Taskmaster New Zealand / Misc International Versions

[The Lurker]

I for one, is how Roman numerals work enjoyed that first episode. Promising anyway as the tasks were good and Paul and Jeremy were on good form.

[SteveDave]

Incidentally Guy Montgomery's recent set which he put on Bandcamp is extremely good.

Also it looks like Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling-Bee is going to be a TV show

https://twitter.com/guy_mont/status/1544883388560969728?s=20&t=LRocJ_dYZ7GjFzo7g2_ywA

[Famous Mortimer]

Excellent news!

[The Crumb]

I enjoyed the first episode, obviously miss the series 2 cast, but I'm sure this lot will pick up as they go along.

Paul Williams is obviously a treasure, and there's something about the tone and energy of this that is more pleasing than the increasing grotty fetish vibes of the uk version. The tasks are definitely better for one.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Good first episode. Chris and Kura seem like they'll be good fun, and I'm certain the others will grow on me like Madeleine, Leigh and Urzila did (I was never sold on Matt Heath, but I suppose he was a good foil for the others).

Did the production values of the studio bits feel low compared to previous series, or am I just judging it harshly against the shiny C4 UK version? It seemed dark, echoey and like there was an audience of about ten. The filmed tasks looked as good as always, though.

I really do prefer the NZ location as there's just more space for the contestants to do stuff, and

Spoiler alert

Paul is a better Alex than Alex is.

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[SteveDave]

We watched Urzila's stand-up show on Netflix the other night and were pleasantly surprised.

[The Lurker]

Spoiler alert

Turns out I know pi to 15 digits

I also really wanted to do that zorbing task

[close]

[Ja'moke]

The pi task could have been really dull on paper but was made really funny by the failed attempts.

I enjoyed that episode more than the first. A good sign for the series!

[Small Man Big Horse]

The pi task could have been really dull on paper but was made really funny by the failed attempts.

I enjoyed that episode more than the first. A good sign for the series!

That was my response too, I really liked the make an exit task and Paul Ego has gone up in my estimation for being so weird, and Josh Thomson's effort was nicely odd too. The only thing I'd criticise it for is the pretty awful live task, even with the shed on stage it felt like a bit of a stinker.

[SteveDave]

The video for 'Surf Music' also features Brynley Stent from season 1 (and Rose Matafeo):

And Chris Parker from the new series of NZ Taskmaster.

[BeardFaceMan]

That was my response too, I really liked the make an exit task and Paul Ego has gone up in my estimation for being so weird, and Josh Thomson's effort was nicely odd too. The only thing I'd criticise it for is the pretty awful live task, even with the shed on stage it felt like a bit of a stinker.

It was a nice little callback to the 'shid' stuff in the UK version though.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

I wonder if the pi task was filmed as a tiebreaker but ended up being funny enough to use as a main task?

The zorb task had the hallmarks of UK series ten (complicated rules, little room for creativity, probably lots of fun to do but maybe not much fun to watch), but Josh's wheelbarrow tactic made it worthwhile.

I agree that the live task was a weak one - I thought it was odd that they had a memory test straight after the pi task.

Anyway, a good episode! It's been a strong start. Jeremy's finally growing into his role too - he's provided plenty of the laughs and seems like he's enjoying himself a lot more.

[SteveDave]

I've got two free tickets (or rather, a table for two) to see Paul Williams (and Olga Koch) tonight at the Pleasance for whoever wants them. I'm ill af and hot af and in no mood to leave my home.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I was supposed to go too but my friend bailed as her cat was freaking out in the heat, and I just couldn't be arsed to go there when the moment I stepped outside it still felt all kinds of horrible. It's frustrating as I do think Paul's amazing, but I've got tickets for Laura Daniels and Snort (an improv group which supposedly features the best NZ comedians including Williams and Rose Matafeo) so hopefully will see him then..

[Wezzo]

My wife and I were another two who couldn't make it to the Pleasance last night (crumbs, was anyone actually there?) as our train options were cancelled/seriously delayed, but we have booked for Monday in Brighton instead.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I can imagine a lot of people were put off by the heat and I wish it had been rescheduled, but maybe he'll do a couple of dates post Edinburgh if we're lucky.

As for the latest episode, that was the best one yet, the scare the taskmaster task was one of the best ideas on the show so far, the flag bastardry made me laugh a lot, and even the live task wasn't too bad, though I'm glad they didn't spend much time on it and it was just a minor aspect of the episode.

[The Lurker]

Chris was robbed in the scare the Taskmaster task

[Ja'moke]

Chris was robbed in the scare the Taskmaster task

Yeah he was great in that, both his fake idea and the one he went with.

The flag task was a nice tricksy one too.

[The Lurker]

Interesting to see Brynley and series two legend David credited as writers. Think Brynley may have been a writer for the previous series?

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Interesting to see Brynley and series two legend David credited as writers. Think Brynley may have been a writer for the previous series?

Yeah, she was. I wonder if writing = writing the tasks?

Anyway this is warming up very nicely. Really funny episode, with plenty of the big laughs coming from Jeremy who I think has really upped his game.

Even though most of the contestants will have watched the UK version, it's great that none of them act like they have. Even the very best of the later UK series can be formulaic, but NZ feels completely fresh.

[Famous Mortimer]

The great thing about this series is, they didn't use any of the people I'd have picked as strong possible contestants, so they've got plenty more series to go (hopefully).

Also, how is Australia not looking at this and getting their own version? With Micallef about to step down from Mad As Hell, he'd be a perfect host.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Via reddit I found this site last night - https://taskmaster.info/ - which is about as in-depth a fan site as I think I've ever seen, and it also has a sod load of links to full episodes of the various international episodes, I've watched quite a few in the past but had no idea up until now that there's also Portuguese and Croatian versions of the show!

[The Crumb]

Great third episode, the cast are warming up nicely, and Paul and Jeremy look like they're really enjoying themselves.

I agree that scare the taskmaster was an excellent task. Josh's terrible phone messages and subsequent conversation with Paul had me howling.

[DrGreggles]

Been rewatching s2.
David Correos has to be the greatest TM contestant of them all.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Been rewatching s2.
David Correos has to be the greatest TM contestant of them all.

I thought his solo-task with the shoelaces was one of the funniest things to happen on TM.

[Famous Mortimer]

Been rewatching s2.
David Correos has to be the greatest TM contestant of them all.

If he's not no.1, it's very close.

Also, I was listening to episode 7 or 8 of the original "The Worst Idea Of All Time" from 2014 the other day, and they read out an email from Correios, which was nice.

[The Lurker]

🚨**NEW EPISODE KLAXON**

That team task was superb. I worked out the solution for the duck task very quickly but still enjoyed the reveal

[Small Man Big Horse]

Really enjoyed that once again, as The Lurker mentioned the team task was fantastic, I have to admit that when it was first announced I worried it might be overly complicated in the way some of the UK Series 10 and 11 tasks were, but thankfully that wasn't the case and the way it was edited together made me laugh a good deal,

Spoiler alert

the caravan crash

[close]

especially.

[selectivememory]

Enjoying this series so far. The three men are all very good contestants. I especially like Josh and Chris. And yeah, that team task was wonderful.

[The Crumb]

Paul W was on a real sassy one this week. Great fun episode, the prize task, the smarts task and the golf carts were excellent.