Taskmaster (Greg Davies sets some comedians daft challenges!)

Yeah. Thankfully it wasn't quite as bad as what the channels usually do with the likes of Mock The Week, Would I Lie To You, Cats Does Countdown etc, where they announce a new series of 6 episodes, but the last episode is just highlights of the previous 5. This didn't take up the space of a normal episode and was just a bonus. Kind of pointless though given how often Taskmaster is repeated on a loop. Think I read though that there'll be one of these at the end of each series for the next few series'.

Even an end-of-series filmed Taskmaster Podcast type of episode would be great, where they just interview the cast and go through highlights, let them talk about it, show extra footage etc. Would be cheap to make (wouldn't need an audience or anything) and be far more worth watching.

TThought it wasn't till next week they were doing the draw

Very good first episode, a really strong start. Bit of an unusual set-up this year as one of the contestants couldn't make the studio records so they've a guest in their place, which is a huge shame as Tofiga is brilliant.

The Youtube algorithm somehow spat this out at me so I've been watching. I ended up starting with Series 10 (?) Johnny Vegas I thought would never be beaten as a contestant as he genuinely seemed to believe his life was in danger in every single task if he didn't win, yet he almost constantly ended up in the most chaotic moments (all his balloons abandoning him in slow motion, "Have you been in an accident that wasn't your fault?" - immediately betrayed by the ladder, 400ft chicken, beermat apartment failure, tripped up by a ghost trying to turn on his unplugged hose, I've been hurt and I want to hurt others, genuine lack of phone service to finish his locker task and having to borrow Alex's phone)

But series 7 already seems to be absolutely the elite series. Only 2 episodes in but I think Acasters "are we the stupidest" is not only accurate then but actually still accurate now. Himself and Rhod have great squabbles while Knappett honks away and Wang just Wangs.

Been binging this like mad on Netlfix over the last month, just finished season 10, absolutely love it. Would agree with was said above about season 7 being the best. Acaster ignoring Alex, Knappett falling off the stage, Rhod tormenting Greg, Phil Wang haggling and Kerri's "Bosh!". It was a great cast.

I think Daisy May Cooper is the only person I didn't really like on the show. She just rubbed me the wrong way. She was heavily pregnant for the studio shows though so maybe she was exhausted/cranky, in her defence.

Given I'm so far behind I'm trying not to comment too much as I watch but some points have to made.

1. How on earth did Nish "Bubbly F*ck" Kumar and Mark "One of my highlights of the year" Watson combine their near constant misfortunes into a ridiculously good catchy tune that has zero right to exist?

Bonus: Mark actually understanding the task perfectly to only have a random f*cking dog eat his bread trail is a modern Shakespearean tragedy.

2. "Activate Jamali" might be the greatest most chaotic episode ever. Charlotte Ritchie bringing a cap and Lee Mack a coathanger is fine but then it starts going off the rails. Sarah Kendall's rage realising she is "Picnic Girl". Jamali's immense pride at the simple victory he guaranteed himself by bringing a baseball bat with a nail drilled into it. Only for Mike Wozniak to steal the show by revealing his anti-street-toughs mohawk is majestic.

Then 30 seconds into the first task Picnic Girl f*cking shoots Alex in the face with a staple gun.

Then the golf task is more chaos, Mikes graceful fall is good but the shot of Sarah looking utterly defeated in the chair, while Charlotte runs ecstatically in a circle as Jamali stands like a statue with his back to everyone is hysterical (as Alex is hiding behind his clipboard). Sarah then sending Jamali straight into a nettle hedge while Charlotte just lay down is again hysterical.

related - I picked up tickets for the Horne Section's show in Vicar St in October - the evening show is sold out but good availability for the matinee, which being old and weary suits me just fine 🙂

Think this format might suit Rosie. Thought Joanne Mc would be a disaster last time out but she was very good. Looking forward to see how Jack Dee does.

Yeah I said previously that so long as it's only Rosie's own tasks that are adapted for her disability rather than all contestants having to do the same version (like this year's New Year's Special), I don't mind it and think Rosie might be pretty good on the show. She can be funny, the issue tends to be more that her speech pattern and cadence in the middle of say a panel show where everyone is trying to get their joke in, often just means that her decent enough joke isn't worth how long it took to get there and disrupt the flow of everyone else. It can depend on the show. Something like Cats Does Countdown or The Last Leg, she's fine on. Shows like 8 out of 10 Cats or Mock The Week that are more fast-paced and everyone is trying to get all their jokes in, she can be hit and miss. So something like Taskmaster where she does her own tasks could really work to her strengths.

Taskmaster back this week for Season 18.

Taskmaster Australia back for Season 3 on September 24th. Can't wait to see Aaron Chen and Rhys Nicholson.

We're spoiled right now with all the Taskmaster goodness.

Chenny has been so damn good on the Spelling Bee!

BOOM! Timed my marathon to perfection. Bring on the tasks Babeh

Emma and Jack Dee were excellent. Lot more studio interaction compared to last season, thankfully

Live task was rubbish and very lobsided to whoever goes first (Rosie got lucky and had 2 goes).

In fairness, even with 20 drinks that's 9 prime numbers I think. Rosie just got incredibly lucky both guessing what the clue was and then picking the right prime number. Maybe if they'd made it that you had to drink on the first turn regardless and then could ask for a clue from your second turn, that would have been better. But it's also something you might only see in hindsight because again, Rosie got bizarrely lucky.

They could re-do a live task or drop it and record another. But they don't.

Obviously it would effect the overall result (who actually cares?). I wouldn't see it as any different to the known fact that some of the recorded house tasks don't ever make it to broadcast for various reasons (boring, identical approach etc).