Acclaimed game show Taskmaster will return to Dave from Wednesday 4th September at 9pm for a ninth series once again fronted by Greg Davies and Alex Horne. This season’s hopefuls are David Baddiel, Ed Gamble, Jo Brand, Katy Wix and Rose Matafeo. Read an interview with David Baddiel below.

Read an interview with Greg Davies and Alex Horne here.

Why did you sign up for Taskmaster?

To be honest, I’ve watched it mainly in clips online, but I’m a fan of Greg Davies and Alex Horne, both of whom I’ve known for a long time.

I also think of it as the only show of this type - crazy novelty shows done by ‘people off the telly’ - that’s done really well, that proper comedians do. I’ve been offered Strictly a couple of times and I’ve said ‘no’ because it would be awful and I’m a terrible dancer, but also because I just don’t do shows where I’m taken out of my comfort zone and have to do things that I don’t do for my day job.

But with Taskmaster, I’m always confident the tasks will be funny - properly funny, not local-news funny. Mainly because of the genius of Alex Horne. I have a lot of faith in Alex.

Was that faith misplaced?

Well interestingly I’ve had a bit of an identity crisis on the show. This sounds a bit self- aggrandising but I think people have an idea that I’m quite bookish and clever and intellectual, and I am, but the show reveals me to be a total idiot.

My cleverness is to do with writing and saying clever things, but I’m a very stupid person when it comes to doing things and making things and practical things.

When we were in the studio I’d watch the tasks back and go, ‘Why on earth did I do that?’ The others are there doing some really smart and inventive things and I’m there doing something that even Homer Simpson would say was stupid. That happened a lot.

Did you have a strategy?

No, not going into it, but a strategy did organically emerge which was to not really think about it and do the first thing I thought of. I mean - no spoilers - but this is reflected in my scores. Don’t go to Ladbrokes and put a bet on me winning.

Did you try to win over Greg in any way, or is his point-scoring too arbitrary?

It’s not that arbitrary! That’s what you would think. Sometimes I thought, ‘This is so bad, it’s funny, so I might actually get a lot of points’. The audiences are wetting themselves at what an idiot and what a clown I am, and I thought that would translate into doing quite well. But no.

Alex does actually have a points system. And I didn’t necessarily always understand what that was. A lot of the time we’d be watching it back in the studio and I realised I hadn’t actually understood what the task was. I’d realise, ‘Ah - it was a timed task. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped and sat around for two hours drinking tea’.

I wasn’t expecting to win, but it has been complicated for me to see exactly how s*** I am.

Did you find Alex helpful during the tasks?

Yeah, I used him a lot. He’s been ornamentally very useful at times. He tends to say ‘yes’ if you ask him to take his clothes off, or stand over there and be hurt. He’s a facilitator.

It is more important to be funny or do the tasks well?

It’s more important to be funny but I’ll be honest with you: some of the time I’m actually not trying to be funny. I’m just that stupid and I genuinely think I’m doing the task to the best of my ability.

What’s the relationship between Greg and Alex?

It’s a very classic ‘big and little man’, a low status playing against a high status, like Ray Allen and Lord Charles. Alex is basically the ventriloquist’s dummy.

It’s really funny. I love Alex’s commitment to the rules, and Greg just bulldozing through those rules but still being the one who decides on the points.

The chats in the studio are really, really funny.

How did you get on with the first task, bringing in gifts?

That’s actually my strong point. Because I’m able to think when I’m given time to do so, I’m quite good at those. It’s where I’m against the clock, and Alex is in a corner frowning at me, that’s when I start to panic.

My prizes are mainly actual things from my life. Peculiar things from my life. One of them is something that my brother made, and I had to beg him for it, and then I worried that the winner would break it.