Laurie Blake is the Head of Production of No Rolls Barred, and a mainstay on the channel. He also helps run WrestleTalk.
- "I just want to win ONE game of Blood On The Clocktower."
- ―Laurie (10 Board Game Resolutions For 2022)
Laurie is known for being bald, wearing hats to cover this fact (as well as for genuine style), for cheating in games on multiple occasions, and for being a goth. He is a famous grudge holder, locked into a perpetual dance of sniping with Adam and maintaining full records in his big book of grudges. He seems to be able to predict the future despite never being believed, and is Isaac's Demon. He is a member of Team Rocket and he moves at great shped. If you have any gripes with Laurie —or anyone else for that matter— don't hesitate to tweet him @ElFakidor. Otherwise, don't Laurie about it. He is a climber and adores bouldering, finding anything else boring, but he is simultaneously afraid of heights. We learned in Let's Play DECEPTION: MURDER IN HONG KONG III that Lauries as a species do not hibernate, but if they did, Laurie would choose summer to do so.
In WrestleTalk lore, if Oli and Luke are Batman and Robin, Laurie is the Joker.
Biography[]
Laurie is originally from Eastbourne in East Sussex. He did stand up comedy for a while and worked for around 10 years as a freelance editor, director and presenter, particularly for the ITN news service in the UK. Most notably, his video for ITN of a whale carcass exploding has close to 22 million views, which makes his the single most watched video of any of the Trident staff.
Laurie's connection to NRB comes through WrestleTalk. He knew Luke from his extended university friend group and when Oli was looking to expand the WrestleTalk presenting staff, primarily so he and Luke could take time off, Luke eventually referred Laurie. He was introduced with a 'fake Luke' storyline, which morphed into El Fakidor, which Laurie still uses as his social media account. After working on both WrestleTalk and PartsFUNknown (which was Screenstalker before the rename - Laurie accidentally suggested the new name and hates it) he extended to No Rolls Barred when that channel was launched. He is now responsible for some of the direction and production across the Trident channels, as well as presenting and NRB appearances.
Notable moments[]
- In Let's Play CHEESE THIEF, Laurie, like Sullivan before him, became afflicted by terrible cheese blindness. Having woken up after Adam, the thief, Laurie failed to notice that the cheese was gone. This saved Adam, who incredulously revealed his theft with an "Unpack that for me, Laurie?!"
- In Let's Play CHAMPION OF THE WILD Laurie became filled with righteous outrage. This is a wonderful sight to see - and if the righteous outrage is over something that is absolute nonsense, it's somehow even sweeter. " THERE'S WATER!"
- Let's Play NIGHT OF THE NINJA saw a brief detente in the perennial grudge war with Adam. In fact Laurie declared his love for Adam, an event which caused a hole in reality to open and destroy Japan.
- The truce didn't last, though. By the time of Let's Play CHINATOWN the grudges were even more pointed. After a botched first attempt at a deal, Laurie declared that he would not negotiate with Adam any further - and in fact began to pay the others to reject Adam's deals. This came back to bite him at the end of the game, when Adam held a tile Laurie badly needed and refused to trade it.
- In the video 10 Board Game Resolutions For 2022, it was revealed that Laurie had some sort of split personality, one of which being voiced by Gollum from Lord of the Rings. This evil side of Laurie took him over and made the resolution to win one game of No Rolls Barred Plays Blood On The Clocktower.
- Let's Play FIASCO was a joy for all our cast. Laurie's scenes with Rosie in particular were fantastic. Laurie once again showed how he can take the most errant nonsense and pull some genuine emotion out of it. (See City British Wrestling on partsFUNknown for more evidence - and also because it's really really good.)
- Laurie's first win of No Rolls Barred Plays Blood On The Clocktower was far into 2022 in the episode Ding Dom Merrily On High, resulting in an incredibly loud celebration despite the win not being caused by him in any way. In the same game, Isaac unraveled Jon by repeatedly telling him "Laurie's my Demon".
- Let's Play ISS VANGUARD may well be Laurie's best ever episode - wherein we learned the story of Keith Moon, retired porn star forced into space exploration. Once Laurie finds a bit, he goes all in. We heard of all Keith's attempts to leave his sordid past behind him, only to find himself returning to the behaviours he knew best. A tragedy in 3 acts, with space-porn streaming.
- In the video NRB Charity Livestream ANNOUNCEMENT!!, Laurie dashed Adam's hopes of not playing Monopoly by wishing for him to play it at the end of the NRB Wish Charity Livestream!!. He also wished, however, that he himself would not have to play it. During the stream, he can thus be seen reading a book and playing on his Nintendo Switch.
- Perhaps the purest distallation of Laurie's relationship with Adam came in Let's Play MONIKERS, when Laurie ran out the clock on Adam's increasingly ludicrous 'Florida Man' charade, making Adam continue, even though it was absolutely obvious Laurie knew exactly what was on the card.
- In Let's Play CATAN, Laurie was very cross about a lot of things. He kept getting out his big book of grudges - the only real surprise was that Adam wasn't in the book for that day.
Quotes[]
- "Annie Lennox wannabe... Bieber-looking bastard" [about Adam]
- "I don't know much about Jersey, but I feel like it's outside."
- "What did I do to the whole fucking lot of you? Just making this shit run, is all. I'm deleting your audio, I'm deleting your audio, I'm deleting your audio..."
- "I think it's pathetic you've had to cast us all as Nazis to get this episode's slight hero rub." [to Adam]
- "In space, no-one has seen my peen."
More quotes by Laurie Blake can be found here!
Appraisals[]
- "Oh Laurie, petty revenge is going to be the end of you. "
- ―Jon, (Let's Play COUP)
- "Laurie is more Goth than Fun."
- "I don't trust that little ginger fuck, you know... Laurie might not have selfish objectives, but Laurie has a mischievous streak."
- "Laurie very much takes the high road... plays the game to the best of his abilities, while he watches us scrabble around in the gutter"
- "There comes a point where everyone has to go home... and that is the point where they are in a confined space with Laurie Blake. Because I hate him."
More appraisals of Laurie Blake by the rest of the cast can be found here!
Appearances[]
Appearances by Laurie are listed here!