Last One Laughing star on torture of stifling a giggle and her nightmare opponent

It's the comedy show with a simple format - try to make everyone else laugh while keeping a straight face yourself.

But that's not as easy as it seems when you're locked in a room with nine other top comedians.

For Maisie Adam, taking part - and crucially trying not to crack - in Last One Laughing was "absolute torture".

The comic, who's currently appearing in season two of the Prime Video show, told BBC Newsbeat about her "nightmare" opponent and how the British comedy scene appears to be having a moment thanks to TV.

On Last One Laughing, the comics are given six hours to make their opponents giggle.

Laugh or smile once, and you get a yellow card from host Jimmy Carr.

If you break twice, it's a red card and you're out.

Maisie says the atmosphere is a bit like being at school at the back of the classroom.

"You're not meant to be laughing, but you can see all your mates trying to make you laugh, and they've got that twinkle in their eye," she says.

"You see them trying to stifle a laugh. It's that, for hours on end."

Maisie's rivals this series include comedians Diane Morgan, Mel Giedroyc and Romesh Ranganathan.

But she was most nervous about facing returning champion Bob Mortimer, who entered season two to a chorus of dismayed gasps.

Maisie says: "When we were doing our interviews beforehand, they were asking: 'Who would be your worst nightmare?'

"And we said Bob Mortimer, but thankfully he won't be in.

"He smashed it in season one, and because he was on season one none of us thought he'd be in this one."

Maisie says Celebrity Traitors winner Alan Carr was also a fearsome opponent.

"Anybody who saw Alan in the Traitors knows he's completely unserious," she says.

"He's funny before he even opens his mouth because of the looks he's giving."

Last One Laughing has been a hit for Prime Video, ranking at number two in the UK on the streamer's own weekly charts, and winning praise from critics, who've called it "the funniest show on British TV" and "a riot".

"It's always special when you get shows of this scale and they're bringing in newer faces," says Maisie.

She says it was only "a few years ago" when she and fellow contestant Amy Gledhill were performing in a Leeds club "where the green room is essentially a cupboard with beer barrels as seats".

"So it's amazing when you can get spotlighted in that way and you're still breaking through but you're around these huge heritage names," Maisie says.

It's also coincided with another big moment for UK comedy - the launch of Saturday Night Live UK (SNL UK).

Maisie feels there's "excitement around a show that is platforming new comedians at a time where I think a lot of TV tends to spotlight the same sort of people".

"We have one of the best comedy scenes, I think, in the world," she says.

"We have a lot of American comedians come over here because they love our circuit.

"Loads of international comedians really admire the comedy scene we have here."

Maisie says she thought SNL did "a great job" of giving a platform to up-and-coming comedians, both behind and in front of the camera.

"It's fair to say we did reach a point as a comedy scene in TV where it was the same people popping up on the same panel shows every single season," says Maisie.

"That doesn't serve the circuit. You can't be pulling the ladder up afterwards.

"We have to support the next generation of comedy."

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.