And Now... Thoughts on "The Last Laugh" · 9:35pm Aug 4th, 2019
Yeah, I'm sure you were eagerly awaiting my reaction to this episode. I have a reputation to uphold, after all.
So, without further ado...
AT LAST, BEST PONY HAS RETURNED!
Heh, and it's really nice to know that his presence in an episode really brings out the best in Pinkie Pie. She was her usual chipper, funny self, but she was helpful and caring here as she puts as much effort as she can to bringing Cheese's laugh back, and eventually figuring out what needed to be done. I'm just saying, there's something about Cheese that makes Pinkie shine without having to degrade him to do so.
Okay, there are some that might argue that Cheese being essentially in "Pinkamena" mode could be degrading, but I'm a lady who likes my Cheese as a dynamic character, and if there's a good explanation for any odd behavior from him, I can accept it. For instance, using one of my own fics as reference, if Cheese was a jerk to some grumpypants and argued with him without explanation, that would be out of character and the writer rightfully called out. However, with the added details that the grumpypants is his brother, and they had emotional baggage involving each other, then people can accept it.
With the explanation of the gag factory becoming tedious for him and how he can't see the public's reaction to the gags (I know that feeling, when I don't see any reactions to my art or fics, my drive gets a-dwindling), I was able to accept that he ended up basically drying up to the point of laughlessness.
It does feel weird that he bounced back so quickly after a word mix-up made someone giggle, though. Episode time limit strikes again, I guess.
Though, I have to giggle at the fact that when he's in his slump, he just puts his mane in a big poofy ponytail and wears a sweater because his hair can't copy Pinkie's when it was never straight. Seriously, straight-maned Cheese is a pet peeve of mine, I feel like punching something whenever I see it. It's why I go with bristly hair on an angry Cheese for a showcase of extreme emotion involving him.
Speaking of headcanons, one of my biggest concerns for a Cheese return would be a massacre of my headcanons involving him, given how much I've done with him since "Pinkie Pride" aired. Well, they all survived intact (well, a couple of them might have taken some scratches, but they're easy to treat), as no mention of family means that Tomato, their parents, and the extended family (not to mention the future CheesePie kiddos, hehehe) can still exist without contradicting canon. In fact, a couple of things in the episode enhanced some headcanons, such as Cheese essentially starting a business in practical jokes suggesting to me that Cheese does have a little business pony in him like Tomato has a little party pony in him, thus Cheese and Tommy truly are brothers. 
Also, Cheese building gags in a shack is adorable, I love that the show confirms he's a natural builder and artist.
Now, of course, can't really talk about this episode without mentioning Sans Smirk. Or really, how at least two people took a look at him and thought, "Tomato? Is that you?" I recently had a conversation with howard035 where we joked that Cheese made Tomato wear a full body suit so he could be on the show. XD
Well, truth be told, while I did draw a connection between Sans and Tomato and their general things of being foils to Cheese (heck, now I'm imagining that they became friends partially by way of Cheese going, "You're a lot like my brother... I like you!"), I should bring up the major differences between the two characters, with Tomato generally being more temperamental, more in touch with his silly side whether he likes it or not, and being a lot more snarky, with Sans on the other hand having more downplayed emotions (not to Maud levels, but enough for that wet blanket cutie mark to make some sense), approaching silliness with an analytical view, and more or less straightforward.
But hey, we can call them both honest businessponies who play the down-to-earth straight man to Cheese and do show care for him and want good ideas to succeed. I think Tomato would like Sans, though he might have pause at the science and statistic stuff being abundantly used in the factory.
I guess I was right in that a businesspony would be a good foil for Cheese. Huh.
But, yeah, naturally, I had quite a few things to say about this, especially since I enjoyed the episode. My only complaints are that I think it's weird that Cheese didn't try to spruce up the factory back when he was him, since you'd think a place run by Cheese would be colorful, some plot points seemed a little rushed, Pinkie's "life purpose" subplot was just tacked on and never really dealt with, and (a more personal taste thing to be honest) I think it should have been a musical like it's predecessor. I mean, whenever I think of my fic "Brother Bothers" as an episode, I think of it as a musical.
But, whatever, even if it doesn't reach the level of Pinkie Pride, I'm still happy that Cheese returned. 
Woah
I totally saw the San Smirk and Tomato connection, and I enjoyed the episode, a little rushed, but nothing I didn’t like.
Thinking about it, I also think those posters of Cheese were a salute to "Mandatory Fun," one of Weird Al's most recent albums.
Tempting to declare headcanon accepted on that one.
But yeah, I figured you'd have something to say on this one. Great to hear you enjoyed it.
5099544 Hmmm. Alternatively, Sans Smirk has lost a lot of hair, adult ponies can often be hard to place on the age scale. You know who's also fairly good at business and paperwork, looks kind of like Cheese, but is less snarky and has less of a sense of humor than Tomato?
Hayburger! I wonder if Cheese went into business with his dad?
5100199
I can only imagine Cheese's mother trying to process making a productive career out of being a party pony. I fear it might end in a stroke.
5100213
Now I want Cheese to buy the publisher Mozzarella works for.
So many thoughts, and I have to post mine soon. Definitely have always agreed with you about the hair thing, and I also had some of the "headcanon still standing" sense of satisfaction.
I suspect the "life's purpose" thing was a way of addressing, "so hey...what's Pinkie going to do now?" Three of the ponies already had jobs that took them away and split them up, to a certain extent. The only three left were Fluttershy, but now she has a the animal sanctuary, so that's her "grown up" home/place of work, and while they clumsily blipped over this, Applejack's grownup destiny is to stay put with her family and her farm, which is scarcely nothing. That only left Pinkie, so what exactly is she going to do?
I could have TOLD her, but I don't think she'd necessarily get the "living embodiment of pure Joy" thing. But now they have "she's doing what she was always meant to do." Duh. Funny is serious business.
5100213 I have always thought that Cheese's mom, Gefilte, thinks he should quit the parties and get a real job and move home and marry that nice Balcony Flowerpot from next door. You can do the parties on the weekends, right? (It's also my headcanon that Manehattan and Neigh Yoke and Neigh Jersey ponies have names like Margin Strip and Brownout).
5105717
And then there are the Exit siblings, Turnpike and Parkway. Between the two of them, they know everypony, and they mean everypony in Neigh Jersey, to the point that the first question ponies ask of each other when they realize they're from the state is "Who's your Exit?"
5105742
Sigh. Yes, that’s true. Cheese himself, in my version of him, is from Bayroan.