Taskmaster

[MalteasersRlife]

I’m currently rewatching them all and I’ve gotta say Mel Gedroich is soooo underrated and hilarious, I absolutely bloody love her

 

[Jelly Bean]

I've being watching earlier series on E4 and have changed my mind on James Acaster. I think he is very funny. I laugh every time he ignores Alex and looks genuinely annoyed.
Just watching now the ones with Iain Stirling and he is so competitive in an unpleasant way. Really don't like him in this.

 

[mee43]

Can I just say; I’m loving Julian - he’s actually looking like he’s starting to have fun

 

[runningbutnotinfluencing]

It's so dull is Taskmaster s un funny, un original a lot of smug comedians I use that term very loosely Stewart Lee said it was all scripted and they have loads of writers who write the remarks they all get first dibs on who gets the best lines

Frankie Boyle is horrible he uses script writers too. And his routine about Katie Prices son was deplorable..

You okay there?
He’s said that about panel shows before - which is known, just look at the credits and see all the writers listed, but not Taskmaster to my knowledge… plus no writers listed?

 

[ButtonDownTheHutches]

Jenny is being exactly herself. If you listen to her podcast she's always like that. Sweary, exasperated with herself, showoff when needed. Mumsie moment with Ivo giving him a hug. She looks like she is having a great time. It's really nice to see older ladies having fun!

Indeed. I’m baffled by the suggestion that she’s ‘trying to be Jo Brand’. Aside from the fact that Jenny is exactly the same as she has been since the 90s, they have very different personas - Jenny is like a dotty auntie, Jo does exasperated ennui. Not remotely similar, beyond broad commonalities that arise from being the same sex, a similar age, and having likely had similar experiences of breaking into the ‘boys club’ of stand up 30 years ago.

Taskmaster tends to cast ‘types’ that are broadly similar: the older man who is crap at most of the tasks, the older woman who is a bit baffled by it all, the angry-ish younger man, the younger woman with a bit of ‘teenage’ stropiness …

 

[ElektraWintour]

As someone rooting for Sarah Millican from the beginning, I’m loving how well she’s doing!

Love her dresses too, I saw on Twitter she tagged the maker too.

 

[IndominusRex]

I'm intrigued by the kids' version they'll be doing.
Comedians and children have similar brains, so as long as they get a good pair of hosts (I heard Greg isn't doing it?) then it should be fun!

PLEASE let it be dick and Dom!

 

[wkdlass]

I wouldn’t mind if they redid some tasks from previous series to see how others would do them.

 

[November_again]

Can I just say; I’m loving Julian - he’s actually looking like he’s starting to have fun

I would happily watch an hour of Julian and Alex making small talk every week.

 

[Lostcat]

How delightful it is that Taskmaster is at the stage where it can hire Gatwick South Terminal out to do tasks and no one really blinks an eye. Who would have thought the silly little show on Dave would have come so far?

Amusing first episode: Sarah was delightful, as was Munya. Fern is amusingly blunt, Dara seemed genuinely distressed by his own ineptitude (in the manner of all intelligent men realising they are not so good at physical/off the cuff tasks), and poor John was all over the place.

 

[LaBlonde]

i don’t want to lower the tone of this thread but i would love to climb over greg like bridget just did

 

[Lostcat]

Indeed. I’m baffled by the suggestion that she’s ‘trying to be Jo Brand’. Aside from the fact that Jenny is exactly the same as she has been since the 90s, they have very different personas - Jenny is like a dotty auntie, Jo does exasperated ennui. Not remotely similar, beyond broad commonalities that arise from being the same sex, a similar age, and having likely had similar experiences of breaking into the ‘boys club’ of stand up 30 years ago.

Yeah, Jo was very minimal energy. Often very amusingly so, but she was firmly unbothered by the whole experience, not even David Baddiel at his most frustrating broke her.

Jenny was having the Best Time Of Her Life in that top hat and potato task until the possibility she could be disqualified hit her, and then she sunk to the depths of despair in a Joe Wilkinson fashion. She's all highs and lows, no middle-ground, and that's fantastic on a show like Taskmaster.

 

[Willow9999]

Julian gives zero f*cks and I’m here for it. Him with the teeth and the short nasally one
---
That was genius from
Susan!

 

[Madeofeyes]

Going to the champion of champions record next week. Glad I chose that not the new years now

 

[Sir Lancelot]

Is Lee really the most trustworthy of comedians though? As @runningbutnotinfluencing said it's definitely the case that some panel shows have writers. But I don't think Taskmaster is like that.

I'd wager he's resentful he hasn't been on a series.

Having been to many recordings of the studio stuff, the interactions all seem 100% spontaneous and genuine.
Sure, Alex and Greg have preplanned bits and sometimes things need to be reshot, but the rest is just comedians being comedians.

It doesn't share that competetive nature that the majority of panel shows have, plus Stewart Lee is probably annoyed Richard Herring one and that he knows he himself would be awful on it.

 

[timefortea82]

Can you post a link here or a spoiler here? I can’t find them

Spoiler

julian clary, sue perkins, lucy Beaumont, Susan Wokoma and Sam Campbell

 

[Sir Lancelot]

It’s not scripted.

Surely the nuggets of gold such as Iain Stirling being genuinely mortified, “YOU BREACHED IT WITH YOUR EYES (poppa don’t breach)” in S1, DMC just creasing laughing with everything, knappet naming the stage, and Bobs lower back issues are just a few examples of that.

obviously Alex and Greg’s stuff follows a script, otherwise it would be chaos!

Let's not forget James Acaster's classic "Oh, just open it you pussy!" and the moments after with Gregg.
Alex particularly looked panicked and even said "Greg, don't!" when he stood up.

 

[fleabagster]

I love Mae Martin in anything. Also love Ivo generally so was very excited to watch tonight! I enjoyed it. Kiell was brilliant and actually my favourite. I think this will be a decent series.

 

[Lostcat]

I just watched episode 5 and I'm gobsmacked at how unfair that final studio task was to Frankie and Ivo: a ten point swing is pretty grim, especially when the team of three had a definite advantage in being able to shove everything into the fishing waders quicker, there being more hands on deck.

A pretty poor episode in general for me, the musical task was dull as ditchwater, save for the final reveal about Kiell. And Mae being a fake-psychic went on forever: a good concept, indifferently executed. (Sadly I'm finding Mae overall very boring, I love them as an actor, but on Taskmaster they are so quiet and blandly competent it's just no fun to watch. Give me a dangerous lunatic like Rhod Gilbert, a loveable eccentric like Wozniack or someone bogglingly useless like Victoria C-M any day)

Loving Frankie and Ivo during the spoon task though: just a pair of small boys having fun with a walkie-talkie, bless them.

 

[HoGi]

Omg Chris's cement mixer task was bloody brilliant