As someone who is probably neurospicy in varying ways, one thing that really resonates with me is the concept of hyperfocus. When I am interested in something, it consumes all my attention. For example. Elden Ring DLC is dropping tomorrow at 5 p.m. That means that I will be playing it for hours a day until I finish it with at least two characters. Let’s be real. I’ve been playing Elden Ring since it came out two years ago. I always have at least one character on the go, and I am currently doing a loose follow through playalong playthrough with the RKG lads. Loose because Rory is a better player than I am. This is just facts and I can’t do as well as he can.
Anyway. I recently got really into Fern Brady. A told me that Fern was on the show, Taskmaster. Now, the RKG Discord is British-based, and they go on about Taskmaster on the regular. For whatever reason, I thought the show was a Shark Tank-like show in which celebrities brought wild business ideas onto the show and then were judged on brinigng in said tasks.
But, no. It’s five comedians doing a bunch of wild tasks that the Taskmaster (Greg Davies) and his assistant (Little Alex Horne) set out for them. I watched Fern Brady’s season (14) before going back and starting from the beginning. Which was a jolt, I’ll tell you that much.
Side note: Before I started watching, I saw an episode of a show that Fern Brady was hosting (told you I was apt to hyperfocus) about food and weird combinations of different foods. What A Combo it was called, I believe. The episode I watched was within the last year had Tim Key on it. Coincidentally, he was on the first season of Taskmaster. When I started watching it, I was hyped because he was on it. He was so chill and mellow on What A Combo–I was looking forward to him being on the show.
Instead, he was hyper and a cheater, all the time with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. He cheated and then lied about it, and what’s more, showed no remorse over lying about it. I really didn’t like him on the show, much to my dismay. I was viciously happy when all his machinations did not work.
Here’s the thing. Season 14 was 10 episodes and very smooth. Season 1 had 6 episodes and was rough (as was to be expected). Season 2 was more like the first series, obviously, and what was lowkey annoying me throughout the different series was how all the tasks were skewed towards white cishet British men. It was to be expected, obviously, but it was annoying, nonetheless.
In that season, Katherine Ryan exploded on the last day for the firal task. For this task, everyone has to go on stage and do the same task simultaneously. In this case, they had to do something, then correctly tie a tie, then do something else. When the ‘coreccetly tie a tie’ was said, Katherine’s entire face changed to sheer exasperation. She started hitting Alex and shouting about how hard it was to be a woman in comedy. It was shocking, I’m sure, but I was cheering her on because it showed how endemic and subtle isms can be at times.
In the third series, I was even more annoyed because two of the contestants were cheating/paying people to do their tasks. Both white men, presumably cis and het. The moment that really irritated me was when the contestants had to move water from one bucket to another bucket some feet away. They could not move the buckets and most of the implements provided were not really that useful. Sarah, the only woman, asked if Alex could move the buckets for her. He said no. She confirmed that he would not be moving the buckets for any contestants. Then, another contestant, Al Murray, paid him three hundred dollars and Alex moved the bucket for him.
Obviously, it was done for comedic effect, but it really did not sit well with me. Al got no punishment or penalty for it because the task did not say you could not pay someone off. Alex got scolded and Sarah got one extra point. Whoop-di-fucking-do.
Even in Fern Brady’s season, there was a cheater. Munya Chawawa. He was pretty unrepentant about it, too.
Here’s the thing. In the fifth season, there’s a contestant named Sally Phillips. There was a task in which they had to vote for the person who deserved five points. They could vote for themselves. If they got the most votes, they got the points. If not, they wouldn’t get any points. Sally said that she and Aisling would vote for someone else because they were girls (women). Bob was the wild card and Mark and Nish would vote for themselves. And she was right! She and Aisling voted for someone else as did Bob. But Mark and Nish voted for themselves. Without hesitation.
My point is that it’s so endemic in society that Sally was able to rattle it off without hesitation. I was so annoyed by the casual sexism in the show and the cheating by CERTAIN people that I stopped watching for a few days. I needed to get that bad taste out of my mouth, but I’m glad I moved on. I really enjoyed the fourth series with Mel Giedroyc and Lolly Adefope. I also liked Joe Lycett (bi representation!), Hugh Dennis, and Noel Fielding.
Series 6 has been uneven, but pretty funny overall. But, again, it underlines the sexism that is baked into Western society in general. In tihs case, it was something about making something a ‘businessman’ and Aisling made a point about there being businesswomen, too.
Putting aside all the social issues that are, well, social issues, the show is screamingly funny. There is something about letting loose the id of five comedians that results in comedic gold.
I want to emphasize that I applaud thinking outside the box and am impressed when a contestant comes up with an idea that would never have occurred to me. It’s just hard not to notice who gets away with being cheeky and who doesn’t–which is just a product of being part of Western society. I’m hoping that it continues to improve with each season, which I think it will. As I noted, I really enjoyed the fourteenth series, and that was released in September of 2022.
Side note: I have it so that the next episode starts as soon as the current one I’m watching ends. At the end of the fifth season, I clicked on what would have been the next episode that had a ‘6’ in the title. Of course I thought it was the sixth season and was stoked to see Sue Perkins on it. She is my platonic ideal of hotness, but I was befuddled because she looked quite, ah, current in it. As did Greg Davies.
It turns out, of course, that it was the sixteenth season and not the sixth. I have so many seasons to watch before I get there! But also, something to tantalize me through ten seasons.
Overall, it’s a terrific show that just gets better with each series. I hope that continues to be the case.