Much has been made of Last One Laughing's spooky format twist for the Halloween specials. This time around, it is not just cracking up that will see a comedian expelled from the house, but emitting a scream too. 

However, in practice, this twist is soon abandoned – though not before one comedian (no spoilers) gets a yellow card after falling for a jump scare. It seems like cheating given how easy it is to elicit a reflex reaction that’s harder to control than a laugh. More intriguing is trying to hold back a laugh of relief once a perceived threat has passed. 

So it transpires that laughing remains the big no-no in this series, as it was with the last two hugely successful ones.

That the format is now so firmly established means the first episode of this four-parter can feel a little slow. Each comedian has to arrive in turn — and we already knew who they were going to be— and they introduce themselves to the rest of the gang, and conversationally test each other out a little.  Some, of course, have history – not least Lou Sanders and Daisy May Cooper, both of whom return from series one.

The first episode tootles along at an amiable pace as everyone is sized up. An awkward highlight is Cooper and Harriet Dyer, the least known — so far — of all the comics in this lineup, sitting down for a ‘weird-off’ as they exchange their oddball thoughts. Cooper, like Sanders, might have been considered most susceptible to a scream elimination, since both are avowed believers in the supernatural.  

Reece Shearsmith is the perfect choice, given the Venn diagram overlap of horror and comedy is where he has spent his entire career. He proves excellent value because – as well as his Joker set piece – he’s brought a bag of psychological tricks with which to entertain and astound his fellow inmates… and, perhaps, catch them out?

Jack Dee was similarly inspired casting as the grumpiest, most poker-faced, man in comedy. Surely it would be a real challenge to make him crack a smile. Though at one notable point, you see him literally pinching himself to try and distract himself from the encroaching hilarity. Turns out his persona might have been an act all along, who’d have thunk?

Phil Wang is equally deadpan, though the contortions he makes with his face to suppress laughs are among the many accidentally funny parts of the show. Tom Allen’s aloof brand of camp is also well-suited to the format – as he even keeps a straight face during the semi-naked wrestling​ that is his Joker.

This is definitely a mini-series that builds up over time, with the first episode seeming slightly muted if the show’s previous highlights live in your head. Although it certainly perks up in the second half when Cooper performs her Joker, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. 

The last part of this episode is dominated by a cameo, which again I won't spoil, but the guest’s shenanigans don’t seem to work as effectively on screen as they so clearly do in the room.

Over the next half-hour the tension and the pressure not to crack up increases and the comics play harder. But it's episode 3 that's the absolute five-star classic that you'll want to stick around for.  A surprise appearance in the first half, apparently engineered with the sole intention of breaking Shearsmith, is hilarious and must have taken superhuman control to resist. 

Meanwhile the Inside No. 9 co-creator produces a masterpiece of bonkers sketch comedy for his Joker – imagine  if the Two Ronnies had collided with The League Of Gentlemen and the weirdest the SNL UK writers could come up with and you’re nearly there. How everyone else didn’t crack up witnessing this virtuous skit up close is a marvel of self-control. 

Episode 4 is being held back from streaming until next week – but by this point Last One Laughing has proved what we already knew: it’s a real scream.

• The first three episodes of Last One Laughing Halloween are streaming on Prime Video now. Read interviews with the contestants here.