The Last Leg

Original logo (with original title) used during the first series

The Last Leg is described by main presenter Adam Hills as "Three guys with four legs talking about the week",[7] 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 the events in the news that week, as well as covering Paralympic matters. The show features guest interviews with Paralympians and celebrities.

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.[8]

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.[9][10]

From Friday 21st February 2020 until Friday 20th March 2020, the show moved from Television Centre's Studio TC1 to Elstree Studios. The reason for the move mid series was due to Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway using Studio TC1 on a Saturday night from Saturday 22nd February 2020, and needing time to build in their set each week and rehearsals, it meant The Last Leg could no longer air live from Studio TC1, there was simply just not enough time, so the show has been forced to move to Elstree Studios for the remaining episodes of the 19th series, with the show moving back to Television Centre later in 2020, once Saturday Night Takeaway has ended their 2020 series in April.

In late April 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 8th May until 5th June and is available on All 4 after broadcast.

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!"[7] 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. Since then, the buzzer has been used in various situations whenever the show thinks someone is lying, and a second buzzer has been added which features Widdicombe saying: "That's true, actually" when someone says something that really is true.

After appearing on the show in 2017, comedian Armando Iannucci's voice has replaced Brooker's voice on the bullshit button. Since the replacement, four more buttons have been implemented, all four varying in levels: "cow chutney", "a shite in shining armour", "a turd the size of Disneyland Paris" and "Thomas the Wank Engine", the latter being the most often used.

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. The winner is voted on by the viewers using Twitter with the hashtag #dickoftheyear. The winner for 2013 was Russian president Vladimir Putin.[11]

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 made an executive decision to not 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.[11]

The prize for 2015 was awarded to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who won 80% of the vote in the final round of voting, beating Donald Trump into second place.[12]

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 as well as "Dick of the Year", the people who have come second and third will be named "Ballbags of the Year". The nominations for 2017 were decided for by both public vote and a selection of wildcards chosen by the hosts of the show. The nominees are Theresa May, Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump, Adam's wildcard Bob Katter, Josh's wildcard Lewis Hamilton, and Alex's wildcard Philip Hammond. The result was Trump being declared the winner, with May second and Hamilton third. There was also a special award given to Harvey Weinstein, who has ruled out of running for the main award on the grounds that it is possible that Weinstein may take "Dick of the Year" as a compliment. Weinstein was given the "Steaming Turd" award for "lifetime achievement".

2018 followed a similar format to the previous year, with nominees selected by viewers and three from the hosts. The nominees were Theresa May, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Piers Morgan, Adam's wildcard Boris Johnson, Josh's wildcard Steve Smith, and Alex's wildcard Thanos. Rees-Mogg was announced as the winner, whilst Donald Trump was given a special award.

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.[13] 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. The public's nominees were Rees-Mogg, Johnson, and Prince Andrew, Adam's wildcard was the Chinese government, Alex's wildcard was Rebekah Vardy's Instagram account, Josh's nominee was the video assistant referee system. Johnson was declared the winner, with Rees-Mogg second and Prince Andrew third. Another poll also announced David Cameron as "Dick of the Decade".

The theme music is an instrumental version of 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 Paralympic Games coverage.[14]