’m playing all the right notes,” says Eric. “But not necessarily in the right order). We’ve seen the paper bag trick (Eric). We know Dippy Duck (Tommy). It’s harder for Bob – he wrote the jokes, but he’s not the clown, not the natural, like his friends. He knows it.

“We will be remembered 40 years from now” they reflect – and we chuckle at the gag. But just as Cooper, Morecambe and Monkhouse remember the names on the posters in their dressing room – Sid Field anyone? – inevitably, this will be a play with a lifespan.

But for now, for 80 minutes, The Last Laugth proves that great comedy can outlive its creators.

And there’s more! A post-show Q&A is hosted by Richard Hodder the understudy for all three comedians. Tommy Cooper famously played two characters at the same time. A threesome in one night could be the next big hit.

The Last Laugh was at the Princess Theatre, Torquay. It can next be seen in Devon at the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, from 28 July to 1 August 2026.