Taskmaster (UK) - General Discussion

[SnarkShark]

It's hilarious watching a contestant totally not give a shiate about what Alex asks them to do (even though it's just an interview):

 

 

[LGraves65]

I normally don't like Judi Love, but she has won me over on TM.  They're ALL good this series.

[MissLucas]

Yeah, this is a great group. And Bridget Christie is a wonderful poetic agent of chaos. Her Laika clip was a thing of beauty.

Edited May 6, 2022 by MissLucas

[SnarkShark]

7 hours ago, LGraves65 said:

I normally don't like Judi Love, but she has won me over on TM.  They're ALL good this series.

Agreed.  Loose Women and everything attached to it is dreadful.  But she's better on panel shows, and slightly even better yet here.  The Brits don't really have an Angry Black Woman trope, at least in the way the US does, but what she does is kind of a "I don't give a crap what you think" riff, and away from the old biddies on Loose Women she doesn't have to pretend to be diplomatic.  

7 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Yeah, this is a great group. And Bridget Christie is wonderful poetic agent of chaos. Her Laika clip was a thing of beauty.

Bridget Christie is just nuts.  In an entertaining way, admittedly. 

[LGraves65]

That sausage mixer footage was the funniest thing I've seen on TM in many seasons.  Chris Ramsey is the Russell Howard of this season.

[MissLucas]

I'm glad Sophie won despite getting robbed in two tasks. Her impressions in the meeting task were hilarious and five points worthy and her take on the cement mixer task deserved more than one point though it did not reach the glory of the sausage mixer.The twist of the episode was Bridget winning the pedometer task due to her rage-filled execution of said task. Sophie was right - if anyone's going to kill Alex it will be Bridget LOL!

[LGraves65]

I had such hopes for Chris Ramsey, but then shoes. smh

[Athena]

Series 14 started recently and I'm catching up now. I haven't watched very seriously since Series 11 but I wanted to see how Dara Ó Briain manages. I was also familiar with Sarah Millican. John, Fern, and Munya are newish to me. John is the sad sack contestant of this season. 

I was laughing with tears during the end of the S14E02 studio task.

Spoiler

During the helicopter word, Dara's face and expression were hilarious. He has to manage with having John. Fern can be really good but chaotic so this was a good team to set up.

[Fukui San]

I lost it at that exact same spot. 

[Wee S]

Such a great series. The cast had the best chemistry of all and I just loved all the personalities at play. So, SO delighted for the winner!

I felt that Alex broke alot more during tasks and with this group, I can see why. Was vaguely familiar with Munya before it started, and now I'm looking up potential gigs of his I can go see. Obvs Dara is the goat, right up there with his Mock the Week stablemate Hugh.

[SnarkShark]

Not totally sold on the Aus version of this based on this promo.

 

 

 

I've seen the host before elsewhere and he's pretty good.  But something about that assistant seems off.  Not enough material to even guess on the quality of the tasks or competitors.

 

Now the NZ version is mostly great.  OUTSTANDING assistant, great competitors, and tasks that often are even better than the UK version.   There's just a crappy host/Taskmaster.  

 

 

 

 

[Ceindreadh]

New season starting on Thursday the 21st September, yay!

[MissLucas]

Up and running on the official Taskmaster YT already. This season is off to a marvelous start!

 

[Athena]

Great start. I'm a fan of Sue's from a lot of the things she's done. I know of Julian and Lucy. I am not so familiar with Susan and Sam. Lucy is the special contestant of the season. Wow! I really appreciate how the show has introduced me to so many funny comedians over the years especially female ones. 

I really like the game play of the Sues and Sam. I felt Greg and Alex were even lighter and more jovial than usual.

 

[MissLucas]

Lucy is great. She's one of those contestants that make Alex lose it regularly it seems. And her genuine surprise at 'rule-breaking' means that she never watched her husband's run on the show. 

From this line-up I'm slightly familiar with Sue, Lucy and Julian. Never seen Sam before but after this episode I'm sure to go on a YT deep dive.

[Fake Jan Brady]

"Are you are child of divorce?" catapulted Sam to the top of my list.

The giant duck task really separated the crafty from the careless.

[Wee S]

Genuinely cannot stand Sue Perkins - I find her completely smug and trying to be almost Stephen Fry like with her imsults to Alex. Like, calm down luv. Stop being a try hard.

Lucy is hilarious in general, and Susan a new delight. Sam Campbell though in that can task; having a wee lie down so as to not eff it up was the correct thing to do! And when he, Julian and Lucy met up for their team task? Well I lost it at that point! Up The Natural Friends team!

[MissLucas]

Well the Arthurian task made it quite clear that most of them had never bothered to watch the show LOL! Julian rambling on about how much he liked Josh Widdicombe without remembering his name was great - just topped by Lucy throwing the sword into the bathtub.

But the episode belonged to Susan Wokoma - that mischievous task was epic. If Tim Key ever steps back from his consulting gig Alex has just found a worthy successor.

[dargosmydaddy]

I, too, would like to wear Sam Campbell in a little papoose...

[pertho]

I've just noticed that Sue is wearing the same outfit Mel was in her season

[theatremouse]

Not identical, but very similar. Love it.

[dargosmydaddy]

One of my all-time favorite seasons. Lovely all round, and that hotel task was the best finale team task since the "Activate Jamali"/ Charlotte Ritchie running in circles one.

[MissLucas]

Yeah, this is going into my list of favorite seasons too. I wish the two Sues would get their own show. Their wholesomeness was a thing of beauty only topped by Greg's nauseous reactions. 

Julian Clary should write a book about the Art of Elegant Disdain. I'd buy it.

[SVNBob]

I don't think anyone could have seen this one coming:

Taskmaster: the VR game.

 

[MissLucas]

They uploaded the extended versions of Hotel task on Youtube. The Sues version is of course wholesome AF. This one on the other hand comes across like the the mix of a  horror movie and a psychothriller - made in the late 70s. It's genuinely unsettling.

 

[msani19]

Every year I watch this I think I will never enjoy a cast more than this one, yet I'm proved wrong each year! This cast was lovely and I was only familiar with Sue Perkins from some a show called "The Supersizers...". I kind of knew Lucy Beaumont because she's married to Jon Richardson and she's been on some of his panel shows. Everyone else was new to me and what a delight they all were!

First, Sue Perkins and Susan Wokoma are PERFECT together! Every interaction was sublime and so fun. I need to see them do something else together!

Susan Wokoma, I loved her and I had not heard of her before. Now, she's on my go to list of British comedians. She's just so lovable and relatable (well I'm also Nigerian so that could have something to do with it 😄) Her I wendt to RADA could have played really badly but she made it funny and kind of self-effacing. $30,000 baby!

Lucy is hilarious! First, thank you for closed captioning! The way her mind works is a thing of beauty. The way Greg would just sit there stunned at the random things she'd say brought me to tears. Alex usually doesn't break, but she cracked him up several times which was even funnier. I almost lost it when she said "oh fuck off" to them when they were scoring one of the tasks. Just had to add the classic "I think my legs are actually arms without fingers"...to this day...

Sam Campbell!! I've been mainlining his comedy on YouTube. He's just a gem. When he said of Sue and Susan "just give them the points, these are dynamite chicks", he genuinely meant that! 

Juilan Cleary....what to say about him. I had no idea he was a comedy legend. His contempt for Alex sustained me and I couldn't wait to see how he would convey his utter contempt for him in every episode! 

Another great series Taskmaster! 

Come on Series 17!

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by msani19

[SVNBob]

In unexpected "cross-over" news; Mae Martin and Survivor's Parvati Shallow are now a couple.  No, really.

Good for them.

Edited December 31, 2023 by SVNBob
Increasing positivity in the post...again.

[Fake Jan Brady]

The New Year's Treat lived up to its name. Great, fun cast. I'd like to see Kojey Radical on a regular season.

[msani19]

New Taskmaster series 17 is now available! I know not a single one of the contestants this time, usually I am familiar with a few of them. It's kind of nice to have no opinion and see how I end up enjoying them as the series progresses. 

[MissLucas]

I know Nick Mohammed from Ted Lasso - but that's about it. It's always fun to figure out in which branch of the Taskmaster taxonomy new contestants belong: bat-shit crazy, bosh lady/gent, lateral genius etc.

[dargosmydaddy]

I've never watched Ted Lasso, and thought I would dislike Nick based on the series 17 promos because the vampire costume seemed so over-the-top, but he has quickly become my favorite contestant. What a sweet man! His little, "I don't think I've understood the task," while trapped underneath the camp bed had me in hysterics, while also being kind of heartbreaking.

This season has been a bit of a slow burn after last season's lovely insanity, but I'm still really enjoying it.

[MissLucas]

I love how the production team is full leaning into Nick's Dracula costume - they always edit out his reflection LOL!

I think at this point it's safe to say that Greg's golden head will end up with John Robins or Steve Pemberton.

 

[dargosmydaddy]

12 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

I think at this point it's safe to say that Greg's golden head will end up with John Robins or Steve Pemberton.

I don't know if I'd count Joanne out just yet.

Of the three contenders I greatly prefer John, but honestly I love Nick and Sophie the most, even though they have no chance of winning.

[Corgi-ears]

Series 17 Ep 7's play a recognizable classical piece task:

I feel like when you blow into water-filled bottles, 80% of the "musical sound" you make comes from you...surreptitiously just whistling the note. But Nick of course is too sweet to cheat that way, unlike me. 

 

Meanwhile, John playing bass on his homemade harp, and his accompanying expressions, was totally giving:

 

Edited May 14 by Corgi-ears