Overview

The Last Leg is described by main presenter Adam Hills as "Three guys with four legs talking about the week",^[8] because Hills was born without a right foot and Brooker had his right leg amputated when he was a baby.

The original series, broadcast during the 2012 Paralympics, was a look back at each day's events during the competition, as well as a look at the news that week. Following on from the Paralympics, the series became weekly, and looks at political and other events in the news that week, as well as covering Paralympic matters. The show features guest interviews with Paralympians and celebrities.

Originally it was intended to be broadcast on More4 at midnight and was intended to feature Hills alone, hence the original title. However, after a run-through, Channel 4 saw more potential and put the show on at 10pm every day. During the pilot, which saw Hills alone as presenter and Widdicombe and Brooker merely as guests, producers decided to keep Brooker and Widdicombe as recurring co-presenters.^[9]

The series is broadcast live and encourages interaction with the viewers at home, holding polls via Twitter using hashtags. A recurring theme in the show is the use of the hashtag #isitok to highlight questions from Twitter users to be asked in the show. Initially it was for asking questions about disability that people felt awkward asking: the broadening of the show's remit is reflected in the questions asked in this stream.^[10]

The show originally was broadcast from the Riverside Studios in London. It would later move to the ITV London Studios on London's South Bank. From Series 14 it is now made in Studio TC1 at the BBC Studios in Television Centre, West London, which is operated and run by BBC Studioworks,^[11][12] though some 2020 episodes were made at Elstree Studios.

In late April 2020 it was announced that The Last Leg would be "Locked Down Under" during the coronavirus lockdown. Hills, Widdicombe and Brooker would be hosting the show from their homes in Melbourne, London and Huddersfield taking social distancing to the extreme and looking at the week's news in a comedic manner. Guests including Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Merchant were featured using video relay, and each episode ended with a song from The Horne Section. The show ran for five episodes from 8 May until 5 June and is available on All 4 after broadcast.

The show is currently playing at Television Centre, London.^[13] The latest series aired in 2024.

Recurring segments

Recurring segments in the show include rants or attacks by Hills on certain people and organisations, which has since resulted in the coining of Hills' catchphrase: "Don't be a dick!"^[8] Another segment is "The Last 7 Days", in which Widdicombe looks at more comic news items that have occurred during the week, and Brooker's various attempts to qualify for the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Another is the "Bullshit Button", which was first used in a segment in which Brooker interviewed the then-Leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg to see if Clegg could persuade him to vote in the 2015 UK general election. Brooker would press a large red buzzer that played an audio recording of him saying the word "Bullshit" if he thought Clegg was lying during the interviews.^[14] Since then, the buzzer has been used in various situations whenever the show thinks someone is lying, and additional buzzers during various seasons have been added including phrases like "A shite in shining armor" by Armando Ianucci and "Fuck off" by Brian Cox.^[15]

Dick of the Year

Since January 2014, The Last Leg has presented a mock prize to the "Dick of the Year", awarded for being the biggest dick over the previous year. Nominees are suggested by viewers on Twitter, as well as the hosts. The winner is voted on by the viewers using Twitter with the hashtag #dickoftheyear.

In January 2015, journalist Katie Hopkins received the most votes for 2014's "Dick of the Year" but Hills and the team making the show decided not to give Hopkins the prize on the grounds that she would enjoy receiving it. Thus, the prize went to the person with the second-highest number of votes, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.

In the 2016 Christmas special, the prize was awarded to whole of the year 2016, defeating Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and David Cameron.

In 2017, it was announced that the people who have come second and third in the "Dick of the Year" voting will be named "Ballbags of the Year". The "Steaming Turd" award was also created for Harvey Weinstein, who was ruled out of running for the main award on the grounds that it was possible that Weinstein may take "Dick of the Year" as a compliment.

In 2019, comedy writer Graham Linehan was the runaway favourite nominee by viewers to be given the award, in light of controversial comments he had made on social media about transgender people.^[16] After Linehan expressed interest in winning the award, Hills and the team disqualified him from receiving the award under the precedent set by Hopkins in 2014. Another poll by the show also announced David Cameron as "Dick of the Decade".

In 2023 it was decided that multiple time nominee Vladimir Putin would be made a lifetime recipient.

In collaboration with YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Manners, The Last Leg presented Suella Braverman with her Dick of the Year 2023 award in person by inviting Braverman to a fake boat launch in her constituency.^[17]

Theme music

The theme music is Public Enemy's "Harder Than You Think", which became the show's permanent theme after initially serving as the title music to the whole of Channel 4's 2012 Summer Paralympics coverage.^[18]