Taskmaster series 12

[Wayman C. McCreery]

There is a separate NZ thread, but it's inevitable that people will make comparisons- especially seeing as the general consensus on here is that it's superior to the UK version.

I'm going to rewatch last night's episode when the uncensored version is available. It wasn't just the swearing that was cut - apparently they also censored

Spoiler alert

Guz's big reefer for Greg

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in the portrait task.

Re: Alan, I don't watch QI so don't really know what he's like when he's "on" - but I worry he's going to be another Herring. I hope I'm wrong! Maybe you need someone like that in every series though.

[Gregory Torso]

Just a heads up, the uncensored version is up on All4 now, if you want to watch it with swears.

[mjwilson]

Who would have thought that

Spoiler alert

VCM

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would be this year's thickie?

[Enzo]

Uncensored version is on youtube

[SteveDave]

I don't care about the NZ version. Perhaps there should be a separate thread for discussing that?

I would advise you to care and care passionately about the NZ version as it's superior in almost every way.

[Gregory Torso]

I would advise you to care and care passionately about the NZ version as it's superior in almost every way.

The tasks and contestants are good but Jeremy's nowhere near as good as Greg in the TM role.

[Gregory Torso]

I enjoyed this first episode quite a lot. Could be a very strong set of contestants, all seem good. Even Alan Davies, if he's going to go down that "can't be arsed make a cup of tea i'm middle-aged and tired" route he's infintely preferable to Baddiel or Jo Brand.

[The Lurker]

Good first episode, that. Watched it on All4 so had no idea about the censored bit til reading this thread. Either way, seems to be a decent lineup but it may just appear that way cos I went in with low expectations.

[Hat FM]

I would advise you to care and care passionately about the NZ version as it's superior in almost every way.

i watched and enjoyed a few eps of series 1 but stopped and now they are no longer on the youtube :(

[Led Souptin]

I don't really understand the praise that the NZ version gets. It's good, but basically on par with the UK version imo. The only thing it has going for it really is Paul Williams, who is just absolutely delightful.

Gooood start to this series i reckon - Morgana calling Alex a little fucker and getting an extra point for it was great

[DrGreggles]

i watched and enjoyed a few eps of series 1 but stopped and now they are no longer on the youtube :(

I'll PM you.

[BeardFaceMan]

I don't care about the NZ version. Perhaps there should be a separate thread for discussing that?

Paul Williams is going to be on the next Taskmaster podcast, try not to tweet at Ed and tell him it should be a separate podcast though.

[greencalx]

That was fun. Seems not being able to watch it live paid off as we got the full swearies.

Seemed like a decent rapport between the contestants even in the first episode which is good - sometimes takes a while to bed in. I presume it's still a cinema audience - reactions felt much more natural than in the last series somehow. Tasks were good enough for the job but not classics of the genre - the balloon one was entertaining.

I do miss Mike Wozniak though.

[JamesTC]

Really strong start and already they all seem a great bunch. All set to be a classic series.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed that, Alan Davies was nowhere near as bad as I feared, and the only person I was slightly irritated by was VCM. Guz Khan and Morgana seem to be the ones who'll be the most fun right now, but Desiree shows potential too.

I strangely quite enjoyed watching the bleeped version as well as pretending they were saying cunt each time made it funnier, I might stick to doing so each week now.

[selectivememory]

Yeah, I liked that a lot. I wasn't sure beforehand about Alan Davies or VCM, but to be honest I didn't really have a strong opinion about either, and they were both good in this I thought. The other three all seem like a great fit for the show.

As for the NZ version (spoilered for those who don't want to see NZ chat in this thread, I promise I won't mention it again),

Spoiler alert

I think it's good, but not as good as the UK version at its best. The whole Greg-Alex dynamic is an important part of the UK one for me, and I don't feel Jeremy and Paul have much chemistry at all. Paul is very good though, and Jeremy does enough to be an acceptable Taskmaster and is occasionally funny, but it's the quality of the tasks and contestants that have made it so good up to this point. Dunno how sustainable it'll be over several series, will be interesting to see.

[close]

[amateur]

I liked that the lack of effort for the prize task wasn't looked kindly on, particularly for VCM.

Then again, maybe make them pick something better before they get on stage? Feels a lot to leave to the contestants when it's the thing that kicks the episode off.

Thought the balloon task was great and the rest okay. Found the editing a bit too quick at the top, maybe to compensate for the prize task.

Overall, excited for more, it's still a superb hour of telly.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It might just be my memory playing tricks, but it felt like one of the strongest first episodes I can think of. The tasks weren't necessarily great, but the contestants elevated things nicely. The highlights were Khan's mad expressions during the ball throwing task and "Yes you can!"

[holyzombiejesus]

Always loved Morgana but never seen her so skinny. Lessgana?

I don't like it how some people on here can be so quick to comment on the appearance of females, but both me and my wife thought she looked ill, really gaunt. Hope she's ok as I think she could be the star of this series. Her comment about sitting on Santa's face was brilliant. Quite liked the episode as a whole, Davis and VCM didn't irritate me as much as I'd feared. As someone else said, I miss Wozniak.

[beanheadmcginty]

I don't like it how some people on here can be so quick to comment on the appearance of females, but both me and my wife thought she looked ill, really gaunt. Hope she's ok as I think she could be the star of this series. Her comment about sitting on Santa's face was brilliant. Quite liked the episode as a whole, Davis and VCM didn't irritate me as much as I'd feared. As someone else said, I miss Wozniak.

The Woz is on this week's TM podcast. Apologies if it sounded like I was criticising Mogs, that's not my intention. I was just genuinely surprised by how different she looks since I last saw her.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

It's odd how we all seem to have low expectations for this new series when the show has a phenomenally high hit rate.

We're 12 series in and there are only two that I don't bother rewatching (6 and 10), but even those contained some great episodes.

It's consistently been the funniest thing on TV for six years now. We should probably have more faith!

[greencalx]

I thought there was a bit more imagination in the prize task selections than in the past, though this may be my memory playing tricks. I thought the stage task was at the weaker end of the spectrum - I like the ones where the contestants have more scope to subvert or disrupt proceedings.

Agree re the strike rate. I've only seen each series once, although did that pretty much back to back during the winter lockdown. It was only s6 that I found a chore to sit through. Although mostly due to the lack of rapport between contestants (I think it was mentioned as some point that the team composition was determined entirely by their existing schedules, and I got the sense that some of them were just fitting this in between other more important things) I think the fact it was the first 10ep run and came straight after an exceptional series had something to do with it. I found myself wondering the whole time what Bob, Aisling or Sally would have done with the extra run time.

Also another thing about this show is that past performance is little guide to how they'll perform on it. Whether they'll take a high energy, low energy, creative or competitive approach can't easily be judged by their style of comedy.

[all male israel]

how is this 6 feet from the contestants?



unless the doorframe is about 3.5 feet tall. it's on the fucking ceiling!

[greencalx]

Might be a bit of fish-eye lensing going on there. There seems to be some sort of tent built inside the lab - I'd wager those poles are vertical in reality, and the door set back from the sheeting at the rear of our view. So it could be a case of "small" and "far away", confounded with the weird optics of a wide-angle lens.

[gilbertharding]

IHer comment about sitting on Santa's face was brilliant.

Taken together with the whole washing machine thing... could she be the most distractingly filthy contestant since Sally Phillips?

[amateur]

Alex Horne talking Taskmaster book and Katy Wix talking not the Taskmaster book on this new podcast:

https://www.bookoffpodcast.com/episodes/episode/71b86969/alex-horne-and-katy-wix-im-not-sure-i-was-meant-to-tell-you-that

I haven't listened yet but it'll probably be good if Alex is on it.

[SteveDave]

In a slightly related note, this starts tonight

https://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/outsiders/

Taskmaster but with camping? Only one out of the six named contestants hasn't been on Taskmaster before.

[turnstyle]

In a slightly related note, this starts tonight

https://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/outsiders/

Taskmaster but with camping? Only one out of the six named contestants hasn't been on Taskmaster before.

Wait, this is real? When one of you posted about this a few weeks ago I thought you were taking the piss.

[mjwilson]

Wait, this is real? When one of you posted about this a few weeks ago I thought you were taking the piss.

No you don't understand, this one has SIX contestants, it's completely different

[olliebean]

Not seen it but judging from this review it sounds like Taskmaster with less interesting tasks: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/sep/30/outsiders-david-mitchells-desperate-bid-to-outdo-the-genius-of-taskmaster

The glory of Taskmaster is that the tasks doled out to comedians are knotty and open-ended. Write a song about a stranger. Eat as much watermelon as you can. Make a cocktail in complete silence. Any task on Taskmaster can be beaten in an almost infinite number of ways, and is chosen specifically to get the best out of a comedian. Asking a comedian to chop down a tree just means that we'll watch a comedian wrestle with an axe, the same way as a vet or an accountant would. If you like watching famous people hit bits of wood with an axe upward of 100 times, Outsiders is the show for you.