Will Shakespeare has been working on his masterpiece. His friends tell him it is his greatest comedy yet, but Will insists that Hamlet isn't actually meant to be funny. In the meantime, Greene has hit on an ingenious new way to destroy Will's reputation by excluding him from his high-brow literary set, and Marlowe's reputation is in such a bad way that he could really do with being dead for a bit. Only Will's dad John is pleased because now that Will has bought him a coat of arms he is officially a gentleman, even if none of his behaviour is in any way gentlemanly.

Meanwhile, the players need another box office smash and it looks like Hamlet is going to need a bit more thinking about. As luck would have it, Will does have an idea for a new comedy but there is something not quite right about the title for Love's Labour's Licked.