Taskmaster: how Alex Horne’s Fringe show became a transatlantic comedy hit Comedy channel Dave has become more than just a place where panel-show repeats are put out to pasture. Taskmaster is […]

Comedy channel Dave has become more than just a place where panel-show repeats are put out to pasture.

Taskmaster is an original programme which has attracted peak viewing figures of around a million (becoming the channel’s most-watched show), as well as international attention.

The show sees a group of comedians confronted with creative challenges each series. These encourage them to think laterally (“Conceal this pineapple on your person – best concealment wins”) and lead to predictably hilarious results.

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As it returns for Series 5 this week, creator and co-host Alex Horne spoke to i about the rise of a cult sensation.

‘Most money wins’

Taskmaster came from humble beginnings at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Unable to attend in 2009, Horne watched from home while best friend Tim Key scooped that year’s Comedy Award.

Filled with “envy, anger and unhealthy jealousy – which I’m not proud of”, Horne vowed to “reclaim some glory” the following year.

“I sent an email to 20 comedians saying: ‘Would you be up for taking part in this thing called Taskmaster?” he recalls.

“I’m going to set you a task once a month, and you’ve got to do your best to do them.”

The first task set the tone for the show, and provided some winnings: “Put as much money into my bank account – most money wins.

“I think Mark Watson put £200 in – which was great. I’d set these stupid tasks, and then one night in Edinburgh we had a two-hour drunken show and I revealed the winner.

“It was a lot of fun. I did it again the following year, and thought: ‘this might work on telly’.”

Inventing the tasks

With Greg Davies installed as main host (“I love being his assistant; Greg is a natural Taskmaster – which sounds ridiculous”) the show made its TV debut in 2015, immediately entertaining viewers.

With five series and hundreds of tasks completed, how does Horne come up with fresh trials?

“It happens to be something I’m good at,” he says. “I can stare at a blank piece of paper and think of a very simple task.

“Let’s say you have to fill up a bucket of water. We need our comedians to do that in lots of different ways, so you put a hurdle on it: now the bucket of water is high up, maybe the water’s too hot, or it’s frozen…

“Imagine some scenarios in which Tim Key or Richard Osman is doing the thing. Eventually it feels right.”

The bubble wrap challenge

Horne has developed an eye for what makes good task-based entertainment (“quick, really silly, something that provides a lot of variety”), but he admits that some ideas don’t quite work.

“One which has been the bane of our lives involves a massive roll of bubble wrap,” he concedes. “We’ve tried it three times.

“It’s just ‘burst all these bubbles – fastest wins’, but your time starts from the first bubble.

“The idea it’s just a stupid thing born at the Fringe is funny to think about when you’re flying across the Atlantic.”

“There’s planning time so they don’t go randomly jumping on it, but it’s hard to burst – people have used a steam roller and people have driven over it and it’s survived that.

“It always ends with people jumping on it for hours.”

Ridiculous situations

While he usually plays a by-the-book adjudicator, occasionally Horne gets involved himself. In Series 3, the contestants were challenged to “surprise” him in some way when he emerged from his shed.

“I like those ones,” he says. “That was a lot of fun because I’d sat there knowing something was happening outside – a weird experience.”

But often just the sight of seeing his friends in ridiculous situations entertains him the most.

Series 2 saw Jon Richardson attempting to get three exercise balls to the top of a hill, “but not thinking it through.”

“It went exactly to plan; two people did it very badly, somebody used a member of the public, and Richard Osman found a novel method.”

Crossing the Atlantic

The Taskmaster format is making the leap to America in 2018. Commissioned by Comedy Central, Horne will share channel space with The Daily Show and South Park.

He is happy the format has survived relatively unscathed.

“It’s reassuringly not horrifically different. People call Taskmaster ‘peculiarly British’, but doing the actual tasks is very similar.

“It’s based in California with a swimming pool, and the weather’s a million times better, so it looks different, but they’re superficial differences.”

The creator is quick to realise how those jealousy-inspired Edinburgh shows are now leading him around the globe.

“The idea it’s just a stupid thing born at the Fringe is funny to think about when you’re flying across the Atlantic.”

The task at hand

Bob Mortimer, Mark Watson, Aisling Bea, Nish Kumar, and Sally Phillips are all lined up for Series 5.

“There are tasks involving coconuts – some involving cuddling,” says Horne. “A few are a bit sneakier.”

Horne’s advice for the participants is always to “put all your dignity to one side”.

“You don’t have to make a fool of yourself,” he says. “But it’s much better if you don’t think about how you’re going to come across…”

Taskmaster is back on Dave this Wednesday (13 Sep) at 9pm