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Richard Ayoade

The Cambridge-educated son of a Nigerian father and Swedish mother, Richard Ayoade first came to prominence starring in and co-writing the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe show Garth Merenghi's Fright Knight with Matthew Holness, winning the Perrier Award for its sequel, Garth Merenghi's Netherhead, the following year. The show transferred to Channel Four in 2004 as Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, before spawning the spin-off 80s chat show spoof, Man to Man with Dean Learner, fronted by Ayoade's 'smut-peddler' character.

Appearances in The Mighty Boosh and Nathan Barley were followed by his highest profile role to date in Graham Linehan's sitcom The IT Crowd, playing socially inept tech support worker Moss, a role he reprised for an unaired US adaptation in 2009.

Establishing a parallel career as a music video director for the likes of The Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, he directed his first film, the coming-of-age comedy-drama Submarine in 2010, and his second, The Double, a nightmarish, dystopian comedy-drama, loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella, in 2014.

Bob Mortimer and Richard Ayoade to front new comedy game show

Last One Laughing pairing revived for Netflix's Hot Or Cold

Bob Mortimer and Richard Ayoade are to revive their Last One Laughing partnership for a new comedy entertainment show.

In Hot Or Cold, teams of comedians and funny celebrities work their way through a labyrinth of rooms, each containing a challenge that must be completed as quickly as possible. The only problem: they’re never told what the challenge is, or how to solve it.

Their only guide is the room, which glows red when they’re getting warmer and blue when they’re getting colder.

Mortimer said: ‘Spending time with Richard Ayoade is one of my all-time favourite things to do. Closely followed by playing Hot or Cold, so this has worked out brilliantly."

Ayoade said: ‘Although I prefer mild temperatures, it’s been instructive to participate in something as binary as this.’

Six episodes have been commissioned by Netflix from Zeppotron – one of the production companies behind Amazon’s Last One Laughing.

Chris Cohen, executive producer at Zeppotron, said: ‘I've spent my entire career in telly walking into rooms and having no idea what's going on, so it's a delight to work with Netflix and finally make a show with that exact premise. We are thrilled to have two of Britain's best in Bob and Richard at the heart of it all."

The programme was announced Netflix’s first UK Upfronts – an industry session to herald new projects. No broadcast date has yet been set.

Mortimer won the final face-off against Ayoade in the first series of Last One Laughing UK last year, by making him laugh during this surreal, deadpan speed-dating sketch.