I love British panel shows. 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. QI. Would I Lie To You? Big Fat Quiz of the Year. I have been known to spend hours in a panel show YouTube deep dive, delighting in the humor, enjoying the quiz elements, and relaxing. You’ll notice I said that I watch these via YouTube. As someone who does not live in the UK, my ability to watch British panel shows is severely limited. They aren’t on any US streaming services, or actual television, so I’m reduced to catching what I can on everyone’s favorite streaming video site. Thankfully, there’s plenty of content to soak up (albeit, not always from the original source accounts). It was through one of my deep dives several weeks ago that I discovered what might just be my favorite panel show of them all (and one of the most delightful binges I’ve had throughout these last six months of quarantine): Taskmaster.
The concept of Taskmaster is simple: Five comedians/well-known personalities are given a series of tasks to complete, and Greg Davies (the show’s “Taskmaster” host, along with Alex Horne – who actually creates the tasks and serves as the hilariously picked on sidekick) judges them on their abilities. What sort of tasks do they complete, you ask? Well, the tasks range from the mundane (“Here’s twenty pounds, buy the Taskmaster a gift.”) to the weird (“Conceal this pineapple on your person.”). Throughout the course of a season (or series to the Brits), the participants accrue points, with winners announced every episode (for the number of points won for the tasks revealed that week – as all but the episode’s final task are pre-taped by the contestants in the preceding months) and an overall winner announced at the end of the season. Now, these are all celebrities competing, so the winner doesn’t get anything all that wonderful, but you certainly can see there’s some pride that comes with a victory in a single episode or for a season win.
But what makes the show so utterly delightful is how absurdly hilarious it is. Like, laugh out loud funny (which is much harder to achieve than one might think). Watching an episode today, I found myself in tears from laughter. It’s a damn funny series, and the more you watch, the funnier it becomes. The interplay between Davies and Horne is the foundation of the show, and each season offers a deeper interplay between the duo. And yes, some season’s are stronger than others due to the casting choices (season four has been my favorite of the seven season I have watched thus far), but the further you go into the season, the more the cast gels and the more fun is had by all. Jokes come quicker, running gags become funnier, and the contestants become more comfortable with the format.
I could crack on for another several paragraphs extolling the virtues of the series, but that would mean you were wasting valuable time reading this while you could be watching this wonderful show, laughing and having a genuinely lovely time. After all, as every day seems determined to bring more frustrations than the one before, don’t you deserve a chance to laugh for 45 minutes – and find out just where Katherine Ryan and Richard Osman opted to conceal an entire pineapple on their person?
Taskmaster is currently available for streaming on YouTube (seasons 1-6 are available in full, while season 7 episodes are released weekly on Thursdays) and on CW Seed online (all previous seasons of the UK series and the first season of the US version are available). Season 10 will begin airing this fall in the UK.
