This Is My Pointless Trophy. I Won It On Taskmaster.

[rionaleonhart]

I haven't written a post flat-out advertising a canon in years, but I'm having so much fun with Taskmaster and I want everyone else to have fun as well!

I've really missed comedy. I had no idea how much I'd missed comedy. I hadn't watched any panel shows in years, and it never occurred to me that this was a void in my life. Yes, I had a great time in my passionate panel show fandom days, but I didn't feel I was suffering from any sort of comedy deficiency.

And then th_esaurus introduced me to Taskmaster.

And it turns out that laughter is great.

Taskmaster is a British panel/game show in which five celebrities compete in a series of ridiculous tasks. Their efforts are judged by Greg Davies, the Taskmaster.

So long as the contestants stay within the rules specified, they can use any tools available to complete the task. The tools available generally include Alex Horne, the Taskmaster's assistant. Horne is extremely unhelpful if you ask him to clarify the task, but will do just about anything you request.

This is perhaps the root of how astonishingly horny the fandom is. I'm not planning to get into Taskmaster RPF (I think my RPF days are behind me, although they made me some great friends!), but th_esaurus sent me the list of the ten most-used additional tags for Taskmaster works on AO3, and I'd never seen anything like it. In my experience, the most-used additional tag for any fandom on AO3 is almost invariably 'fluff'. For Taskmaster, 'fluff' is nowhere in sight; the most-used tag is 'dom/sub'. (Also in the top ten: 'humiliation', 'obedience', 'restraints' and 'painplay'.)

Anyway! I'm glad the fans are having fun, but I'm not into Taskmaster because it's erotic; I'm into Taskmaster because it is hilarious. I'm watching it with my household now, and we've had to pause episodes because we were all laughing too hard to keep going. It's proved particularly good to watch when we're upset; it's fun and engaging enough to be distracting, without demanding the level of focus that fiction does.

We started out on series twelve, and we've now jumped back to watch from the beginning, which is sort of fascinating. I'd expected to find the show had changed substantially over the course of its twelve series, but the format is almost exactly the same; the only major difference is that the present-day episodes are socially distanced, for obvious reasons. And I'd thought the 'Alex will do any bullshit you ask him to' aspect might take a few series to manifest - I'd envisioned that maybe one contestant would test the limits of what you can request after a while, and then others would pick up on that - but as early as episode two he's being forced to eat a hot toothpaste pie.

One interesting thing about Taskmaster is that each series focuses on a single group of contestants across five to ten episodes, so you have time to get to know the contestants and their approach to tasks, and they have time to get to know each other. Different groups can have very different dynamics. The series twelve team are very friendly and supportive with each other! The series one team are incredibly cutthroat.

Taskmaster is a Channel 4 show, and it's available on All 4, if you have access to that. If you're looking for something engaging and ridiculous, I recommend it! Series twelve involves Victoria Coren Mitchell, which is how th_esaurus managed to hook me in, and she's great on it. (Well, she's terrible, but in a great way.)

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Oh, that does sound like a funny show!

I know what you mean about distracting, but not demanding too much engagement.

I love that about the assistant counting as one of the tools available!

[rionaleonhart]

In the episode I just watched, the contestants were given the task 'buy the best present for the Taskmaster'. Josh Widdicombe went 'hmm, what would be the best present for Greg Davies?' and then got a tattoo of the name 'Greg'. That's impressive dedication! (Particularly considering it was only the first series; he didn't even know whether the show would succeed!)

[wolfy_writing]

Oh damn! That is some determination!

[apiphile]

I think my RPF days are behind me, although they made me some great friends!

I was thinking the same thing recently. Not for me any more! But a lovely time when it was.

[rionaleonhart]

I'll always look back at the Top Gear and British comedy fandoms fondly. What a blast. I can't believe I wrote ninety thousand words of fanfiction about Jeremy Clarkson, but I can't make myself regret it.

[apiphile]

It almost certainly made us better writers, even if it probably didn't make us better people.

[marginaliana]

This show is my current obsession as well. I didn't realize how hard I needed the hepless laughter.

Every time I hear Alex say, "All the information is on the task" I laugh and laugh.

[rionaleonhart]

It's so much fun! Would I Lie to You? was my previous gold standard for panel shows, and I still think it's a great show, but I'm astonished by how much more Taskmaster makes me laugh.

[storme]

I love Taskmaster. I have watched the whole thing and I just, yes please. I first saw Alex with the Horne Section as special guests on Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown (more than once, I think), and he was amazing there too.

(one of the best things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WRHMc6eLtU )

(Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown is ridiculous on every level. It was a joke crossover show where the cast of a panel show took over to run an episode of Countdown, as an anniversary special thing on C4, but people loved it so C4 brought it back, and it has just kept going for 21 series now. Much funnier than the original panel show, which is still quite good.)

[rionaleonhart]

I've seen a few episodes of Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown, but I had no idea there was so much of it! Wow.

Thank you for the link to the clip! It was a lot of fun (and the music was great!), although I think my eyes are going to need a moment to recover from the disconcerting stop-motion effect.

[gool_duck]

I haven't watched Taskmaster ever, and it is apiphile's fault. Because at some point when he was doing stand-up comedy, the headliner was Greg Davies and I did not like his set and Greg Davies ended up with his shirt open and I did not like that, either. So ever since I avoided watching him.

Maybe I shall be able to bring myself to watch Taskmaster at some point.

But not today.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm sorry you had a bad Greg Davies experience! I've always enjoyed him on panel shows; perhaps he's the sort of comedian who works better when he's interacting with other people. It makes sense that you might prefer to avoid his work after that, though!

[shinsengumi]

Taskmaster is such a fun show! I'm really sorry we've moved out of Channel 4's availability now (non-UK countries tend to have that problem), because I'm going to miss it terribly.

There's something so enjoyable about people doing pointless convoluted nonsense just for the sake of winning.

[rionaleonhart]

There's something so enjoyable about people doing pointless convoluted nonsense just for the sake of winning.

There is! I'm impressed by how dedicated people are when the stakes are so low.

[caramarie]

I watched only the second episode I have seen at my parents' last night, and I laughed so hard I stopped making any noise at all!

[rionaleonhart]

I haven't laughed so much in ages. It's a very welcome development!

[horselizard]

AHHHHHH HELLO i haven't even read your post/comments properly yet but ohmygosh i'm SO EXCITED a) for you to be getting into taskmaster for the first time, you lucky lucky thing and b) that you're joining another of my fandoms :DDD taskmaster is WHY I AM HERE (in a roundabout way) and i love it so much, please hit us up on EVERYTHING but always and especially when you get to series 7 :333

[rionaleonhart]

To be honest, my first thought when I learnt James Acaster had been on this show was 'hey, I'm finally going to learn who this person horselizard likes is!'

[horselizard]

oh, you will learn! you will learn XD really soon, i see from your latest post! i'm VERY pumped (/anxious in case you hate him and by extension lose respect for me ;) )

[aestivalis]

My first thought reading this was 'How has Riona not watch Taskmaster before? It is exactly her cup of tea!'

My second and perhaps less gracious thought was 'oh, there is no WAY she doesn't end up writing Taskmaster RPF at some point.'

I am not sure if I want you to prove me wrong or not!

[rionaleonhart]

I genuinely don't think I'm going to write Taskmaster RPF, but I've historically been wrong almost every time I've said I'm not going to write something, so, er, we'll see.

I'm certainly struggling with the concept of just... enjoying something without being in the fandom for it. How do normal people enjoy things? If you're not writing fanfiction, what are you supposed to do when you're not watching episodes? I don't understand.

[wheatear]

I got into Taskmaster during lockdown and loved it. Just pure, silly fun. I see you also wrote fic. :D

[rionaleonhart]

It's so good! And I still can't entirely believe I wrote fic, but I had a lot of fun with it.