Might give this new series a watch. Been really disappointed with the line ups the last few series but from reading the comments it looks like they’re worth a watch Season 2 was the goat lineup though. Joe Wilkinson, John Richardson, Katherine Ryan, Richard Osman and Doc Brown was just the most perfect combination of people
I thought seasons 11 and 12 were 2 of the best (especially season 11). Some of the lesser known comedians, like Mike Wozniak, have been absolutely brilliant.
I've liked most of the guests in most of the series, even people who I previously disliked, but for me the tasks themselves have deteriorated in the last couple of series. They seem determined not to repeat previous tasks whereas I think some of them would stand a 2nd look.
Or Romesh Ranganathan realising he should probably wet the teabags. And his "there was no box, mate!" rage. Aah, now they're all coming back to me!
I agree. So many of the tasks have become more convoluted because they are either trying to avoid repeating a task or they are trying to close loopholes so the contestants can't find a way around it. I know it can't be easy to create 40+ tasks a season, but surely they could repeat a few tasks or just slightly tweak them each season. For me some of the best tasks were the really cheap and basic ones too, and they could be re-spun a few ways. I hosted a Taskmaster night back in April and it was a good laugh. I found the tasks worked well as I just took a basic task and changed it a bit to work with what we had available. Tree Wizaaaaaaaaard!!!!
Yes S2 was the best series. S3 had what looked like a great lineup as well, but I didn't find it particularly great, whereas there have been weaker looking contestants who have been quite funny e.g. there was a series where Tim Vine looked to be the only decent guest, but it ended up being a really funny series.
Speaking of Romesh, who could ever forget him just barging into the lab and immediately smashing the watermelon all onto the floor. And that was the the first ever proper Taskmaster task and the way both he and Tim Key did that task in contrast to the rest brilliantly setup the show. Tim Key and his constant attempts to cheat/bend the rules in particular was also IMO critical to the show being successful. It showed the series creative potential. Al Murray being a bit of a boring, smug prick ruined S3 IMO. Dave Gorman was meh as well that season but at least he made laughably bad attempts to cheat at times to make things interesting. All Al Murray did was throw around money for every other task. Paul Chowdhry, Rob Beckett and Sara Pascoe were good though. Ultimately, with 14 series we've basically had 70 comedians do Taskmaster already. I expect most future series will have fairly obscure line-ups, with maybe 1 known face at best, at least in terms of comedians. Which is good IMO since the show can then serve as a great launchpad for young/up and coming comedians. Especially since contestants get to show their personality way more and way more naturally on Taskmaster compared to any other panel show.
They have had repeat guests before, so they can always rotate people in again, but I do like having a couple of relative unknowns to see how they do.
I discovered this last year, after watching Eight Out Ten Cats and Would I Lie to you, both shows which I also discovered during Covid. I am still catching up on all the seasons on YouTube. And, yes, I love it.
When? They've had one-off Champion of Champions stuff but never any repeat guests in the actual series.
Agreed, apart from the Champions series and the odd appearance of a former player when standing in for someone who's ill.
The logical path (IMO anyway) would be to try and wrangle a couple of Youtubers a season. Max Fosh in particular seems like he was made to go on Taskmaster.
This doesn't apply to Fosh because at the end of his video I just watched he said he does stand-up and will be at the Edinburgh Fringe so he's already on the comedian career track and so should be able to handle it. But generally the risk/issue with Youtubers is that they or their friends/relatives are generally almost entirely in control of their Youtube channel and so they have the freedom to do whatever they want which helps in them being natural and entertaining. Like, I genuinely like CallMeKevin and I actually think he will do well in panel shows and comedy (seriously, just look at this video, guy clearly knows how to do comedy) but its also clear that he'd be rough around the edges. Making videos for your own channel on Youtube just simply won't be the same on panel shows or any work they do with a comedian and that could completely make them flop on TV. Case in point is that twat PewDiePie's Clueless Gamer appearance with Conan below. The differences between an actual professional comedian and a Youtuber are completely laid bare.
Tbf Pewdiepie has always been pretty upfront about his awkwardness when interacting with people in real life, he is an introvert after all. KSI would be a good example of a more extroverted youtuber who has also branched out beyond that platform... I actually think he'd be an interesting fit for Taskmaster. Jacksepticeye would also probably be a good laugh. Grian is a minecraft youtuber but I think he would be very entertaining.
Probably a bit of a push, but would anyone here be interested in doing a forum TM? Similar to the lockdown hometasking, you get set challenges and record yourself doing them, put the videos online and the forum would vote for the winner.
