The Last Laugh: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (April 2, 1949)

“The Last Laugh” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 2, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Philip Marlowe, a private detective, is summoned to the will reading of Julius Spangler, a practical joker who once threw him down the stairs as a prank. Marlowe joins five other heirs on rain-soaked Catalina Island to hear the reading of Spangler's half-million dollar estate. The will contains unexpected and peculiar bequests that seem designed to mock and manipulate those who inherit.

Catalina Island, during a rainstorm; begins in Marlowe's Los Angeles office and includes a ferry journey to the island

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Darwin, Julius Spangler, Matthew Spangler, Nikki, Roderick, Melissa, Millicent Burke Ashby

Listen for: The eccentric nature of Spangler's will and the strange conditions attached to each heir's inheritance; tensions among the six heirs as they gather in the library for the reading

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.