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March 28, 2024, 03:32:27 PM

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Taskmaster series 11

Started by Wayman C. McCreery, December 13, 2020, 05:58:50 PM

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BeardFaceMan

Quote from: selectivememory on March 18, 2021, 04:30:49 PM
Only really know Mack from this line-up, but I'm still looking forward to it. I'm sure it'll be great.

That's interesting. I would have said that the in-studio chemistry was a large part of why Series 10 was actually a strong series, in spite of how lacklustre so many of the pre-recorded tasks were. Or maybe it was just Greg being consistently hilarious. I dunno.

Definitely this. Not that series 10 was bad but it would've been if it hadn't been for Greg doing all the comedy heavy lifting.

Captain Z

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on March 18, 2021, 04:39:08 PM
Definitely this. Not that series 10 was bad but it would've been if it hadn't been for Greg doing all the comedy heavy lifting.

That is true. But I think it was actually helped by the lack of audience, there was less 'playing up' and the humour and in-jokes between the cast felt very genuine.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: Wayman C. McCreery on March 18, 2021, 03:58:49 PM
As someone who couldn't really care less about the scores on the show, I really can't stomach the podcast. It's an odd concept - I have no desire to hear how Scroobius Pip might have scored the contestants. The episodes with Alex and Greg were worth listening to for the insight they offered, but I couldn't even get through ten minutes of the Tim Key one - one of my favourite comedians constrained to a moment-by-moment analysis of the tasks.

It really is an odd podcast, they talk about it like it's a reality show.

Ja'moke

#63
Is Taskmaster UK just not good anymore? Or is it just the lack of live audience?

Not feeling this episode so far. People just transporting plates from one table to another.

Ok the live task is fun.

BritishHobo

That was fucking great anarchy at the end

Norton Canes

Can Mike Wozniak please be the new Doctor Who, thanks

Purple Toupee

That felt flat compared to the first episode of Series 10, but the live task and Lee Mack's 'feast' were both very funny.

selectivememory

Hmm. Mixed feelings. I liked the first couple of tasks, but the plates one was a bit underwhelming, and if it wasn't for Jamali screwing it up, it would have been a complete waste of time. Lee and Mike were both great value though, and I think Charlotte is going to be good as well. Don't know yet about the other two. Both a bit boring so far, and Jamali might have the potential to be actively annoying, though I guess he could be the entertainingly shit one. Bit too early to tell which way it might go.

And something did feel flat with the atmosphere in the studio. I guess the last series did have Johnny Vegas and Daisy May Cooper who laughed enough to almost fill in for the missing audience, but at the moment I'm not sensing any great chemistry between these cast members. Ah well, live task at the end was fun and hopefully it'll find its feet.

Captain Z

Twee, whimsical 'comedy songs' are the absolute pits and would have been an instant 100 point penalty in my book, so the fact it opened the series with 5 points was not a good omen. I'm not familiar with Mike Wozniak but suffice to say he has some work to do to win me over.

olliebean

In series 10, didn't they have the audience in another room at the time of recording? It felt like this one suffered a bit at times from them not having that immediate audience feedback. Still enjoyed it, although the plates task dragged a bit.

chveik


Quote from: olliebean on March 18, 2021, 10:41:55 PM
In series 10, didn't they have the audience in another room at the time of recording? It felt like this one suffered a bit at times from them not having that immediate audience feedback.

I think Greg claimed the audience were watching from a cinema next door, but they definitely got the reaction from a screening after all the studio bits had been filmed.

It's never going to be the same without a studio audience, though I don't know why they sit everyone in a line rather than in a circle. It's not going to help the chemistry when one contestant is 10 metres away from another.

Despite all that, I loved it. Laughed all the way through. The tasks were nice and simple, and I was a fan of the plates one - it allowed for some good physical comedy. In series 10, they would've had to deliver the plates while stopping every 30 seconds to do a funny dance.

Spiteface

Quote from: BritishHobo on March 18, 2021, 09:59:48 PM
That was fucking great anarchy at the end

For me, it's one of the few live tasks I enjoyed. The end bit has always been my least favourite part of the show, but this was one of the good ones.

I don't know about this lineup, only 2 of them I knew of beforehand (Lee Mack being loads of stuff and Jamali being a regular on Frankie Boyle's New World Order). I'm hoping to get acquainted with them all as the series goes on.

Virgo76

Mike Wozniak could prove a real star on this.
I am familiar with all of the contestants except Sarah Kendall so far. There always seems to be one I don't know. I had no idea who Rose Matafeo or Lou Sanders were when they were first on either.
Does feel a little subdued so far but we'll see. A tough act to follow: the last series had probably the best ever line-up there has ever been on Taskmaster.
I enjoy the podcast too. Not sure why people are critical of it. If you don't like hearing people discuss Taskmaster in detail, why are you even on this thread anyway?

greencalx

We're Johnny-come-latelies to the Taskmaster party, having been introduced to it just before Christmas and working through the back catalogue on All 4 during the last lockdown. We got to the end of S9 just before this one started, so can't yet compare with the other lockdown series. (I may do a write-up when we've seen them all, but briefly, for me S5&7 are the standouts with 6 being the hardest work so far).

Agree that the studio atmosphere was off. It's the banter between the contestants that's usually the best part and it seems the physical distance between them + lack of studio audience is making it hard for them to get this going. I guess the other main source of entertainment is the contestants doing something stupid / weird in the tasks for Greg to feed off. Maybe the bucket task will feed into dynamic between contestants in the studio segments in future episodes. But with the filmed tasks in the can I guess they have to make so with what they've got.

Wozniak does look to be the star of the series, and I'd expect good value from Mack as well.

MigraineBoy

The difference between Mack as the comfortable WILTY captain & a slightly unsure of himself Taskmaster contestant is enjoyable.

For the live task I'm surprised nobody immediately dropped to lay flat on the floor & placed the bean bag on one bucket.

Norton Canes

Charlotte Ritchie's 'buckets on head' move was equally inspired

I really enjoyed this and think I prefer this cast to the last series already, the tasks seemed nicely stripped back too and while the banter in the studio wasn't there yet I think it will warm up (it always does), much prefer when the tasks are in/around the house rather than in lots of the dark and dingy places from last series so I hope they keep it up.

Old Thrashbarg

The simplicity of the tasks definitely felt like a step (back) in the right direction, even if these ones weren't particularly great. And the first episodes of each series always seem to have tasks that establish the personality/approach of each contestant at the cost of them not being the funniest tasks. I can only think of the first two series that actually had a brilliant opening episode containing moments that are amongst the highlights of that series.

I was chuckling throughout this at least. And the cast seem great, with no-one standing out as being actively annoying or boring, so hopefully they'll mesh more as the series progresses. I've got a vague idea that it's only when the team tasks begin that the studio chemistry really starts to click, though I might be off the mark with that.

Norton Canes

Will there be any team tasks in this series?

Old Thrashbarg

They'll presumably do as they did with one of the teams last series and have team tasks with everyone distanced. And hopefully it'll be better thought out this time because the tasks should be specifically designed for that instead of how it worked in the last series with one team having already recorded their tasks pre-lockdown.

MigraineBoy

Quote from: Norton Canes on March 19, 2021, 10:35:35 AM
Will there be any team tasks in this series?

Yeah - Lee & Mike are the pair.  Like Old Thrashbarg said ^ the Taskmaster team had the benefit this time around of knowing the team tasks would have to be under social-distancing guidelines, so the tasks should reflect that.

BeardFaceMan

The chemistry was better in the earlier series because they were all comedians who knew and regularly worked with each other, for the most part. Then you get situations like last series where Richard Herring walked into a room and Daisy May Cooper had no idea who he was, having never seen any of his work. So it does take a few weeks to get going in the studio now because no one really knows each other. You need familiarity for banter otherwise it's forced and awkward, like when Jamali tried to argue with Greg at the start. Enjoyed this ep though, a big step up from series 10 for me, Clive. It is a bit odd playing the recorded show to an audience for a laugh track though and youre not seeing the contestants react to the laughter, it's a bit Scooby-Doo.

Quote from: Virgo76 on March 19, 2021, 06:44:02 AM
I enjoy the podcast too. Not sure why people are critical of it.

Because we think it's shit?

Quote
If you don't like hearing people discuss Taskmaster in detail, why are you even on this thread anyway?

Because we like hearing people talk about Taskmaster in a good way, and not in a shit way like in the shit podcast?

The Lurker

Slow start but a great first live task. Poor prize category too like usual but I still have high hopes for this series as Mack and Wozniak look like they'll be good entertainment. Charlotte Ritchie looks like she could be a delight too.

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on March 19, 2021, 11:07:37 AM
The chemistry was better in the earlier series because they were all comedians who knew and regularly worked with each other, for the most part. Then you get situations like last series where Richard Herring walked into a room and Daisy May Cooper had no idea who he was, having never seen any of his work. So it does take a few weeks to get going in the studio now because no one really knows each other. You need familiarity for banter otherwise it's forced and awkward, like when Jamali tried to argue with Greg at the start.

That's true. I'm rewatching series 8 and while it's far better than what I remembered, the first team task was a bit awkward as Joe Thomas clearly didn't know who Sian Gibson was. Iain Stirling was a bigger cock than I remembered too.

vainsharpdad

Scheduling would be a nightmare, but getting some people who have known/worked/lived together would be good.

Something like (and these aren't deliberately all-white line-ups - I don't see Paterson Joseph working, Nish Kumar has already done it, etc. If you can improve the mix please do)


  • David Mitchell
  • Victoria Coren-Mitchell
  • Isy Suttie
  • Olivia Colman
  • Sarah Hadland
-or-

  • John Robins
  • Elis James
  • Beattie Edmundson
  • Matt Forde
  • Jack Dee
-or-

  • Ellie Taylor
  • Rachel Parris
  • Marcus Brigstock
  • Michael Spicer
  • Cariad Lloyd

DrGreggles

Quote from: DrGreggles on December 17, 2020, 11:28:40 PM
Wozniak could be an inspired choice.

I agree with the me of 3 months ago.

Utter Shit

Yeah Wozniak is just a naturally funny man, plus he knows Greg Davies so that should develop over the coming weeks. I thought Charlotte Ritchie was great, she had a bit of Jess Knappett (one of the best ever contestants IMO) about her - in a quiet, understated way, she seems to be completely bonkers. Definitely agree that Lee Mack having to play against his cocky persona is great fun, and Jamali Maddix seems like a good foil for Davies in the way he enjoys winding him up. Too early to tell much about Sarah Kendall having not seen her before, hopefully she gets a bit more screen time in the coming weeks. I felt like there is some chemistry there - the live task showed that - but it's difficult to really dive into it without an audience or the ability to properly interact with each other.

Quote from: The Lurker on March 19, 2021, 01:34:02 PM
Slow start but a great first live task. Poor prize category too like usual but I still have high hopes for this series as Mack and Wozniak look like they'll be good entertainment. Charlotte Ritchie looks like she could be a delight too.

I enjoyed the prize task actually. I've complained about stock images as prizes before, but Jamali's warm potato was a good enough gag to justify it. Lee's recreation of his kids was genuinely impressive, and Mike's song was just on the border of being excruciatingly awkward.

Re: the podcast. I love talking about Taskmaster. It's one of my comedy highlights of the last decade. But I find analysing everyone's performance and the scores as if it's an Olympic sport a bit tiresome. There are obviously plenty of people who care enough about that though - whereas I barely register who wins each episode. I just want to see funny people doing funny things.

Utter Shit

Quote from: vainsharpdad on March 19, 2021, 02:33:01 PM
Scheduling would be a nightmare, but getting some people who have known/worked/lived together would be good.

Something like (and these aren't deliberately all-white line-ups - I don't see Paterson Joseph working, Nish Kumar has already done it, etc. If you can improve the mix please do)


  • David Mitchell
  • Victoria Coren-Mitchell
  • Isy Suttie
  • Olivia Colman
  • Sarah Hadland
-or-

  • John Robins
  • Elis James
  • Beattie Edmundson
  • Matt Forde
  • Jack Dee
-or-

  • Ellie Taylor
  • Rachel Parris
  • Marcus Brigstock
  • Michael Spicer
  • Cariad Lloyd


I don't like the idea of people with long-running relationships being on together, it would just end up dominating the show.

Off the top of my head some non-white potential contestants that I think could be good...

Dane Baptiste
Omid Djalili
Ahir Shah
Chris Kamara
Jamelia

SteveDave

Quote from: vainsharpdad on March 19, 2021, 02:33:01 PM

  • John Robins
  • Elis James
  • Beattie Edmundson
  • Matt Forde
  • Jack Dee


Please God not Forde.