http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Taskmaster

Your task is to read this entire page from top to bottom, then click the "Random Trope" button. Fastest person to read the page wins. Your time starts now. Title Cards (Top is Series 1 - 7 & 9, Middle is from the Champions of Champions special, and the Bottom card is from Series 8.)

— The Taskmaster, Greg Davies "In this show, I, Greg Davies, make some accomplished, but needy comedians to do stupid things for me. Why? Because I can."

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Taskmaster is a British Comedy Series which first aired on Dave in 2015, before switching to Channel 4 in 2020. Greg Davies is the host and titular Taskmaster, and is assisted by Alex Horne (who also acts as showrunner and the head task-deviser behind the scenes). Each series features five different contestants, with a "Champion of Champions" two-part special following the fifth series featuring the winners of each series to date.

The show consists of the contestants being assigned a series of odd, seemingly simple and trivial yet often quite complex tasks to complete, many of which involve some kind of creative or lateral thinking. They are then ranked and given points (usually between 1 and 5) according to how well (or not) they completed the task, either based on relevant measurable criteria (fastest completion, most required objects accumulated, etc.), Greg judging them on his personal preferences, or some combination of the two. Hilarity Ensues.

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While the nature of the tasks vary, each episode follows a general structure of the prize round, about three-four pre-filmed tasks, and the final in-studio task:

The prize round involves each contestant bringing in an item, implicitly one of their personal possessions, that has been chosen around a particular theme; themes range in eccentricity from "most valuable item" to "most pleasing thing the size of a cat". Each item goes into the prize pot which is taken home by the winner of each episode; as such, each contestant must make a case for why their item both meets the theme and is the best item brought in. Greg then ranks the items from best to worst, based usually on his own subjective opinions.

involves each contestant bringing in an item, implicitly one of their personal possessions, that has been chosen around a particular theme; themes range in eccentricity from "most valuable item" to "most pleasing thing the size of a cat". Each item goes into the prize pot which is taken home by the winner of each episode; as such, each contestant must make a case for why their item both meets the theme and is the best item brought in. Greg then ranks the items from best to worst, based usually on his own subjective opinions. The pre-recorded tasks are all filmed on location, either at the "Taskmaster House" (in reality a bungalow rented from a golf course in Chiswick, London) or a secondary location that varies from season to season. They are then played to the audience, with reactions from Greg, Alex and the contestants spliced in. Except for team tasks (where the five contestants are split into two teams, one of three members and one of two), each contestant performs the tasks in isolation from each other and are bound to secrecy until the recording, meaning they are unaware of how they performed compared to their rivals. They must then explain — or, more typically, defend — their ability or lack thereof in completing the task to Greg, Alex and the audience. Team tasks are usually scored slightly differently, with five points being divided between the two teams (for example, if one team scores five points; the other team usually gets zero; if the first team scores three points, the second gets two, and so forth).

are all filmed on location, either at the "Taskmaster House" (in reality a bungalow rented from a golf course in Chiswick, London) or a secondary location that varies from season to season. They are then played to the audience, with reactions from Greg, Alex and the contestants spliced in. Except for team tasks (where the five contestants are split into two teams, one of three members and one of two), each contestant performs the tasks in isolation from each other and are bound to secrecy until the recording, meaning they are unaware of how they performed compared to their rivals. They must then explain — or, more typically, defend — their ability or lack thereof in completing the task to Greg, Alex and the audience. Team tasks are usually scored slightly differently, with five points being divided between the two teams (for example, if one team scores five points; the other team usually gets zero; if the first team scores three points, the second gets two, and so forth). Advertisement: The live studio task , as the name suggests, is performed live in-studio and involves the contestants directly competing against each other to complete a task in front of Greg and the audience. The live tasks are usually themed along some kind of competitive game requiring physical and/or mental dexterity and are often performed against the clock. Following this, the final tally is counted and the episode's winner revealed.

, as the name suggests, is performed live in-studio and involves the contestants directly competing against each other to complete a task in front of Greg and the audience. The live tasks are usually themed along some kind of competitive game requiring physical and/or mental dexterity and are often performed against the clock. Following this, the final tally is counted and the episode's winner revealed. In the case of a tie, the episode will end with a tiebreaker. The tiebreakers are usually quick and simple in nature (examples have included a game of hide-and-seek and removing the lid off a jar of mayonnaise covered in Vaseline) and are frequently pre-recorded along with the live tasks. While all contestants will record a tiebreaker, only the attempts of the contestants who are tied will be shown. The winner of the tiebreaker consequently wins the episode.

A lot of the show's appeal and humour comes from the contestants thinking outside the box, abusing the Exact Words of a task letter, and employing Loophole Abuse to bypass certain task requirements; a trope so well-loved and used so much by this show that we had to give it its own page! This means a lot of the contestants' attempts at a given task can be very different to one another. There is also a special trophy presented to the contestant who has accumulated the most points over the series, the trophy being the golden head of Greg Davies (or, in Series 1's case, a cheap karate trophy, and, in Champion of Champions' case, a "lifesize model" of Greg Davies' body).

The show has proven incredibly popular in the UK, and has been adapted to other nations such as Sweden and New Zealand. The show has found it harder to break in the United States, however; a short-lived adaptation ran for one season on Comedy Central with comedian Reggie Watts (perhaps best known for his role on Comedy Bang! Bang! and as bandleader on The Late Late Show with James Corden) as the Taskmaster and Alex Horne remaining as his assistant. Contestants were Lisa Lampanelli, Ron Funches, Kate Berlant, Freddie Highmore, and Dillon Francis. Final Scores Winner: Kate (75 points) 2nd: Ron and Freddie (69 points each) 4th: Lisa (63 points) 5th: Dillon (61 points). Unlike the UK version, there were no team tasks (though one task was converted into a solo task) and each episode was 21 minutes long instead of 45. The adaptation proved unsuccessful, lasting for one season before Watts confirmed that it had been cancelled . Rights to air the British show were bought by the CW in 2020, with reruns starting from Series 8; after low viewing-figures, however, the show was taken off air and relegated to the CW's streaming service.

The show has proven more successful online, however. Full episodes can be seen on UKTV Play (UK only), as well as clips and compilations being put up on the the official Taskmaster YouTube channel (Mostly region-free, though the full episodes tend to be region-blocked). During the COVID-19 Pandemic and subsequent lock-downs across Britain and other parts of the world, the YouTube channel ran a "Hometasking" web video series (starring both Alex and Greg) that saw people from all over the world complete tasks that are "isolation-friendly", and submit them to Alex Horne's Twitter for immortal bragging rights. The series gained a popular following (and was even reported on in global media), and Alex and Greg reportedly enjoyed it so much that Alex indicated that it would become a regular occurrence post-pandemic.

The show also ran a novelty hour-long novelty episode on YouTube as part of the Edinburgh Television Festival, featuring TV Executives. This included Alan Tylernote BBC Acting Controller/ Entertainer Commissioning, Clair Zolkwernote Former Commissioner Editor for Comedy Entertainment for ITV, Jeff Fordnote UK Managing Director for Fox Network Groups and Senior Vice President for Content Development in Europe and Africa, Nerys Evansnote Deputy Head of Comedy for Channel 4,and finally Zai Bennettnote Director of Sky Atlantic. Winner Nerys Evans You can watch it here .

Complete summaries of casts, episodes and tasks can be found at the show's Recap page. A brief cast listing for each series of the British edition can be found in the folder below.

Contestants by Series

Series One: Frank Skinner, Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan, Tim Key

Series Two: Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan, Richard Osman

Series Three: Al Murray, Dave Gorman, Paul Chowdhry, Rob Beckett, Sara Pascoe

Series Four: Hugh Dennis, Joe Lycett, Lolly Adefope, Mel Giedroyc, Noel Fielding

Series Five: Aisling Bea, Bob Mortimer, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar, Sally Phillips

Champion of Champions Special: Bob Mortimer, Josh Widdicombe, Katherine Ryan, Noel Fielding, Rob Beckett

Series Six: Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard, Tim Vine

Series Seven: James Acaster, Jessica Knappett, Kerry Godliman, Phil Wang, Rhod Gilbert

Series Eight: Iain Stirling, Joe Thomas, Lou Sanders, Paul Sinha, Sian Gibson

Series Nine: David Baddiel, Ed Gamble, Jo Brand, Katy Wix, Rose Matafeo

Series Ten: Daisy May Cooper, Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Mawaan Rizwan, Richard Herring

Not to be confused with the Marvel Comics supervillain/anti-hero of the same name, with the professional pseudonym of wrestler Kevin Sullivan or with the video game TaskMaker.

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Tropes specific to the British version of Taskmaster

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Tropes specific to the US version of Taskmaster

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