[jaylevitt]

It'll save you a few more keystrokes if you do

    cat !$ | less

!$ is "the last argument to the previous command".

[mrud]

If you do

    less <ESC>.

it will save you even more keystrokes.

[voltagex_]

Do you remap ESC to another key?

[mrud]

No, but for me <ESC> acts like <META> and the actual keybinding is M-. or M-_.

The command you are looking for is yank-last-arg for bash and insert-last-word for zsh.

[graywh]

You have that backwards--Meta actually means "prepend Escape" (or 8th bit on, but that's another discussion).