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My TV habits have changed quite a lot in the last few years. I find that most scripted shows don’t really have much appeal to me; it’s difficult for me to budget the time in following their narratives. Some of that has to do with lifestyle I suppose, some of it ADHD, but mostly I find I’m disillusioned with the way production companies will attempt to wring everything good out of a premise in the name of profit, long after a show has lost its original appeal. Instead, I tend to enjoy game shows more than anything; sometimes more traditional ones like The Price is Right or Deal or No Deal, but most often creations like Dropout TV’s Game Changer, or the UK comedy sensation, Taskmaster. 

There’s something special about Taskmaster. The brainchild of British comedian Alex Horne, starring both he and fellow comedian and actor Greg Davies as the hosts, and featuring a rotating cast of UK comedy celebrities as contestants, the show has a love of joy and humor despite Davies’ on-screen persona as the autocratic and egotistic titular host. The basic idea behind the show is extremely simple: each episode, five contestants — who take part in each episode across an entire season — are given a series of surreal and occasionally ridiculous tasks to complete however they see fit; their efforts are filmed separately, then edited together and scored by Davies as the titular Taskmaster, however he sees fit. (It is nowhere near a fair system, which is in part the point.) 

Horne has said (via a Reddit AMA) that a significant amount of each season’s (or series, as they’re called over there) thought goes into choosing the right slate of contestants, both in terms of providing a surprising mix, but also to ensure that each player’s comedic sensibilities mesh overall with the group. It’s a level of detail that pays off, resulting in some of the most hilarious television that’s ever been aired (have you really laughed if you haven’t watched Chris Ramsey and Alex Horne each attempt to take a bite of sausage swinging in circles at high velocity, and then only because the task was to do something interesting with a cement mixer?).

Thought is probably the main thing that makes the premise work as well as it does. The elevator pitch is good in its own right, but the level of planning and coordination that goes into each series is evident both in the way tasks are outlined just vaguely enough to let each contestant apply solutions creatively, as well as in the bones of the show itself—the music, for instance, is provided by Alex Horne’s own band, the Horne Section. There’s a use-all-parts-of-the-animal approach that I really admire; building every piece of the presentation from the ground up. 

Still, all of that isn’t the thing that really perfects the package; instead, it’s the attitude prevalent throughout the show. There is, at times, a perniciousness in comedy shows, a kind of mean-spirited attitude that is intended to be funny, but often falls flat for me. Jimmy Carr’s a great example of this—he comes off as mean instead of funny, and it brings the whole experience down. 

With Taskmaster, though, even the “mean” bits feel like artifice, bolstered by the charismatic friendship between Horne and Davies, as well as their friendships with various contestants. To again reference series 13, Davies is often verbally harshest on contestant Bridget Christie, but it’s balanced by two things: first, she gives as good as she gets (at one point climbing on Davies’ oversized throne while he’s sitting in it in order to intimidate him), and second, they both reference the fact that outside of the show, they’ve known each other for decades. When Davies jokingly questions her intelligence, he’s not putting down a stranger, he’s ribbing an old friend in the way that only old friends can.

That friendly jocularity is the heart of the show; in a Reality TV industry that seems so often built on humiliating people on camera, Taskmaster instead turns the lens toward Davies’ and Horne’s own friends and colleagues, who happen to be established already as very funny people willing to do very silly things for no prize greater than a papier mache cast of Davies’ own head. 

When Great British Bake Off first hit US televisions, much was made of the gentle nature of it. For all that it was a baking competition show, it lacked the stress and freneticism of Food Network’s usual offerings, replacing it instead with soft music, a love of craft, and stories of original hosts Mel and Sue deliberately making clips unairable in order to protect crying contestants from having their embarrassing moments made into viral sensations. There was, in short, a level of care. 

Taskmaster’s contestants are used to the demands of performing for the public, and so need no such protections, but that same love of craft is still present. These are people who love to laugh, who love to make others laugh, and witnessing them indulge that love makes for truly special television. That care manifests in other ways as well; the COVID-era series ten through twelve for instance were filmed without a live audience, featuring only Davies, Horne, and contestants spread across an empty room, with the requisite 6 feet of distance between each contestant, in order to comply with the safety demands of the pandemic. 

As a show, Taskmaster feels like it has the cultural heft that Whose Line Is It Anyway? had in the late 90s to early 2000s, and it’s worth pointing out their similarities; Whose Line also features comedians being funny for a negligible prize. Certainly appearing on either show is a job, as this is the profession for all involved, but nonetheless, each performance feels like a gift and a reward in its own right.

You can reward yourselves by watching the show (for free!) on the official Taskmaster Youtube channel.

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